A SECOND DELUGE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 47, 25 February 1901, Page 3

A SECOND DELUGE.

PREDICTED FOR DECEMBER, 1001.

On one of the famous Babylonian tablets appears an inscription of surpassing interest, the full import of which has only now become manifest. And yet the inscription simply informs us that Capricorn was the ruling siga in the Zodiac at the time of the deluge—not a startling statement in itself, nor one iikely to attract much attention from antiquarians and archaeologists. Quite recently, however, a copy of the inscription fell into the hands of an Oriental scholar ill London, who is also an amateur astronomer and astrologer of no mean repute, and he at once saw that a wide iield Of speculation was.here opened to him, the enigma to be solved being the question:—ln view of the fact that a great delude occurred when Capricorn was the ru ing sign in the Zodiac, ail the plauets being congregated in this sign at that time, is it reasonable to expect that another deluge will occur when the zodiacal conditions are similar?

Within a few days every noted occultist and astronomer in England, had heard of the strange inscription, arid ever since they have been pondering over it. The data which they have to guide them to-

ward a solution of the problem are few but important. To quote Dr. Frank Close: "What are known as the Babylonian tablets are a set of inscribed uluted book leaves written thousands of years before the Christian era, in wiiieh Is given an account of the Noachian Deluge, These tablets were exhumed from the ancient city of Nineveh, and are now in the British Museum in London."

Now Berosus, a Chaldean astronomer and one of the ablest men of his time, wrote a history of the Babylonian Empire, in which he not only, quoted' The Babylonian tablets, but also declared that another flood would surely take place whenever the sun, moon and planets again occupied the sign Capricorn. That this strange prediction is of unusual interest to persons now living is evident from the fact that in December, 1901, the sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter anS Saturn will be i LOCATED IN THE SIGN CAPRICORN AS REQUIRED by Berosus, while the moon and Neptune will be in the opposite sign, Cancer, toward the end of the month. It may be argued that the conditions at that time will not be exactly the same as those which prevailed at the time of the Deluge, since neither Venus, Herschel, Neptune nor the moon will be iv Capricorn. • The reply to this is that Herschel and Neptune were unknown at the' time of the Deluge and that consequently, even if they had been in Capricorn, neither Berosus nor any other astronomer could have chronicled the fact. "Venus, moreover, is a minor planet and of little importance in such a matter, and as for the moon, though she may not be iv Capricorn while the other planets arc there in close conjunction, she will certainly be there for some hours about that time. The question, therefore, which many persons are now asking is, Will a second deluge take place during December, 1901? To such an important question scientists or occulists of international reputation are very loth to reply, but a fair estimate ol' their views may be gleaned from the following statement in "Coming Events," a London occult journal.

"The term flood or deluge,'' says the writer, "does not necessarily mean the total extinction by submergence of all the living creatures on the earth, but rather the "submersion of a continent, such as happened in the case of the lost Lemurla and Atlantis, traditions of .which all nations and peoples seem to possess. Necessarily, such a huge submersion would cause fearful tidal waves in all. other lands, and to such phenomena me Noachian. record probably refers, Whether partial satisfaction in December, 1901, of the conditions specified "by Berosus will produce even partially similar results is a matter we may safely leave to the consideration of students." Many persons will naturally ask, Is Berosus.a reliable authority on such a subject? and therefore a few words about him are necessary. Professor Sayre, of Oxford, the well-known Orientalist and author of "Anclent Empires," says: "BEROSUS WAS A PRIEST of the Temple of Bel, at Babylon, and is said by Eusebius and Tatian to have been a contemporary of Alexander the Great, and to have lived into the reign of Antiochus Soter. He had, therefore, special opportunities of knowing the history and astronomy of his country, upon which he wrote in Greek. Recent discoveries have abundantly established the trustworthiness of this Manetho of Babylon, whose works, uufortunately.are known to us only through quotations at second and third hand. "Since a cylinder of Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, has been found inscribed iv Babylonian cuneiform, while bilingual fragments in cuneiform and cursive Greek of the Seleukid age have also been discovered, and a contract in Babylonian cuneiform dated In the fifth year of the Parthiau King Pakoros, the contemporary of Domltian, exist in the Museum at Zurich, there Is no reason why Berosus should not have been equally well acquainted with the Greek language and the old literature of his own country. And in spite of the fragmentary and corrupt state iv wliic-U his fragments have come down to us, we know that he was so. His account of the deluge, for Instance, agrees even In its details with that of the cuneiform texts." Since the time of Ptolemy each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac has been supposed to have a decided influence over certain cities nnd countries, and the experience of centuries, it Is claimed, proves that mlsfdrtunes always, come to those cities and countries whenever malefic planets arc in their sigus. If this be true, and there should be even a partial flood in 1001, India, the Punjaub, Thrace, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Albania, Hesse, Mexico, Lithuania, nud the city of Oxford would be most likely to Buffer, since they are the places over which Capricorn is said to hold sway. Cancer, however, will be afflicted at the same time by the presence of Neptune, and by the opposition of the other planets in Capricorn, and, as this sign is said to rule Africa, Scotland, Holland, New Zealand, Amsterdam, Cadiz, Constantinople, Venice, Genoa, New York, Milan, and Manchester, occultists claim that these places will also be seriously afflicted In December, 1901. Qui vlvra verra.