- Grand Cross -

Anyone that played Innocent Sin, or, which is the majority, read about it's plot, knows that the "Grand Cross" plays a huge part of it's plot. The cross is mentioned in the beginning of Eternal Punishment, except in that scenario it didn't happen. Astrologically, the Grand Cross formation of 1999 was one that was awaited with dread and, by a small optimistic minority, hope.  Everyone was expecting something from this "Eye of God", even a famous prophet whom everyone is familiar with.

The Crosses

A grand cross occurs in a person's horoscope when four planets, any four planets, occupies the four elements of the same modality. A little introduction to the system of elements and modalities is in order.

The zodiac ring, starting from Aries and ending in Pisces, follows a pattern when it comes to the elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water). The wheel always starts with fire, followed by earth, then air, and finally water. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, repeated throughout.

Modalities are, simply put, related to the seasons. The three modalities are Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable. Like the elements, this pattern is followed throughout the signs. Cardinal is the beginning of the season, Fixed it's middle, and Mutable the end. So Aries (Cardinal) starts spring, Taurus (Fixed) is the middle and Gemini (Mutable) is the end. Psychologically, Cardinals are oriented through the outside world (though not necessarily extraverted, there's a difference); Fixed signs are oriented into the so-called "inner" world, while mutable stroll between the two. So with the elements and the modalities, following the same pattern, we get an element for each modality. Which looks something like this:

Cardinal- Aries (Fire), Cancer (Water),Libra (Air), Capricorn (Earth).
Fixed- Taurus (Earth), Leo (Fire), Scorpio (Water), Aquarius (Air)
Mutable- Gemini (Air), Virgo (Earth), Sagitterious (Fire), Pisces (Water)

As said earlier, grand crosses are formed when a planet occupies each element of a particular modality which, because of the circular nature of the horoscope, looks like a cross. So, if you have a planet in Taurus, a planet in Leo, a planet in Scorpio and a planet in Aquarius, you have a Fixed Grand Cross. (This is just a simplistic overview. There are angles to take into consideration, but this is just an explination and not a course on horoscope reading).

Astrologers of old did not like this formation. They had many horrific pronouncements to anyone unfortunate enough to have a grand cross in their chart. Modern astrologers are more liberal, but still agree that the grand cross is a formation filled with stress and crises. The Fixed Grand Cross was especially singaled out, being called "the cross of crises" or "the cross of Christ" (as in, suffering).


The Eye of God

"At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it... In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Revelation 4:2-8

The lion is Leo, the ox is Taurus, the man is Aquarius and the eagle is Scorpio (Eagle was a popular symbol for Scorpio back then). The eclipse of August 1999, which coincided with the grand cross, was called the "Eye of God".

Far from being just a map of the human psyche, Astrology has also been used as a way to predict events. The branch is popularly called Mundane Astrology, and charts are constructed for certain times with events placed for them. But, as seen from the horoscopes, grand crosses happen all the times. What made the one of 1999 so special? All the planets were in formation. As an added bonus, Neptune and Uranus, which weren't discovered when the prediction was casted, were in formation. Only Pluto, which, again, wasn'tdiscovered, wasn't part of the cross, but it was still close in a few degrees of Saggiterious near the Scorpio cusp.

Not everyone knows that Nostrodamus' basis for his predictions was Astrology, so of course he also had to have his say on this event. His famous 1999 prophecy was in fact based on the cross. Errenously thought to predict the end of the world (no such prediction takes place if read carefully. Nostrdamus continued giving prophecies untill at least beyond two thousand), the prophecy read as thus: "In the year 1999, seventh month, From the sky will come a great King of Terror: To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols, Before and after Mars to reign by good luck."

Revelations, Nostradamus, and countless astrologers afterwards. The Grand Cross/Eclipse of August Eleven was perhaps the most anxiously awaited date for the end of the world, even more than the Y2K bug "prophecy". Many people were expecting the Judgement to happen, thus the end of the world. Of course, it didn't (unless it did but we were all reainimated in another reality, but let's not get into that).