Illusions of Time

This is a prophecy based on Indian nadigranthi — ancient astrological texts in the Nadi astrology tradition, somewhat reminiscent of the prophecies of the ancient Roman Sibyls — made for a prominent and well-known figure living at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Needless to say, it did not come true. The Sibylline Books, like the palm leaves of Nadi astrology, do not differ in their purpose, though they vary in field and method of application. The prophecies of the Sibyls, especially the Cumaean Sibyl, were widely used in the Roman Republic and Empire for nearly ten centuries — from the 5th century BC until the 4th century AD. The age of nadigranthi surpasses the Sibylline prophecies and, according to legends and myths, has its roots in the Vedic period. But that is not the point.

Every time we encounter such prophecies, we almost always encounter errors. The matter is not so much one of character — though character does play a role — as of the method of prediction itself. Thus, Indian nadigranthi, though based on a fine division of the Zodiac, nevertheless have only a very indirect relation to astrology. A thumbprint is, after all, different from the reflections an astrologer reads in the chart based on date and time of birth, planetary positions, stars and lots, and various purely astrological predictive techniques such as firdaria, primary, secondary, and tertiary directions, solar and lunar returns, prenatal eclipses, and others. Alas, this point almost always escapes the superficial gaze accustomed to associating astrology with zodiac comics from journalists and pop-astrologers. What is more important, the highest accuracy of predictions is the rarest and most complex phenomenon. We speak of timing, not of being told that something amazing awaits you today.

Most often we encounter rather general timings — sometimes accurate, sometimes not. At least in natal and mundane astrology. The exception is perhaps horary astrology, which in the context of certain questions resembles the predictions of ancient Sibyls and nadigranthi — except that the number of errors in it is minimal compared to the Indian analogue. At least in the hands of masters of traditional astrology. In terms of genuine predictive astrology, the Western Tradition stands head and shoulders above the Eastern. We repeat: we speak of astrology in its pure form, not of prophetic abilities based on one element or another taken from astrology, which is the essence of nadigranthi.

We speak not of general words — karma or destiny. No. We speak of the timing of events. You can never verify the former in practice, but you can always verify the latter in life. What is the point of knowing that in a past life you were this or that, and therefore now this or that is happening to you? Are you sure it is not distortion? We do not say it is impossible — it is possible, but in the hands of very, very few. Most such specialists, from our experience, see a highly distorted picture of reality even in ordinary life — how then can we demand from them truth about the life of the inner man? Objective truth is attainable only when we are able to detach ourselves from any preconceived opinions, prejudices, desires, and the like — only then can the dawn of truth glimmer before us. Answer honestly to yourselves: how many people do you know who are ready, for the sake of truth, to renounce what is prescribed by their religion, tradition, teaching, conceptions, opinions, desires, evaluations of others, and so forth? Only honestly. Perhaps then you can come to the right conclusion yourselves.

It is precisely in this connection that all predictions obtained through clairvoyance, clairaudience, prophetic ecstasy, or anything else related to the inner nature of man; as well as predictions made in strict accordance with one system or another, such as nadigranthi or the Chinese I Ching, Tibetan Mo divination, or Western Tarot — are full of errors and distortions.

The timing of events is the most difficult part of predictive astrology, as well as the most important and necessary. It is precisely timing that is, first and foremost, the main purpose of astrology in questions about the future. Regrettably, modernity substitutes this difficulty with a rather illusory method — the future is not predetermined and much depends on choice, not only of the person himself but of other people connected with the situation. And this is illusion. We assert that this is merely distortion uttered by the absence of skill and knowledge, nothing more. Every time we hear this, we understand that the person simply does not know how, and does not know how to do it. And this concerns not only the most ordinary people, in terms of knowledge and mastery, who call themselves astrologers. Thus, one very well-known Indian aghori asserted that to come to a conclusion with the aid of astrology whether a horse will win the races or not, one must know not only the horse's chart but the jockey's, as well as the other jockeys and horses. In horary astrology it would suffice to have one question: will the horse win the race? Without any other charts or the like. It is the same as asserting that to predict the victory of one team or another in a football match, one must study the charts of all the players and coaches. This is falsehood. And this shows us that even contact with special practices and occult knowledge is no guarantee that a person will learn to see the future and understand the essence of astrology. Such is reality.

To confess, we ourselves once thought the same as that aghori. Because that is how we were taught in modern astrology, incapable of accurate predictions, almost twenty years ago. But as soon as we touched the genuine astrological tradition in the person of John Frawley; as soon as we began to master it and practise it from our own experience; as soon as, from the example of hundreds of predictions, we were able to convince ourselves of another truth — that accurate predictions are possible — we cast aside the authorities of the past, even those great in other respects practitioners and teachers, because life and experience itself showed us the other side of astrological reality. What then should we believe after this? Our own, now daily, experience, or the words from books of those who never managed to touch this reality and master genuine astrology? The assertions of people with biased thinking who consider themselves experts in what they scarcely understand, or the naked and unadorned reality of predictions proving itself more and more each day?

And yet, having considerable experience in the predictive sphere, we say that the highest accuracy is rarely attainable. And this is truth. Sometimes we succeed in predicting an event very accurately in terms of its timing, sometimes not. Sometimes all we have is "in two or three weeks". Sometimes "within two years". Sometimes "today or tomorrow". And too rarely "the day after tomorrow at 3:10 p.m.". Of course, much depends on the context of the question. For we often operate with days or weeks, not months or years.

Experience shows us that accuracy to the minute is attainable only when the question concerns the current day. For example — in how much time will the craftsman arrive today? Sometimes we even amused ourselves — yes, in horary astrology one can ask non-serious questions if they truly interest the querent — sitting in a café waiting, in how many minutes our friend will appear. And in such questions we were accurate to the minute. Yet if we received a question about when the querent will find a new job, we would scarcely be able to predict the event with accuracy to the minute. At best — to one day. But most likely — a month or week, depending on context. If the querent has been without work for several months and asks when precisely — months as the unit of time measurement would be the most reasonable unit for considering the question. Such is reality.

But you may object — and we have heard such objections more than once — that there exist certain predictive astrological techniques, mostly in natal astrology, that allow determination of the exact day of one event or another even several years ahead. And this is yet another great delusion. More precisely, sometimes it is indeed possible, but most often not. Most often we can determine the year and month, and at best the week. As for days — extremely rarely. And moreover, this is not achieved with some single technique, as certain marketers from astrology assert, but with their combination. What is more important, techniques are merely the most external tool of predictions. They are based on context. You cannot predict death only with the aid of the anareta. Death can be indicated by anything — from the hyleg to stars and planetary lots. We need context. Without it everything loses meaning.

Those engaged in traditional astrology are well aware that astrologers of the past, as they themselves declared, began consideration of the birth chart with determination of the date of death. To understand within what period it would be necessary to predict events from life. But the truth is that most did not find the date of departure from life, and if they did, it was erroneous. Why? Because this is yet another impossibility with which we must come to terms in astrology. One thing is when we have the context of considering the natal chart — we know someone is mortally ill and seek the time of departure from life. But quite another when we begin to seek death in the chart at our own discretion and most often with the aid of the anareta, which, by the way, indicates it least of all. Technically, to find death in the chart is no problem. But technically does not mean truly. Most often the word technically means erroneously. Because astrology reflects life, not locking it in the frames of formulas and techniques. Life is not a mathematical formula. If it is a formula, then for a reason that has gone beyond the bounds of logic into the spheres of super-reason, intuitive and illumined not by the laws of matter but by the laws of super-reason, which in itself no longer accords with the laws of ordinary logic of material reason. Were everything otherwise, we would long ago have held the key to life and death, and life itself would cease to be a chain of unforeseen circumstances. But the truth of life is that in it there always was, is, and will be — Mystery. In this lies its savour.

The truth of astrology is that we theoretically have the key to great cycles, connected with the ingresses of chronocrators — Saturn and Jupiter, and their great conjunctions — the four cardinal stars standing opposite one another, and their change of signs, as well as other indicators reflected in the fate of the world as a whole. But the truth is also that we do not possess this key. And if we do, then so superficially that truth constantly slips from our hands. We see ingresses and can speak of key years of great upheavals and changes in the world, as it was with the last conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius in 2020, when the world began to be shaken by epidemics and wars, and the informational structure of the world itself began to change irrevocably. But could we have said anything about the internet, living at the beginning of the 20th century and seeing this ingress? No. We could have said of great changes that would be connected with people's thought and views, for the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter itself occurred and will continue to occur for nearly two centuries in air signs, which are connected with information and thought. But what precisely? We do not know. We have technique, but no final knowledge. Such is reality. And even if we had some other instrument that showed us concrete pictures of the future, we would scarcely be able to say anything more intelligible than some abracadabra, as in the case of John the Theologian or Nostradamus. How is it possible to describe something we have never seen in life and for which there are not yet words? We would give them a modern character understandable to us, and for people of the future it might well appear anachronisms, unclear visions and symbols, perhaps even prejudices or madness, nothing more. And only because we are too accustomed to measuring the past with the reason of the present, not with the thinking and worldview of the past.

Yet when we have concrete questions — we can be most accurate in our predictions, including in terms of timing. However, not as accurate in their distortions as in the prophecy given at the beginning of the article for Henry Steel Olcott — founder of the Theosophical Society — on 3 April 1885, based on nadigranthi. According to this prophecy, he was to depart life twenty-eight years, five months, six days, and fourteen hours later. Approximately at the end of 1913. But he departed life on 17 February 1907. Six years before the predicted term. Does this mean that all nadigranthi are distorted and false? No. Some are quite accurate, most accurate only in part, and least of all in timing.

So is it possible to penetrate the veil separating general timings from exact ones, down to hours and minutes, of events? We think not. Only partially, sometimes, and even then not always. And to confess, we ourselves do not know why everything is arranged precisely so. But however much we have studied predictions and prophecies, we have always noticed that events themselves come to pass, but often at different times. We speak of genuine predictions, of course, not the words of a fortune-teller behind a crystal ball. Thus, one sage at the beginning of the 20th century predicted the liberation of India from British yoke that had plundered and destroyed the country — moreover, he saw in a vision that India would be free and this was ordained by the Almighty Himself. But when asked about the timing, he merely spread his hands. And this was the most honest answer. India became free almost 20 years later — on 15 August 1947. Unlike him, one follower of the tantric direction in yoga in the 1950s constantly predicted catastrophes and wars, with exact timings of events and detailed descriptions, and always erred, though in all other respects he was quite successful as a practitioner.

Sometimes it seems to us that the more an exact timing of an event down to hours and minutes figures in one prophecy or another, the less truth there is in it. But this is not so. Sometimes the event itself is true, and the timing not. Sometimes both are distorted. And sometimes both coincide. And we do not know why. This is not connected with mastery in one sphere or another, but with something else into which we are still powerless to penetrate. Perhaps this is how everything should be in life, and all this is merely part of an eternal game. Of Soul and God. And this is precisely what makes life — Life.

«You will live from this hour twenty-eight years, five months, six days, fourteen hours…»

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