Omens Of 1588

(Conspiracy Nation, 12/15/05) -- Here we have the height of fashion, circa 1588. Ridiculous, you say? How will we seem 400 years hence?

Queen Elizabeth I (image, left) ruled England during a period when its future was uncertain. At the time, the realm had no standing army. Considered the illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII and being a protestant to boot, her majesty was assailed by secret enemies.

Pioneering in espionage defense tactics (counter-espionage) against skilful foes was Sir Francis Walsingham. He learned to not immediately pounce upon traitors and spies, but rather to bide his time and gather more information about whatever was afoot.

The future of England was uncertain then, as is our own future at this time. As did the Romans, the Elizabethans looked to omens as possible symbols of underlying reality.

1580s: Mary Queen of Scots is indefatiguable and adept at hatching plots against Elizabeth's reign. "From the north came strange reports of omens that were soon on everyone's lips."

A white St. Andrews cross seen in the sky;
A wolf, part of a species supposed to have been eliminated, seen chasing a deer concurrent with the cross vision;
The same deer returning to the same spot on subsequent days, terrorized by an unseen predator. (Budiansky, Stephen. Her Majesty's Spymaster. ISBN: 0-670-03426-6)

Aren't you glad we are now so enlightened, and automatically close our eyes to eruptions of symbolism? Or perhaps we are not so enlightened as we believe?

The year 1588 also abounded with omens.

Mathematician and astrologer Regiomontanus foretold "either an universal consummation" or "at least a general subversion and alteration";
Thirty porpoises swimming in the Thames River, and gathering near the Queen's court;
A vast number of fleas collected on the window of the Queen's Presence Chamber. (Budiansky, op. cit.)

Some scoffed. Yet, as it turns out, 1588 did witness a "consummation and alteration." That was the year when England crushed the immense Spanish armada, sent to invade her shores. Spain, then the most powerful empire in the world, never fully recovered.

Canada, the 1660s, in her then wilderness:

We beheld blazing serpents which flew through the air, borne on wings of fire;
We beheld above Quebec a great globe of flame, which lighted up the night, and threw out sparks on all sides;
A great roaring sound was heard at the same time through the whole extent of Canada;
The trees struck one against the other as if there were a battle between them. (A Little Hell Of Discord)

Canada was "a little Hell of discord," unlike this present time... or is it?

A Santa Claus replica gagged and lynched in Florida;
An off-work Santa beaten severely by Christmas shoppers;
Strange and troubling symptom of this year's inverted Christmas trees.

Seeing, they see not; hearing, they hear not. (Matthew 13: 13; Ezekiel 12: 2) If we close our eyes, the omens remain -- we just don't see them.

Omen of 1590: Sir Francis Walsingham, Her Majesty's Spymaster, dies "of a carnosity growing intra testium tunicas." In the end (so goes the omen) "his urine came forth at his mouth and nose, with so odious a stench that none could endure to come near him." (Budiansky, op. cit.) Walsingham was buried "by dark in Paul's Church at London without any funeral solemnity." (Ibid.) As in life, so in death: he moved unseen; battled a hidden foe; and perished amidst the stench.

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