Page:Amazing Stories Volume 10 Number 13.djvu/18

16 The publication of articles on astrology and purporting to give its predictions goes to show that there must be a somewhat widespread belief in its powers. It is entirely fallaceous; there is not an iota of truth in the assertions of its prophetic powers. The fact that two of the planets are in conjunction is a purely natural and physical phenomenon and is not indicative of any prospective happenings in human affairs on this earth we inhabit. Astronomical phenomena tell us nothing about future doings on the earth. No possible relationship can be traced. Yet there is widespread belief in astrology, in the power of predicting the future by the relations of stars and planets in positions one with another.

The number of books which have been written on the subject is quite extensive, and there is much to be told of its history. It is absolutely astonishing how many men of the highest standing in past ages believed in it. The records of this belief take in many of the most distinguished men of olden times. It would be most interesting to know how many of the present age, which we call enlightened, believe in its prophetic powers. If there were any truth in its claims it would be an easy matter to get rich. There must be many who trust in its foretelling. And how useful would the knowledge of the future be for us. For it would be a necessary implication of a knowledge of the future, that everything is arranged and fixed for futurity, so that we could not change it. If we knew that we were to be favored by fate, if we trusted in the prognostications of astrology, the sequence of it all would be that we could not change the future, so what would be the use of making any provision for it? This is a sort of side isueissue [sic], however; the fact at the base of attempts to foretell the events of the future must logically be their inevitability, for this is the issue involving their veracity. If we are told just what is to happen, we should logically cease from all endeavoring. We should let events take their own course. And a successful career certainly will be due to personal work and ability, while astrology, if followed, would eliminate the personal element.

In the works of Herodotus, who has been entitled "the father of history," we are told of the old Greek oracles, shrines where fortune-tellers had their habitat and who were consulted by the highest personalities, kings and commanders of armies, who sought the guidance of alleged fortune tellers, to affect their future conduct. Old Herodotus gives several instances of the predictions of famous shrines as given out by the diviners, as they were looked upon. The feature which is brought out in many versions of the predictions is their ambiguity. The oracles had no desire to do anything to impair faith in their work, as that would of course affect them unfavorably. They were paid for their predictions. So in some instances, given by the historian, ambiguity appears quite ingeniously brought out. The language of the oracle’s message is capable of two interpretations, so that whatever happened, it would appear that the foretelling was correct. It was a cleverly managed business. Such famous shrines as the Oracle of Delphi were paid liberally for their disclosures, these being ambiguous were no revelations whatever. The ambiguity often was quite humorous for those who did not take the words seriously to such an extent as to miss the double meaning.

Divination of the future was sought