VOX STELLARUM

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7914, 25 September 1911, Page 9

VOX STELLARUM

“OLD MOORE'S” PREDICTIONS FOR THE YEAR 1912. (“Westminster Gazette.”) It is a sad, sad world, however tho festivities of the season that is dying may havo deluded us! Even before we have recovered from the effects of the Coronation and of tho heat-wave, while tho “Constitutional crisis” is still with us, comes Old Moore to worry us with further troubles that await us in the coming year. There is nothing in his projAiocies, certainly, to create the impression that 1912 is to treat us worse than most of its predecessors have done; but. oven so, “vox stcdlavum” hints of a host of potty anxieties and of tragedies of one kind or another, and, as usual, the “prohetic hieroglyphics” fill us witli a vague and harassing unrest. The xmiricipal hieroglyphic in the new number of the famous Almanack is horrible. ft shows us a railway train dashing over a high viaduct and strewing the peaceful pasture below with mangled corpses; an awful mine disaster; a fierce storm iu which a harmless, unoffending clergyman is struck by lightning—a hint, perhaps, at tho coming of Disestablishment ;* a coffin, strewn with flowers, on which an Imperial crown rests; a lire from which a distracted mother, clutching her babe to her breast, escapes in heat-wave costume through a stream of water; and a mountain tragedy in which a gallant climber—either a brigand chief or a member of tho Alpino Club, to judge from his costume —falls, with a roped companion, from a rugged peak. THE LAST STRAW, AND—TRAFALGAR SQUARE.

But these pictured terrors -are only, so to speak, tho more prominent landmarks in tho journey through tho year, and are meant to whet our appetite for details; and tho details, oven though an occasional ray of happiness shines through some accidental rift in thoir cloud of gloom, almost drive us to dospair. In January, for instance, there is to bo “furo malefico in Taurus, and Saturn culminating in 11G EI” * Old Moore says so; and, not satisfied with this, ho threatens us with tho loss of “ono of our prominent men/' Both a fatal ■ accident to a footballer (caused, if the corresponding picture is reliable, by a ridiculous attempt to play a Rugby ball with the head) and an accident to a jockey who is so unwise as to ride in hunting costume, and to allow/fhimsclf to be thrown in close proximity to a bad railway accident, are included iii the month’s predictions; but which victim is the “prominent man” only time will show. Then, too, in February Venus is to bo opposed to Noptun-e, while Mars, after ruling mid-heaven, seeks a position of greater freedom and less responsibility on tho Nadir. This, of course, points clearly to an epidemic of influenza, after which suicide ‘ will become fashionable; to tho arming of the police with, revolvers; and to a serious motor ’bus accident. Mars—there is no rest for poor Mars! —will have Jupiter opposed to him in March; and the trouble that this foretells is bo serious that wo feel bound to quote tho prediction textually’; “The cost of education to the ratepayer now reaches tho last straw, and Trafalgar square is tho result.” Tut, tut! April, however, is to make amends for,, much that has gone before. The weather will be really very nice—for April; the Cup Final will bo won, if wo read the hieroglyphic aright, by tho quite interesting score of nine goals' to six; and. Old Moore tells us, “there are causes to wipe away the bitter sectarian hatreds. between rival religious professions, and cause for the mother’s laiee to become the children’s altar and foun-‘ tain of love”—a composite arrangement that is refreshing in its novelty. This, no doubt, is because Mars, at last, culminates in 75 E. ‘ May, too, will lie a moderately merry month, for “Science” is going to “discover another force easily applied to locomotion,and lighting purposes,” and disarmament will bo recognised as tho economic! remedy for Mormonism, since, the stars point out, “the great excess of women” is due to “the withdrawal of men for armies, navies, drowning fishermen and others, mining disasters, dangerous work,, to say nothing of selfish bachorlorhood.” The relation between causo and remedy appears remote in some of theso cases; but Old Moore states the matter thus, and wo are content to leave it in his hands. MARS ON THE CUSP.

In Juno wo arc going to have a very uncomfortable time. Mars is to bo in trouble again—''on tbo cusp" this time —and wo are threatened with "malevolent planets, strong, arousing tbe worst passions, and likely to cause difference between capital and labour, master and man, and oven family quarrelling during the first seven days." July is to bring with it changes in the Cabinet—tbo Minister can bo soon emerging from tbe "Cabinet," but no power on earth shall movo ns to identify him—and Portugal is to make Delagoa Bay the most attractive "lot" in a quiet little auction sal© at' which John Bull, Undo Sam, Germany, China, and Franco appear to bo the only bidders. August, . though, is to bo a really happy, quiet month. Mars will bo taking a holiday, and Mercury and Venus will occupy that "cusp” for a peaceful flirtation, so that "excursions of church, chapel, and other young people are.threatened in tho middle of tho month,” when tho weather will be, on tbo whole, fine, and when tho bean-feast and tbe school-treat are always at tho height of their popularity. Saturn may upset matters early in -September—there is a rumour of Mercury, interrupted, apparently, in his love-maldng, "rising square" to him — and "zodiacal influence is bombastic and warlike, and many natures generally placid and mild will become irritable”; but this naughty mood will soon pass away, and then "tho two sexes will bo drawn together by matrimony and pleasant social festivals," and Saturn, presumably, will throw up tho sponge. Tho jicriod of peace will oven extend throughout October, though in that month "derelict peers and high-grade divines will bo using all their influence, happily not much, to harass and embitter ministers over aggressive missionary work." Towards tho end of tho month, in fact "the masses will be in very contented humour, plenty of work with good wages being the order of - v tho day”; and. Old Moore adds naively; with anticipatory delight in tho fame that tho justification of a popular prediction will have won for him. “the study of astrology will increase." But, as tho Stock Exchange put it a few years ago, “after tho boom, the slump!" In November —introduced by a picture of Franco playing chess with Spain for a Morocco-bound prize, whilo tho German Emperor watches the game from behind a curtain—lunation is to bo afflicted in Scorpio; and, of course, wo all know what trouble may arise from such a state of things as that! "Vise and tactful diplomacy" will be required to "stop embroilment with other Pow-

crs”; there will bo a bicakdown ou an ocean liner; an earthquake cither in Italy or in Sicily; and trouble from “secret societies, blackmail, and murder of officials.” Happily, Mars will regain a little of his lost popularity in December, when wo find ‘Uranus “near Oth cusp, in good aspect” to him; and, thanks to this beneficent influence, "high tides will give opportunity for seasonable benevolence” and “fire insurance shares will rise.” So all's well that ends well!