“What the Hale-Bopp —
Promethean Comet of Miraculous Synchronicity”
© by Ken Kalb
With a thousand days remaining until the new Millennium, the amazing blazing comet Hale-Bopp is sparkling in our skies.
Throughout history, cultures all over this planet have considered comets to be unique messengers, harbingers, and significators of particular qualities. Virtually everything about Hale-Bopp confirms that this comet signifies an amplification of Aquarian energy: a period of synchronicities and miracles born of new alignments which facilitate the fulfillment of promise. Even its discovery was a miracle.
Burning the midnight oil late one Cloudcraft, New Mexico Summer night about a year and a half ago, amateur astronomer Alan Hale spotted this huge fireball while surveying the vast infinitude of space through his telescope. At exactly the same time, on that same July 23rd night in neighboring Arizona, Thomas Bopp also found this most distant comet in the history of civilization. Now that is one miraculous synchronicity.
cometOf even greater cosmic coincidence, comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth between March 22 and the 26th, exactly one year after another surprise comet, Hyutake, appeared blue in the Spring skies! Since my book The Grand Catharsis had designated Spring Equinox, 1996 as the commencement of the true Aquarian period, I felt comet Hyutake must be a divine significator of this shift of the ages, and perhaps the blue star kachina of Hopi prophecy.
I also find it most conspicuous that Hale-Bopp traveled close to all of the zodiacal flashpoints during the GaiaMind alignment of January 23rd through the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction and Valentine weekend portal of mid-February. This conjunction at 5 degrees of Aquarius was supported by the star formation of 3 other planets at 5 degrees, representing an expansion and combustion of the radiance of the human spirit. I feel that Hale-Bopp is the pilot light igniting this spirit and activating the new Aquarian energy of the Now Age.
With its closest passage to Earth right after the Spring Equinox in 1997, the fact that it is so big and so bright, and so right for the times—Hale-Bopp signifies the rebirth of the Promethean spirit within humankind. Henceforth, a core of humanity will dig a little deeper and shine a little brighter with the genius of mind, the beauty of heart, and the divinity of spirit to align to activate a vision that all living beings can share.
This comet heralds a period of quantum technological advance, magnificent exploration and discovery, greater interconnectedness, breakthroughs in virtually all areas of life, and cathartic spiritual awakening.
From the moment of its discovery, the grapevine was flooded with wild speculation about this comet. First, Hale-Bopp was said to be the size of a planet, heading on a direct collision course with the Earth. It became the source of several sensationalist tabloid features, and even an NBC-TV movie about a giant asteroid smashing the Earth.
Again, quite coincidentally, this movie called "Asteroid," aired on February 16th, just hours before the announcement of the discovery of “smoking gun” evidence by an international expedition of scientists in the Atlantic Ocean claiming “proof positive” of the meteor which crashed into the Earth extinguishing the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
The truth of Hale-Bopp is stranger than the fiction surrounding it, which has been abundant. Probably because of its long period 3-4000 year elliptical orbit around the Sun, it has been speculated that Hale-Bopp is Zechariah Sitchin’s theoretical 12th planet, Nibiru, returning for a millennial rendezvous. Time will validate or discredit this idea. Another notion, that Hale-Bopp will appear bright red and thus signify the Comet of Satan has also gristed in the rumor mill. Recently, a photograph of the comet followed by a large ringed companion (SLO, or Saturn-Like Object) rang out of the Art Bell radio show into new age outrageousness. Despite thorough debunking of the SLO, a contingent of thought still believes this to be a Mother Ship or a huge fleet of spacecraft approaching the Earth for mass landings.
As Hale-Bopp approaches, speculation burns away, leaving only the truth which always shines brighter than fiction. Just as the Uranus-ruled Aquarian age awakens and clarifies the illusions of the Neptune-ruled Piscean age, Hale-Bopp’s appearance will expose its true essence. It will indeed be large, with a nucleus some 25 miles in diameter — the size of the greater Los Angeles area — and a tail over 20 million miles long! Though its closest passage to the Earth will be more than 120 million miles away, about five hundred times the distance between Earth and the Moon, it should appear as bright as a Zero magnitude star — about the same brightness as Vega in the constellation Lyra.
The best viewing of Hale-Bopp will be through mid-April, when the comet should blaze at peak brightness, appearing about 30-60 degrees above the horizon in the Northwest shortly after sunset. An encore performance should sparkle from late April though early May, though probably of slightly diminished brilliance. Hale-Bopp should be slightly visible through mid-Summer before it journeys out of Earthly sight. I might just have to spring for some binoculars this Spring and focus in on this big bright flash of brilliant light.
So enjoy a gorgeous sunset and gaze at this Promethean messenger rising into the night sky, and consider all the miraculous synchronicities holding promise in your own life. Hale-Bopp is igniting a new era with a brighter vision for yourself and humankind.
Ken Kalb is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Grand Catharsis (on special for just $12 postpaid!), with over 300 published articles. He is director of Lucky Star, a brilliant interpretive astrological service operating since 1980 . . . and a workshop leader on the national Whole Life Expo tour. He is currently the vortex behind the Lightshift 2000 global meditation (www.lightshift.com)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: ON APRIL 18, 1997, EUROPEAN ASTRONOMERS ANNOUNCED THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW TYPE OF COMET TAIL FOR HALE-BOPP. AN ISAAC NEWTON GROUP ON LA PALMA PRESS RELEASE ‘ING 3/97’ STATED THE FOLLOWING.)
Observations carried out in the past few days to study the distribution of sodium atoms in Comet Hale-Bopp have led to the discovery of a new type of comet tail. Sodium atoms have previously been seen near the centers of other comets, but these observations reveal for the first time in Hale-Bopp a straight tail of sodium atoms 6 degrees long. . . .
Whereas the well-known ion and dust tails so prominently displayed by Hale-Bopp show a large amount of structure, the new sodium tail has a completely different appearance. It takes the form of an approximately 600,000 km wide and 50 million km long tail, in a direction close but slightly different to that of the ion tail. While the electrically charged particles in the ion tail are accelerated to large velocities by the solar wind (very fast atomic particles emitted by the Sun), there is no obvious explanation at this moment of how the observed sodium tail is formed. Nevertheless, the astronomers in the team believe that the sodium atoms may be released in-situ from very small dust grains or molecules. These particles or molecules are emitted by the cometary nucleus and then transported into the tail at high velocity by at present unknown mechanisms.
Throughout history, cultures all over this planet have considered comets to be unique messengers, harbingers, and significators of particular qualities. Virtually everything about Hale-Bopp confirms that this comet signifies an amplification of Aquarian energy: a period of synchronicities and miracles born of new alignments which facilitate the fulfillment of promise. Even its discovery was a miracle.
Burning the midnight oil late one Cloudcraft, New Mexico Summer night about a year and a half ago, amateur astronomer Alan Hale spotted this huge fireball while surveying the vast infinitude of space through his telescope. At exactly the same time, on that same July 23rd night in neighboring Arizona, Thomas Bopp also found this most distant comet in the history of civilization. Now that is one miraculous synchronicity.
cometOf even greater cosmic coincidence, comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth between March 22 and the 26th, exactly one year after another surprise comet, Hyutake, appeared blue in the Spring skies! Since my book The Grand Catharsis had designated Spring Equinox, 1996 as the commencement of the true Aquarian period, I felt comet Hyutake must be a divine significator of this shift of the ages, and perhaps the blue star kachina of Hopi prophecy.
I also find it most conspicuous that Hale-Bopp traveled close to all of the zodiacal flashpoints during the GaiaMind alignment of January 23rd through the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction and Valentine weekend portal of mid-February. This conjunction at 5 degrees of Aquarius was supported by the star formation of 3 other planets at 5 degrees, representing an expansion and combustion of the radiance of the human spirit. I feel that Hale-Bopp is the pilot light igniting this spirit and activating the new Aquarian energy of the Now Age.
With its closest passage to Earth right after the Spring Equinox in 1997, the fact that it is so big and so bright, and so right for the times—Hale-Bopp signifies the rebirth of the Promethean spirit within humankind. Henceforth, a core of humanity will dig a little deeper and shine a little brighter with the genius of mind, the beauty of heart, and the divinity of spirit to align to activate a vision that all living beings can share.
This comet heralds a period of quantum technological advance, magnificent exploration and discovery, greater interconnectedness, breakthroughs in virtually all areas of life, and cathartic spiritual awakening.
From the moment of its discovery, the grapevine was flooded with wild speculation about this comet. First, Hale-Bopp was said to be the size of a planet, heading on a direct collision course with the Earth. It became the source of several sensationalist tabloid features, and even an NBC-TV movie about a giant asteroid smashing the Earth.
Again, quite coincidentally, this movie called "Asteroid," aired on February 16th, just hours before the announcement of the discovery of “smoking gun” evidence by an international expedition of scientists in the Atlantic Ocean claiming “proof positive” of the meteor which crashed into the Earth extinguishing the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
The truth of Hale-Bopp is stranger than the fiction surrounding it, which has been abundant. Probably because of its long period 3-4000 year elliptical orbit around the Sun, it has been speculated that Hale-Bopp is Zechariah Sitchin’s theoretical 12th planet, Nibiru, returning for a millennial rendezvous. Time will validate or discredit this idea. Another notion, that Hale-Bopp will appear bright red and thus signify the Comet of Satan has also gristed in the rumor mill. Recently, a photograph of the comet followed by a large ringed companion (SLO, or Saturn-Like Object) rang out of the Art Bell radio show into new age outrageousness. Despite thorough debunking of the SLO, a contingent of thought still believes this to be a Mother Ship or a huge fleet of spacecraft approaching the Earth for mass landings.
As Hale-Bopp approaches, speculation burns away, leaving only the truth which always shines brighter than fiction. Just as the Uranus-ruled Aquarian age awakens and clarifies the illusions of the Neptune-ruled Piscean age, Hale-Bopp’s appearance will expose its true essence. It will indeed be large, with a nucleus some 25 miles in diameter — the size of the greater Los Angeles area — and a tail over 20 million miles long! Though its closest passage to the Earth will be more than 120 million miles away, about five hundred times the distance between Earth and the Moon, it should appear as bright as a Zero magnitude star — about the same brightness as Vega in the constellation Lyra.
The best viewing of Hale-Bopp will be through mid-April, when the comet should blaze at peak brightness, appearing about 30-60 degrees above the horizon in the Northwest shortly after sunset. An encore performance should sparkle from late April though early May, though probably of slightly diminished brilliance. Hale-Bopp should be slightly visible through mid-Summer before it journeys out of Earthly sight. I might just have to spring for some binoculars this Spring and focus in on this big bright flash of brilliant light.
So enjoy a gorgeous sunset and gaze at this Promethean messenger rising into the night sky, and consider all the miraculous synchronicities holding promise in your own life. Hale-Bopp is igniting a new era with a brighter vision for yourself and humankind.
Ken Kalb is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Grand Catharsis (on special for just $12 postpaid!), with over 300 published articles. He is director of Lucky Star, a brilliant interpretive astrological service operating since 1980 . . . and a workshop leader on the national Whole Life Expo tour. He is currently the vortex behind the Lightshift 2000 global meditation (www.lightshift.com)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: ON APRIL 18, 1997, EUROPEAN ASTRONOMERS ANNOUNCED THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW TYPE OF COMET TAIL FOR HALE-BOPP. AN ISAAC NEWTON GROUP ON LA PALMA PRESS RELEASE ‘ING 3/97’ STATED THE FOLLOWING.)
Observations carried out in the past few days to study the distribution of sodium atoms in Comet Hale-Bopp have led to the discovery of a new type of comet tail. Sodium atoms have previously been seen near the centers of other comets, but these observations reveal for the first time in Hale-Bopp a straight tail of sodium atoms 6 degrees long. . . .
Whereas the well-known ion and dust tails so prominently displayed by Hale-Bopp show a large amount of structure, the new sodium tail has a completely different appearance. It takes the form of an approximately 600,000 km wide and 50 million km long tail, in a direction close but slightly different to that of the ion tail. While the electrically charged particles in the ion tail are accelerated to large velocities by the solar wind (very fast atomic particles emitted by the Sun), there is no obvious explanation at this moment of how the observed sodium tail is formed. Nevertheless, the astronomers in the team believe that the sodium atoms may be released in-situ from very small dust grains or molecules. These particles or molecules are emitted by the cometary nucleus and then transported into the tail at high velocity by at present unknown mechanisms.