Читать книгу Astrology For Dummies - Rae Orion - Страница 57

Another man of his times was William Lilly (1602–1680), the most influential astrologer of the seventeenth century. His book, Christian Astrology — a misleading title, nothing in it being especially Christian — is full of advice for the studious astrologer on topics such as how to calculate the length of life (it’s dauntingly complex) and how to answer run-of-the-mill questions about finding lost objects, renting a house, identifying a thief, predicting the course of an illness, or determining whether you will be repaid money you are owed. These problems were assessed through horary astrology, according to which the astrologer casts a chart for the moment the client asks a question, and that chart contains within it the answer.

Lilly was a master at this. He could answer any query and accurately predict the outcome of a battle or political conflict. He is most famous for predicting, seventeen years before the actual events, that in 1665 (“or near that year … more or less of that time”) the city of London would suffer from “a consuming plague” and “sundry fires.” And that’s what happened. In 1664, fleas carrying bubonic plague invaded London, and the death toll began to mount. By September of 1665, as many as seven thousand people a week were dying, and everyone who could leave, left. Close to one quarter of the population died.

A year later, a fire broke out in a baker’s house on Pudding Lane and set the town ablaze. In four days, four fifths of London was destroyed. Lilly was called before the House of Commons and questioned. He was acquitted of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, with the city a ruin, he moved to the country, took up medicine, and contented himself with publishing a yearly almanac. His prediction retains its status as one of astrology’s great moments.