On Monday, January 16th, we will have one of the most dynamic sets of celestial alignments that has been seen for some time; all tightly packaged within a twenty-four hour period. These are some of the same themes that regular Web readers have become acquainted with over the last few years, and like an old friend, they now return to become one of the substantial triggers of the transformational changes that time is funneling us towards.    Throughout 1993, we kept alluding to the Uranus Neptune conjunction, and watched as these two Lords of Creation combined their talents to provide Earth Changes of substantial magnitude. With amazing regularity, the Web was able to point to certain dates, and then watched as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or social upheaval filled the media's airwaves. Since 1993, the faster orbital speed of Uranus has caused it to pull ahead of Neptune, although the themes that they introduced will continue to author our future terrestrial script. The Aspectarian from Athena's WEB January 16th, 1995    On Monday, January 16th, within five hours of each other, the Sun will parallel Neptune and conjunct Uranus, indicating that the substantial transformative energies are again being triggered. In that same window, the Full Moon will lend her lunar light to this combustible combination. Throw in powerful aspects to Jupiter and Saturn, together with Pluto's entry into Sagittarius the next day, and we find ourselves contemplating a potent brew.    Naturally, the standard themes of natural disasters and earth tremors are both possible and probable; but these merely mirror the external manifestations of the internal transformations that are currently affecting society. Indeed, both are reflecting the present shift of the Earth's internal core. As above, so below, and so within.    But aside from the external chaos, it's important to understand this. Normally speaking, our words and thoughts have a certain power. If we communicate with a friend or lover, what we say has an impact. But if those words are magnified by radio, television or newspaper, or even through the rumors of associates, they have an even greater power.    Spiritually speaking, the voltage of the transmitter which we are working with on the 16th is far stronger, and for those who focus their thoughts on prayer, meditation, creative visualization or divine guidance, their capacity to receive insights on how best to handle these currents can be made abundantly clear. Those who are awakened know that every crisis is a challenge which invites us to accept what heaven has decreed, but to also do what we can to make a personal difference.    The place is here, the time is now. Let the events leading up to and on the 16th of January be a wake up call to action. The Earth is preparing to give birth to a brave new world, and her labor pains are about to commence. Will you be a midwife to that process, helping to usher in the infant consciousness in its time of need? Or will you resist the changes by looking back to security and familiarity of the past, as the people of Abraham did during their sojourn through the desert, seeking the security of a system whose time had come and gone? This week will offer one of the major stepping stones, both to 1995, and to our eventual finale, sometime around 2012.

Quake in Japan kills 197, injures thousands OSAKA, Japan - A powerful earthquake A Twisted Highway in Kobe rumbled through central Japan this morning, killing at least 197 people, injuring at least 13,085 and causing apartment buildings and an expressway to collapse, government and media reports said.    Police said about 400 people were still trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings four hours after the tremor, which struck as many residents were starting their commute to work in the industrial heartland of Japan.    The government was setting up an emergency committee to cope with the effects of the quake, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kozo Igarashi said.    The quake, which measured 7.2 on the open-ended Richter scale, caused damage in the major Japanese cities of Osaka, the country's second-largest, the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto and Japan's main western port of Kobe.    A spokeswoman for the National Police agency said 96 people died and 103 were injured in Kobe; two people died and 66 were injured in Osaka and 30 people were injured in Kyoto.    About 50 cars plunged off the expressway which was buckled in at least three locations near Kobe. Police said at least two motorists died and 20 were injured as their cars were flung from the expressway or drove into the gaps in the highway. Highway Collapse    NHK television said 322 people were trapped in collapsed houses in Kobe, where 33 buildings collapsed. Dozens of homes collapsed on the island of Awajishima, about 20 miles off Kobe.    The Japan Meteorological Agency said the earthquake rumbled across the center of Honshu Island from the Pacific Ocean to the Japan Sea at 5:46 a.m. (3:46 p.m. EST Monday), a time when many Japanese are starting their commute to work from outlying suburbs.    "We consider this as a 'big one,'" the meteorological spokesman said.    Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama called an emergency meeting of rescue services.    "We are taking all possible measures to help," the prime minister said in a statement.    The quake was the first shallow "direct hit" since a 1948 earthquake that hit Fukui on the Sea of Japan coast.    A resident of Nishinomiya, a town near Kobe, said she was jolted awake in her third-floor apartment.    "There was a big shaking, I felt like I was being thrown into a deep pit like hell. It was so big. It was a terrible shaking," she said.    She said a large television in her apartment was hurled to the floor and glasses and kitchenware came crashing down in her apartment, which was darkened as the electricity was cut off.    The resident rushed to her parents' home nearby and saw neighbors working with their bare hands to free people trapped in a collapsed house.    Volunteers helped lay hoses for firefighters at a blazing building in Kobe. Scores of stunned people stood in the streets in their pajamas    Television showed abandoned cars on the Hanshin Expressway which was cut in at least three places with yawning gaps in the road.    Some roads had cracks of up to 12 inches wide. Police said the tremor derailed at least 10 trains.    The quake was the latest of a series of significant tremors that have rolled through northern and central Japan in the last three weeks.    Experts have been warning that a major earthquake could have been on its way for the past few weeks. The latest quake hit nine days after three major tremors, ranging from a 5.2 on the Richter scale just outside Toyoko to 6.9 and 4.2 readings 325 miles north of the capital. Boston Globe, Tuesday, January 17th, 1995; page one. HINDSIGHT DEPARTMENT    The above report was issued by the Globe on the day following the quake. Naturally, the preliminary results were far short of the true totals. While the final figure may never be known, the following is one of the better estimates available.    On Tuesday, January 17, at 5:46 a.m. local time, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 (Mj)1 struck the region of Kobe and Osaka in south-central Japan. This region is Japan's second-most populated and industrialized area, after Tokyo, with a total population of about 10 million. The shock occurred at a shallow depth on a fault running from Awaji Island through the city of Kobe, which in itself has a population of about 1.5 million. Strong ground shaking lasted for about 20 seconds and caused severe damage over a large area.    Nearly 5,500 deaths have been confirmed, with the number of injured people reaching about 35,000. Nearly 180,000 buildings were badly damaged or destroyed, and officials estimate that more than 300,000 people were homeless on the night of the earthquake.    The life loss caused by the earthquake was the worst in Japan since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, when about 140,000 people were killed, mostly by the post-earthquake conflagration. The economic loss from the 1995 earthquake may be the largest ever caused by a natural disaster in modern times. The direct damage caused by the shaking is estimated at over 13 trillion yen (about $147 billion US). This does not include indirect economic effects from loss of life, business interruption, and loss of production.    Damage was recorded over a 100-kilometer radius from the epicenter, including the cities of Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto, but Kobe and its immediate region were the areas most severely affected. Damage was particularly severe in central Kobe, in an area roughly 5 kilometers by 20 kilometers parallel to the Port of Kobe. This coastal area is composed primarily of soft alluvial soils and artificial fills. Severe damage extended well northeast and east of Kobe into the outskirts of Osaka and its port.