The Tunnel Thru The Air Or, Looking Back From 1940
The Tunnel Thru The Air Or, Looking Back From 1940
1940
The Tunnel Thru the Air, Or, Looking Back from 1940 is a science fiction novel written by market
forecaster William Delbert Gann in 1927.[1][2][3] In the Foreword, Gann hinted that this book is more than
just a novel because it "contains a valuable secret, clothed in veiled language. Some will find it the first time
they read it, others will see it in the second reading, but the greatest number will find the hidden secret when
they read it the third time." Some traders believe Gann has encoded some techniques of financial astrology
into this book,[4][5][6] and some even claim that they have devoted a lifetime to study this text.[7][8]
Contents
Plot
The imaginary war and its hidden meaning
The imaginary war vs. the Great Depression
Transits to the 1776 US independence chart
Encoding techniques
Title
Book cover
Fake quotes
Page numbers
The disappearance of Marie Stanton
Weather forecasting along the Mississippi River
Wet Cotton Farmer (Uranus-Neptune)
Poor Cotton Farmer (Jupiter-Neptune)
Dry Cotton Farmer (Saturn-Neptune)
The Major Motors campaign
Detailed trades and their astrological aspects
Relationship to eclipses
Relationship to the Gann angles and the Hexagon chart
The cotton campaign
Relationship to the Wet Cotton Farmer rule
Relationship to the Gann angles
Relationship to eclipses
Declination of major planets
References
Plot
The story is roughly divided into two parts: before and after 1927, the year in which it was written. The
story began in the late evening of 9 June 1906, when the protagonist Robert Gordon was born. The early
part of the book is mostly about the early life of Robert, including how he found and lost his true love,
Marie Stanton, who was born on 6 October 1908.[9] The loss of Marie Stanton inspired Robert to become
the greatest inventor in history. After 1927, the book describe an imaginary war from April 1930 to July
1932, in which Robert single-handedly help the United States to win with his amazing inventions.
Some writers,[4][10] including W.D.’s grandson John L. Gann,[11] think that the imaginary war in the book
was a prediction of the Second World War. However, the war in the book was from 1930 to 1932, whereas
the Second World War started about ten years later. Therefore, unless Gann was making a very serious
mistake, he could not be referring to it. Since there was no war against the US in 1930 in actual history,
some believe that it was Gann’s prediction for the Great Depression in the form of a metaphor.[12][13] Below
is a table comparing the timeline of the imaginary war and the Great Depression:
Timeline of the Tunnel Thru the Air vs. The Dow 1930-1932
Date Event The Dow
Fall 1929 Spain and Japan were threatening the United States. The famous 1929 crash.
Japan declared war with the United States, and attacked A major top below 300 after the 1929
Apr 1930
the East Coast. crash.
A lower top below 250 after the one in
1 Aug 1930 El Paso was bombed.
April.
24 Jun
Cairo, IL destroyed. Falling below 150.
1931
2 Aug 1931 St. Louis attacked. A top around 150.
2 Oct 1931 Chicago attacked. Falling below 100.
15 Oct 1931 Robert became the Supreme Commander of the US army. Rally back above 100.
24 Nov
US fought back. Struggling above 100
1931
7 Dec 1931 Detroit attacked. Falling below 90.
6 Jun 1932 Boston attacked. Approaching 50.
8 Jun 1932 Battle of NYC. Support around 50.
The US won the war against the world, and a 3-day The end of the long bear market on 8
4 July 1932
holiday followed. Jul 1932.
30 August
Robert reunioned with Marie. Getting back above 50.
1932
Bonnie Hill[5] found that all the turning points of the imaginary war in the book were related to transits to
the US chart, mostly by Mars. Hill also noted that Gann was using the Gemini-rising chart of the US
Independence, which was also used by other famous astrologers.[14] (* Note: the transits with Pluto are
crossed out below, because it was not yet discovered by 1927 when the book was written.)
G Mars 15 N Saturn
2 Aug 1931 315 St. Louis attacked
G Pluto 30 N Mars*
G Mars 0 N ASC
4 Jul 1932 383 Enemy attacked Washington DC
G Mars 0 N Uranus
Encoding techniques
Title
Petter Ivar Amundsen[15][16] believes that the title of the book is an anagram. He replaced the “1940” in the
title with the following letters:
He rearranged the letters, and the title became “From the Lunar Return, Looking back to His Mother”.
Amundsen noted that Marie disappeared on 5 June 1927, when the Moon was in Leo, and she reappeared on
30 August 1932, when the Moon was in Leo again.
He also noted that the date of the Foreword was 9 May 1927, which was 1940 days before the end of the
novel, 30 August 1932.
Book cover
The original 1927 book cover depicts some planes flying around a tunnel in the sky. Paul Nipperess[17]
notices that the number and location of planes displays some Fibonacci relationships.
Fake quotes
There are a number of quotes in the book which are unclear if they are really said or written by the person.[7]
For example, on page 191, Gann “quoted” Pythagoras in the following passage: “‘There are in woman’s
eyes two sorts of tears, the one of grief; the other of deceit.’ I think that is because there are two kinds of
men, one who appreciates love and honor and gives sympathy; the other kind who is selfish, expects
something for nothing and must meet with deceit.” Brian Sklenka[7][12] thinks that Gann was trying to draw
the readers’ attention to the Pyathagoras, and the numbers “two” and “one”, indirectly hinting that the
octave theory discovered by the Greek philosopher.
Similarly, on page 192, Gann included the following “quote” from Southey, “There are three things a wise
man will not trust, the wind, the sunshine of an April day and a woman’s plighted faith.” Again, it is an
association of the British poet and the number “three”, which is an indirect reference to his famous story
Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Some esoteric writers like S. J. Pasagic[18] believes that the story is a
hidden reference to the Law of Three (see the teachings of George Gurdjieff).
Page numbers
Many believe that Gann used the pages numbers in the 1927 original edition to encode some of his
secrets.[19][6] Here are some examples that the page number is related to the information on that page:
Page
Content of the Page Remarks
Number
This is a part of Chapter 2 in which
Robert's mother expressed that “Bobbie The page number (12) to the power of the chapter number
had advanced ideas fully a hundred (2) is 144. Gann has a tool called the Square of 144 which
12
years ahead of his time and that he he considered to be one of the most important.[7] The
should be educated and allowed to follow reference to 144 appears again on page 144.
his own ideas”.
116/22 is roughly equal to 5.2, or two times of 2.618, the
The phrase “heart jump right up in his
square of the golden ratio 1.618. Similarly, 116/241 is
22 throat” appeared three times in book, on
about 48 percent, or subtract it from one makes 52
page 22, 116 and 241.
percent.
Edward was actually the first name of Gann's astrologer,
Edward Johndro, and the Masons work with esoteric
26 Robert met his love rival, Edward Mason.
mathematics. In addition, 26 refers to the square of the
golden ratio 1.618, or 2.618.[20]
It is the only page in the book on which 56 years are about three Saros cycles and considered one
56
the word "eclipse" appears. complete cycle of eclipses.
Robert explicitly stated that he believes in
69 is the astrological symbol of Cancer. This is where
“the signs and the stars” and hinted that
69 Robert's natal Venus was, and it would be later transited
are astrological references in the Holy
when he confessed his feelings to Marie.
Bible.
It is the start of the seventh chapter,
There are 418 pages in the book, and 418 - 75 = 343, and
Future Cycles. It is the only place in
75 343 is the cube of 7 (the chapter number). By the way, 343
which Gann openly discussed his
is about half of the geocentric Mars cycle.
method.
The number “3” is hidden in this passage in the following
ways:
1. Texarkana, June 5, 1927, 3 am. The moment of parting Marie and Robert. The conjunction of
Mars and Venus in Cancer, the Moon at the time of the onset of the event in 28 degrees of
Cancer.
2. Paris, late February 1929. The illusion of meeting Robert and Marie. The conjunction of Mars
and Venus in Cancer on a heliocentric chart. Moon Return on the geo-map.
3. New York, August 30, 1932, 11 am. Meeting Robert and Marie. Lunar return. The connection
of Mars and Venus is very close to Cancer.
Rule
(as
Time Aspect Implication in
coined Planets Details
Window Formed Cotton Prices
by
Hill)
The supply
If the two planets in question form any of the
Wet Uranus would
given aspects within the stated time window,
Cotton and decrease and
then the Mississippi River will flood in that
Farmer Neptune the price would
year.
go up.
Before
Multiples of If the two planets in question form any of the The supply
Poor Jupiter mid-April
the 8th (45°) given aspects within the stated time window, would increase
Cotton and of each
or 12th (30°) then the rainfall along the Mississippi will be and the price
Farmer Neptune calendar
harmonic ideal to grow crops. would fall.
year
The supply
If the two planets in question form any of the
Dry Saturn would
given aspects within the stated time window,
Cotton and decrease and
then the Mississippi River area will experience
Farmer Neptune the price would
horrible drought.
go up.
The last rule ("Dry Cotton Farmer") was actually not mentioned at all in the book. It was deduced by Hill
after she discovered the first two rules. Here are some actual examples from Hill's lecture:
Wet Cotton Farmer (Uranus-Neptune)
In 1735, geocentric Uranus opposite Neptune. Over ninety percent of New Orleans was under
water. The entire region was drastically affected by the flooding in the Delta.
In 1762, geocentric Uranus 135° with Neptune. This was a major flood. For instance,the flood
level in the city of Cincinnati was up 80 feet. The top of a church steeple was the only thing
sticking out of the water in the little town of Cincinnati.
In 1821 (geocentric Uranus conjunct Neptune), we had another major flood. They called it the
“worst flood of the century”. The reporters said that they had no words to describe the damage
from this flood. They couldn't even estimate the cost of the damage. People decided give
major sections of land back to the Mississippi River. They would not farm the land, and they
would not build towns on the land. The people realized that the Mississippi River would always
“win”.
The next flood in the table occurred in 1881 (geocentric Uranus trine Neptune). Please notice
that we had a major flood in 1881, and another major flood in 1882. Due to retrogradation, we
had the same aspect (geocentric Uranus trine Neptune) on Feb 26, 1881 and April 8, 1882.
There are cases in which we had major floods three years in a row because the same aspect
occurred in the spring of all three years. The floods in 1881-1882 were very famous. Mark
Twain was alive during that time. He actually went down the Mississippi River on a steam boat,
and said the Mississippi River was 75 miles wide at that time. The channel of the Mississippi
River was 75 miles wide.
The next flood in the table occurred in 1907 (geocentric Uranus opposite Neptune). This is the
flood mentioned by Gann in The Tunnel Thu the Air. Please notice that we had a flood in 1907,
and in 1908. Why? The same aspect occurred in the spring of both years.
The next big flood occurred in 1927 (geocentric Uranus 150 Neptune). This is the one that
Gann predicts in The Tunnel Thru the Air. They had a late spring and a major flood. There was
over $284 million in damage. It was estimated that 240 billion gallons of water came down the
Mississippi River that spring. They had 1.8 million acres of land under water. A lot of people
feel that this was one of the major causes of the Great Depression; the flood destroyed the
economy through the Mississippi basin. This totally destroyed the cotton crops.
The next major flood occurred in 1935 (geocentric Uranus 135 Neptune). The same aspect
occurred in the spring of 1936, and a second flood occurred. The flood in 1936 caused $270
million in damage.
In 1943, geocentric Uranus trine Neptune. A major flood occurred which caused $172 million in
damage. In 1973, we saw geocentric Uranus semi-square Neptune. A major flood caused
$420 million of damage. October cotton hit a high price of 99 cents at this time. In 1979, a
major flood occurred. Geocentric Uranus was semi-sextile Neptune on March 31, 1979.
In 1993, geocentric Uranus was conjunct Neptune on February 2. What happened in 1993?
The same thing that occurred in 1821, approximately 173 years earlier. Once again, the
Mississippi River looks like an inland lake. Many, many acres are under water and they are
currently discussing buying the land from the farmers, giving it back to the river, and saying we
won't grow crops there again and we won't build buildings there again. The ticket for this flood
at the time of the seminar was $12 billion.
“On Sunday, June 19, 1927, Robert Gordon spent the day studying his charts and working out his cycles for
stocks, cotton and grain. He was short of Major Motors and was watching it very closely. On this day he
made a new and great discovery of a time factor from which he figured that Major Motors would decline
until about June 30th and then start an advance which would last until about September 16th, 1927, when
the Company would be 19 years old and at that time the stock would reach final high and would then go
down to February to April, 1929. He figured that the stock should advance to around 270 by September 16th
and made up his mind to watch it closely and cover his shorts if it went down around June 30th, and then
start buying the stock.”
Bonnie Hill[5] detailed the exact trades and their related astrological aspects as below, including both lunar
aspects and transits to the GM incorporation chart on 17 Sep 1908: (* Note: the transits with Pluto below are
crossed out, because it was not yet discovered by 1927 when the book was written.)
Date Action Astrological Aspects Lunar Aspects
G Sun 150 N ASC
G Sun 30 N Venus
Buy GM @ 192.50 G Moon max North
G Sun 90 N Saturn
30 Jun 1927
Major Bottom One day after total solar eclipse
G Venus 30 N MC
G Mars 30 N Mars
G Moon 0 North
21 Jul 1927 Buy GM @ 214 G Mars 135 N Uranus
Quarter Moon
G Venus 75 N ASC
8 Aug 1927 Stop loss was hit
G Venus 0 South
G Venus 0 N MC
G Jupiter 0 G Uranus
12 Aug 1927 Buy GM @ 218 Full Moon
G Mercury Leo
G Sun 0 N Jupiter
24 Aug 1927 Buy GM @ 238 G Moon max South
G Sun Virgo
G Mercury Libra
G Sun 0 N Sun
Sell GM @ 272
G Mercury 0 South
16 Sep 1927
Birthday of GM
G Uranus 0 South
Regarding this plethora of astrological aspects, Hill only had the following to comment:
Other than that, she did not go further to separate the wheat from the chaff, and delineate how other traders
could apply this cluster of seemingly unrelated aspects to their trading.
Relationship to eclipses
Gann strongly hinted at the astrological influence when he stated that Major Motors’ share price would rise
during this period because of “a new and great discovery of a time factor” which would make the price to
stop declining “about June 30th”. Daniel Ferrera[24] noted that there was a total solar eclipse on 29th June,
1927, and Saturn was going retrograde. By the middle of September that year, Saturn had turned direct and
returned to its spot during the eclipse. Also, this total eclipse fell with the Sun Square to natal Saturn. This is
a seemingly very negative aspect, but Ferrera explains that the Natal Saturn was retrograde, and when a
planet is retrograde, aspects are reversed that good aspects such as trines and sextiles become negative and
bad aspects such as squares & oppositions become positive.
Ferrera also pointed out that, prior to the first trade on 30 Jun 1927, the total lunar eclipse on 15 Jun created
some negative transits, because the Moon was in exact opposition to natal Pluto, and the Sun Square to the
natal Sun. This is why Gann expected the price to decline into 30 Jun 1927 (except that, of course, Gann
could not have been aware of Pluto, as it was discovered in 1930).
As James Smithson noted,[19] Robert forecasted that Major Motor's share price would rise between June 30
and September 16, 1927 due to positive astrological influences. This is a period of 78 days, during which he
forecast that the price would rise from 192½ to 270, which rounds up to 78 points. After a rise of 78 points
in 78 days (i.e. 1×1 Gann angle) time and price would be squared and the uptrend would end. Similarly,
Daniel Ferrera[24] noted that the bottom price of $192½ is in opposition to Jupiter & Uranus on the Gann
Hexagon Chart, whereas the final price of $270 conjoins Jupiter and Uranus on the same chart, a complete
180° movement.
As indicated in the previous section, Bonnie Hill[5] noted that Uranus was inconjunct with Neptune in that
Spring, which would predict that a flood was coming and the cotton price would go up.
Peter Palaskas[25] found that the support line is related to the 1×1 angle whereas the resistance is related to
the 4×1 angle.
Relationship to eclipses
Peter Palaskas[25] found that the entry dates are related to the two solar eclipses on 3rd Jan and 29th Jun
1927.
Also, on page 202, Gann discussed the great bull market from 1924 through 1927, “He went back into the
stock market and in the great Coolidge Bull Campaign from 1924 to 1927 was again a dominant factor in
General Motors and other stocks and was reputed to have made fifty millions, or more.” Checking the
geocentric ephemeris, and Hill[5] found that in March–April 1924, geocentric Jupiter was at max South
declination, and geocentric Uranus in South declination during all of 1924. On July 8, 1927 geocentric
Jupiter was at 0 North declination, and on May 1, 1927, geocentric Uranus was at 0 North declination. The
declination of both planets was “increasing” during the 1924-1927 bull market.
References
1. Gann, William Delbert (1927). The Tunnel Thru the Air; Or, Looking Back from 1940. New York,
NY: Financial Guardian Publishing Company.
2. "The tunnel thru the air; or, Looking back from 1940" (https://archive.org/stream/tunnelthruairorl
00gann). The Internet Archive. Retrieved 10 Feb 2018.
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The_Tunnel_Thru_the_Air_Or_Looking_Back.html?id=1eRcta9cBocC). Google Books.
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4. Novak-Reich, Pauline (21 Oct 2013). "Unlocking W.D. Gann's 'The Tunnel Thru the Air' " (htt
p://www.futuresmag.com/2013/10/20/unlocking-wd-gann’s-‘-tunnel-thru-air’). Futures.
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5. Hill, Bonnie Lee (1 Feb 2006). "The 1994 Tunnel Lecture" (https://www.scribd.com/doc/329495
5/Tunnel-Lecture). Retrieved 10 Feb 2018.
6. Rosecast School of Financial Astrology. "Learn Astrology with "The Tunnel Thru the Air" " (http
s://www.rosecast.com/learn-astrology-with-the-tunnel-thru-the-air/). Rosecast. Retrieved
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13. Sklenka, Brian James (2002). Six - The Proper Background. WITS Publishing.
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s.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/mystery-solved-the-usa-gemini-rising-chart/). Anthony Louis -
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02909420/Gann-Tunnel-Through-the-Air-Comment). Retrieved 10 Feb 2018.
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n.fr/index.php/en/bibliography-uk/wd-gann/ttta). Retrieved 13 Feb 2018.
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(PDF). Retrieved 13 Feb 2018.
18. Pasagic, S. J. (2011). Ancient Whisper. Pittsburgh, PA: RoseDog Books.
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planetary and lunar movements (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/897448823). Smoleny, Shane,.
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25. Palaskas, Peter. "Analysis of Robert Gordon's trades, from the book Tunnel Thru The Air - Part
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