[Erdbeben und Weltseele] [1]
Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl
As usual after a major catastrophe, the “scientific experts” have been ready with their “enlightenments” since the earthquake in Ljubljana [Slovenia], but these are less explanations than fantasies. There is talk of “technical changes” (such a newly minted scientific name looks wonderful!), of “reactions in the molten interior of the earth,” of “balancing in the disturbed (disturbed by what?) layers and tensions of the earth’s crust” and so on. Sometimes it is said that great collapses from the curvature of the strata of the interior make the surface tremble; now the steam, which is developed by an accidental influx of water into the glowing core of the globe; now the fiery contents themselves, being pressed out through volcanic holes by the cooling and contracting shell of the earth; now this, now that, but without the slightest regard for an external cause affecting the planet.
Then comes the portly superstructure inspector, the skinny Mr. Forstrat and the stern Mr. Hofrat (it could just as well be the master tailor, the chimney sweep and the municipal clerk) and after they have given their theories to the amazed audience, they announce them as experts with an important air that now, “judging by scientific experience,” all danger was over.
But what about the experiences of a science which knows nothing about what it is supposed to shed light on? Modern academic science knows nothing of astrology, which alone can give us information about the causes of earthquakes; for the same it is an “overcome point of view,” a “superstition” which nowadays in “enlightened circles” one is not allowed to talk about if one does not want to pull a pitying smile on oneself. These “luminaries of science” know just as little that there are planets that exert an influence on our planet and that this influence varies according to the position of these planets, just as they know that one person can have a psychological effect on another, in spite of the fact that both are taught through daily experience, and that anyone can see it, provided he is not an “expert” petrified in his prejudices.
On the other hand, if we take astrology to our aid, we find not only an intelligible reason for the occurrence of earthquakes, but even preliminary determinations of their occurrence. For example, in the April issue of the monthly magazine “Stars and People” published in Boston Mon., page 144 it says as follows:
“April starts in with the element of fire more expressive than most anything else. The two remarkable triple conjunctions, the 22d and 23d, no doubt stir up the elements some, and is the beginning of geological upheavals, which will, in the not for distant future stir up the Earth from centre to circumference.”
Nobody denies the astrological fact that the sun exerts an attraction on the earth. Why should it be so difficult to understand that the other celestial bodies of our solar system also exert an attraction on our globe and produce effects which are similar to those of the ebb and flow of the sea? This is particularly understandable when the position of these planets is such that, taken together, they affect our planet from a single direction.
It is claimed that on the last Good Friday (April 13) the position of the planets was, for the first time in 1895 years, exactly the same as at the hour when this event is said to have taken place in Palestine. At that time, too, the earth is said to have trembled and the rocks split in two, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. (Math. XXVII, 51).
But why do the scholars want to know nothing about such an influence? Simply because they cannot explain it, and they cannot explain it because they know nothing about a soul, let alone a soul of our terrestrial body and the other planets to know and not want to understand; in spite of the fact that every mystic knows that every visible body is only the expression of an invisible life which is called “soul.” If our earth were a dead body (as “science” wants it to be), there could be no question of a mental influence; but according to the teachings of the sages, each planet has its “astral body,” and the astral bodies of the sun and planets interact, and through these astral bodies affect their physical constitution. According to the ancient Indian view, earthquakes are nothing other than convulsions in the astral body of our planet, brought about by astral influences from other heavenly bodies, and these act on physical matter and cause earth tremors.
According to the above prediction, the current period of earthquakes with the Ljubljana earthquake has not yet ended, and we, like H. P. Blavatsky have long prophesied, great similar events ahead, which may bring some big cities to a similar event, which may bring some big cities to an abrupt end. Perhaps then our “experts” will see the light and the curtain in front of the sanctuary of knowledge will be torn in two.
Note:
[1] Earthquakes and the World-soul [Erdbeben und Weltseele. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Sphinx 21, no. 115 (September 1895), 170-171] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}