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NewYeaarsEdition200912_june_july_2009.qxd 16/12/2009 2:32 PM Page 8 8 Astrologers to the Throne 8 Astrologers to the Throne ASTROLOGERS TO During the next two centuries astrology Astroloy FACT-oids Astroloy FACT-oids ASTROLOGERS TO THE THRONE declined in Europe, but interest revived in the THE THRONE late 19th century. In Germany, astrology DR. JOHN DEE became associated with a trend in metaphysical DR. JOHN DEE Throughout the ages, and tight up to thought that was adopted by the Nazis. In the A near-contemporary of Nostradamus the present day, kings, emperors, and 1920’s several diviners drew up horoscopes for was the English mathematician Dr. John Dee. statesmen have put their faith in astrologers the emerging leader of the party, Adolph Hitler He was born outside London in 1527, and at 19 to forecast coming events. - including German astrologer Elizabeth was teaching Greek at Trinity College, Ebertin. In ancient Rome, little was done without “A man of action born April 20 1889, Cambridge. Dee travelled widely in Europe, and in the advice of an astrologer. For he not only gave with Sun in 29 degrees Aries,” she wrote in about 1550 he began to take an interest in his prognostications on the progress of a war, 1923, “can expose himself to personal danger astrology and other aspects of magic. Queen the founding of a city, or the succession of a by excessively incautious action, and could very Mary I asked him to cast horoscopes for herself king or emperor; he also calculated the portents likely trigger off an uncontrollable crisis. His and her prospective bridegroom, Philip of for a marriage, a journey, or a move to a new constellations show that this man is to be taken Spain.Unwisely, Dee also drew up the house. very seriously indeed: he is destined to play a horoscope of Mary’s half-sister, the future But Rome fell, and the secrets of Fuhrer-role in future battles.” queen Elizabeth. astrology were lost - except to all the followers This prediction increased interest in (This has been preserved in the British of Muhammad, who found the manuscripts of astrology among the Nazi Party. The only Nazi Museum.) He was accused of treason and then Ptolemy, the greatest of Egyptian astronomers, leader known to have employed an astrologer is acquitted, but remained in prison until 1555. in the library at Alexandria, For 600 years the Heinrich Himmler, but Goebbels also took an Arabs studied science and mathematics, and interest, realizing its propaganda value. Royal Patronage preserved the teachings of the astrologers. Yet it was not until the 13th century, when European President Protection In1558, when Mary died and Elizabeth scholars were invited to Toledoin succeeded her, the new queen Spain to study the great library asked Dee to determine a established there by the Moors, propitious date for her that this wisdom became once coronation; and from then on he more available to the West. remained close to the throne. It is said that Elizabeth consulted A Self-fulfilling Prophecy with Dee on the very day she died in 1603. One of those European Dee, however, gained a scholars was a cleric called reputation for being involved in Michael Scot from the \scottish black magic, and his house was Borders town of Balwearie. He wrecked by a mob. Luckily, they was the tutor of the young spared his “magic glass” - the Frederick II, king of Sicily and crystal sphere he used for his subsequently Holy Roman divinations, which also can be Emperor, and in 1220 was seen today in the British appointed court astrologer. The Museum. 14th century writings of Francesco Pipini tell the story of FIRE FROM HEAVEN? FIRE FROM HEAVEN? Scot predicting his own death. He determined that he would be In 1648 the Englishman killed by a small stone of a William Lily wrote: “In the year certain weight, and so invented a 1665...or near that year...there special protective covering for will appear in this kingdom so his head. But during Mass one strange a revolution of fate, so day he removed this at the most grand a catastrophe as never yet appeared...It sacred part of the service, and a small stone fell In recent years, several public figures will be ominous to London, to all sorts of from the vault of the church and hit him on the have admitted to being influenced by astrology. people...by reason of sundry fires and a head. Scot weighed the stone - it was exactly the One of these was Nancy Reagan. According to consuming plague.” predicted weight. He immediately put his affairs her memoirs, My Turn (1989), she regularly In 1664 he returned to the subject, in order and left for his birthplace in Scotland. consulted Californian astrologer Joan Quigley published a broadsheet illustrated with There he died of the wound, and is said to be during her husband’s presidency. woodcuts, including one that showed the sign of buried in Melrose Abbey. Mrs. Reagan would telephone Quigley Gemini (traditionally that of the City of with the President’s schedule in front of her and London) plunging into flames. Royal Family Horoscopes ask whether specific dates were safe or dangerous. Then she would call Michael Perhaps the most famous royal Deaver, who was in charge of the schedule, and Bubonic Plague astrologer of all is Michel de Nostredame try to make small changes according to the A year later, in 1665, London was (known as Nostradamus), born at St. Remy, astrologer’s advice. visited by a major outbreak of bubonic plague, France, December 14, 1503. In 1555 he When Donald Regan, the White House followed in 1666 by the fire that destroyed published the first part of his verse prophecies, chief of staff, published his own revelations much of the city. and the following year he was summoned to the about Mrs. Reagan’s reliance upon astrology, Lilly’s prediction of the plague received royal court in Paris. There he was asked to cast there was a major scandal. “Astrologer Runs the wide publicity, and when the fire broke out in horoscopes for the queen’s children. Soon after, White House” blared the headlines in the New the following year, it was suggested in he returned to Provence, but in 1565 one of York Post. But as Joan Quigley put itin an Parliament that he himself had started it in order these children, the young king Charles IX, interview with Time: “An astrologer just picks to enhance his standing as a prophet. He was appointed him “doctor and counselor in the best time to do something that someone else arrested and, only after a long investigation, ordinary to the king.” Nostradamus did not have has already planned to do. It’s like being in the cleared of all suspicion - a verdict that made his long to enjoy royal favor, as he died the ocean: you should go with the waves, not reputation forever. [] following year. against them.” []