The Extraordinary Cosmic Vibes Of February 1986

By Angela Stuart-Santiago

Excerpts from “Deconstructing EDSA,” the closing chapter of the book 
EDSA Uno, A Narrative and Analysis with Notes on Dos & Tres (2013) 
by Angela Stuart-Santiago. 
[http://stuartsantiago.com/edsa-uno-the-book-in-solidaridad/]

February 1986 was a rare time for the Philippines and the planet. From February 3 to 7, six solar flares were observed that gave rise, February 7 through 9, to a very intense magnetic storm, said to be the largest observed in 26 years.[i] 

Also on the 9^th, Halley’s Comet, hurtling through our solar system on its 76-year orbit, reached its closest point to the Sun, this as Moon and Sun, seen from planet Earth, exactly aligned.[ii] 

A rare confluence of cosmic events that wreaked havoc on Earth’ magnetic fields, instruments rendering off-scale variations said to set off weather and atmospheric disturbances, affecting even electric power grids,[iii] and, no doubt, our bodies and psyches, too.[iv] 

And as Halley’s Comet swang away from the Sun toward Earth’s orbit, it grew brighter and seemed to change structure around the nucleus, this as Cory’s protest campaign took off and Enrile et al coup-plotted; by the 22^nd of February the comet was sporting not just one or two but a phenomenal seven tails![v] 

It was also, in the 12-year cycle of Chinese astrology, a time for revolutionary change.

Wrote National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, as Quijano de Manila, in The Quartet of the Tiger Moon: “Chinese New Year 1986 fell on February 9 when the new moon of the springtime inaugurated the Year of the Tiger. The Chinese say that the tiger in astrology signifies rebellion, upheaval, reform. The events of the four days that toppled the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines occurred when the New Year moon of the tiger was achieving fullness.”

It is remarkable, but not unexpected, that Filipinos proved receptive to the extraordinary cosmic vibes. It is not only that we had been (and had not stopped) working up the nerve for change since Ninoy Aquino’s assassination.  

It is also that, given our religiosity as a people, our belief in supernatural forces, no wonder that the cosmic vibes worked positively, transformatively, on our neurons, and brought us in touch with our higher selves. We discovered a capacity for, and the joy in, thinking out of the box, breaking out of patterns, blazing a new and radical non-violent path towards change.

All through EDSA, the words of Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and occultist, kept ringing in my mind: “Whatever is born or done this moment of time has the qualities of this moment of time.” An astrological dictum on the significance of beginnings in the context of cycles and recurrence. As the awesome four days of People Power unfolded, culminating in Cory’s oathtaking and closing with Marcos’s flight, I was seeing it as a birth moment for the nation, a new pattern set, of a people breaking out of the old and trying out new ways of being and behaving for the sake of the common good.

*

Going to EDSA was like stepping into another world. Altered states. In the unified field of consciousness that was EDSA, the people found themselves easily rising above religious, political, and class differences, and willfully daring new ways of thinking and acting, relating and bonding, for the sake of the whole. 

EDSA was an unexpected treat, a taste, a glimpse, of a happier kind of existence. Life can be better, kinder, fairer. People can be selfless, caring, and cooperative. Resources can be shared. Differences can be reconciled. Indeed, it was a smiling revolution. 

The people were feeling great, feeling affirmed by every other one’s presence, for the first time experiencing, and enjoying, a sense of connectedness with one’s fellow Pinoys and Pinays, a sense of unity and harmony and wholeness, which spirit lifted and expanded and enlightened every self, rendered it strong and steadfast and brave and, as it turned out, powerful enough to “disarm” Marcos’s soldiers.

*

It was a fascinating four days, but the storyline was full of holes. Things were happening so fast, as though life were on fast-forward mode, Radio Veritas and the mosquito press kept getting overtaken by events. When it was finally over I eagerly awaited a definitive account of the four days from the information arm of the revolutionary government, thinking that it would be the first to want to know, and to share with the people, what really happened in EDSA and how much of it was the work of People Power, the better to keep the spirit alive. 

It wasn’t until much much later, as I was fleshing out my chronology, that I realized why it had not been in the interest of the Cory government, the new armed forces, even the militant Left, to look too deeply into the dynamics of People Power. Far easier, smarter, to paint it a miracle-made-in-heaven, or mob-rule, or orchestrated-by-America. 

That a united people could destabilize an economy, “disarm” battle-hardened combat-ready Marines, and frighten away a deeply entrenched dictator without the use of force was simply not to be acknowledged, much less encouraged. 

People Power would change the game, patronage poltics and the rule of the elite in cahoots with foreign interests would come under threat; armed might and armed struggle would become obsolete.

*

A pattern, a blueprint, having been created in ’86, my fearless forecast in Himagsikan was of another, even more stunning, EDSA one fine day in some bright future when enlightened Filipinos would come together not only to change a president but to change a failed socio-economic system. 

I was so sure that the people would not waste time and energy on another EDSA until we were prepared to demand more than a change of president and to sustain the vigilance beyond four days.

As it turns out, we have had two Edsa exercises since: Edsa Dos in January 2001, that saw Estrada ousted by EDSA Uno moralists of the upper and middle classes; and Edsa Tres some three months later, mounted by the lower classes that voted for Estrada and wanted him back, which uprising was frustrated but gave the government and the ruling classes the fright of their lives.

***

[i] SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System. “The solar flares of February 1986 and the ensuing intense geomagnetic storm” by Howard A. Garcia & Murray Dryer. Solar Physics Journal, vol. 109, no. 1. 1987. 119-137. Online.  <http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1987SoPh..109..119G> See also “Super Storms” by J.T. Bell, M.S. Gussenhoven, and E.G. Mullen. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 102. No.A7, pages 14,189-14,198. July 1, 1997. <http://solar.gmu.edu/meetings/cdaw/data/cdaw1/papers/Bell_Superstorms.pdf>

[ii] Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. “Solar Flares Mar Data on Halley’s Comet.” 6 February 1986. <http://articles.latimes.com/1986-02-06/news/mn-4756_1_comet-data-halley>

[iii] Midwest Reliability Organization. “Grid Vulnerability to Geomagnetic Storms: An Overview” by John Kappenman Storm Analysis Consultants. <http://www.midwestreliability.org/00_events/2009_cip_workshop/10._kappenman_mro_dec1_2009.pdf>  

[iv] Global Coherence Initiative. “Solar Activity During 2012” by Annette Deyhle, Ph.D. February 2012. Online. <http://www.glcoherence.org/monitoring-system/commentaries.html>

[v] The Sunday Times . "Halley sports seven tails."  23 February 1986. “Halley's comet suddenly grew brighter this week and now sports seven tails, a phenomemon never seen before in the cosmic voyager, astronomers in Chile said Friday. The comet's behavior was measured and photographed from the European Southern Obervation (ESO) at La Silla, among the desert mountains 150 km north of the city of La Serena. "The tails are getting bigger and there are more of them and they are covering half of the circumference of the comet, which was not what we expected," Danish astronomer Holger Pedersen told Reuters by telephone.  "There's no way that one can tell how the comet will behave and the way it has appeared in the last few days is surprising." The comet, a dirty snowball of ice and dust, has just rounded the sun and is heading for the outer edges of the solar system again on its elliptical, 76-year orbit round the sun.  It will pass closes to the Earth on April 11. Richard West,another astronoer at la Silla, said telescope measuring infra-red light had detected an "outburst" around the comet's nucleuus three or four days ago.  "On Feb 18, it appeared quite a bit brighter," he said.  "A few hours later, we noticed a change in structure around the nucleus. there was much more material than the day before. It is quite likely that this has now gone to the tais," West said.  "Most comets have only one or two tails and, as far as we know, Halley has never been observed this way before," he said.