A screen shot of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's November 25, 2013 home page posting on comets ISON and Encke
(image courtesy of JPL-Caltech-NASA)
Just when you think you’re up to date, NASA drops out of the black of space with new news. And this time, there’s even film.
No, not some film made by aliens (although that sounds like fun!). And no, not film of some well meaning science type delivering facts (or phaques, if you’re feeling ultra-liberal in the spelling department).
So what's on said film?
Answer: another comet.
That’s right…ISON has company, which is a rather nice thought. After all, comets spend so much of their time whizzing through the empty vastness of space…and here on Planet Earth, it’s the beginning of the holidays. So who among us would deny a wandering comet a little company?
For those of you who have just fallen off your chair (or couch) laughing, I’ll wait a moment. And for those who are thinking perhaps a butterfly net big enough for an astrologer is needed here, hold up.
I really do have a point. It’s quick, it’s simple – and for those who think they never get to see astrology and science in synchronous parallel, it’s really rather grand.
So if you’re interested, start with the link I’m about to give you. It links to JPL…and when you watch the seriously short (seconds long) film clip the link will lead you to, watch for two things: comets moving left to right and the ‘breath’ of the solar wind moving right to left.
I can’t tell you all that much about Encke. The name of the comet comes from Johann Franz Encke, the fellow who calculated its orbit back in 1819 – which argues for good math skills, but not much else.
(For the record, I’m a math geek, so that’s not really a criticism. Far from it, actually.)
What I can tell you about with regards to Comet Encke however, is that this is not one of the long-period comets like Halley, which every 75.3 years comes to visit us from on beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt. Halley, Swift-Tuttle (source of the Persied Meteor shower) and Thatcher (source of the Lyrid Meteor shower) all come to us from a realm which metaphysically is about that we don’t know – that which has never occurred to us.
Not so with Encke. Encke doesn’t take 75 years to come around like Halley, and it certainly doesn’t disappear for 415 years between visits like Thatcher.
No, Encke is a whole other kind of comet critter, one which originates inside of Jupiter.
That’s right…Encke is a comet which originates in the asteroid belt. And if we remember that the asteroid belt represents all those many things which we have to ‘meet up with’ and learn about or deal with on our way from motivation or initiation (Mars) to what we might call the Jupiter ‘mastery’ point (or at least the dawning of having a clue as to what you’re doing and how to get it done), then Encke – an object with a perihelion (inner orbital) point smack dab in the crux of Mercury’s orbit – Encke would seem to represent some sort of information or those challenges which seem to come to us on a ‘cyclic’ basis as we are trying to do something, achieve some goal or figure out how to get something done.
The link to Mercury makes this very much about what we do/how we do what we do…and/or how we think and/or communicate. (Or not, of course. Do – not do. Communicate – not communicate. There always is the possibility of the polarity.)
However…as we think of this, then we add in that Encke reached its perihelion just days ago – on November 21st. So we’ve just had the Encke cycle of ‘bringing to us’ reach it’s ‘reaching us’ point.
But what does that mean?
Two more things to add in here. One is (of course) the fact that ISON is also involved in this period of time we’re all living through. And we’re all trying to sort through what (Sun in Sagittarius) needs doing and what we (Sun in Sagittarius) need to keep on dealing with…despite however we feel about it, here in the wake of this powerful, emotional time we’ve just been through.
But if you saw that film JPL posted, then you also know that the solar wind – the breath of the Sun, as one might very poetically call it – is flowing towards both comets. Back in 2007 (two 3.3 year Encke cycles ago) this same thing happened and literally ‘broke off’ Encke’s tail.
Does this tell us just how powerful our intent and essential being really is? Do we benefit or rob ourselves of the opportunity to be something we’ve never dreamed of by insisting on our own perspective – the ‘brilliance’ of our thinking and the strength of our will?
The scientists are poised with all their equipment, but we don’t know what will happen yet. This all seems to paint something of a metaphysical picture with Encke representing our personal challenges and aims while the Sun represents our consciousness and ability to focus on or deal with life/our life.
And somehow all of this is bound in with something totally strange, totally foreign which comes closes to us on November 28th - Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
Does this mean we will see that which we thought we would never see? Does it mean that something will have finally come close enough or clear enough that we understand it?
We seem to be being posed with a lot of questions right now. But that’s apt enough – certainly one of Sagittarius’ greatest functions in our life is to keep us green and growing, whether that means confronting us with questions, trying our patience or insecurities or giving us opportunities we can’t resist but hardly know how to wrap our minds around.
That’s most likely the point. Life never tries to thwart us or puzzle us to no end, merely to stimulate us into learning that which will ultimately allow us to grow, utilize our potential and thrive. That 'thriving' may not look or sound like we think it should...
But then, whose universe is it?
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