“
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripp’d
”
(Macbeth Act V. Sc. Viii.15)
Thus says Macduff that he was not born in a natural manner but was prematurely ripped from the body of his mother, before his birth was due, in reply to Macbeth’s assertion that he cannot be harmed by any man who is born of a woman.
The above anecdote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth throws light as the time of birth and astrologers horoscope on the fortunes of a newborn. The time of arrival of a newborn and the complexities of deciding birth time on various factors had gained a great deal of debate in terms of science and astrology. Let us consider the case of a baby born of a Caesarian operation, he or she is not born on the exact time, rather is ripped from the mother’s womb, untimely at the hands of a doctor. Taking the above case how can the exact time of the new born be considered. It is rather inexplicable in terms of the geographical time or Almanac signs. Recently there has been a trend to have Caesarian operation fixed at a relatively auspicious time by doctors at the advice of soothsayers, for the sake of couples. As a matter of fact, when most of the new-born of today are Caesarians, it seems that their Almanac signs are different, and it confounds how the astrologers decide their fortunes. Despite of many advances in science, it is strange, that none have looked into this aspect which had been dealt with a different purpose by Shakespeare himself. Glad that we Caesarians, including myself are invincible in term of Macduff, curiosity fills how our fortunes are dealt within our horoscopes, quite ridiculously.
