Solstice and Yule—When Cosmic Forces Collide, Religions Meet

Sudden snowstorm in Denver focuses our seasonal senses—photo Andy Cross

Christmas Full Moon
Eight foot tides will run at their highest for Solstice. This year, as a bright waxing moon leads up to Christmas Night, from Monday through Wednesday December 21-23, 2015, tides along the Northern California coastline will reach near-‘maximum tidal range’, beyond which local fishermen and surfers abandon ports of Eureka and Shelter Cove and retreat behind the sandbags.

Full “Cold Moon” at sunset on Christmas Day—first to return to that configuration in our skies since 1977—will add to the frivolity and human goodwill generated en masse at this time of year. Happy Hanukkah, Eid, and of course Siderealview’s greatest pagan celebration, end of the old year—Hogmanay yay!

Earthquake Zone meets El Niño

As northern Pacific waters begin to freeze around the edges, the Southern Ocean revs up for the 2015 El Niño season. Prelude this year has been massive heat ceilings, causing water to become warmer for longer than the norm. September 2015 Equinox water temperatures in Humboldt Bay, Northern California, were 68ºF. Coastal Land temperature same day was 58ºF.

This autumn, however, the tropical storm system has had cosmic assistance.

Primeval fear of the Kraken kept medieval sailors watchful on the Deep—

Musical system known as the Circle of Fifths matches perfectly with Buckminster Fuller’s “vector equilibrium”: the Cuboctahedron. This same geometry is theorized in the Resonance Project, as a way we measure Space itself as an almost infinite supply of energy (in the form of quantum vacuum fluctuations), even though we perceive it to be completely empty. This is because it is in a perfectly balanced state, where all Vectors in the geometry are of equal length—
—Twelve around One—
Nassim Haramein, The Resonance Project

Sudden land temperature change is not the Ocean’s way. Slow to heat up, this watery stage holds its warm baby longer—until El Niño enters from the wings.

Solar (sunspot) activity has increased in recent weeks and Christmas weekend, Earthlings are targeted for more Coronal Mass Ejection—CME—effects: solar panel damage, electronic blackout, countered by spectacular (North) Polar Aurora Borealis. NOAA and SOHO label is ‘incoming STORM’, sidebar below right.

Meantime the equatorial ‘Volcanic Belt’ which few people pay attention to—just happens to run parallel from coastal-Mexico South to coastal-Peru and in mid-Pacific, through the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean on Earth, through Fiji, Tonga. The so-called Carnegie Ridge is a huge submerged volcanic plate that runs through Cocos Ridges and the Galapagos tectonic plate, or Platform. There it heads for the coast of Peru, becoming sub-ducted under the South American continent where it collides—approximately—with the Andes.

In East-Central Equatorial Pacific, El Niño feeds off this interaction between ocean and atmosphere, producing cyclical peaks, like any other natural phenomenon. Geneva’s World Meteorological Center predicts end-2015-2016 season to run neck-and-neck with three greatest historical surges. The strengthening 2015-2016 season is forecast to hit New Year’s Eve, with current ocean temperatures two degrees Centigrade—2ºC—above normal.
Strongest previous El Niños were in 1972-73, 1982-83 and 1997-98.

‘This naturally occurring El Niño event and human-induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced’
Secretary-General, World Meteorological Center, Geneva EU

Where Tropical Cyclones and Hurricanes meet
El Niño has already sparked an active tropical cyclone season in the Northern Pacific. Closer to U.S. in eastern North Pacific basin, Hurricane Patricia made landfall in Mexico October 24, 2015 and was reportedly (NOAA) the most intense tropical cyclone in the western hemisphere. Coastal Peru, Ecuador and Chile usually bear the brunt of warming waters and concomitant extra rainfall.

Peru declared a pre-emptive state of emergency in July 2015 for fourteen of its 25 states, setting aside $70 million, to prepare for the coming winter rains. Local authorities have been clearing river beds of debris, reinforcing river banks with rocks, sandbags and fortifying reservoir walls.

Yet it may not be enough.

El Nino tropical Pacific anomaly

The two deadliest floods in Ecuador’s history occurred during strong El Niño events: in November 1982—307 deaths—and October 1997—218 died. Peru’s deadliest flood (518 fatalities) occurred during the 1997 El Niño event. A United Nations-backed study said that the 1997-1998 El Niño cost Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela approximately $11 billion.

One aspect of the El Niño effect is to reduce rainfall in drought-prone regions. Australia, India and Bangladesh have already been suffering with near-desert conditions prevailing through summer-autumn 2015

Ocean Warming
Increasing water temperatures in the central-eastern Pacific create more fertile conditions for tropical rain and clouds. Seasonal heavy rainfall that usually hits north Australia at this time, abandons its southern tropical band and heads for the central-eastern Pacific basin.

Also prevailing trade winds, traditionally blowing east to west over the Pacific, weaken—or, worse, reverse.

Fueling more extremes.

HIGHEST & LOWEST Tides Herald Solstice and Christmas Full Moon

Warm water funneling through ocean trenches, exaggerated by a full moon’s return in its 38-year cycle, coupled with CMEs for Christmas Day? Look out!

Highest tides for a decade combine with solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs, sidebar right)—incoming—to give the human race a little more to think about over the Festive Season than just buying trinkets, decorating trees or lighting sequential candles on the Menorah.

Haven for Humankind
For those who watch the skies, the Full Cold Moon [‘when deer shed their antlers’ in Native American Pacific Northwest] blesses us by rising ENE—Azimuth= 69.6°—at dusk on December 25th, opposite the sun setting WSW—Azimuth=239.1°—in constellation Sagittarius. The fickle Moon rises first in opposite astro sign Taurus; then moves one hour later into challenging Gemini. If humankind needs to be stimulated any more than we already are, this year-end astronomical/astrological cycle returning after thirty-eight years, promises innovative solutions.*
*Lunar 18.6-year cycle x2: for explanation, see Lunar Standstill-Returning to the Cradle of Civilization, here.

Northern Pacific Fishing Season on Hold
Snow-wracked northern hemisphere—with its rainy coastal counterparts (Naples, Florida experienced 87ºF on Solstice) may bring a better outcome for fishing fleets on both shores—California crab fishing has been on hold throughout December, while authorities assess potential risk of ‘bottom-feeders’ transmitting domoic acid-packed meat through the food chain.

While coastal control agencies continue to monitor the crab disease, fishing boats lie idle in Humboldt Bay. Some say they’re glad of the break. Others look to January and the start of the 2016 sport fishing season for new beginnings.

Hogmanay/Saturnalia

This time of year we loosen Kronos/Saturn’s bonds.
The ancient God awakens from His sleep,
and rules the Earth as in the Golden Age.

Meanwhile, with the joyful sound of merrymaking—even Saturnalian singing—on our lips and ears, perhaps the human race may find a place where we, as simple vibratory beings withinin the Great Vibration may find a bolt hole—Resonance Project quote by Nassim Haramein, above.

Sending (the smallest, whispered) blessings to those less fortunate than ourselves in this Yule season of challenge and change—earthquake-prone Hindu Kush comes to mind—we may, like Native Scots, invoke angelic help for Hogmanay—by welcoming the dark stranger over the threshold for our New Year.
©2015 Siderealview

Old Endings New Beginnings—Death and Regeneration in the Age of Scorpio

HUNTER’S MOON HERALDS CELTIC NEW YEAR
Fireworks in the Sky for Hallowe’en/Guy Fawkes

Ancient custom SoCal style—Ghostbusters-inspired Hallowe’en frivolity in the glitz capital

Orionids began the whole celestial fireworks show by scattering fragments of leftover comet Halley (orbit period 76 years) last Tuesday night, October 20th, as we hovered at Scorpio’s door. Ostensibly meteors came from the head and spear of Orion. The Hunter, however, forever pursuing the Pleiades through the northern sky, lies 1,344-Light-Years distant from us, while Halley’s cometary fragments skidded past within a skittish 50-miles overhead.

Brit Guy Fawkes mask, traditional headwear for Bonfire Night mingled with Hallowe’en, is banned in English Ex-pat Reserves in Persian Gulf as anarchist

Halloween 2015 approaches, and with it British Guy Fawkes’s revolutionary—but foiled—attempt to blow up Parliament in 1605 Gunpowder Plot, celebrated throughout the English-speaking world. It is hard not to feel a revving up of cultural unrest, mirrored in grand scale on the celestial tapestry overhead. Following recent eclipses, planet conjunctions and lunar standstill moments to light up the sky, the Heavens continue to give us a box-office show right through our transition into autumnal Scorpio restriction, Saturnine beating our not-so-savage breast, and our cultural winding down of the Creational Clock—to primordial death.

And regeneration.

Earth’s Crustal Plates in state of Flux
It is horrific to learn of devastation caused by last weekend’s two massive 7.5-magnitude and 7.1-mag. Richter scale earthquakes, interrupting an unusual lull in quakes worldwide. Both are causing havoc and tragic loss in Hindu Kush and Vanuatu.

Earth’s tectonic crustal plates: Himalayan upthrust mirrored by Pacific plate displacement in Sunday’s shock in Vanuatu

While in Afghanistan, fears surface that such ferocity will open subterranean faults to the Ganges and Bangladesh, Pacific plate movement in Fiji shows equivalent turmoil only 50 miles deep. Both tremors were forecast.

Algol as Demon Star
Media traditionally tries to displace or make light of world tragedy by focusing attention on the cultural caricature. The current fave demon star is Beta Persei, otherwise known as Algol in the constellation Perseus. The star’s archaic name comes from the Arabic for ‘head of the ghoul’, or ‘head of the Demon’, because it appears to die and come back to life.

Why did early stargazers name this dual star for a ghoul—demon? Beta Persei, otherwise Algol or the Ghoul Star* was known to flicker. Ghoulishly, it was also seen in folktale as Medusa’s hair. Entwined within a legend of a star that fades and returns mysteriously from the Realm of the Dead.

Sound familiar?

Ancient astronomers calculated its rhythm and guessed—rightly—that its twin star system, with the dimmer of the two bodies passing in front of the brighter, has a regular beat. It causes Algol to shine in spurts—to pulsate. So, throughout the ancient world, Algol was seen as a demon or monster, who, as we know, is the Devil’s familiar. Centuries of observation have proved Arab astronomers’ calculations. 2015 Astronomy forecast is for Algol to reach minimum brightness late Friday night, October 30th 2015 at 11:52 p.m. in central U.S.A. (October 31st 04:52 Universal Time).

*To find the Ghoul Star: look for constellation Perseus—cuddling Andromeda—in the northern evening sky. Perseus lords over the northeast sky, above the bright star group Capella and The Kids (lower left of Perseus) and the Pleiades star cluster (lower right).

Greek and Roman culture associated the star with the Head of Medusa, monster-woman, whose fearful countenance struck a man to stone. Snakes in place of her hair were additional encouragement not to stare.

When the dimmer of the two stars passes in front of the brighter, Algol shines at minimum brightness. Astro forecast calls for Algol to reach minimum brightness late Saturday, October 30th, at 11:52p.m. Central time, U.S.A. (October 31st 4:52UTC).

Ancient astronomers were fully aware of the influence the heavenly bodies’ movements had on their population. Greek and Roman culture controlled their populace by providing—not only bread and circuses—but also seer-oracles with miraculous predictions to affect their worlds.

Meteorite held as sacred fire from Heaven in sanctuary of Hellenic Oracle at Delphi, and in Saudi Mecca’s Inner Sanctum

A meteorite, a “Zeus-fallen thing,” was kept in the Temple of Venus on Cyprus, and another in the pre-Hellenic Temple of Apollo at Delphi, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus in Greece. In Rome, a piece of sky iron, regarded as a heavenly shield upon which the tenuous security of the state depended, was cared for and guarded by a special order of priests.

Most famous holy meteorite is called the Black Stone, Hadshar al Aswad. Mounted in silver, it sits in a place of honor in the Ka’aba, the sacred shrine at Mecca, and is circumambulated by all Muslim devotees who make the Hadj, the requisite holy pilgrimage. The sacred stone has a vulvic-shaped cleft which suggests ancient pre-Islamic goddess worship. It is attended by a phalanx of men called the Sons of the Old Woman.

Arabic and Arab culture dominated the sky: star names still bear their mystical Arabian names—their connotations striking fear in believers’ breasts. It may even put goose bumps in ours.

Algol is one of these.

TRIPLE PLANETARY CONJUNCTION SHINES BETHLEHEM BRILLIANCE
Jupiter Venus and Mars triangle in pre-Dawn Eastern sky

Saturn moves out as Sun moves into Scorpio. Get started on the Grand Plan: all signs in 1st/2nd house

To counteract all the willies, hoolies and ooeys, there is contrast—thank the Angels—in the morning sky.

If we have learned anything from last month’s astounding sky tapestry, it is that celestial cycles are never-ending. And there is a rhythm which we normally-oblivious humans can attune to—if we take the time to do that.

Lunar standstill provided the springboard for repeat eclipses, close encounters of heavenly bodies with Earth, and an awareness

that galactic fireworks can be to us—as they were to our ancestors—a source of gratitude and awe for the Great Beyond. Now—tonight—one month farther into this miraculous heavenly cycle of an amazing year—three cycles later than Mayan predictions—we prepare for Hunters’-Harvest full Moon: closest tightest brightest full moon combination of highest tides, lowest rainfall, highest land temperatures and greatest earth movement and tectonic mayhem since the last cycle.

Pacific plate movement is merely a reflection of crustal displacement along the Himalayan upthrust, according to NOAA and USGS. It helps to remember, however, As Above So Below. And it was independently forecast.



Azimuth, angle and rising times coincide miraculously to give us a pre-dawn display all week until Ghoul Hour

Ancient astronomers, students of celestial expansion and collapse, would have been amused by our (modern) human frailty and lack of vision, in midst of clear cosmic signs that all is well in Star Worlds.

All this week—prior to and immediately after Tuesday (tonight’s) full moon, where our cultural sight should be set is perhaps less on poor old Sol, led by Saturn into Scorpio’s western clutches over the Pacific.



Brilliant Venus, in conjunction with Jupiter above, and dimmer Mars below, 4:45a.m. October 25, 2015 looking East

Rather should we look East: Shake our culture shackles and set the alarm to get up before dawn—with Daylight Saving Time imminent—November 1st—this is an easy 6a.m.event. Then feast our eyes on three miraculous planets—Jupiter, Venus and Mars—rising in conjunction within minutes of the Sun’s brightening rays. Each dawn they can be seen, dancing a jig: vying a little each morning for position, getting closer and yet closer into a conjunction mazurka, which will separate and scatter in early November.

Two thousand years ago, such a spectacle would have inspired pilgrims. If we suspend 21stC. disbelief, their heavenly beauty might also inspire us to pause briefly in our headlong millennial crawl over the edge.

If we are all spared~~and allowed to Return from the Dead on Sunday~~ 😉
©2015 Siderealview