Teachings of my Saturn Line: Astrocartograhy | 20 years on from the Boxing Day Tsunami
This anniversary has really crept up on me.
On 26th December 2004, the world opened their weary eyes to the power of water, and the very real reality that Mother Nature is Queen here on planet earth. No amount of money, power, ego or preparation could have saved you that day if you were in the wrong place and the wrong time. The world was humbled.
I have an incredibly raw and real connection with that day. It was a day that shaped my life forever, but not in a way that you’d think. No, I wasn’t there, for a start. Much like everyone else across the globe, I turned on the news to confusion and chaos, sorrow and pain. What was a day of celebration for many soured, destroyed by the impact of several waves of water causing untold devastation. One of the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded.
I would have been 13 years old. Born in 1991, in a little mining village in the centre of England, I couldn’t be further from the ocean in the UK if I tried. In a county completely landlocked, my hobby was… windsurfing. Yep. Clever, Rebecca… really clever. A watersport as a hobby in a landlocked county…So every week, sometimes twice or three times a week through the summer, my poor old dad would have to load up the car and drive me 40 minutes to the nearest large body of water to meet my friends and surf the wind. Bringing water and air together to create movement and travel. This was my basis for really respecting the water. She was a HARSH teacher, and wind and water together couldn’t get more unpredictable. You have to become adaptable and really let go of control… the wind and water doesn’t care what you WANT from a race, you get what you’re given and you have to work with it. Anyway, I digress.
During this article, I want to introduce you to the theory of destiny. What if we all have ‘destined’ moments in our lives that correlate to patterns held within our own unique blueprint? These points of awakening act as a catalyst for our own soul growth, acting as our north star to guide us.
It’s not that our life is mapped out as such, we always have choice and autonomy, BUT, there are points in our life too where we are just ‘meant’ to bump into certain people, world events, situations, challenges, based on the energetics of what we’re drawn to, and how our soul is here to learn. This is requires a little bit of out of the box thinking, so if you’re not someone who’s willing to explore philosophical topics, I’d probably stop reading about now…
The Boxing Day Tsunami hit the coast of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, from around 8am local time, on 26th December 2004. As part of its wave of destruction, it hit the shores of Sri Lanka, where I’m going to be focussing my article, where over 35,000 people lost their lives to the water. Souls returning to an ocean of consciousness.
The astrocartography for that time and date can be found below. COPYRIGHT ASTRO.COM
The map above shows a red cross where the timezone is measured from. But what I want to draw your attention to is the pink/magenta line of Jupiter firstly. That circle there in pink shows where the Jupiter line (the planet of expansion, explosion and growth) was at its strongest at that moment, on that day. Coincidently, or not, that is almost exactly, we believe, where the earthquake under the ocean happened. That day, Jupiter was sat in Libra square the wild and unpredictable, destructive Lilith. Unpredictable expansion would be two words to sum that square up on the fateful day. Unpredictable that tsunami certainly was.
Now the other two major lines at play that day were Chiron and Saturn. You can see Chiron in the black going diagonally past the red cross. And Saturn in burgandy. As chiron is rising on the ascendant (indicating casualities and wounding rising, or coming to the surface in that specific area), Saturn is coming down to the descendant, humbling us, teaching through humility. Right off the coast of where one of the biggest casulty events took place.
Now when we’re reading an astrocartography map we can begin to look at the east and west divide. The countries and places to the west of the chiron line would have been under the weight of chiron, whereas the countries to the east would have been on the lighter side of the energy. Similiarly with Saturn, the teachings would have been ‘heavier’ on the western side, than the eastern side of that map. And we see that reflected in the numbers.
Sri Lanka saw a death toll of over 35,000 people.
Indonesia saw a death toll of an estimated 160,000. The majority of deaths happening where all those lines cross… the intensity and weight being heaviest on the lines.
Thailand saw a death toll of around 8,000.
Image below copyright NOAA Official website
What we see from this more scientific map, is echoing what we believe about the energy of the lines. To the west of where the lines sit, we see a much more intense response casuality wise, than to the east of the Saturn and Chiron lines. Of course, land masses stand in the way, protecting the places to the east.
Why is she banging on about Chiron and Saturn? I hear you cry. Good question.
On that day, within a traditional astrology chart, Chiron was sat in Capricorn (Earth). The wounded healer, or our ‘weakness, our achilles heal,’ was challenging physical structure. That’s buildings, but also bodies. Our physical capacity as humans was our weakness. Capricorn is very concerned with things like bones, physical body, buildings, hierarchy (physical and societal), structure… things you can feel and touch and see. if Chiron was in Capricorn, is was about to show the weaknesses in those areas. Where we are not as strong as we thought we were. Not as invicible as we thought we were. And DIRECTLY opposite (and I must stress, this opposition doesn’t happen often), DIRECTLY. OPPOSITE. In a position of 25 degrees Cancer (Water), was Saturn.
Now for some context. Saturn rules Capricorn, so when it’s opposite, it’s at its weakest position in the chart. It’s as far from ‘home’ as it could be. Our planet of structure is in its weakest position, and being poked, proded and challenged by a planet that relishes in highlighting weakness.
Saturn in Cancer is also literally going to show us structure, or destruction, from water… That’s not to say everytime Saturn is in Cancer there will be a tsunami, but we will always see challenges coming from water when Saturn is in a water sign. Right now as I write this, Saturn is in Pisces, where it’s been for a while, and we see water companies, water quality being the main talking point…
Back to 2004. We were also in the final few hours of building towards a full moon in Cancer, intense water energy rising… Why is it important that it was a full moon? At a full moon we have a spring tide, the waters rise higher than they would at any other time of the month. An unfortunate coincidence or clash of energies. The Moon, the mother and controller of water, was about to meet the wild moon, Lilith, the untamed, raw mother, in Cancer, the catalyst water sign, while Saturn was opposed Chiron, (Saturn also being in Cancer).
That symbology, for me, is powerful. What does it say? Not that we could have predicted it. But that when those energies collide, we can expect a pattern of destruction, unpredictability and rebuilding (whilst Saturn was retrograde - re-building being the emphasis).
A full moon in Cancer
Whilst Saturn was at its weakest, most vulnerable transition point
As it opposed provoking, disturbed Chiron who relishes in opening wounds to heal
And when you lay those on the physical map… the tsunami happens exactly where Chiron and Saturn sit, one rising, one challenged…
Now this is where my personal story begins.
Below are my personal astrology and astrocartography charts.
The lines and planets we are really concerned with here are Saturn (burgandy), chiron (black) and sun (orange). The sun is highlighted because it’s my chart ruler. My ‘main line’ if you like for personal destiny and growth.
Ok so, what am I looking at?
Let’s begin with Saturn because this is really what this story is all about.
My Saturn is in Aquarius in my natal chart. Now, Aquarius ISN’T a water sign, but it is the sign of the water bearer. The water bearer carrying the teachings (Saturn) of water. Interesting start. It sits between Capricorn and Pisces, Earth and Water, balancing the two… Remember where Chiron and Saturn were on 26th December 2004? Yup… earth and water.
Saturn is our teacher. It’s disciplined. It’s hard working. It challenges us. But it’s all in the name of learning our lessons through life, like a strict father or teacher at school. It loves us… but it’s a tough lover, not a soft one.
Saturn in my astrocartography chart sits just off the west coast of Sri Lanka, through the middle of India. Now firstly, India quite literally IS my teacher. My philosophical background sits in Yoga teaching and developed organically from there, so India gave me the structure for my teaching. But sandwiched between my Saturn Line, and my Sun Line, is the little tear drop of the ocean, Sri Lanka.
What you should know about Saturn at this point, is that he works in phases.
You get your Saturn opposition around aged 14/15.
You get your first Saturn returns at aged 29.
And you get your Saturn opening square in terms of life theme and purpose at 36/37. These are the dates you’re looking at within a life theme for developing in early life in terms of the lessons you need to learn.
So following the phases, with my Saturn line being strongest off that west coast of Sri Lanka and South Coast of India…
I found myself in Sri Lanka for my 15th birthday…
And I found myself in Sri Lanka randomly AGAIN as Saturn began it’s closing square, closing a chapter of learning.
Now, the second trip to Sri Lanka you might discount, a more tenuous link. However just 1 year later, as Saturn came towards its full closure, the 10 year long, strong relationship I had been in ended out the blue and that was our final holiday together. It just so happening to be my ‘teacher’ country that was going to hold me for that final transit. Giving me the support that I needed to carry me through with memories and teachings from nature during our stay.
BUT, the opposition.
The fact that I was in Sri Lanka for my actual Saturn opposition… ALSO, whilst Chiron had just transitted my natal Saturn (remember the chiron and Saturn opposition I mentioned earlier?). Now that was spooky. Add in the fact that this wasn’t a family holiday, this was a World Expedition Challenge to teach (hello Saturn) English and re-decorate a school post-tsunami. I was there to teach, but really Sri Lanka was there to teach me under its Saturnian influence. I was the youngest person on the trip at just 14 years old. It was my first ever abroad trip outside of going on the ferry to France. And I was going to a place where my Saturn line was, on my Saturn opposition, at a time when Saturn and Chiron were again doing their opposition dance in the sky, the same as they were doing when the tsunami happened just 18 months earlier?
On 1st August 2006, during my Saturn opposition, Chiron was just coming to the end of transitting my natal Saturn. My natal Saturn sits at 3 degrees Aquarius. Chiron was at 6 degrees on my birthday, tracking backwards into my natal Saturn orbit. Marking my Saturn Opposition, and I was in a place where my Saturn Line ran… one of only a handful of places in the entire world where I could have been drawn to. 90% of my Saturn lines runs through water. Another nod to the teachings, for me, of water.
PLUS, It was my Saturn IC line, a place where I develop, lay my roots, meet my purpose, gather my ‘sticks for the fire of life.’ Coincidence? That this was my first trip on a plane? And I end up in… Sri Lanka? Somewhere where I really couldn’t afford to be going, I had no ‘place’ to be going to, (I had to raid my post office account and fundraise like crazy - thanks Mum and Dad for the help!). Come on now…
Side note for humanity: I believe, on reflection, that Saturn opposed Chiron on that fateful Boxing Day was a point of awakening for many people across the globe. Saturn, the teacher, fighting with Chiron, our weaknesses. What happens when you ask earth and water to spar? Water wins, of course. It was part of a wave of collective awakening of which I was always going to be a part of, Saturn line or not, alongside many other people who felt so deeply affected by those scenes on that day. People need different awakening timelines and events. My first awakening was at that very moment in time, sparking that Natal Saturn in Aquarius, being humbled by people facing adversities and using it as a catalyst for change.
Energetically speaking, my north node is also in Capricorn, where Chiron was the date of the tsunami. Subconsciously, psychologically, could I have been sensing that part of my purpose (north node) was to be drawn towards the humbling powers of Chiron. With a huge amount of Capricorn collective energy in my chart (Uranus, Neptune), ruled by Saturn, who sits towards the end of the cluster, could it be that our destiny is always going to be drawn towards aspects of our birthchart as they play out in real time within astrocartography? When worlds and timelines collide? This is where being curious over being controlling is important. I don’t have the answers to that. We won’t ever know, but we can be curious to understand.
We don’t want to control our life through astrology, no. That would be no fun, and take away from our intuition, and our autonomy. BUT what if astrocartography can give us a way of understanding and processing important life transitions and awakenings to make sense of their timelines and their teachings? What if we are indeed part of some bigger pattern playing out and we all have a role to play.
So what am I saying?
That destiny exists but not in the way we believe it to be true, or wish it to be true.
We always have free will and free choice. That is my firm belief. We are not helpless little victims of the world, and yet…
Sometimes, when horrific things happen, there is a purpose or fate, or destiny behind it, so that something bigger can take shape from it. Sometimes we are the pawns, sometimes we are the chess masters. Our roles are all interconnected and require us to step into our full, aligned power for all of this to play out as it should.
I do believe that the 2000’s especially were a BIG time of collective awakenings, not in the way that everyone found god or spirit or the universe, but in a way that humbled us and reminded us that us little humans are merely servants of this earth, not masters.
When our time us up, our time is up. We have no control over Mother Nature as the Queen of this earth, in all her glory and all her force.
I’ve always worked with the water in some way as I reflect back now, she has been my biggest teacher.
Windsurfing through my teens.
Ice skating through my late teens and early twenties.
Writing articles and interviews for water safety for a National Governing body through my 20’s.
And being a lifelong advocate of respecting the water.
With my natal Saturn being in Aquarius, the water bearer, I can’t help but believe… part of my purpose is to teach (Saturn) the world how to live with land and sea… to live with the laws of structure and reality and physical existence, AND with the unpredictable laws of the water. A constant dance of balance, building structure, but also letting it tumble and fall under the weight of the water too. Making way for rebuilding…
Even now, I won’t go IN the ocean. I might surf atop her. Or sail. But in? No. She has far more invisible power than we can ever possibly understand or comprehend.
And the waters on Boxing Day 2004, followed by witnessing the aftermath of destruction just 18 months later, while the heavy energetic weight of death was still in the air, will haunt me forever. Not because I believe we should be scared of the water, but because we really need to treat her with the ultimate respect she deserves.
Because Mother Nature, on planet Earth, is the humblest teacher we have.
