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History in the stars: Great Chicago Fire 1871



In honor of Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 8-14, we at FireRescue would like to present our readers with a historical account of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the incident that inspired the creation of Fire Prevention Week. As we do so, we remember those who suffered and died as a result the fire's mass destruction, as well as the city's struggle to rise from its ashes. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is truly one of our country's greatest tragedies. By the time the last remaining flames flickered out, the fire had claimed 300 lives and decimated four square miles-more than 2,000 acres-of heavily populated land. Nearly 100,000 people were left homeless; the city's business district was in ruins; and more than 28 miles of streets, 120 miles of sidewalks, 18,000 buildings and 2,000 lampposts, along with countless trees, shrubs and plants, were completely wiped out.The Great Chicago Fire began near a barn at approximately 9 p.m. on Oct. 8, 1871. It is unclear exactly how the fire started (some believe a cow knocked over an oil lamp inside the barn, setting straw ablaze), but the city's unseasonably dry, windy weather and minimal rainfall, coupled with its wooden structures and woodworking industries, made it a prime location for an inferno. http://www.firefighternation.com/article/firefighter-safety-health/look-back






A devastating event like the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is most often the working of an eclipse.  Here we shall trace this event to the solar eclipse of June 17, 1871. A chart for the eclipse shows it conjunct the TNP Zeus (associated with fires) and square Mars which itself is also of a fiery nature. But that is not all. The stars on the IC, descendant and conjunct Zeus are all linked to fires.

On the IC are stars of Cepheus. Cepheus  was called  “inflammatus” – there are devastating fires here – among them the Great Fire of Rome, 64 CE, the Charleston SC fire of 1838 that destroyed more than half the city, the 1865 boiler explosion fire that wrecked the Sultana, an old, overloaded steamer  carrying Union soldiers (about 1238 killed outright), the October 1993 fires fanned by Santa Ana winds that devastated Southern California, the huge 1842 Hamburg, Germany fire, the Lake View School fire in Collingwood, Ohio, 1908;  the infamous Ring Theatre fire in Vienna, 1881, the Halloween disco fire in Sweden in 1998 and many others.[1]

The TNP Zeus is conjunct stars in degrees that the Liber Hermetis called “the Violence of Fire”. These are represented on the charts of the fiery 1915 Quintinshill, Scotland 3-train explosion called the worst train wreck in British history; at the 1904 General Slocum excursion steamer fire in NY that killed 1,021; at the 2003 Station nightclub fire, Warwick,RI; at the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire that killed 119; the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago that killed 602; the great fire that destroyed the Palace of Wstminster in 1834 and many others.[1]

The star Sirius occupies the descendant and was also conjunct the Quarter Moon on 6 October 1871 just two days before the fire. About this star  the ancient Roman astrologer Manilius wrote:

"The brilliant constellation of the Dog: it barks forth flame, raves with its fire, and doubles the burning heat of the Sun. When it put its torch to the earth and discharges its rays, the earth foresees its conflagration and tastes its ultimate fate [translator's note: the ecpyrosis of the Stoics, who held that the Universe would ultimately be engulfed in conflagration and all things would return to the condition of primeval fire]." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.316-319].






So we have data in the eclipse chart to suggest a great fire but how about the timing? If we progress the eclipse chart to October 8, 1871, we find that the progressed Ascendant conjoins the TNP Zeus setting off the eclipse and leading to the massive fire.

And finally, if we make the chart for 9 pm on October 8, 1871 when the fire is reported to have started we have the TNP Zeus exactly on the Ascendant.



[1] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg

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