Tales of a Vanishing RiverReed, Earl H. (Earl Howell)
History
Tales of a Vanishing River
Reed, Earl H. (Earl Howell)
Illinois -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Kankakee River (Ind. and Ill.) -- Fiction; Short stories, American
In the “delineation,” which occupied the remaining pages, were black
clouds of misfortune. If Wattles had selected his hour of birth he could
not have found one in the whole gamut of heavenly chords when his
entrance into the world would have been more inopportune.
Mars was “on the ascendant in Taurus” and was his “significator”
and “ruling planet.” Its position in relation to the other
“malefics”—Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—all of which were above the
horizon, was most disastrous. Two malefics were “poised upon the
cusp of the House of Money,” indicating that Wattles “would go
broke, and remain so during life.” The moon was also in a hostile
square at the time.
The hoary headed astrologer had “dived into the Abyss of Futurity, and
through a glass darkly” he had seen “a pale light.” It illumined a life
of hopeless sorrow and futility. Ever and anon the blood red eye of Mars
gleamed with a baleful glow upon the destiny under consideration. When
Mars was off duty Saturn took up the malign rod, which was yielded to
Uranus and Neptune when he passed temporarily into other fields of
astral activity to indicate misfortunes of other people.
Periods of deep perplexities were apparent—when Wattles must not engage
in new ventures, or talk with men over sixty, or with women under
forty—when he must not deal with farmers, or have anything to do with
people with red hair or bushy eyebrows. He was not to ask favors,
travel, trade, write letters or marry, when the moon was in its first or
last quarter, or have anything to do with surgeons or tradesmen when the
moon was in conjunction with Saturn. Flying pains in limbs and joints,
warts, boils, and accidents to the head were indicated at these periods.
New enterprises might be undertaken when the sun was in Leo, but not if
Neptune was stationary in Aries at that time, or if Venus was
retrogressing in Cancer or Capricorn.
When Jupiter and Venus were together in Libra there would be
particularly distressing periods for Wattles. When Jupiter passed into
Sagittarius there might be temptation to make merry, but in the midst of
mirth he must remember death, for almost fatal accidents, and possibly
severe illness were indicated for these times, which were pregnant with
calamity.
A certain retrogression of Uranus in Leo in the fifth year after the
casting, with the sun hyleg, Mars in Aquarius, and the moon in
Capricorn, indicated a liver complaint, with pains in the back and head,
an almost fatal accident from an explosive compound, and interference in
his affairs by a fat person—probably a female with a retreating chin,
whose significator would be the malefic Neptune. A minor sub-related
transit “might change this female to a dark haired woman with pointed
features, who would spread strange reports with a bitter tongue, but in
an unknown language.”
No illnesses, accidents or women materialized in that year, and Wattles
thought they were all side tracked by a retrogression of Mercury in
Virgo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account