Comet ISON: “Cancel the Funeral”

Provided by the SOHO solar space observatory, Comet ISON is clearly

visible near the top, emerging from its encounter with the Sun

(photo credit: SOHO, NASA, Spaceweather.com) 

While much of America dashed off in the middle of the night to partake in Black Friday shopping…while a friend of mine back east studiously ignored his Thanksgiving Day sink load of dishes (I got the email, which is how I know about this sulk)…and while the blog astrologer tried to sleep off chasing the NASA and Spaceweather feeds (that’ll show me…)…

While I slept, Dr. Tony Phillips and the rest of the gang at Spaceweather (and NASA) had a busy night of proving we had all subjected ourselves to a serious case of pre-demise. And the above  - “Cancel the Funeral” was exactly what as of this morning (November 29th) was the official word on ISON.

Link to: Spaceweather.com

In other words, Comet ISON is still there. If you go to Spaceweather and click on the film loop, you can now see the comet approach...apparently dive 'into' the Sun and then - miraculously - reappear.

(Says a lot about just how dense rock can be, doesn't it? And what does that say about us?)

Among other things, this says we should be getting some pretty brilliant sky watching in the next little while as ISON comes out from behind the Sun (behind vis-à-vis our position here on Earth). And by the by…if you think it’s unusual for scientists, astronomers and astrologers to be caught out looking dim when confronted with the universe, uh…thanks, but that wouldn’t exactly be the truth. We who are fascinated with watching and figuring out and correlating what we knew with what we’re learning – we do this stuff all the time.

In astrology (so you know) there are really a couple of schools of thought on this stuff. A large proportion of the astrological community is still wedded to ancient texts in a way which would make you think there’s nothing new under the Sun (any sun, anywhere in the universe) which is just a silly thing to assert. With all due respect to those who read this post and are religious, this same ‘all the truths were spoken back then’ stuff seems unlikely to the max. After all, if Deity existed then Deity still exists – what makes us think that a Deity who allegedly ‘cared’ so much about us a couple of thousand years ago that we were given chidings and lectures…why wouldn’t that Deity care enough about us not to communicate with us in modern times?

(I just don’t get that.)

As for astrology and astrologers, a lot of astrologers haven’t even gone beyond the classical to asteroids, dwarf planets and such – never mind following the NASA/Spaceweather feed around.

If nothing else, you know where I was over Thanksgiving, right?

Personally, I’m thinking of this whole Comet ISON affair as (in part) a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t reflexive dealing with our lives. The science part will sort itself out over the next weeks, months and years of course.

As for ISON…considering the worldwide press on this comet, at this point we are dealing with an object which at least represents something ‘out there’ which has our attention. We thought it was over…but it isn’t over. And now, according to science, whatever this ‘thing’ is in our life…it is going to become a ‘brighter factor’ as we move forward. Whether this pertains to something you thought you had lost which now you realize isn’t lost…or something you thought was a negative which has revealed itself as a positive which will be a ‘light’ to you in weeks to come.

Something 'out there' which has been maybe physically, but maybe mentally or emotionally 'heading towards us' remains intact.

But then, so do we. And what that means in each of our lives has yet to be revealed. Some of it will be evolving in present tense, but just as ISON entered our

Being someone who tries to take their cues from a world and universe which is always trying to get me to pay attention to said cues…I’m prone to letting this matter go now. After all, the ‘survival’ image provided by the SOHO image (above) – of all things labels royal fixed star Antares.

You know…the star which tells us not to obsess?

Link to: Antares - Royal Star of Persia

Sometimes our ‘time cues’ seem odd because the flowing of energetic ‘waves’ caused by moving objects takes time to reach us. Fortunately with ISON we now have an opportunity to move forward feeling our own solar consciousness in action. This comet was only 'discovered' (brought to our conscious attention) back on September 12th - that being when this very ancient object got close enough that we of Earth took notice of it.

So whatever took almost three months to get here...it will like as not take time to resolve. Or complete. Or maybe it will take you that long to reach some decision.

Whatever it is, considering ISON's timing, we have an opportunity now to move forward and see - and feel ourselves seeing - some pretty brilliant things. So whatever comes of this solar system steeplechase, no doubt we yet shall see. In the meantime, it seems a good sign that we can cancel the cosmic funeral because there’s no comet demise which requires mourning.

Just thought you’d like to know.
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R.I.P. Comet ISON

Imaged by the SOHO space observatory, Comet ISON heads towards the Sun,

an encounter which was timed to 1:45 am (ET) on November 28 2013

Comet ISON has not survived its encounter with the Sun.

Links with amazingly clear motion images of ISON diving into the Sun are posted at Spaceweather.com on the page for November 28, 2013.
 

Metaphysically, this event suggests our having absorbed what we needed to 'see' (literally or otherwise). Or maybe we've dismissed, destroyed, or otherwise 'eaten up' that which was presented to us.

(And yes, for Americans that may have started with a Thanksgiving feast - as for Jews it may have been about the heart-warming qualities of Hanukkah - though either way there's probably more to it.)

Here's the chart (an Aries wheel, and thus not location specific) of the event as calculated for 1:45 (ET) on November 28, 2013...

The Sun is at 6 Sagittarius, a degree which centers in the identity of service. There is a great sense of existing for the benefit of the group which comes with 6 Sagittarius - a quality which is interestingly paired with a Sabian Symbol reading 'CUPID KNOCKS AT THE DOOR OF A HUMAN HEART.'

6 Sagittarius asks us to understand that what we do for ourselves...especially purely for ourselves eventually comes to nothing. 'Cupid' knocking at the door of our heart is a request that we allow ourselves to apply the substantial mental resources promised by 6 Sagittarius to the whole of our life - and to have a life which fits what we can do for others, not merely for our own pleasures.

What this means to you in your life of course, is highly individual. An astrologer would read this in terms of what house 6 Sagittarius falls in and what sort of relationship your chart says you have with your natal Jupiter (...if I may be allowed to say something so bold in public, of course!)

But you know where you are, right? So you know what's been on and in your mind. You know where in your life you've been trying to 'gain ground' or move forward and what the issues have been there.

ISON is just bringing home a 'quality' which like as not rings through a great deal of that. Like all astrological moments, ISON's diving into the Sun isn't the do-all, be-all answer to anything.

It's just a facet of a much greater story. You know - the story of Life. (And yes for you, Your Life in particular.)

Another (earlier) shot of Comet ISON made by SOHO showing the breath of the solar wind. (photo credit: SOHO, Spaceweather.com, November 28, 2013, 8:07a.m./ET)

But everything - from soup to nuts to planet to existing in a soup bowl of time ladled from some endless vat...?

That also is involved. And that this moment has happened not in sync with an event to cause any one of us to stop and reflect - but in sync with events which have caused entire cultures and nations to stop?

That's straight-forward metaphysics.

And for once, fairly straight-forward metaphysics at that.

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Comet ISON(Update 2)/Phaethon: Rock Comet

 Phaethon by Gustave Moreau (1878)

Apparently the idea of Comet ISON has captured a lot of people's imagination, as it's all over the news, and now people want to watch a live feed on November 28th (Thanksgiving Day in the United States) to see if NASA (or anyone else in the space biz) can tell if ISON has indeed survived its brush with the Sun...

It's all a bit of outer space drama, absolutely. And fascinating to watch. An object out there which is billions of years old is about to have what may be its ultimate fateful encounter with a star. And we humans pretty much get to watch.

That's dramatic.

The whole thing is dramatic - and thus it represents (to us) something which is 'dramatic' or which has some evocative or (for you perhaps) emotional meaning. Or maybe it just promotes some feeling response. Good or bad, whether your instinct is to sit and listen or run away or ignore some learned habit to second-guess yourself,  Comet ISON is about all that which has just in this past little while (generally speaking) shown up in your world. Arriving unexpectedly and totally capable of rattling the windows, chains or foundations of anyone's world (whether it does is about your individual chart) ISON represents some idea, some knowing, some totally unexpected and probably unheralded perspective which has come to be - by whatever measures - injected into our lives.

Will ISON 'impact' the Sun? And to the extent that it does, does that limit the effect of whatever ISON's appearing out of the vastness of the unknown has manifested as in each of our lives?

Over the past few days the solar wind gave ISON a buffeting. But the comet got past. Unlike Encke - which got its tail 'cut off' by a like encounter with a solar CME back in 2007.

Whatever was 'out there' in our lives is still out there. For a day or two it seemed to waver...but it's still on course.

Evidently life wants us to continue feeling this issue in some ever-increasing sort of 'obvious to us' (if nobody else) sort of way.

Scientists are saying that ISON is an object about the size of a shopping center made of rock and ice. That's nothing the Sun couldn't simply absorb in a moment... which by implication says that whatever it is which is so 'foreign' to us, we could absorb it. Yet instead we're treating as some 'strange thing' which has shown up in our world. It's of our solar system - our life environment. And yet for some reason, we've never seen it. It's never registered in our (solar) consciousness - at least not to the degree that we've noticed it.

Until now, that is.

From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's home page for November 27, SOHO images

of comets Encke and ISON heading towards Earth.

To see this film clip in full, link to JPL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

  

Whatever is working its way through your life, your psyche, it's probably not simple. It's probably not even made up of one single issue or item or factor or possible priority or concern. We probably all knew that, but once NASA piped up and let us know that another comet (Encke) had reached its perihelion (near approach point to the Sun) on November 21st (last Saturday) that made it plain. After all, Encke is a comet, but it's a near (short-period) comet - one which cycles from just shy of Jupiter to the think of Mercury's orbit, marking a 3.3 year sub-cycle of personal growth and challenge.


And now...?

Proving that our universe (even our solar system) is nothing if not entirely capable of surprising us with what we don't know (which maybe is a hint for people to stop acting like such know-it-all's?), today NASA released a new piece of information on asteroid Phaethon.

In short, Phaethon is not "merely" an asteroid. It's a comet without a tail.

Link to: SCIENCE @ NASA (Nov. 27)

If you link to NASA's typically friendly 'chat' on this subject, what you'll learn - among other things - is that Phaethon is the source of the Geminids, one of Earth's yearly meteor showers...the next one up on the calendar, as life would have it. The Geminids begin on December 7th and run through the 17th with a peak hourly rate (of falling meteors) on December 13/14.

And just to make this interesting, the 17th is the date that Uranus goes direct AND of December's Full Moon.

Think what happens in your 'now' could affect your 'then'? Quite possibly so. If so, the 'active' process which will get you to that place...which you may well be thinking about now...would begin on December 3rd.

Why?

Because December 3rd is the date of December's NEW Moon - that which starts in motion whatever it is which either culminates, is discarded, adapted or integrated into a new phase at the FULL Moon.

With me?

So now we're thinking. We're realizing. We're contemplating. (And if you're American, you're probably also getting ready for that annual pumpkink-cranberry-turkey fest thing.)

A time-lapse photograph of the Geminid meteor shower over

Brasstown, Bald Mountain (Georgia) by NASA

The really quirky thing here is the Phaethon part...which is really what got me into writing this post. This Phaethon news isn't really "new news" - the European Space Agency issued the press release on Phaethon's rock-comet-hood back in September.

 Link to: European Planetary Science

Congress Release 2013

But that NASA would bring this up as part of its tightly-packed set of releases regarding all things ISON with the understanding that in our temporal life we are about to go from ISON to the New Moon to the Geminid meteor shower and on into Uranus' station/direct at the Full Moon - all of which then culminates in the Capricorn Solstice at the moment of Venus' turn to retrograde?

There is a whole world of business and economics out there which could probably profit (literally) from taking note of what lies ahead. The New Moon will be in Sagittarius, so we're trying to move ahead. Some will be in that trying to leave something else behind, but no matter - we're trying to move ahead and get on with life and living.

And as we do, all those little 'dapples' of light, those 'sparks' of streaming insight streak across our mindful sky.

Thus we will arrive at change - a shift which leads either to disappointment and retreat or a consolidating of those dearly held values and assets which we as individuals... we as humans... hold dear.

But first, we have to confront the fact that life is not black and white. Into all that ISON's appearing has manifested as, into all that Encke's reaching its perihelion has caused us to realize about who we are, who others may or may not be and the difference between daily matters and relationships, feelings and efforts which last a lifetime....

...into all that has come knowing Phaethon is not simply an asteroid, and it's not what we know as a comet.

It's something else. It's something new. We need to rethink or retool.

An asteroid 'as' comet would be something we wrestle with until it 'brings us' understanding. On the other hand, a comet 'as' an intermittent life challenge simply tells us we are never done learning - and for some of us, yes - that is news!

Beyond that is the realizing that we are being 'notified' of 'new things under the Sun' and how we don't know  everything which exists or how everything comes to exist. Or to be what it is.

And that fits too. How so? Well, as an astrological symbol, Phaethon is hasty. Its myth is all about a very bull-headed teen demi-god of the 'don't tell me I can't do that' sort.

(Okay, so that's every teenager on the planet, granted. And most teens think they can go around acting like demi-gods, yes. But you get my point.)

And now that the 'asteroid' we have known as Phaethon is not what we thought it was, what created that haste? Where did it really come from?

Also interesting: the mythic Phaethon came to his (teen, demi-god) end because he thought (prematurely, hasty boy that he was) that he was capable of controlling the chariot of the Sun.

In other words, life. (Or our mentality - the Sun also rules consciousness.)

So while we're watching Comet ISON dive in towards the Sun we also are being told that what has driven our haste...or our conviction...it isn't what we thought it was?

What does that say about us? 

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