The
H.M.S. Titanic
THE H.M.S. Titanic was conceived of by The White Star Line as part of a
three-ship building programme. The idea was to build the biggest and the most
luxurious ship of the day in order attract the lion's share of the
trans-Atlantic ocean liner business. It did not exactly work out that way. A
preview through the eyes of Parasari astrology would have given the owners a
clue of the impending disaster. Alas, we are well into the Kali Yuga and the
Western world is not easily persuaded by Brahminical advice.
The Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911 around noon in Belfast, Ireland. (
Chart 1 ) The white Star Line never christened its ships. A ship would simply be
launched and a couple of rockets fired. If we take this to be the birth of the
ship then a chart constructed for this time would be somewhat indicative of the
ship's destiny.
The fact that Leo rises with the Sun in the tenth in Chart One testifies
to the great fame that the ship enjoyed. The eighth house refers to the legacies
and fame after death. Yogakaraka Mars is in the eighth. This does not augur well
for longevity. He occupies the sign Pisces as the forth lord. The forth is the
house of ships. Fiery Mars cannot be expected to give the best of results in
such a watery sign; the Titanic suffered a watery death.
Does Saturn have a role in this chart? Among other things, Saturn represents
steel and labor. It is said that the Titanic was constructed of a lower grade
steel, something more akin to iron. And there are tales of shoddy workmanship
because of discontent among the workforce. There was political alienation at the
time because of the Home-Rule controversy. This makes sense because half of the
workers were Irish and they considered it a British shipyard.
Debilitated Saturn afflicts the house of luck. He ssociates with Rahu and Maraka
lord Mercury. Saturn is the planet of coldness and represents slow-moving
icebergs. Was it not bad luck that the ship hit an iceberg and ripped apart at
the rivets? In other words, the plates did not burst but the gash was along a
seam of rivets. This is why the workmanship was called into question. We can
conclude that Saturn certainly was the main culprit and his influence manifested
in terms of labor, steel, bad luck and ice. Note also the aspect of debilitated
Saturn on Venus ( ships ) and Jupiter, the lord of the house of longevity.
The more telling chart would be the one cast for the moment the actual voyage
was embarked upon. One of the main teachings of the Vedic sages about travel is
that the astrological alignment at the commencement of a voyage is deterministic
about the fate of the voyage. We may infer from generally accepted astrological
principals that a chart cast for the " birth " of a ship may also be
pertinent but the moment of a journey's beginning would be the most indicative.
With regard to the journey's beginning, what was aparently an evil omen occurred
as the ship was leaving the port. Omens are within the purview of astrology; so
it is definitely of interest. It seems that the wash of the Titanic upon
departure caused all the ropes holding the liner New York to break and actually
drew the New York towards her. Thanks to the intervention of a tug, collision
was avoided by about four feet. This near disaster forboded the fate awaiting
the ship.
The Titanic's maiden voyage began at noon on April 10, 1912 from
Southampton, England ( Chart Two ). In his book Muhurtha, DR. B. V. Raman points
out that a horoscope cast for electional purposes must be analysed in terms of
the following: lunar day, constellation, Lagna and Panchaka strength. To begin
with, the 9th lunar day of the dark half is not an auspicious one.
How appropriate that the maiden voyage began under the sign Cancer. How
inappropriate, however, that its lord, the Moon, was waning in a
death-inflicting house, the seventh. The Moon receives an aspect from
debilitated Saturn, Ayushkaraka, and lord of the house of longevity. The
ascendant receives an aspect from Rahu as well as Jupiter. Rahu's influence is,
of course, further evil and the aspect of Jupiter is not enough to help.
Yogakaraka Mars is relegated to the house ofloss wherefrom his aspect on the
Moon does not help much either. The ascendant is very afflicted.
Let us further examine the chart by looking at Venus. It is pointed out in all
astrological literature that Venus represents boats and ships. As the lord of
the 4th Venus represents ships on two counts. Venus is exalted in the ninth, a
Trikona. Why did not this save the fate of the ship? Remember that Venus
associates with the Nodal axis. Its Navamsa lord Sun is on the same degree as
Rahu. Whatever the strength of Venus in spite of all this was not enough to
alter the fate of the ship.
Actually, Venus represents musicians. The third house is also associated
with music. As the song from the screenplay goes " And the Band Played on
"- the ship's band assembled on the afterdeck and played music to the
doomed until the Titanic went upright like a pencil and sank. It does not seem
that musicians fared too well on the voyage. The affliction of Venus and the
third house by the Nodes along with the association of third lord Mercury with
Saturn should be sufficient explanation.
We have seen how the Sun associates with Rahu on the same degree. What does this
indicate? First of all, the Sun is the Atmakaraka or indicator of the soul. The
Sun indicates vitality, life and the soul of the ship. His placement with Rahu
augurs badly for life.
The Sun is the king of planets. Would not the Sun, therefore, correspond to the
captain of the ship? His name was E. J. Smith and he conscientiously went down
with the ship. This would be another significance of the Rahu-Sun combination
and it might also be indicated by the tenth lord Mars in the house of loss.
The Sun also indicates optics. In this context, the Sun-Rahu combination takes
on new meaning. Somebody stole the ship's binoculars in the middle of the trip.
They were there at the beginning but later on disappeared. Complaints by the
lookouts were of no avail. The lookout who first reported the iceberg ( too
late, of course ) was one of the survivors. He later claimed at the Board of
Inquiry that if he had had binoculars he might have seen it earlier. Keep in
mind that the collision occurred at night when there was only starlight to go by.
Thus the affliction of the waning Moon had its role to play.
Lookouts typically were on guard for the frothy wash of waves against the
icebergs to alert them. At least this was the case when the sky was dark.
Otherwise, the moonlight would illuminate them. Since there was no wind there
were no waves to create wash in the first place. Are debilitated Saturn and
bad-lord Mercury responsible for this lack of cooperation ? They are the windy
planets.
Saturn is certainly responsible for the higher percentage of deaths among the
steerage and second class passengers. These, of course, consisted of the "
huddled masses." In other words, they were the poor and the lower classes.
Saturn represents them since he is of the Sudra caste and his debilitation in
the maiden voyage chart basically seals their fate. Many of them were not
properly alerted by the ship's crew because they were situated on the lower
decks and also because a riot was feared. Thus debilitated Saturn indicates the
awful lot of the commoners.
Actually, Venus
represents musicians. The third house is also associated with music. As the song
from the screenplay goes " And the Band Played on "- the ship's band
assembled on the afterdeck and played music to the doomed until the Titanic went
upright like a pencil and sank. It does not seem that musicians fared too well
on the voyage. The affliction of Venus and the third house by the Nodes along
with the association of third lord Mercury with Saturn should be sufficient
explanation.
We have seen how the Sun associates with Rahu on the same degree. What does this
indicate? First of all, the Sun is the Atmakaraka or indicator of the soul. The
Sun indicates vitality, life and the soul of the ship. His placement with Rahu
augurs badly for life.
The actual collision ocurred at 11:40 P.M. on April 14,
1912. According to some it was 11:46 P.M. Of course, the rising sign ( Chart
Three ) and planetary arrangement that this occurred under do not carry the same
significance and is not indicative in the way that the maiden voyage chart is.
Still, it is interesting to see from an astrological perspective.
Scorpio was on the ascendent at the moment of the collision. Saturn was
the forth lord and he occupied a very evil house, the 6th, still in his sign of
debilitation. Mars, the Lagna lord, was in the house of death. Rahu afflicts
both the waning Moon, the lord of the house of luck, as well as the Vahanakaraka
Venus. The Sun associates with debilitated Saturn.
It was a terrible tragedy. There were only about 700 survivors and this
represented a little less than a third of the total. If there is anything
astrologers can learn from this disaster may be it is simply Yat Pinde Tat
Brahmande- " as above, so below."
Before the Sun rose the next morning one of the Titanic survivors noted "
the palest of moons and a bright star." (It was the 13th lunar day, dark
half). If only the lookouts had had even this pale moon to see by! The bright
star was, of course, Venus and Rahu, was unseen. Such an evil Moon was certainly
bad association for Venus of ships. It was as if this afflicted trio were rising
to survey the damage. How ironic that the survivors in their lifeboats
contemplated the heavenly authors of their disaster in awe and ignorance.
At the British Inquiry, Second Officer Lightoller made a comment that was full
of significance. It even has meaning which he didn’t realize, but astrologers
know what it meant when the ship's Second Officer began his testimony by saying
" Well, first of all there was no Moon".
By Dean
Dominic De Lucia
Note:
This
article first appeared on the pages of
The
Astrological Magazine ,
founded by B.V. Raman.
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