Astrologers and ships go back a long way. One of the earliest surviving horary charts concerns a missing ship, long overdue in its journey from Alexandria to Smyrna. The chart, cast in 479 AD, is one of several inquiry charts preserved under the name ‘Balchus’ (formerly read as ‘Palchus’), once assumed to refer to an Egyptian astrologer but now understood to relate to Balkh, an ancient city in the region of Khorasan (modern-day Afghanistan), where the material was preserved. The collection includes much material on travelling by ship, illustrating doctrines which were, even then, quite ancient. The Richard Garnett 1899 translation of the 479 chart is included here, with additional astronomical details taken from Neugebauer and Van Hoesen’s Greek Horoscopes.¹

It would appear that, for as long as man has sought to cross the ocean, there has been a trade for astrologers to soothe or confirm anxious fears. William Lilly’s classic text, Christian Astrology, shows the pertinence of sea travel in the 17th century by its inclusion of a number of horary charts relating to this issue. The first, entitled ‘An Example of a Ship at Sea’, asks whether a delayed ship has been lost. Many vessels had recently been sunk by tempestuous weather, but with no definite news of this vessel, the insurance company would not allow any claims. A second chart on page 165, ‘A ship at Sea, in what Condition?’, was certainly unfortunate. Full of “evil testimonies of receiving loss rather than benefit”, Lilly judged the ship was cast away – and so it proved.

Lilly’s discourse in chapter 26 of Christian Astrology, entitled ‘Of a Ship, and whatever are in her, her Safety or Destruction’, contains many general aphorisms for this kind of judgement. There are also several useful considerations contained in his section on the 9th house and travel (pages 422-429). Most of these have been collected in the list of aphorisms for travel at sea, which, with the development of modern methods of long-distance travel, may be adapted to apply to trains, aeroplanes, and the like. An example modern horary, ‘Will I get there?’, demonstrates that times have changed, but astrological principles haven’t. Lilly’s method of judging the condition of several absent travellers is also included for its relevance to this issue, but again lends itself to various uses.

It doesn’t take much imagination to realise that, to our ancestors, sea travel was an extremely precarious business. Without the benefit of modern communication systems, safety procedures or dependable schedules – not to mention the speed of modern engines – every journey ran the risk of something going wrong. It’s easy to understand why loved ones, waiting anxiously at the shore for news of a delayed or missing vessel, would be prompted to turn to astrologers for counsel. Today, the story is a little different. Long-distance travel doesn’t pose the threat to safety it once did, and even when the worst happens, media coverage and modern communication systems ensure that everyone is kept fully informed with minimal delay. We no longer face the agonising wait to discover whether growing fears about a late vessel are based on imagination or reality.

For this reason, most modern shipping charts are event charts, drawn in hindsight after a disaster. Such examinations can be very illuminating and a great way to learn more about predictive techniques. As an example, Cynthea Tasker’s event chart of the disaster of the Braer, which released its deadly cargo of oil on the coast of the Shetlands, is a fine illustration of traditional astrological theory in practice. When read together with Lilly’s aphorisms, this chart should demonstrate that astrology has less to do with personal interpretation than with tried and tested principles that require applied study and philosophical understanding.

One man whose philosophical understanding of the basis of astrology can hardly be questioned is Dennis Elwell, who scored a media triumph for astrologers in his widely reported ‘warning ignored’. His prediction of troubled waters ahead in the world of shipping made headline news in Britain in 1987 because of the offhand way it was dismissed by a company that immediately suffered a major shipping tragedy. Mr Elwell takes a broad perspective in his predictive work, looking for patterns in the fabric of the universe which focus along ‘lines of least resistance’. For a man who claims he is “not in the prediction business”, it seems he knows a great deal to interest those of us who are.