Comets and Invisible Worlds

01/12/2022

Comet Leonard just made perihelion on January 4 2022. Some notes :

Comet Leonard

Discovered at the Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tuscon Arizona on January 3, 2021 the comet has a very long period and iregularly varying brightness between 2 and 5 magnitude. It's orbit or [eriod is estimated at some 80,000 years and it's closest approach to the Sun is .615 AU or about 60% of the average distance of the Earth from the Sun. The average brightness is given as 5.3 magnitude, very dim and hard to see but still visible to the naked eye if you know exactly where to look ( or use binoculars) and it does flare up to 2nd magnitude.

Having made its closest approach to the Sun or perihelion on January 4th at 1:52 am EST, the comet is now on it's way out of the system. For the astrologers, we have place and date data for discovery, I'm not sure about time but we do have perihelion data. If my calculations are correct, the ecliptic longitude or zodiac position at perihelion was 24:25 Aquarius and due to its retrograde motion this would have been from Pisces, not Capricorn where it would have been passing passing Venus on its way out. The comet will 'ignite' when either the Sun or Mars transits perihelion, the Sun will transit 24:25 Aquarius on February 13, 2022.
Naked eye sightings began to be reported in early December 2021 in the vicinity of Arcturus. This would put the comet's naked eye ppearance roughly in the constellations Grus and Microscopium; neither of which is a 'traditional' asterism. This makes it a little difficult to say a great deal about the opening phase of the comet's influence. That is the period between appearance and perihelion.

One method of astrological interpretation of the effects of comets divides their effects by the phases of their visibility and relation to the Sun. During their approach when we usually don't see them, it is said that men, the weather, and animals are unsettled. In the next phase between visible appearance and perihelion (although perihelion sometimes takes places before visible appearance) patterns of trade and diplomacy become unstable and between perihelion and 'ignition', conditions in these matters become disrupted, with the formation of new patterns after ignition until the effects run out.

While there are a few fairly regular and recognozed comets, most are irregular, unpredictable, and, from an astrological point of view, disruptive; if they 'light up'. I sometimes think of them as cosmic wild cards and the ancients thought of them as messengers. We can also get an idea of the kind of message a comet is bringing by the length of its orbit. The short period comets that come by every few years are generally from out around the orbit of Jupiter, the intermediate period comets of a a century to a few centuries come from the Kuiper belt out around Neptune and the really long period comets that have orbits that take thousands of years come form out beyond Pluto in the Oort Cloud. Leonard brings his message from the outer dark.

Of course there's more on comets but here we're talking about Comet Leonard. And no I haven't done the relevant charts yet but, I have collected the data for those who wish to do so.

I'm not sure about this comet but it has long period and irregular brightness. There is also a lot going on in Aquarius these days so its effects may be blurred by more emphatic issues. I would say though, that there is a connection with the supply chain issue and with the effects of the virus on trade and diplomacy. It's also to be noted that we have a lot goingon in Aquarius, Jupiter/Saturn from 12/2020, a nova still in effect from 1987 at 8 degrees, transits of Saturn and Mars and just finishing Jupiter, and the perihelion of Comet Leonard as well as Saturn's square to Uranus. And, of course the ignition in February. Looking at mundane chartsset for places and industries of interest could be more useful but this is more notes on context and where to look.

Best of 2022 to you and remember that, yes things are disrupted but the astute observer can often find a silver lining and there are always both winners and losers. Understanding this comet or comets in general may help you come out a winner.

12/27/2021

New comet alert that you can see, if you know where to look. Comet Leonard C/2021 A1. I don't have a lot of data on magnitude and perihelion as yet (still looking for a good source) but it looks like between 2nd and 3rd magnitude (some are expecting brighter) and a perihelion in the 2nd half of Capricorn. The comet has retrograde motion and is moving between Venus and the Sun. Venus is also retrograde in Capricorn at about 25 Capricorn.

If that perihelion in Capricorn is right look for developments and new arrangements (with some disruption) in Mexico and India and possibly Greece. Those are the Capricorn countries by signature that come to mind. But, while there are sometimes 'flurries' of events near perihelion, the ancients say the main effects are to be expected at 'ignition' which is when either the Sun or Mars reaches the perihelion point. That would be Mars as it enters Capricorn after January 25, 2022. It' more likely in February.

The declination at perihelion )about 35 South) passes through Northern Argentina, South Africa, and Australia. This location is what is called 'Out of Bounds' and known to produce effects out side the normal range. Not necessarily anything radical but more like responses that seem a bit 'out of character'. There would also be some linkage to fixed stars at this latitude but I haven't checked for those yet. There is an interesting link with Nu Puppis, a significant nova that appeared over Buenos Aires in November of 1942. One could write a book about the 1942 connecti0ns to that nova and the comet may well bring some echoes of those events. Watch for developments in nuclear energy (there was a recent breakthough in Fusion) and there is the potential for the rise of populist leaders in those lands on the same latitude mentioned above. This was the first controlled fission reaction at the University of Chicago and the rise of Juan Peron in Argentine politics. It was also the year of the turning point battles of the 2nd World War and a few other events. As novas are generally breakthroughs and comets are reconfigurations of trade and diplomatic arrangements, this comet and it's connections could be very significantin ultimately positive ways for these regions of the Southern Hemisphere but it is the nature of these influences to be initially disruptive.

Updates as more specific data becomes available. That won't be before after perihelion on January 2nd or 3rd but it's coming and this ill happen under the Saturn/Uranus square which is about exact now and not long after an assembly of planets (2018-2021) in Capricorn that many astrologers call The Great Reset.

If you come across more specific astronomical data or notice connected news developments, feel free to PM or post to my page on FB. That's under Jonathan Flanery. I try to keep this page as uncluttered as I can. Much easier to find articles of interest. But, I do look through what comments end up here.

12/16/2021

I'm working on a short e-book to illustrate the effect of super novas as indications of paradigm shift. My subject nova is nu Puppis November 1942 observed first from Argentina and visible for about 2 weeks. At a year of effect for a day of visibility this would give 1942-1956. This is roughly the period of the beginning of the last phase of the world war (marked by the battles of Midway, Stalingrad, and El Alamein all 1942) to the confirmation of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War marked by the Hungarian Revolt of 1956. Also the dawn of the Atomic Era with the first controlled fission reaction in a sports stadium in Chicago also in November 1942.

It will recap the current understanding of novas from astronomy and physics and discuss the astrological theory of interpreting the indications of visible novas. I still have a bit of research to do but I decided it had been hanging for a while and would be a good way to demonstrate the theory and technique and interest the history buffs. There are a couple of details about the nova itself that need double checking as well.

I've probably been promising a list of visible novas with their astrological and astronomical locations, duration and magnitude for some time. That's still on my list. If possible I'd also like to check on the fate of these stars, post nova. White dwarf, black hole, recurring nova. dimmer, just gone or something else ?

11/19/2021

I was posting in a mundane astrology group and was reconsidering the American Civil War period which was also 'busy' in Northern Europe. A mini research project appeared. There was almost a bright comet a year between 1860 and 1867. They are also noted in contemporary journals some saying the light from these comets disturbed their sleep. At the same time the US was experiencing a Uranus return. The planet is associated with separation and divorce, voila a Civil War. In Northern Europe it was mostly Prussia shaving territories from neighboring states like Denmark, Austria, and then in 1870, France. Comets characteristically disturb diplomatic and trade arrangements. If that's reliable, these certainly stirred the pot.

I need data on these comets of the 1860s. I do have some in the Ephemeris of the Great Comets 1402-1948 and have addedmore contemporary comets and novas since. Novas are harder to locate in time but comets seem harder to get detail. There is said to be a collection of observation for Asia - Korea, China, Japan and perhaps Khmer covering 1400 bce to near the present. I'd love to have a copy. And I'd like to find the data to put a reference together for contemporary comets and selected periods like the 1860s and the 1940s. Comets and novas are actually fairly frequent but, to count we have to be able to see them with the naked eye and there are not all that many of them that are really bright and so, unmistakably influential. If you can see it though, even if a little hard to find, it's significant astrologically. I probably miss more than I should.

09/17/2021

Greetings to all who have visited, liked or shown interest in Comets and Invisible Worlds. I'll look into it further but I'm not sure how to set it up so comments on this page can be made to appear. So, to some extent, I'm a dinosaur in some technical areas. So, if you have questions PM me and we'll see what we can do. I was hacked about a month ago, so I'm cautious about new friend requests.

The service that is editing my first book which is on the invisible planets also offers a service to produce apps. I have one in mind for comets and such and one for superimposing charts on maps of cities in an approximately 60 mile ellipse (it varies with latitude, near circular at the equator). I'm also deciding on what to write next, probably one on portents (meteors, comets, novas) which will accompany the apps I think.

Thanks again for your interest and your likes of the page. I try to stay up on new visible comets and novas and post something here as I can.

08/21/2021

Many thanks for the many likes.

For the most part even the astronomers don't seem to say a great deal about portents (comets, novas, and meteors). There is some buzz about minor planets and asteroids. These may become commercially useful in the next few decades but, astrologically, they are clutter. My book is slowly but surely coming together on the three planets discovered since the invention of the telescope, one of the reasons I include them is that there are traces in antiquity (not of sightings but conceptually and in the mythology) and that they have orbits and cycles which are structurally significant. And, of course, they pass the acid test of effectively describing events and conditions by transit and direction. Their cycles of conjunction and return have proven useful as well. I hope to make all that reasonably clear in the book, now scheduled for the fall.

There may be more interest in the Messengers (portents) than in the Invisible Governors but, you start where you start. Not only do I need to do more with this page but I need to start planning a book on the Messengers. One of the initial challenges in understanding the Messengers is that traditional methods are useful but limited and traditional theory puts these in the wrong astronomical location. So much more becomes available when modern astronomy is brought to bear. These items, traditionally, were thought to reside in the sublunary region in the upper atmosphere and between the Earth and the Moon. Tycho Brahe, yet in the traditional period demonstrated that this is not the case except in the case of meteors.

We see meteors, which are, for the most part actually dead comets, as they burn up in the atmosphere. Large meteors have had a very significant effect on the development of life on Earth. Nearly ending it a time or two in the geologic past. Their astrological effects appear to affect the scarcity and abundance of commodities, especially agricultural ones. This also gives them a link with weather. Their appearance is seasonal and their brightness and abundance unpredictable. This is based on modern astronomy and traditional principles and adaption of traditional methods.

Comets and Novas are much more interesting and quite definitely not sublunar as demonstrated by the use of parallax courtesy of Tycho Brahe as mentioned above. There are traditional notes on comets and they are treated much like eclipses with some additional guidelines. One of the most interesting is a rule for years in which they are more likely to appear. The information on shapes and colors is not as useful partly since it can be affected by atmospherics, but still of some interest. Comets, from modern study , have been found to be associated with shifts in trade and diplomacy networks and arrangements. They generally signal a disruption and then a settling out into a new pattern. I have a collection of examples. Their effects can be figured in a few ways but I've found using the traditional rule of 1/8 of their period a good rule of thumb. That is a little ambiguous since the ancients were probably referring to the period of visibility. But since they were also familiar with periodic comets that returned, maybe not. Comets originate in three locations primarily. The short term out around the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, the intermediate term in the Kuiper Belt out around Neptune and the long term and often single appearance , out in the Oort Cloud. The effects of the longer term can persist for centuries and this creates a difficulty for the astrologer. It is clear from observation, that after some period of time, the effects of comets become part of the ambient background of current influence and don't much stand out as particular influences anymore. After that their primary markers, appearance, perihelion, and ignition tend to lose specific significance. In some cases this can be a matter of a few months, in others a matter of a few centuries. This is observable with historical events and influences as well.

We are learning more about Novas all the time. The astronomical details need to be integrated into the understanding of their astrological significance and that can be built up from case studies (of which I already have a few) and a consideration of what is observed and the developed theory. So far Novas have only the point of their appearance as their sensitive or significant point and among messengers, they are something like lighting a signal fire on a hill, some, of course, are brighter than others and some more long lastingly visible. I've found that the effects of a Nova last a year for a day of visibility. Most last for a while, some have effects for centuries, some only for a few years. For these, their effects fade into the background ambient as their period of effect ends. The spectacular and long lasting novas of 1572 and 1604 had effects that are just now ending. The Nova of 1942 had effect from 1942 to 1956 (it was visible for about 14 days). A garden variety Nova signifies breakthroughs which can be in almost any area but the sign of appearance will be a large factor. Supernovas generally indicate a paradigm shift. People who were not yet adults at the time of appearance or who were born after, look at the world in very different ways and new technologies and guidelines emerge. The best and most recent example is Nova1987a at 8 Aquarius which signaled, among other things, the end of the Cold War and the birth of the internet. It was visible for a long time, I'll have to check but I think it takes us into the next century. Considering current events and trends, that doesn't surprise me.

The Nova of 1006 was particularly bright and long lasting and is one of my favorite examples. It marked the beginning of a new phase of the Reconquista in Iberia or Al Andalus, the release of a magic book or grimoire, the Picatrix which was influential for centuries after, and no doubt a few other things that I haven't yet researched. It hung in the Southern Sky in Southern Europe for months. A marker I've used is the Picatrix, it was translated from the Arabic into Latin and other languages and the standard for makers of talisman for several centuries (and this despite the Inquisition) but then faded from common knowledge until the recent translations into English. That is a study that is at least on my back burner. The 1987 Nova that led to developments in academic attitudes about ancient texts would have squared the Nova of 1006 at least by sign and paved the way for the modern English translation of the Picatrix. An interesting connection unnoticed by most and denied by some. The Nova fell in the constellation of Lupus, the Wolf, mapping to Scorpio in the zodiac. Considering the content, this seemed appropriate.

Somehow, I found it appropriate that one of the items used to discredit the traditional Arts, the sublunary nature of portents is acting as the bridge between modern astronomy and traditional astrology.

04/15/2021

I've become a little slowed down but my book Invisible Worlds is entering the final phase. I'm looking at late May now. But I'm often an optimist about these things.

09/11/2020

Most recently we have had comet Neowise. Interesting, it was quite bright and it made perihihelion (closest approach to the Sun) before lighting up (becoming visible to the naked eye) which it did a few days later. The symbolism is almost as if the message of teh comet was delivered in secret. This corresponds to many of the judicial programs that have been becoming notable. The massive crack down on child trafficking that has resulted in the rescue of hundreds of children and the arrest of 3000 or more traffickers, the declaration of Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, and the move to deputize as federal officers many state and local law enforcement officers who work in cities with which they no longer can function and which have, in some cases, been in the grip of riots for at least the past 100 days. I mention these American developments as the comet made perihelion at 29 Gemini which is significant with the American signature sign in Gemini. As far as I know, these developments began appearing aro0und the beginning of July with the comet.

The extent of these developments is linked to the fact that the comet was quite bright and that it was near the axis of the nodes of the Moon. I expect something similarly notable is happening or in the works in other Gemini signature countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, and Belgium. There was the explosion in Beirut but I haven't been following the news closely enough to make any connections in these other places.

This isn't the place for politics or extensive mundane astrology analysis but looking at the mundane charts does help to clarify the influence of teh comet and verify that it is not something that would have been expected due to the normal configurations of the planets. These processes will continue at least into the late Spring when Mars 'ignites' the message (transits the perihelion point). And very probably, since this is a more or less off the cuff update, there are probably a couple of other threads involved.

08/16/2020

This may be a little deep or dry for some but a context is needed to study the heavens whether visible to the naked eye or not. That larger context and the exploration of what's going on there, how it came to be, and the philosophical implications of that knowledge make up a scientific and philosophical area of study called cosmology. Here's how we look at it in the 21st century. There are parallels to earlier views but not usually in terms of modern concepts.
And, don't worry, we'll get to those earlier models that are more used in arts like astrology and magic as wee progress. I've found this approach insightful and hope those of you with a taste for it will too.

Cosmology (the study of the physical universe) is a science that, due to both theoretical and observational developments, has made enormous strides in the past 100 years. It began as a branch of theoretical physics through Einstein’s 1917 static model of the universe (Einstein 1917) and was develo...

07/28/2020

I've been remiss about this page. Comet Neowise has just been through (perihelion 07/02-3) and was quite bright. It seems to have delivered its message in secret since it did not become visible to the naked eye until 07/05-6, a few days after perihelion. Perihelion was at 29 Gemini.

03/25/2020

The first thiig to bear in mind about comets is that they are 'cosmoic wild cards' they may pass through the system unnoticed, they may unexpectedly flare up and then vanish, they may have a long bright run. Until they 'light up' they are astrologically insignificant, about as consequential as a minor asteroid.

That said, the traditional view is that there are three important considerations. The direction of approach (usually the constellation from which it appears to have come), the point, period and magnitude of visibility (to the naked eye, we are traditional here), and perihelion or closest approach to the Sun. During the approach to the Sun from visibility to perihelion, look for disturbances in men, the weather, and animals judge these effects on the point of first visibility and consider the constellation from which it appears to have come, make that or its brightest star a sensitive point or area in the charts, finally the point at hwihc the mesage is delivered is perihelion and for bright comets shold be carried forward as a sensitive point for the duration of effect. There is pone more chart that is of importance or timing that can be useful even without the full chart. This is the point of ignition or when either Mars or the Sun transits the point of perihelion. This is when the message goes into effect.

So far, we know only that the astronomers have found it with their telescopes and given it a name : Atlas. It appears to be approaching from the Great Bear which suggests, if it lights up, the description given by Ptolemy gives it a Mars nature but more like his expression in Scorpio than Aries. Quiet, prudent, suspicious, mistrustful, self-controlled, patient but of an uneasy spirit and of great anger and revengefulness when aroused. If and when it lights up, we should expect some of this as part of the 'disturbances' between lighting up and most closely approaching the Sun. Use the pole star as a sensitive point for the approach it's around end of Gemini, beginning of Cancer and always expect the sources of disturbance to come form the North, often the far North (the constellation never sets in Northern latitudes). But don't bother unless it lights up and becomes visible.

If it becomes visible, the astronomers will give very precise estimate of perhihelion and the location of the charts will either be the place form which it was discovered at the time it becomes visible or the national capitol or place of interest and the same for perihelion. The astronomers wil also give data on its orbit and period of visibility. After perihelion, an ephemeris will show the transit of Mars or Sun over the perihelion point but look at the effects from the perihelion chart and carry that point forward for the duration of effect, lighting up is part of the perihelion chart or the nature of the message as delivered. The chart will show how that actually plays out. The initial effects durng the approach, depending on the configuration of the sensitive point of appearance will begin to fade out as the message is goes into effect at ignition.

I've found that effects first appear in the places of teh same signature as perihelion and proceed from there as first to the same signs of the quadruplicity , then the triplicity, and then generally.