World Has Not Ended Yet This Morning

The immediate danger of the world ending this weekend lessened a bit at 7:17 this morning, when the sun, moon, and five planets ended their rendezvous in the Zodiacal House of Capricorn.

This rare astronomical occurrence, combined with yesterday's total eclipse of the sun, had led astrologers (note: not astronomers) to predict doom. In India, particularly, a great number of people disrupted their normal business and gathered in, family groups to await the end. Many University students have also reportedly been taking a last fling.

Although the seven heavenly bodies have met in Capricorn before (1821), and have also been so very close to each other before (1186), the entire combination of events, including the eclipse, has not happened for 5000 years. At that time, according to a Hindu epic poem, a war wreaked widespread death and destruction.

The exact manner of the world's ending today was not universally agreed upon by the experts. Indians prepared for earthquakes, a devastating flood was predicted for the East coast of the United States, and astrology charts foretold an earth "bathed in the blood of thousands of kings." Rumors of a holocaust were in the air, but this was too close to possible to become a popular theory.

One interpretation of the heavenly data which is a little easier on us rank and file predicts destruction only for the heads of state, the "kings." Nehru was publicly warned by a former chief minister of an Indian State to take extra precautions. He did not.

The sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and a supposedly invisibly body called Khetu moved into a position within 16 degrees of each other at 7:05 a.m. Saturday. Although some people born under the sign of Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19) have interpreted the phenomena as a personal threat, Saturday's Boston Globe Star Gazer would only reveal that the day was "beneficial to domestic settlements and intimate affairs," for Aquaril.

Miss Gooddel, a local palmist, added that it was not the end of the world, but of only the beginning. She urged making an appointment to talk about it further.