Astro-Meteorology of the Kashmir floods

SRINAGAR:A flood alert was sounded on Thursday (Sept 4) in Srinagar city as River Jhelum was flowing four feet above the danger mark after incessant rain, while 23 villages have been inundated by floods in south Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Kulgam. Incessant rain over the past three days (Sept 1) has wreaked havoc in many parts of the Valley with south Kashmir’s Anantnag and Kulgam districts the worst-hit. http://bit.ly/1rG1I49

(Reuters) - The death toll from the heaviest rain to fall on Kashmir in 50 years rose to more than 400 on Tuesday, (9 Sep) with thousands still trapped on rooftops and residents criticizing Indian and Pakistani authorities for not doing enough to help them. http://reut.rs/1tw4Wtp

The rules for judging the weather using solar ingress charts are given by Kim Farnell in her “A Basic Guide to Astro-Meteorology” [1] . To predict weather conditions in any quarter, the relevant cardinal  solar ingress chart is used with the  4th house as the main indicator followed by the first house. Planets which are conjunct  angles also need to be noted.

Shown here is a chart drawn for the Cancer ingress of the Sun at Srinagar. Here we find Neptune in the fourth house in the water sign Pisces.

Neptune is conjunct the star Fomalhaut [4pi03] in the constellation of the Southern Fish. This is an important, first magnitude star, the 17th brightest star in the sky and the most southerly star visible at 50°N. Fomalhaut, (from the Arabic Fum al Hut, 'the Fish's mouth'). The area in which it lies has an heavy emphasis upon constellations with watery imagery, the goat-fish (Capricorn), the whale (Cetus), the water-pourer (Aquarius), the fishes (Pisces), and the dolphin (Delphinus) all located nearby, obviously earmarking this region as one that related to the rainy season of the ancient year, by which many of its stars are associated with floods or troubles at sea. The Southern Fish is usually depicted on star maps at the feet of Aquarius, where it swallows up the water poured from his urn .

In addition notice that Neptune in Pisces forms a sesquisquare aspect to Jupiter [24cn]  in Cancer – also a water sign.   Jupiter [24cn] is conjunct the stars  rho Geminorum [23cn] and Procyon, alpha Canis Minor [25cn]  which formed part of the Chinese asterism Pe-Ho, the Northern River and Nan-Ho, the Southern River. It  is also conjunct a tiny star just above Nan-Ho in Canis Minor that was part of the asterism Choui-Wei, the Situation of the Waters, which governed the overflowing of rivers. The Chinese astrologers  said that if this asterism was clear and tranquil, it was a good omen, but if it faded or seemed to drift and combine with the Milky Way, the rivers of the empire would overflow and flood the land. [2]

So what happened in end August or early September to trigger the deluge? Shown here are two charts  (a) the chart for waxing crescent Moon phase of August 29 (b) the  chart for the already active upcoming lunar eclipse of October 8 (*). Notice that the Sun and Moon in the crescent Moon chart activate Neptune both in the Cancer Ingress as well as in the eclipse chart where Neptune is conjunct the Ascendant.

[1]  http://www.skyscript.co.uk/meteorology1.html

[2] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg (v.1, p.703)

(*) Eclipses become active at least three months prior to their actual occurrence and can be brought to life by a lunation (Moon phase).