The "
ecliptic" is a technical name for the Sun's path around the Earth.
Imagine standing at the centre point of a big circle in space with a 93 million (odd) mile radius. That circle is the ecliptic.
In reality it is not a circle but an ellipse. The centre is not the middle but two points known as foci. The radius is not constant but a variable distance known as a directrix - which changes with the seasons. And it is the Earth that describes the ellipse around the Sun, not the other way round.
But this complexity was lost on astrologers of old. For them, the Earth was the centre of the Universe. And the Sun moved in a circle about the Earth. As did the Moon. They also noticed that the Moon's plane of rotation was tilted by about 5 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. And, therefore, twice a month the Moon penetrates the plane of the ecliptic - once on the way down and again on the way back up. (Click in image above to enlarge.)
They called these points of penetration the head and tail of the Dragon. Modern astronomy refers to them as the Moon's nodes. Funny thing is, they're never in the same place from one month to the next. Indeed, they're never in the same place from one day to the next, as they retrograde and osculate their way through the zodiac.
In astrology, when the Dragon teams up with the lord of karma, Saturn, bad things go down. Such as the explosion in Lagos, Nigeria, on Januray 27, 2002. A military explosives facility blew up, killing at least 1100 people, many of whom drowned in a canal as they fled the fireball. The disaster left another 20,000 people homeless.
The blast shattered windows 15km away and was felt up to 50km from the capital. The explosion caused grenades and other incendiary ordnance to rain down on the city. The earth shook and buildings collapsed. Other buildings caught fire. People jumped from skyscrapers to avoid being burned alive. Crowds stampeded away from the epicentre. Children were trampled underfoot. In the darkness, panicked people tumbled into the city canal and drowned.
1-27-02 was truly a date with Azrael, for Lagos.
The irony is that Azrael's plan for Lagos could have been foreseen. His celestial calling cards are clearly visible in the joint machinations of Saturn and the Dragon. These two astrological protagonists identified Lagos as a potential disaster zone for the months November, December 2001, and January 2002. Then again, they narrowed their focus onto the last week of January. And finally, as the Sun rose on the 27th, the smart money would have seen Saturn and Dragon marking this day as the day for Azrael to bring in a bountiful harvest.
This date could have been spotted 10, 20, 30 years ago ... if anyone had bothered to look.