What Truth is There in Astrology? - The Late Prince Imperial
Sir,—Your correspondent “Aldebaron’s” remarks oil the nativity of the late Prince Imperial, son of Napoleon III., are very interesting, and are calculated to excite in the mind of the student a desire to know a little more concerning it. Having gone very carefully over the whole of the calculations, including the primary arcs of direction corresponding to the chief events of his career on this earth, I am tempted to offer the following elements:—R.A. of M.C. 221° 48’. Ascending degree 11° 51’ of Capricorn. Sun in 25° 45’ of Pisces. Moon in 25° 0’ of Cancer. Mercury in 28° 8’ of Aquarius. Venus in 23° 14’ of Aquarius. Mars in Libra 18° 53’, retrograde. Jupiter in Pisces 17° 55’. Saturn in Gemini 23° 32’. Uranus in Taurus 18° 0’. Neptune in Pisces 18° 12’. The moon was “byleg,” and was posited in the sign Cancer (which “rules,” or influences Africa), and in square to Mars. lienee the young Prince met with a violent death in Africa. His delicacy of constitution was foretold by Zadkiel in his Almanae for 1857, and Zadkiel also affirmed his belief that the Prince would not live to reign. In 1867, under evil directions (sun to the parallel of Mars in the zodiac, 10° 58’; ascendant opposition moon in the zodiac, 11° 25’; and moon parallel Saturn in the zodiac, 11° 29’), the Prince sustained an injury to his hip and knee in consequence of some severe falls, and had to submit to surgical operations. This prevented his attending the Exhibition until June. Thus was verilied Zadkiel’s prediction, viz.:—“The Trench Emperor has now (1867) fame and honours; this child of fortune becomes more and more prosperous: in fine, he will be spoken of as the greatest man in all Europe; but the Prince Imperial suffers, and this is the bitter drop in the Emperor’s cup.” Any one who will turn to page 15 of Zadkiel’s Almanac for 1867, and it can be seen at the British Museum, will be able to verify this fact for himself.
The fall of Napoleon III. was also foretold by Zadkiel, in his Almanac for 1853, in the following words:—“But let him not dream of lasting honours, power, or prosperity. He shall found no dynasty; he shall wear no durable crown. But, in the midst of deeds of blood and slaughter, with affrighted Europe trembling beneath the weight of his daring martial hosts, he descends beneath the heavy hand of Fate, and falls to rise no more, with none to mourn him, none to inherit his renown, none to record his good deeds, and none to lament his destruction.”
It is worthy of notice that at the birth of the son of Napoleon I., as at the birth of the late Prince Imperial, the sun was in square aspect to Saturn. At the birth of Napoleon I., Saturn was in the mid-heaven and in opposition to the moon. At the birth of Napoleon III., Saturn was in the mid-heaven and in square to the moon. Accordingly all these four personages fell from their exalted positions and died in exile.
At the period of the death of the Prince Imperial, the following very evil train of directions was operating, viz:—Ascendant semiquartile sun, in the zodiac, 22° 37’; mid-heaven coiljunction Mars, converse, 23° 13’; ascendant square Mars, converse, 23° 13’; sun square Uranus, zodiac, converse, 23° 13’; ascendant parallel Uranus, zodiac, 23° 51’; and moon semiqnartile Mars, zodiac, 21° 17’. The influence of Mars in this train is very apparent, and, accordingly, the Prince died a martial and violent death. The arc for the period of death, according to the Ptolemaic (luni- solar) measure was 23° 13’.
At the birthday anniversary in 1879, the sun was in sextile aspect to Mars; the moon was in the ascendant hastening to the conjunction with Mars; and Mars was within four degrees of the exact opposition of the moon’s place at birth. On the day of his death Mars was within one degree of the longitude held by the sun at the Prince’s birth. These coincidences are very remarkable, and cannot fairly be dismissed as accidental, for they are in exact accordance with the observations and teachings of all astrologers, as a study of the Text-Book of Astrology will prove. Alfred J. Pearce.
Dr. Slade in Germany*
To state more precisely the grounds of my recognition of the facts upon which Spiritualism is founded, I add the following general remarks upon that subject.
In the report which Professor Zollner has given in his work (Scientific Treatises') on the Spiritualistic seances which were held in Leipsic and Breslau with the American medium Slade, he has, besides printing the testimony of Professors Weber and Scheibner, also mentioned my observations in their favour, and I do not withdraw my testimony, although it does not reach nearly so far, and even to myself carries much less weight, than that of Professor Zollner and his fellow observers. I was, in point of fact, only present at a few of the first of the seances which were not the most decisive, and I was present more' as a spectator than as an experimentalist. Those seances did not, even to myself, amount to demonstration in the face of the suspicion of jugglery.
If, however, I take what after all I have seen myself, without being able to detect any deception in spite of the keenest attention, and add to it the results of the continued observations and real experiments of my scientific friends in their subsequent sittings, and also those of the English men of science; and if, moreover, I remember that the phenomena which in Leipzic have been questioned by being called humbug and jugglery, have in other places been demonstrated to be facts by good observers, when mediums were employed who were above suspicion, then all this reacts upon me with a force of conviction which I am not able to withstand, however much, as regards certain phenomena, I should like to do so.
Indeed, however incredible the spiritual facts may at first sight appear to be, we must altogether give up trust in human testimony, and the possibility of proving facts by observation, and thus part with all knowledge derived from experience, if we do not accept the mass of testimony lying before us in favour of the reality of spiritual phenomena.
Without adverting to the greater number of the witnesses, I will here mention only a few, to whom it is natural to refer at this time.
If Professor Zollner, who may be taken to be the chief spokesman for the reality of spiritual phenomena in Germany (as well as myself, who do not lay claim to independent authority as an observer in this field, but who supports his observations), is declared to be a visionary who sees what he wishes to see, it should be shown firstly in what region of observation he has ever proved himself to be one; and, secondly, <... continues on page 10-58 >
*Translated from Professor Fechner’s work, The Philosophy of Light as Opposed to the Philosophy of Night.
Editor's notes
Sources
-
London Spiritualist, No. 370, September 26, 1879, p. 155
-
London Spiritualist, No. 370, September 26, 1879, pp. 145-47