By Beth-Katherine Kaiman (Yakshi)
Copyright 1999. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction & some Astronomical Information
(websites indicated by # are located at the end of this section)
Asteroids. The word conjures up images of either disaster movies or that group of rocks of a former planet in between Mars and Jupiter. In Astrological terms the word either means the four indicators of the women’s or goddess movement (Ceres, Pallas Athena, Vesta, & Juno) or else an indicator of health (Chiron) or healing.
But Wait!!!!! There is much much more out there in our solar system.
The average person’s view of the solar system that we live in is usually limited to the basic 9th grade science class which pictured the solar system as having 9 planets orbiting around the sun & the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter and some speculation as to what happened (of course this depends on when you went through 9th grade). In the past few years astronomers, with the help of the deep space probes, have brought to us an image of our solar system that is a bit mind boggling. According to Mark Pottenger of Astro Computing Service (#1) as of July there are over 6,897 named asteroids (over 7,000 total so far) charted along with 15 planetoid wanderers that crisscross the orbits of Pluto to Saturn known as The Centaurs. Ceres, Pallas and Vesta are actually categorized as Minor Planets instead of Asteroids, and Vesta has an internal heat source! Such a wonder is our universe!
The beauty of our times now is the web, in the past few years information is now at our fingertips. The common person has the opportunity to become informed in an instant rather than taking a journey to the library which sometimes is inconvenient, especially at 2AM when the urge for information hits. The times definitely have changed, the only excuse for not knowing something is that you haven’t looked it up yet. (Perhaps we all need a remedy to overcome our schooling and to keep up with the changes that are occurring.)
To get a visual image of what I am talking about please go to the second site listed in the references right now (#2), then come back and read this rest. This is so that you have a mental reference point of the solar system as astronomers know it now.
As you can see Asteroids are no longer corralled into one neat little section between Mars and Jupiter. There are now five different categories of asteroids, grouped by their placement in our solar system. They are the Apollo class asteroids whose paths cross the orbit of the earth (first one discovered in 1932); the Amor class asteroids which have orbits that come very close to (but do not cross) the orbit of the Earth; the Aten class asteroids which have orbits smaller than earth; the Trojan class asteroids whose orbits vary between Mars and Jupiter; the Centaurs which have orbits beyond Jupiter and which cross over the orbits of Neptune (known as transneptunes). Astronomers believe that the near earth asteroids (NEA) were knocked out of their orbit by impact from other asteroids and or the gravitational forces of Jupiter. (#3)
There are over 100 known Apollo, Atens and Amor class asteroids whose orbits are crisscross Earth’s or else are parallel or have orbits smaller than Earth’s. I found this little note on the First Millennium Glossary website (#4), “Their orbits can even be adjusted by nudging them with thermonuclear bombs,” uhhhh, how do they know that? Apparently the majority of these have only been recently discovered, with the first in Aten Class in 1976 and most during the last 5 years. Some asteroids that are in the different classes (see above website for more details) are listed as potentially dangerous in that they are on a collision course with Earth – Toutais & Cruithine and with this discovery of asteroids with parallel orbits with earth have led credence amongst the scientists the theory of destruction of the dinosaurs due to a collision with an asteroid, and if we follow this further the destruction of Atlantis (The Secret of Atlantis by Otto Muck, tr. Fred Bradley, intro. Peter Tompkins) with traces still found off the Carolina Coast of pockmarks in the ocean floor from a huge asteroid hit. This is the stuff that gave some writers ideas for scare scenarios of the recent Asteroid Disaster Movies and it certainly opened my eyes.
The discovery of The Centaurs 4 years ago has really exploded our concept of “universe” and solar system. 15 planetoids have been charted so far beyond the orbit of Pluto, some crisscrossing the orbits of Pluto to Saturn. The orbit of Pluto has also been discovered not to be as symmetrical as once thought. It crosses over Neptune and in fact the last time it entered Neptune’s orbit was in 2/7/1979 and just left this year 2/11/99! A 20 year cycle. And what a ride those past 20 years have been. We definitely are entering a new millennium, all the signposts are there. According to the site of St. Vincent College (#5), “The August Solar eclipse of August 11th 1999 was the 21st eclipse in Saros series number 145. This particular series will see 77 eclipses – 34 partial, 41 total and 2 annular eclipses. The series began on 4th January 1639 and will finish on 17th April 3000 (#6). Interesting that when this cycle started America was being colonized and I found that a ship called “Neptune” delivered goods and colonists to New Foundland, but I digress.
Synchronistically, as our awareness has expanded with our experiences with computers so has our Astronomical awareness of our “universe”. The baby boomer generation’s (and the one just before it) astronomers have been on a roll starting in 1976 with the discovery of the first Aten Class asteroid, 2062 Aten (orbit smaller than that of the Earth) and then in 1977 with the discovery of Chiron (actually first came Bacchus) a planetoid in orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. During the same time the personal computer has been brought into every day life, Apple produced their first personal computer in 1978 or 1979 I believe, I know I started training on an Apple in 1979 (32k we thought we were cookin’). I would lay odds that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniac both have Chiron prominent in their charts as well as the Asteroid Steve! I would also be willing to bet that The Centaurs are also prominent, especially one of the favorite foods of horses are Apples. Something about the generation has been pushing out this new awareness, to see life as it really is and not the illusion society would want us to see.
Also the solar eclipse had 4 of the Centaurs in each of the four arms of the Grand Cross. What this means I can only speculate but the prophets (self proclaimed) said that the eclipse heralded the end of the world and I can’t help hearing the refrain from the song, “It’s the end of the world AS WE KNOW IT, AND I FEEL FINE,” (REM band from the movie “Independence Day”).
My personal awareness of the solar system and the patterns within our universe has definitely been expanded and I have to admit somewhat amused with this research. This article all started with a chance comment to Eileen when I sent her the list of asteroid positions for the August Solar Eclipse noting the asteroids Merlin and Arizona (Merlin 15°Ta52, Arizona 15°Le59) were sitting on two arms of the Grand Fixed Cross, which to my eye showed the prominence of shamans in motion in Arizona during the eclipse. The amusement was further extended when during my rounds on the net searching for sites for this article when I came upon a link to G.O.D.. Ok, I thought, I’ll bite and clicked on it and nearly fell off my chair laughing when G.O.D. sent me a cookie. “Ohhhhhh! G.O.D. is a SEARCH ENGINE!!!!” even more amusing.
So why all this astronomical stuff? As healers and psychics it is important for us to get our ‘heads out of the clouds’ and see the world around us as it really is. Back in the times of Pythagorus, Astrology and Astronomy were synonymous terms which continued thru the Renaissance until the Age of Reasoning took over. Then Astrology was relegated to the world of myth and fantasy because the scientific minds of those days couldn’t PROVE the theories, a battle we all have had to overcome (even amongst astrologers concerning new techniques – old habits die hard). In the past 30 years Astrology has finally found it’s place as a tool for understanding psychological makeup of personalities, is working it’s way into being an extremely helpful tool in medical diagnosis and yet still entertains people with knowing what their sign is. We’ve come a long way in the past thirty years from the lowest level of astrology used as pickup lines by lounge lizards “What’s your sign?” to really helping people understand who they are and potentially why they become ill.
With the addition of asteroids and the Centaurs to charts (and also perhaps other celestial bodies as they are made known to us), we are bridging the gap of the typical Astrological fantasy (of just 9 planets and one house system) to the reality of our universe, multitudes and multitudes of factors impact us daily. Finally the two sciences have a chance to merge and become whole again. Let’s go for it! Time to take the blinders off and get away from the strict 9 planet myth-ness of Astrology and bring in all the celestial bodies that are being discovered that effect our cosmic pond as symbols of new facets within our consciousness and blend in all the elements we have experienced in the last 30 years. It’s time to evolve into the new species of “aware beings” and not just space cadets who dream about being accepted by the world. Are you aware of the 100th monkey syndrome? If 100 monkeys learn a new skill suddenly the whole species develops it spontaneously. We have already seen this principle in action through the new age movement started in the late 60′s and there are more than 100 of us humans on this list to “grok” this new change of awareness of our solar system, and if we ‘get it’ ALL of humankind will evolve simultaneously.
Referenced Websites:
- http://www.astrocom.com/ ACS software
- http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/InnerPlot.html Plot of the Inner Solar System
- http://www.nasm.edu/ceps/ETP/ASTEROIDS/AST_near.html Exploring The Planets – Near Earth Asteroids
- http://www.thuntek.net/~jwills/InfoGuide/Resources/Glossary/ First Millennium Glossary
- http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Resources/Astro/Eclipse99/saros.html Eclipse 99 – St. Vincent College
- http://www.bernadettebrady.com/eclipses.htm Saros Cycles of Eclipses - see for an explanation of Saros cycle
