Holiday Rounds ~ 23 Nov 2005

Evidently from some of the responses to my last Galactic Times, several readers did not have the sarcasm subtext filter enabled in the incoming e-mail function. To make up for missed communication in the last GT, I have revised the last post now archived on my Star Blogs page. Nope, I did not pull a Pat Roberstson, Bill O’Reilly or Scott McClellan. I modified none of the previous text. Instead, using a subtext saffron hue, I inserted the text that intended to be assumed. So much for Mercury retrograde and getting a good jump on holiday commentaries. And I am working on a very edgy screenplay right now where one character utters only crass, crisp verbal volleys. Need to remember to wash that man right out of my hair and cleanse my brain before writing GT’s.

Speaking of which, while focused upon the entry of Nessus and Chiron into Aquarius, I forgot to address another major centaur’s sign transmigration. The wise and just centaur, Pholus, moved into Sagittarius and just in time for the holidays. Why is this just in time given his orbital period, 91.95 years, runs longer than that of Chiron? Come on, a little synchronicity slack here. Pholus maintains both his north lunar node and perihelion point in Cancer - the sign of food and drink. When Hercules came to visit Pholus, the gracious centaur cooked meat for Hercules, though he ate his own meal raw. Pholus even went so far as to uncork the sacred wine left in his charge by Dionysus. When Hercules and Pholus drank the wine without proper ceremony, slings, arrows and outrageously bad fortune, death and mayhem resulted. Interestingly, the centaur Pholus stood notably in the horoscopes of Prohibition in the United States, its subsequent repeal, as well as the notorious and ridiculous suit against Oprah Winfrey by the Texas beef industry when she made the “ew, I’ll never eat a hamburger again,” riposte on her television show, invoking her right to free speech.

Actually, Pholus moving into Sag during the ramp up to the holidays works famously. The essence of Pholus seeks to form an intent behind every single act of life such that the act becomes an invocation of divinity, seeking to nurture the spirit of the self and foster the being-ness of others. Every deed becomes a reverential rendering to the Powers of Creation (not to be subtextually construed as an endorsement for Creationism over Evolution - should those words be capitalized? The debate is going to the Capitol in the U.S.). Pholus strongly suggests from his opinionated Sagittarian, hip thrusting stance of the moment, “Dude, Dudette, get back into doing everything as ceremony. Start now during the holidays. Everybody will assume it’s about good will and stuff and not assume you’ve gone puss (as in pussy cat, not stuff oozing from a sore - golly gee, Goober, Mercury retrograde is hard work) and fluff.”

Holiday protocols suggested by Pholus:

* Be kind, spread cheer and be an instrument of good will (free of political and economic agenda).

* Make sure you thoroughly cook your Thanksgiving Turkey, Chanukah Kosher Quail, Christmas Goose, Kwanza Heron and Pago Pago Sea Partridge - especially with the Asian Bird Flu pandemic scare (still can’t decide is this is a real threat... if U.S. administration officials were not so heavily invested in the company making flu vaccine, I might be scared. Better to question before coughing and sneezing, though).

* Eat nothing without a toast and blessing offered up in advance. “Cheers,” will do. Here, more is better.

While doing my daily religious scan of centaur and Trans-Neptunian data, I stared at some of the recent additions to the centaur clan, generally noted for their eccentricity. One of the current, extremely valid initial “what could it mean?” method comes from a determination of which planets bracket the centaur’s orbit. For example and with some liberty of technicality applied, Chiron’s orbital period exceeds Saturn’s but remains less that Uranus. So, there’s a bit of a Saturn-Uranus bridge, strong mythology to that effect in this instance notwithstanding. Pholus holds an orbit longer than that of Uranus and less than Neptune, so he weaves the influences of those planets together. Some centaurs replicate the above influences while others have more extreme considerations. But while checking this out, I noted that two centaurs, according to prevailing astronomical definitions, seemed very similar in perihelion and aphelion distances. A second cup of coffee revealed that sure enough, extremely low eccentricities appeared. Meaning: the orbits are dang near circular.

Currently, Venus and Neptune are the roundest orbits in the solar system (eccentricities of 0.007 and 0.010, for those who care). Honestly, I’ve not looked into asteroid orbits. With more than 20K Trojans, Atens, Amors, Apollos and run of the mill asteroids, some reasonably round orbits could exist - I’ll not be verifying that speculation anytime in the near future - leastwise, not til after the holidays. But, the newly discovered “centaurs” 2004 XQ₁₉₀ and 2005 TH₁₇₃ both maintain orbits with an extreme lack of eccentricity (0.010 and 0.014, respectively). We might have to redefine the “maverick” nature of centaurs, or develop a new sub-grouping of centaurs. Since each centaur innately offers a healing remedy to a stressed out global society, perhaps these two centaurs heal without rocking the boat. Still, most centaurs continue to shake the tree vigorously to get to the fruit as a healing modality.

What’s this have to do with Pholus in Sag? More slack, please, my ship is coming about. Just when we think we have everything figured out, new information arrives to contradict the consensus reality. I just love that galactic-astrophysical fact. If you don’t update and include, your spiritual software soon forgets how to boot up.