Alex's Asteroid Astrology

On 30 August 2023 the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season kicked off with a bang, as Hurricane Idalia battered the northern Florida coast with 125 mph winds and a 7-foot storm surge, making landfall as a category 3 storm at Keaton Beach, in the Sunshine State’s Big Bend region, at 7:45 AM EDT.  Earlier projections had seen the storm coming ashore somewhat further south, in more populous areas, but despite the already swampy terrain and smaller communities in its path, Idalia is estimated to have caused some $9 billion+ in damage.  Thankfully, loss of life was minimal, with three traffic-related fatalities attributed to Idalia’s effects.

A chart cast for landfall shows Idalia’s prominence and impact.  There are no exact asteroid matches for Idalia; asteroid Adele 812 appears to be the most useful approximation, based on its stationary status, turning direct at 11 Capricorn, trine the Sun, just four days prior, and a day before Idalia was named, as a Tropical Storm.  Other options include asteroid Odell 25234, which at 27 Aquarius conjoins Damocles 5335, the impending doom, at 29 Aquarius, and the Moon, ruling water, at 28 Aquarius; and asteroid Ida 243, which at 19 Sagittarius conjoins the 12 Sagittarius IC and is exactly squared a retrograde Mercury (ruling weather) at 19 Virgo.  All three make additional aspects which further illustrate the circumstances.

The 13 Virgo Ascendant shows both the Sun at 7 Virgo and Mercury at 19 Virgo rising, with a square to asteroid Sturm 31043 (German for “storm”) at 10 Gemini, conjunct the 12 Gemini MC, the focus of all eyes.  Conjoining Mercury is asteroid Aeolia 396 at 21 Virgo, named for the mythic island home of Aeolus, a Greek deity ruling the winds.  Aeolia’s square to Ida suggests the 125 mph winds that accompanied the landfall, while asteroid Flood 4220 at 16 Aquarius, accompanied by asteroids Benda 734 (for the Big Bend region) and Sunshine 3742 (for “the Sunshine State”, Florida’s nickname) at 12 and 18 Aquarius represents the storm surge which inundated the Florida coast, extending miles inland in some areas.  A square from expansive Jupiter at 15 Taurus didn’t help matters, with the surge coinciding with a King Tide, an abnormally high swelling of water caused by the full moon that day.  TNO Typhon 42355 at 20 Scorpio completes a T-Square, with Typhon (the source of our word “typhoon”) named for a Greek Titan deity governing massive storms at sea.

The Keaton Beach landfall is reflected in asteroid Keaton 2712 at 18 Cancer, where it conjoins asteroid Rainer 16802 at 14 Cancer, representing the deluge of rainfall, up to eight inches in the Big Bend, and asteroid Nemesis 128 at 16 Cancer, a point indicating ruin, downfall or destruction.  Keaton also squares asteroid Raine 221019 at 12 Libra, further reinforcing the rainfall totals, and opposes Adele at 11 Capricorn.

Speaking of destruction, among the hardest hit communities with sizable populations was Perry, Florida (with some 7000 residents), seen as asteroid Perry 5529 at 0 Leo, opposed devastation-inclined Pluto at 28 Capricorn.   Pluto also governs regeneration and rebirth, something which will be needed in plenty going forward.  Another flooded coastal community was Crystal River (population 3400), represented by the all-too-aptly named CNA (Compound-Name Asteroids, comprised of first and last names strung together as one word, which can be separated and used for either) Crystalpoole 27453, which looks much like a pool in satellite imagery taken after the event.  At 18 Gemini, Crystalpoole also conjoins the Midheaven, closely squaring Mercury at 19 Virgo and opposed Ida at 19 Sagittarius, in a wide Grand Cross with Neptune at 26 Pisces, ruling the sea and flooding.

In any disaster of this sort, power outages are inevitable, sometimes lasting for weeks, with roughly a quarter million residences and businesses without power in Idalia’s aftermath.  The relative isolation of the Big Bend area means that some homes may be without power for over a month, as reflected in asteroid Odell at 27 Aquarius in square to Uranus, ruling electricity, at 23 Taurus.  The Moon and Damocles involved here suggests the threat (Damocles) to the population (Moon), with many people’s health (also Moon-ruled) placed in jeopardy due to the power loss.

The angular Sun opposed an angular conjunction of Saturn (hardship, deprivation, loss) and asteroid Karma 3811 (fated circumstance) at 3 and 7 Pisces indicates a predetermined (Karma) challenge with a long, hard road (Saturn) to recovery.  We can but wish them well.