Jupiter is square the Moon in Gemini in the sixth house of the public health or sickness, civil servants, and public health services. The Moon also denotes the common people.In this chart it also rules the eighth house of death. While there weren’t a large number of deaths directly attributable to the volcano, the nation’s water sources were completely polluted by ash leading other countries to bring aid in the form of vast volumes of water to Tonga. Water supplies are critical to the health of the people. Public officials (the national services) in Tonga had to spring into action to assist those who were injured or afflicted by the tsunami and the ash fall. Public health was seriously threatened by the eruption.

Uranus the planet of sudden shocks was retrograde in the sixth house in Taurus, a fixed earth sign. It squared Mercury and Saturn in the 3^rd house of communication. For a while Tonga was cut off from communication with the rest of the world[i] and its internet cable was damaged by the volcano. It took five weeks to restore it[ii].

Destructive Pluto in the nation’s second house within three degrees of its Sun, its vital energy also cannot be ignored. The second house is the national wealth and resources and there is no doubt that Tonga took a major hit in this area from the eruption.

The fixed stars also tell a story. Jupiter was conjunct Sadalmelik in the right shoulder of the Water-Bearer (Aquarius). Manilius spoke of it as having the power “to transform the flow of water so as to spray the very stars” which is rather apt. It causes extreme and sudden destruction. Hyades I or Prima Hyadum was conjunct the Moon. The Hyades is a star cluster that brings tears, sudden events, violence, fierceness, poisoning and contradictions of fortune, among other things. With the Moon in particular they bring eye injuries and danger of blindness. Volcanic ash is harmful to the eyes and reduces visibility.

Mars in the first house is conjunct Ras Alhague. This star creates proneness to infections in general and to epidemic infections. There was a fear that foreigners providing aid would bring COVID-19 to the people of Tonga and extreme measures had to be taken to try and prevent this. Unfortunately, there was a COVID-19 omicron outbreak in Tonga and the country went into lockdown in February 2022[iii].There was a COVID-19 case in a New Zealandtravellerto the country before this in 2021. The 2022 lockdown interfered with cleaning up operation after the tsunami.

Richard Nolle’s dates for the Stealth SuperMoon of 29 December to 05 January are close to the timespan involving the volcanic eruption in Tonga although the big event occurred some ten days after this period. Things were clearly building up to it from 20^th December 2021 onwards. Perhaps SuperMoons have a bigger window or perhaps this one was just a role-player in an astrological convergence of many other factors.