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A REMARKABLE NATIVITY.

dreadful thunderings and lightning. It is computed that from 20,000 to 30,000 persons perished in the towns of La Guayra, Caraccas, Merida, Mayquetia, and Sanfelipe.

You will readily observe that the planetary positions here given concur in a most striking manner with the Rules which you have laid before the public for foretelling these awful phenomena of nature.

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Lat. H0° 31' S. ↳ 0° 58′ S. 4 1° 5' N. ♂ 2° 10′ S.
? 0° 14' N. 4° 13' S. D 4° 56' S.

At six years of age this unfortunate native fell into a privy and was nearly smothered, being recovered with great difficulty; at which time Mars (in Scorpio, which rules such places) came to the square of the Asc. In January 1835, his clothes caught fire, and the left arm and left side of the face and neck were severely burnt; by which his arm was contracted, and his under lip was drawn on one side. On the 30th November, 1834, there was a total eclipse of the Sun in 8° off, a fiery sign, and in exact square to the Moon at birth. directions were operating. N.B. The above is the estimate time. No doubt primary

The student will observe the violent square from fixed signs and angles of the Sun and Mars; the opposition of the Moon and Mercury, and the square of Jupiter to Uranus, who is rising and very evil; from all which would have been predicted these sad and direful accidents.

VOL. I.]

ZADKIEL'S MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY, 1849.

[No. 2.

ON THE PRESENT STATE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF ASTROLOGY, &c.

Μαντι ΚΑΚΛΝ, 8 πωποτε μοι το ΚΡΗΓΥΟΝ ειπας
Αιεί τοι τα ΚΑΚ' εσι φίλα φρεσι μαντευεσθαι
ΕΣΘΛΟΝ δ' εδε τι πω ειπας επος υδ' ετέλεσσας.

"Augur accurst! denouncing mischief still,

Prophet of Plagues, for ever boding ill!

Still must thy tongue some wounding message bring."-POPE.

THE above passage, from Agamemnon's speech to the Augur Chalcas, shews clearly that the world has never wanted for individuals endowed with the gift of prophecy, and that to look into the future has ever been a strong and fixed principle of the human mind. And as it was established in the mind by an all-wise Creator, who shall dare to say that its prudent and moderate exercise can be an evil in His sight? The term NEBIAH, "a prophet," is early applied in Scripture; thus, Abraham is so denominated as a token of respect: "Now, therefore, restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet," Gen. XX, 7. Again; we read of "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth; she judged Israel at that time," Judges iv, 4. And this office she seems to have had because she had the power of prophecy; for it was not Lapidoth, her husband, but she herself, who was the Leader of the people; her very name, DEBORAH, signifying "a Leader."

It was the office of the highest of the citizens in ancient Rome to play the part of prophet; and until the Augurs decided, no public matter could be undertaken. The oriental nations, especially the enlightened Persians, still pay the highest respect to Astrology; and in all the East, to look into the future is considered the privilege of the wisest of men.

Nor has the principle of Astral Science been ever so much destroyed in the minds of Europeans as the wiseacre philosophers pretend. Prophecies have ever been current among the people of western Europe; who, albeit they are ignorant and kept in slavish thral

VOL. I.

F

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STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ASTROLOGY.

dom, "know a sheep's head from a carrot," and have intelligence enough to judge whether, when a prophecy is made, it is fulfilled or not.

When the priests from Rome endeavoured to introduce the christian faith into Gaul, they found a universal belief existing in the powers and influence of the heavenly bodies; and, with a view to gradually destroy the evil of worshipping those bodies, they wisely allowed the old faith to be amalgamated with the new, feeling that to eradicate old notions entirely at first was impossible. Thus, the old astrologers, who had presided at the founding of the city of Paris, and named the city PARA-ISIS, signifying "in the power of Isis;" knew right well that Isis was the Phoenician - ISH-ISH, or ASH-ISH, the "Star of Being or Existence," that is, VENUS. Now Venus has dignity in the sign Virgo, which is found to rule that city: and thus the chief temple therein was sacred to Venus. On the site of that temple a christian fane was erected, and still consecrated to "our Lady;" and thus the old astrological ideas were conciliated. This is evident; for on entering the church of Notre Dame, "our Lady" is seen in a distinguished position. Over the great gate, as you enter at the north, are depicted the twelve signs of the Zodiac; but the 6th sign, Virgo, the virgin, is thrown out, and the figure of the statuary put in its place, while "the virgin" is set above all the rest, as the goddess to whom the temple was dedicated. Thus we learn how the Catholic priests first came to pay divine honours to "the Virgin" MARY; for we seek in vain for any authority in the Scriptures for the custom; nor was it followed by the early christians. It is, in fact, a modification of the ancient Zabaistical custom of worshipping the planet Venus; or we may declare that it is merely the ancient and universal worship of Isis renewed under another designation. But, lest the people should see through the humbug, the priests used all in their power to put down the ancient belief in astrology. They never perfectly succeeded; for the astrologers had always facts to build upon, which must ever eventually overcome a system founded on fiction. And accordingly we see that, as the catholic religion goes down in the world and the spirit of free inquiry comes forth, the ancient doctrine of the stars being the rulers (under the Almighty) of all mundane events, grows more and more into the perfect day. And it is curious that the very year of the downfal of the temporal power of the Pope is exactly that in which the whole world rings with the fulfilment of old prophecies and well-attested astrological predictions.

While treating on this subject, it may be worth while to bring

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ASTROLOGY.

35

66 a

additional evidence of the fact we state, from the meaning of the name MARY. This was in the Latin (used by the catholics), MARIA; and is clearly derived from Mare, the sea; which is itself formed of Myrrh, because it is bitter; and more remotely from м, a multitude; and IN, AR, to flow, signifying multitude of flowing waters." Now, the oriental fable was, that Myrrha was the mother of Adonis, the Sun; because the Sun was known to arise from the sea. But the Nile was believed to flow from the Sun, and was worshipped because of its supposed connexion with the great Egyptian god N, that is on, the Sun, who was also HORUS and OSIRIS; and was introduced by Orpheus into Greece as Bacchus. He was worshipped as IHZ, Hues; that is Zeus Oubeios or Jupiter pluvialis, the rainy Jove. This title of ON, meaning "the ONE," or "the alone," is found in the Greek term lov, one. And the three Greek letters IHE, 1. E. s., which were found on the altars of IHIOE, IEIOS, that is Apollo, were cleverly changed by the catholic priests into the three Latin letters, very similar in appearance, though not in sound, 1. H. S., and made to stand for Jesus Hominum Salvator, "Jesus the Saviour of Men." And the old monogram or hieroglyph to express the sign Virgo is actually found to consist of an m for "Mary" and the first letter of this celebrated word IHE, or the i grec, as the French term the letter y; and so both together form the monogram or cipher to express the sign Virgo, thus m.

We must here place on record in our pages the account of one of the most striking instances of the fulfilment of an old astrological prediction that have appeared before the world, and which must palsy the tongues of all the enemies of the science, unless they be those of men who are lost to all sense of decency and who hate the truth because it is the truth; yet who have the insolence to cry out against astrologers as impostors, while they stand openly convicted themselves of denying, suppressing, and opposing evidence, or of substituting for it mere lying declama

tion.

After commenting on the Prophecy of Orval, which has gained much notoriety on the continent recently, the Editor of the Family Herald observes :

"The above is a mystic prophecy, or revelation, we suppose; for although the reputed author was a Doctor of Medicine, and an astrologer also, as all ancient physicians were, it does not pretend to be the result of an examination of the heavens. We shall, therefore, adduce one of the latter description-a prophecy of undoubted authority, the original of which is extant in print, which can lay claim to an antiquity of three or four hundred years. It is one of the most remarkable prophecies on record; and one not merely once recorded and then forgotten, like a fortunate hit, as most people are disposed to regard these things, but one deeply premeditated and calculated-the

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STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ASTROLOGY.

calculations of which are still in existence, and verified by some of the first scientific men of the present day—the Baron Humboldt, and M. Ideler, of Berlin, &c.

This prophecy can be traced as far back as 1492, in a work of Cardinal D'Ailly, called Alphonsine Tables, published in that year, at Venice; and we are informed in the French Journal des Debats, 8th January, 1840, that at the earnest request of Baron Humboldt, M. Ideler, of Berlin, examined and verified the calculations of the cardinal respecting the great conjunctions of Saturn, the eighth or greatest of which, after ten Saturnal revolutions, was to happen precisely at the time when the French Revolution took place. The old astrologers, foreseeing this conjunction three hundred years before it happened, predicted, in the plainest possible language, a great mundane revolution. The following are the words of the cardinal himself:—“ Si mundus usque ad illa tempora duraverit, quod Solus Deus novit, multæ tunc, magnæ et mirabiles alterationes mundi et mutationes futuræ sunt et maximè circa leges." That is, "If the world should last so long, which God only knows, then many great and wonderful revolutions and changes will take place, especially with respect to laws." This latter clause is remarkable, as the French Revolution is the commencement of an era of reform in respect to laws such as the world never before witnessed, and the reform still goes on. In a book printed in 1534, entitled La Periode, c'est à dire la Fin du Monde, &c., composé par MAISTRE TURREL, the same prediction is most specifically alluded to; and not only the commencement of the Revolution but the end of it most accurately noted:-" Laissons à tant à plus parler des chouses faictes, et que ont faict, que quasi tous hommes scavent, s'ils ne sont ignorants, et parlerons de la huictième maxime et merveilleuse conjonction que les astrologues disent estre faicte environ les ans de Nostre Seigneur MIL SEPT CENS OCTANTE ET NEUF avec dix revolutions Saturnelles; et oultre VINGT-CINQ ans àpres sera la quatrième et derniere station d'altitudinaire firmament*." That is, “Let us leave off speaking of things past, which all men know who are not ignorant, and let us speak of the eighth great and marvellous conjunction of Saturn, which, astrologers say, will take place about the year ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE, with ten Saturnal revolutions; and TWENTY-FIVE YEARS afterwards will be the fourth and last station of the "altitudinaire firmament." We leave the astrologers to translate these last two words. We can find no good English for them. But the meaning is, that the termination of the eventful revolution takes place twenty-five years after 1789; that is, in 1814. Nothing can be more exact than this prophecy, published three hundred years before the event, and still existing in numerous printed books of the most ancient date.

Master Pierre Turrel then goes on to say that, in his opinion, about that time Antichrist will come with his law and his damnable sect; for the astrologers all foresaw a change of laws. Napoleon only came with his Code Napoleon.

The same prediction is given in Latin verse by Regiomontanus, with the dates precise. We give the original:

Post mille expletos à partu virginis annos,

Et septingentos rursus abire datos,
Octuagesimus octavus mirabilis annus,
Ingruet et secum tristia fata feret.

Si non hoc anno totus malus occidet orbis,

Si non in nihilum terra fretumque ruet,

Cuncta tamen mundi sursum ibunt atque deorsum,

Imperia et luctus undique grandis erit.

"Altitudinaire firmament" means the highest point of the heavens at which Saturn is stationary.-ZADKIEL.

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