Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00706)

Mark R. asked when was the last time a planetary configuration
like the present one occurred.  That depends on what you mean
by "like the present one."  The Gaia people on TV are saying
200 years, but in fact the last time that Jupiter, Uranus, the
Sun, Mercury and Venus were conjunct in Aquarius was (uh-oh)
February 1914.  That makes it seem like an omen of war, but
that was a war in which many technological innovations
occurred, and when I look at The Timetables of History I see
all these breakthroughs for 1914: James Jeans writes "Radiation
and the Quantum Theory", Robert Goddard begins rocketry
experiments, John B. Watson launches behaviorism in psychology
with his book *Behavior*, and the first successful heart
surgery was performed (on a dog) by Nobel Prize-winner Alexis
Carrel.  The categories in this book are A. History/Politics,
B. Literature/Theatre, C. Religion/Philosophy/Learning, D.,
Visual Arts, E. Music, F., Science/Technology/Growth, and G.
Daily Life.  In 1914 the war occupied column A., but none of
the others except F. contained things particularly memorable.

Because the guy on TV had said "not in over 200 years" I
started looking for Jupiter/Uranus conjunctions in Aquarius
working backwards from 1800, and the first one was in the
summer of 1665.  But in February before and after that, when
the Sun, Mercury and Venus might have conjoined the
Jupiter/Uranus, they were out of orb.  Looking at The
Timetables for that year, again nothing but column F. is
memorable.  To show how unmemorable they are, I'll give the
first item from each: Anne, future queen of Britain, born;
Samuel Coster, Dutch dramatist, dies; John Bunyan published
*The Holy City*, Bernini finished high altar, St. Peter's;
Giuseppe Aldrovandini, composer, dies; First modern census
taken in Quebec.  BUT look at these scientific/technological
developments: Giovanni Cassini deterrmines rotations of
Jupiter, Mars, and Venus; Robert Hooke writes "Micrigrahia" on
the microscope; Isaac Newton experiments on gravitation and
invents differential calculus.  So far, my theory that
Jupiter/Uranus in Aquarius produces breakthroughs in science or
technology is holding up.

But it turns out the guy on TV was wrong, as seen in the case
of 1914.  So I looked through the 19th century and found
(Theosophists take not) that Jupiter/Uranus conjunct in Aquarius
presided over the birth of Mme. Blavatsky in 1831, and in
February of that year were joined by the Sun, Mercury and
Venus.  Looking into the Timetables for that year:  again to be
fair I'll give the top item in each category, A., Polish Diet
declares independence, B., Balzac writes La Peau de Chagrin,
C., HPB born, D., Reinhold Begas, sculptor, born, E., Bellini
has two operas performed, and G., great cholera pandemic begins in
India.  (Oh, by the way, 1665 brought the Great Plague of
London, which killed almost 70,000.)  Column F again has the
major news for the year: Chloroform simultaneously invented in
Samuel Guthrie, American, and Justus von Leibig, Germany.
(This is interesting in that the discovery of calculus was also
simultaneous between Newton and Leibnitz-- indicating in both
cases that the "time was ripe" and suggesting
scientific/technological competition between German and
Anglo/American that continued in the World Wars!!)  Also,
Charles Darwin set sail on The Beagle, Michael Faraday conducts
experiments demonstrating discovery of electromagnetic
induction, birth of James Clerk Maxwell who theorized that
light and electromagnetism have identical source, Sir James
Clark Ross determines position of magnetic North Pole (do we
detect a theme here?)

Thanks, Mark, for making me waste an hour of work time, it was
fun :) and enlightening, maybe.

Prophecies: we're probably in for a year of major scientific
breakthroughs, but there's also a danger of outbreaks of
epidemics or war.