Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Astrological Influences: Financial and Global Trends -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SBerglowe who wrote (210)	8/11/1999 2:50:00 PM
From: Richnorth	Respond to of 538

That's right. Because they don't know enough, they tend to think eclipses should be very fast acting as in tripping a light switch and getting an immediate result! In the next little while, lotsa folks will be ridiculing astrologers if they see nothing happening in the next little while.

To: SBerglowe who wrote (210)	8/11/1999 6:22:00 PM
From: pater tenebrarum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 538

while i do not necessarily endorse the astrological aspects raised in the eclipse debate, i have witnessed the total eclipse of the sun first-hand today (i live in Austria) and with a cloudless sky to boot, and all i can say is that it was a truly awe-inspiring event. from one moment to the next utter darkness fell upon us, the birds stopped singing, in fact an eerie silence accompanied the eclipse, it was as if two of our senses had suddenly been switched off. many people later said that their hearts started racing during the eclipse and everyone was utterly impressed. we watched it from a plain, and it started with a wave of darkness approaching from the horizon like a tsunami, it was actually a bit frightening at that moment... and then the famous 'diamond ring' effect, as the sun's corona became visible at the edge of the moon's shadow. anyway, having seen it with my own eyes, i can imagine why the eclipse was taken to portend doom and gloom in the more superstitious stages of human development, the pre-scientific period if you will...it certainly has a profound psychological effect. the Mesopotamian king Shuppiluliamus for instance took a solar eclipse as an excuse to do away with his mother-in-law, whom he accused of being responsible for the fateful event. a very early example of a witch hunt of sorts. however, i am not so sure whether the undeniable psychological effect of an eclipse can indeed be expected to translate into wars or financial panics. while the research of Steve Puetz in that direction has produced interesting and statistically significant results, no-one has so far been able to prove a causal relationship between eclipses and financial calamities. if such proof were indeed available everybody would scramble to sell ahead of an eclipse to get out early after all, which would then mean that not the eclipse, but the knowledge of an upcoming eclipse would inspire financial panics, sort of like a chicken/egg conundrum. anyway, we'll see if any appreciable effects can be discerned in the near future...