History Ablaze

Following yesterday's pattern, another historical theme surfaces today: 350 years ago this weekend The Great Fire of London consumed a large part of that famous capital city.

From The Book of Days website
SNIP:

THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON

London was only a few months freed from a desolating pestilence, it was suffering, with the country generally, under a most imprudent and ill-conducted war with Holland, when, on the evening of the 2nd of September 1666, a fire commenced by which about two-thirds of it were burned down, including the cathedral, the Royal Exchange, about a hundred parish churches, and a vast number of other public buildings. The conflagration commenced in the house of a baker named Farryner, at Pudding Lane, near the Tower, and, being favoured by a high wind, it continued for three nights and days, spreading gradually eastward, till it ended at a spot called Pye Corner, in Giltspur Street. Mr. John Evelyn has left us a very interesting description of the event, from his own observation, as follows:

'Sept. 2, 1666.-This fatal night, about ten, began that deplorable fire near Fish Streete in London.

'Sept. 3.-The fire continuing, after dinner I took coach with my wife and soon, and went to the Bankside in Southwark, where we beheld that dismal spectacle, the whole Citty in dreadful flames neare ye water side; all the houses from the Bridge, all Thames Street, and upwards towards Cheapeside downe to the Three Cranes, were now consum'd...............

Astrologer William Lilly had predicted the Great Fire years before, via one of his mysterious hieroglyphic drawings. A good relevant essay, by Maurice McCann, is at Skyscript


SNIP

Lilly, it was claimed, had successfully predicted the outbreak of the fire fourteen years before when he had published Monarchy or No Monarchy in England a book containing nineteen hieroglyphic drawings giving carefully disguised predictions. As a consequence of one of these, featuring a large fire, Lilly was seriously suspected of causing the fire. It was also thought that he wished to obtain credit for forecasting the event. Being fearful of what might happen to him, Lilly persuaded the committee that his prediction had not been precise and he was allowed to go.

After the fire?
A snip and Conclusion from an article by Dr John Schofield at a BBC website
London After the Great Fire

SNIP

At least 65,000 people had been made homeless by the Fire. At first they camped in the fields outside the walls, but within days had dispersed to surrounding villages or other parts of London. Rents soared in the unburnt area, but somehow accommodation was found for all who needed it. Much merchandise had been destroyed, and there was virtually no fire insurance, so many people were ruined, and some moved away permanently.

Conclusion -
We have perhaps been overimpressed by the Great Fire, and must place it in context - the Fire, destructive though it was, devastated only about one third of the conurbation of London then standing. Within the area of the devastation a new city of brick and occasionally stone arose, but around it a larger area remained timber-framed for generations to come. Inside the City, if we could have walked down a street like Fenchurch Street in 1675, we would have seen an abrupt change from the brick buildings of the new city to the timber and plaster frontages of the pre-Fire city, at the point where the Fire was stopped. This sudden contrast took generations to erase. But it is also true that the Fire created the opportunity to build, in the central area, a city in a new form, which would quickly become the hub of the British Empire in the decades which followed. So the creation of the Empire owes something to the Great Fire of 1666.

ASTROLOGERS Born with Sun in Taurus

The Sun is about to slide into zodiac sign Taurus. I'll follow a pattern I seem to have set for myself over the past three months of spotlighting astrologers with Sun in sign of the month.

Searching Wikipedia's list of astrologers for any Sun in Taurus astrologers afforded slim pickings. I found three, from very different eras. The earlier two encountered difficulties closely entangled with dramatic events of their own times; the 20th/21st century astrologer is having a much less adventurous ride, for which I'm sure she feels truly thankful!

In date order


William Lilly born 11 May [Old Style 1 May] 1602 in Diseworth, England; died 9 June 1681.

From a good article at Urania Trust

Astrology was extremely popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, although in England there was a lack of important astrological writings until the 17th century, perhaps due to the “malice of the clergy” or the “servile fear” of astrologers, who were uncertain about their legal status.7 Amongst the growing number of amateur and professionals, one name stands out, that of William Lilly, probably the most acclaimed astrologer of his time. The flood of astrological publications from the 1640s onward, as well as the success of Lilly and other astrologers, brought to astrology a “greater vigour, confidence and assertiveness, and (paradoxically) a new respectability.”

Lilly's many predictions, often turning out to be correct, drew much attention, and some problems. During the years of the English Civil War he was thought to be a parliamentarian, but was in hot water more than once with the authorities for apparently helping the royalists. Engravings in his Monarchy and No Monarchy, (1651) showing the Great Plague and the Fire of London caused him to be called to appear before a committee set up to investigate the cause of the Great Fire of London, predicted in his book five years earlier. There was a suspicion that Lilly might have been involved in planning the disaster - but he was not found gulity of any wrongdoing.

Later in his life Lilly studied medicine and was granted a license to practice. From 1670 on he was well-known as a physician as well as an astrologer.

He published 15 major works on astrology as well as 36 almanacs and was consulted by famous individuals of the time. See Answers.com There's another excellent piece at Skyscript by David Plant: The Life and Work of William Lilly

Natal chart at Astrodatabank indicates a very Earthy personality. 4 Planets in Taurus, Moon in Capricorn and Mars in Virgo, with an opposition to Taurus planets from Saturn in Scorpio, and a square from Moon in Capricorn to Jupiter in Airy Libra.

Earthy he may have been, but he had the mix of Water and Air ingredients in his makeup, the presence of which do seem necessary bring forth an astrologer of some note.







Karl Ernst Krafft born 10 May 1900 in Basel, Switzerland; died, died 8 January 1945, was famously (or notoriously), known as "Hitler's astrologer"

Krafft's originally preferred astrological style was in statistical research. He had tried to emulate his idol, Paul Choisnard and continue his work on "astral heredity", without much acclaim or success. In those pre-computer days statistical research had to be a hit-and-miss affair, I guess. Between 1926 and 1930 he turned to traditional natal and mundane astrology, economic prediction, while having some of his older statistical work published in astrological journals of the time.

He moved to Germany in 1937.

From website of Astrological Association of St. Louis

Krafft now entered the large and literate German pre-WWII astrological community as a serious writer. He published his Traité (1939) and abandoned statistical work, having relocated with his wife to Germany and his much-admired National Socialism in 1937.

His descent began with his own telegram to the German Head Office for State Security drawing attention to his prediction of a 1939 Hitler assassination attempt, which had turned out to be accurate. Reich propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels took note, as did deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, and, when Hess flew to Scotland in 1941 on a “peace mission,” Krafft was arrested along with hundreds of other astrologers during “Aktion Hess.” Wilhelm Wulff, later Reich Leader-SSHeinrich Himmler’s personal astrologer, says in Zodiac and Swastika (1973)that “...I had to swear I would no longer work as an astrologer. I was also watched from that moment on.”

Hess’s own astrologer, Ernst Schulte-Strathaus, was also imprisoned, following a pattern established years earlier with the murders of SA chief Ernst Röhm and his astrologer, Dr. Karl-Guenther Heimsoth, in 1934 (David Berlinski, The Secrets of the Vaulted Sky, 2003).

Incorrectly dubbed “Hitler’s pet astrologer” (that was probably Hess, and then Elsbeth Ebertin) by British propagandist astrologer Captain Louis de Wohl, who was a German refugee himself (see Bobrick, The Fated Sky, 2005), Krafft was mainly employed by the Nazis to compose predictive disinformation based on the Nostradamus prophecies until, no longer useful to his employers, he was sent to his fate as an unstable and uncontrollable practitioner of a "presumptive” activity".

His real importance lies in the object lesson his life provides for astrologers today. He became famous in spite of himself. Karl Ernst Krafft died 8 January 1945, en route to Buchenwald concentration camp.

Wilhelm Wulff, one of the few astrologers to survive, says, “National Socialism was smashed and disappeared from the scene. Astrology in Germany, although decades behind the times, remained.”

Another article on this topic ~ Hitler's Astrologer.

Natal chart at Astrodatabank . He had only Sun in Taurus, with more Earthy input from Virgo rising and Saturn in Capricorn. Moon in Airy Libra, Venus in Watery Cancer and a good helping of Fire from Mercury and Mars in Aries, Jupiter and Uranus in Sagittarius. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were all in their signs of rulership, Moon and Venus were in mutual reception - so this was a strong chart. A little more emphasis on the Water element, though, might have afforded Krafft more intuition, and led him away from the danger awaiting him in Nazi Germany.







Deborah Houlding born 14 May 1962, Mansfield, UK. I recognise her as creator of one of the internet's best astrology websites: Skyscript.
From a profile there:

UK astrologer Deborah Houlding has been instrumental in bringing traditional astrological techniques back to the forefront of modern day practice. She was the award-winning editor of the much respected Traditional Astrologer Magazine, founded in 1993 when she also established Ascella Publications to specialise in producing rare and out-of-print traditional astrological texts. Since the late 1980s she has been active in researching the astronomical and symbolic basis of the techniques used in the traditional art of western astrology, from its earliest roots to its contemporary extensions.

Deborah's book The Houses: Temples of the Sky is regarded as an essential text for anyone seeking a truly informed knowledge of the development and use of astrological houses. It is available in translation in Czech, German (awaiting publication) and Italian. Her expert awareness of the techniques of William Lilly and his contemporaries, enabled her to produce a richly annotated reproduction of Lilly's voluminous 17th century classic Christian Astrology, acclaimed for the illuminating explanations that accompany the main body of the text. She is currently preparing a similarly annotated reproduction of Culpeper's 17th century Astrological Judgement of Disease as well as completing a history of classical astrology.

Besides frequent event appearances and the many articles that have appeared in magazines and astrological journals around the world, Deborah hosts and maintains Skyscript, one of the most popular and informative astrology sites on the web. She also leads her own School of Traditional Astrology (STA), which tutors astrologers to a professional level of horary practice by correspondence and residential workshops.

Natal chart at Astrodatabank: I'm not going to presume to interpret the chart of a living astrologer - what impertinence that'd be! Enough to say here that Ms Houlding has only Sun in Taurus, with Moon in Virgo (more Earth) and Cancer (Water) rising. Airy credentials come via Mercury and Mars in Gemini and Saturn in Aquarius (well-equipped in that department); and extra Water from Jupiter in Pisces and Neptune in Scorpio. Mars in Aries gives enough of a Fiery spark to get her work noticed! She has exactly the right astro-equipment, it seems to matter not in which sign or element the Sun resides, as long as it's complemented by some Air and, importantly, Water.

Comets, Prophecies, Mother Shipton, William Lilly.

I understand that round about now Comet Lulin (or is it Lu Lin?) is travelling at its nearest point to Earth, close to Saturn in Virgo, and close to the ecliptic. Nobody has any clear idea what astrological significance comets have; as each one passes we watch and wait, and hope a pattern emerges.

Traditionally comets have had a somewhat doomy reputation, often connected to the death of kings or leaders. I wonder whether this came about coincidentally, because it just so happened that a king once died while a comet was observable in the skies. Perhaps on more than one occasion someone prominent in public life shuffled off this mortal coil along with a comet's passing. Well, there are and were lots of kings and leaders in the world at any one time, many in their senior years. It doesn't take much imagination to see how that idea might have been born.

A medieval painting (1456 AD) shows a comet and ill-effects quite clearly: weather disruption, death, sickness. Again, whether connected to the comet or some other (astrological or different) reason isn't known.

Medieval Painting Dated 1456 AD, Near A Pass Of Halley's Comet.

Prophets and mediums throughout the years have come up with visions and predictions of doom and gloom; on occasion they, or their listeners have sometimes linked these to asteroids or comets striking the Earth, setting off all manner of disaster. It's not out of the question that this did happen in the very distant past, and could one day happen again. I don't, though, think that any prophet's proposed dates for the events are to be relied upon.

For the strong of constitution there's a website on the subject of predictions of disaster-by-comet HERE. I was particularly interested in the chapter on Mother Shipton (1488 - 1561) and her prophecies which some would try to say can be linked to disasters still to happen. She was a prophetess (some called her a witch) who lived in Yorkshire - my home county in England.

Mother Shipton's real name was Agatha Southeil, Shipton after marriage. There's a memorial place - Mother Shipton's Cave and Dripping Well or Petrifying Well, in a town called Knaresborough, on the banks of River Nidd.


People, over time have left small objects (children's shoes, hat, gloves, etc.) hanging under dripping water near the cave, and due to a heavy dose of minerals in the water, the objects have turned to stone. I visited the cave several times, long ago with my parents.
I recall that my grandmother, also a Yorkshire woman, had an old postcard with some of the Shipton prophecies printed on it. She kept it carefully preserved in her dressing table drawer. A few lines from the card I still remember

"Around the world thoughts shall fly,
in the twinkling of an eye....
Iron in the water shall float
As easy as a wooden boat;
Gold shall be found, and found,
In a land that's not now known".... there was more.

Some sources on the net propose that the whole thing, including Mother Shipton's existence, is a hoax. That, I believe is untrue. I do think though that additions have been made to her original prophecies in more modern times - there lies the hoax.

At a website presenting information from a detailed investigation of the Shipton story, carried out in 1881, here a name familiar to astrologers crops up: William Lilly. He "makes no question that Mother Shipton existed, and says that in his time the authenticity of her prophecies was undisputed. He had means, which we in modern times have not, of drawing a conclusion, and altogether it is tolerably certain that Mother Shipton had an actual existence."

The conclusion, from study of unimpeachable sources, available in in the British Museum, was that Mother Shipton's prophecies were fulfilled before the middle of the 17th Century. That tends to cancel out any present-day doom-mongers' attempts to place events Mother Shipton had prophesied into the 21st century or later, and relate them to comet or asteroid strikes still to come. She did say that the world would end in 1881, so her prophecies, in common with those of all prophets through the years, were not infallible.

There's an interesting article on Mother Shipton's life at a section of the Knaresborough tourist website. It's an easy, but long, read, with serious historical detail included about her parents and background. (Left: Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough, Yorkshire.)