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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Update: Two Comets, Not One (ISON and Encke)

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.

Link to: JPL-CALTECH-NASA

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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ISON: Beyond Us

Comet ISON Oct 08 2013

(photo credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon Sky Center- University of Arizona, October 2013)

Of all the things in this solar system wearing odd names, the one I’d like to know as the ‘who thought THAT name was a good idea’ winner in my book is the Oort cloud.

I’m sorry…but hearing people discuss the Oort cloud inevitably conjures up images of seals line up ‘oort-oort-oort-ing’ as they slap their flippers together.

Just sayin’…

But the word has come up of late – specifically with reference to a comet with the interesting name of ISON (yes, all capitals). Otherwise known to the astronomy logs as C/2012 S1, having come from the distant reaches of our solar system (call it a quarter to Sedna territory) ISON is at this very moment diving towards the Sun – although ‘diving’ is probably not quite the word as I’ve never heard of any reports about jackknifes with double twists coming out of NASA.

In any case, what we are describing is an object (ISON) which has come from “all the way out there” to “all the way in here” – and when we say ‘in here’ we rather mean it. At it’s closest, ISON is predicted to come within 0.0124 AU (1,860,000 Km or 1,150,000 miles) from the Sun.

And when you’re talking about the Sun, that’s close. To give us some idea of how close we’re talking here, Mercury – the planet which lives beyond the realm of sunblock – only gets to within 0.307 AU from the Sun. (As a reminder, one AU is the distance from the Sun to Terra Earth.).

So we’re talking close. Toasty close.

Speaking of our solar system philosophically and metaphorically, to those who believe in the micro-macro reflection of All, this means a lot. It might not refer to any earth shattering event (we certainly hope not – especially literally!), but it’s important all the same. After all, the farther you go ‘out there,’ in theory what you are referring to is the “bigger picture” or the “broader brush stroke” or the “background issue.” That’s the ‘out there.’ When we speak of fixed stars in astrology, they always have a ‘coloration’ more than an ‘action,’ they’re more of a ‘quality’ or esoteric challenge to us which we will tackle however we tackle it rather than the finite description of some object or objective of the moment.
‘Out there’ is the situation, the background against which all else we are doing gets set. Such qualities may be static (as in being a representation of our orientation or ‘where we’re coming from’)… or they may be pro-generative, which is to say, such ‘out there’ quotients – be they fixed stars or anything else ‘out there’ may describe that which motivates or challenges us. 
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Over the millennia, astrology has collected a reasonable body of lore on the so-called “fixed” stars. Oort cloud occupants are a newer research topic seeing as we’re just discovering such objects. But we do know a couple of them. Dwarf planet Eris (discord) is thought to orbit at the edge of the Oort cloud. So that dwarf planet Sedna (representing our being challenged to mature/deal with issues of maturity in our own right) definitely orbits in the Oort cloud…what does it mean that Eris orbits at the edge of this place?

Everything beyond Planet Neptune is by astrological definition, that we cannot know – not for sure. We can imagine, we can dream. We can intuit, we can hope. We can have faith, we can act on faith, we can continue trying because we have faith there’s a reason to keep on trying even when with every moment our doubts and self-questioning grows louder.

(Yes, there’s a reason why Neptune is the #1 problematic marker in astrology. Nobody loves their Neptune…and nobody loves to hate their Neptune!)

The point is…beyond Neptune lies the Kuiper Belt: realm of all which we cannot know for sure. And at some point (around the Eris orbital range) the Kuiper Belt becomes the Oort cloud – the place from which comes all the long-period comets (like Halley) as well as all the centaurs (like Chiron) come from.

So we think in terms of how astrology suggests comets (in general) bring news or ‘information from afar’ and we know this is part of what ISON is about. Then we check the records (JPL, NASA and such) and we note that unlike Halley and Chiron, scientists list ISON as ‘non-periodic.’

Metaphysically, we would think ‘non-periodic’ refers to a one-time issue, idea or event. But then again, it may refer to a one-time chance, a once-and-for-all transformation of your life or attitudes – a lot of things.

Scientists aren’t all positive ISON is going to make it through it’s close encounter with the Sun.

Some things come to us and then just…fade away. Or to look at this metaphor from the position of our life as the Sun, some things come at us and we just burn them to a crisp before they can get to us.

But is that bad? Or is that good?

Another thought on the Oort cloud: as the ‘outer layer’ of our solar system, it is the Oort cloud which first receives the 'tidal’ energetics of the Milky Way – and it is this small but recordable galactic push-pull which is thought to be vital in releasing new comets from the Oort cloud. You know…so they can head on into the solar system and wander through our metaphysical neighborhood. And though it’s not like Earth is just down the block or anything, it is interesting to think of this particular comet – which was only discovered on September 21, 2012 – being part of the reflective and reflexive process of existence which has now got a whole bunch of people sort of breathlessly watching this comet.

Will it survive its encounter with the Sun?

We do have a few notes on ISON, which are as follows…after a photo sessions with the Deep Impact spacecraft in January/February 2013 (Deep Impact is on its way to study Comet Tempel), Hubble in April/May 2013 and the Spitzer Space Telescope in June (this is a comet with a good PR firm, no question)…on October 1st, ISON got very (very) close to planet Mars.

Comet ISON moving through the signs

And since we know that Mars was at 21 Leo on October 1st, we know where ISON was. SO...using the standard astrological 5-degree conjunction orb, things which manifested in your world or life between September 23rd and October 9th or so (give or take a time zone) will have paved or poked your Mars/ISON quotient in terms of being an action or activation point at which something which you didn't know about began to manifest. That Mars is involved suggests something which involves action or passion or drive or aims. That an ‘unknown’ like ISON was involved may mean you didn’t understand ‘what was coming at you.’

We each would have reacted in terms of a.) where our natal Mars is charts and…b.) wherever 21 Leo falls in our birth charts. The nature of this combination when looked at through Mars’ position suggests unknown encounters and tests of perception which we may or may not prove apt at. Because lore on this degree says matters come out best if/where/when we are able to apply a sort of ‘insightful sensitivity’ to the situation, ‘the thing which happens’ and ‘what it means that it happened’ may…or may not be connected.

That’s probably part of what we need(ed) to think through. You know, as part of the thing ‘coming at us.’

 Comet ISON in parallel (conjunction by degree) with Mars

(diagram courtesy of JPL Small Body Database Browser)

As of November 17-18, ISON was seen passing fixed star Spica, putting it at 24 Libra, a degree which focuses on how we deal with the subject of relationships at a purely personal level which has everything to do with our ability to care as much for ourselves as others and as much for others as ourselves. That Spica and Arcturus are both currently at 24 Libra doubles up on asking us ‘how brilliantly’ we’re handling our affairs, particularly when it comes to the question of responsibility – to/for ourselves or for others.

And just to make things lively? Just as ISON shows up, so does Rhadamanthus – a symbol of transcendent justice. Wherever we see Rhadamanthus, rising to the higher (less me-oriented) sense of justice is either required…or being questioned. (And no, that’s not a swell choice.)

 Comet ISON at it's perihelion point (closest approach) with the Sun

(diagram courtesy of JPL Small Body Database Browser)

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On November 22nd, ISON dropped below Mercury, which would put it in mid-Scorpio territory. So as of November 22nd, this ‘thing coming towards us’ (which remember, is part of us/our lives we are not aware of or not wanting to think about) becomes mental and emotional. It may form a blockade, it may just represent something which sticks in your mind, it may signal the surfacing (the ‘beginning to see’) something or some situation with far greater clarity – a sort of ‘in your face’ clarity.

It’s about this time that SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) will pick ISON up and track it on towards it’s appointed rendezvous with its perihelion – it’s closest approach to the Sun, and thus to our life.

The SOHO spacecraft

(image credit: NASA, December 2011)

This event which will happen on November 28, 2013 (Thanksgiving Day), after which ISON will grow brighter.

That’s right…metaphysically, we can expect that whatever this confluence of ISON/Sun represents in your life to become something brighter or of ‘greater magnitude’ after the technical perihelion. AFTER the comet begins to turn away again from the Sun.

From our mind.

From our life.

As an astrologer, I can’t say I think ISON is the do-all, be-all of transit passages. But in looking at the dates provided, comet passages are just as real and just as valid a part of the universal tapestry as anything else. So…if you look back to July and you follow life events forward, are you now in a position to see and live your personal opportunities, new, old, expected, renegade and otherwise?
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