The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-02-02
THE YEARS ASTROLOGY,
Dire and Fearful Happenings Propheoied
by Astrological Ravens.
New York Tribune1


It was 8 long time pretty generally under
derstood by people who put their trust in
Mother Shipton that our planet would become
a total wreck at some period during the year
upon which we have so prosperously entered.
NOW the rolling up Of the heavens Ike q
scroll, the general liquefaction of matter un-
der fervent heat and the disorganization Of
the universe into a evidences of tempestu-
Gus combustion" is not an event which the
mass Of mankind would be likely to contem-
plate with serenity, provided it was set down
for q date certain and near at hand, say
Saturday week. According to the theory Of
the universe proposed by Boscovich, there
may be, it is true, nc ultimate chaos and con-
hagration, but in their stead o quiet and sud
den vanishing Of worlds. If matter, as the
ingenious Italian holds, does not consist Of
hard atoms, but is only q mode or a combi-
nation Of modes of notion congeries of
mathematical centres of attraction and repul-
sion-the visible and palpable universe is only
a constant and uniform emanation OF creative
energy which may cease instantaneously, for
it is quite as easy to conceive Of the with
draWal Of this energy as of its continued ex-
ercise by a Supreme Will. The end Of all
things, therefore, may be 'not a destruction"
but q rest; not q crash and ruin, but "a
pause" But granting the correctness Of this
hypothesis, on instantaneous vanishing into
nothingness is not to be contemplated With
out emotion by persons of regular habits, tor
this would quite as seriously disturb ordinary
business as would the passing away Of the
heavene with a great noise. Upon the whole
then, devout believers in the old lady are
justified in taking comfort in the abundantly
established fact that the famous prophecy,
stTo an end the world will come. ia eighteen
hundred and eighty-one," was never uttered
q by Mother Shipton, but is an iInpious forgery
which nowhere appears in the tertus Teceptus
of her forebodings.
And yet there are persons quite as familiar
with the Future as Mother Shipton and quite
as competent to unroll the volume Of destiny
who assert that during this fatal year the
skies will be all ablaZe with portents of evil.
The Almanac Of Zsdkiel Tao SEE and the
Prophetic Messenger Of Raphael for 1881 are
both works by recognized authorities in astro-
logical science. Their prophecies, it is true,
traverse each other in minor details, as, for
instance, when q certain aspect of the heav-
ems is interpreted by one to fortell q prevalent
and suffocating disease of the human wind
pipe, and blythe other TO signify 9 devastating
tidal wave; but they agree in predicting that
a great many unpleasant things will come to
pass. The most mischievous planetary in
fluence will come from the con junction Of
Saturn and Jupiter. This event is set down
by the a%strologers for April IS, which hap
ne IS 10 be four days ahead Of time, and it is
to be hoped that this error will vitiate some
of their calculations. It takes place in Tau
rus. near the cusp of the 9th house. Now
taurus is a beastly and unhealthy sign, and
Raphael is probably correct when he states
that horned cattle will be afflicted with MUIR
rain before mankind is wasted by the plague.
No one will have the hardwood to question
Zadkiel's assertion that ''the Bull rules Ire
land and therefore he holds that this con-
junction in Taurus presigni6es sedition and
rioting in that island. But Taurus rules Asia
Minor as we'll, and it is TO be noted that the
last great conjunction in this sign, which
happened in 1146, WAS followed by the blood
lest Of the crusades and a violent brandishing
of the shillelah. But this conjunction is only
one of the threatening aspects OF the skies.
1t will be quickly followed by the conjunction
OF Jupiter and Neptune; then Mars will join
Neptune, and soon after Jupiter and Mars
will meet. All these conjunctions will take
place in Taurus and presagewoes untold. Be
sides this the four great planets are rapidly
approaching their perihelia, and before the
earth RECEIVERS from the baneful effects Of
ore, another will be abstracting the vital
principles from our atmosphere. These near
~ coincident perihelia have not occurred
since the fourteenth century, when the Black
Death swept over Europe, eliminating 10 the
London plague.
Terrible as will be the results Of the intense
planetary activity in the times next ensuing,
Zadkiel comforts the world by the assurance
that a f~oreknowledge of these perils will
greatly mitigate them, as, for instance, the
prudent will remain on shore during the days
when shipwrecks are %foretold, and they will
check the advance of Asiatic cholera by pro-
phylactic doses of spirits of camphor. Ra-
phael's forecast is more gloomy. In bis
opinion the Affections which will begin in
February proximo will accumulate ia number