Mars- Sun Conjunction in December 2008 Presages Hanukkah with Peace

Mars-Sun Conjunction takes place almost at regular intervals, usually once in two years. Previous conjunctions in August 2002, September 2004 and October 2006 are of commonplace when compared with the conjunction scheduled to take place on December 5, 2008 at 22.00 GMT/UTC. It is phenomenal because the conjunction would be in the Ophiuchus constellation, which is a Non-Zodiacal constellation through which the Sun traverses in its ecliptical path. In fact the Sun enters this constellation on November 30 and leaves on December 18. It is indeed phenomenal because this event takes place in direct line between the stars “Imad” ( theta ophiuchi) and omega ophiuchi. Incidentally, Johannes Kepler, a 17^th Century German Astronomer observed a supernova exploding in the area of sky close to the star theta ophiuchi in 1604. Let me give you a brief:

1. Astronomical Position

1. The event takes place on the parallel line between theta and omega ophiuchi at the left foot of the Ophiuchus at the location marked Right Ascension(RA) of 16.85 and Declination(Dec) of 22.65 South. As a result, the planet Mars would be in total eclipse

2. From this location if we look at the directions we find planet, stars and Globular Clusters in all eight directions:

North: The Star “Hun” known technically as zeta ophiuchi; a blue giant of 2,5 visual magnitude; third bright star in this constellation emitting blue to white colour; spectral class of O9 located on the left knee of the Ophiuchus

North-west : Omega, phi, chi and psi ophiuchi: four stars of benevolent nature forming almost a semi-circle located in RA ranging between 16.41 to 16.53. All stars more or less are of 4.5 visual magnitude with spectral class ranging from A to F

West : Rho Ophiuchi; a magnificent blue-white star giant giving a hue of bluish reflection in the nebulae surrounding it. A “Class B” luminous giant located at RA 16.42

South-west: M62 Globular Cluster; located at RA 17.01. Though visually of 6.5 magnitude it is 22,500 light years away and has large stock of stars , populated densely with variable and X-Ray emitting stars

South: M 19 Globular Cluster, located at RA17.05. Though visually of 6.8 magnitude, this cluster is some 28,400 light years away. Rich with stars and fairly densely populated with stars; the cluster is moving away from the earth at 90 miles per second

South-east: The planet Mercury located at RA 17.20

East : Xi ophiuchi a double star of 4.5 visual magnitude located at RA 17.35

North-East : Sabik known technically as eta ophiuchi; Al – Tizini the 15^th Century Arab Astronomer called it as “Sabik” an unusual name meaning “ it precedes the other stars”. This star is located in the left leg of Ophiuchus. It is a binary and a variable star of A2 spectral class emitting white to yellow rays.

2. Mythology

This constellation is named after a famous Greek physician by the name of Asclepus who learned the art of reviving dead person by observing a live snake reviving a dead one. He started to cure humans from all diseases including the ones that bring death upon them. Fearing that he would make humans immortal in doing so, Zeus struck him with a bolt. However to honour his greatness Zeus placed Ophiuchus in the sky along with the serpent. Interestingly, the serpent was placed such that its head (Caput) onto his right and its tail (Cauda) onto his left and the middle coiled in between his thighs. He was called as Ophiuchus in Greek and Serpentarius in Latin both mean “ the serpent handler”. Universally, the Serpent became the symbol of medicine thereafter.

3. Cosmics

Whenever the Sun traverses through Ophiuchus constellation it gives a salutary, becalming effect on the terrestrial sphere. Here the Sun becomes a “healer” or “ sugar daddy”. The fact that Mars conjunction with Sun indicates that the fire and rage of Mars would be extinguished and in its place you find serenity and peace. This event taking place on December 5 2008 is followed by three important celebrations for the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

· For Muslims it is the “Day of Arafath” scheduled to take place on Saturday December 7 in the Holy city of Mecca followed by the Festival throughout the world

· For Christians, it is Christmas celebrating the birth day of the Prince of Peace on December 25

· For the Jewish nation it is Hanukkah, the “Festival of Light” on December 22.

4. Hanukkah

Hanukkah begins on the 25^th day of Kislev, which is the 9^th month in the Jewish calendar. This year the 25^th date falls on December 22. The celebration lasts for eight days. On the first day one candle is lit and on the second day one more is added making it two and so on till the eighth day when eight candles are lit. These candles are placed right to left in the Menorah. This event commemorates the cleansing of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus who struggled with Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek overlord who desecrated the Temple by slaughtering pigs inside. Since there is nothing left inside the Temple that was clean except for little olive oil. The lamp was lit with this little oil. Miraculously, this little oil lasted for eight days. Since then it is customary to light candles for eight consecutive days.

But the Hanukkah, this year has much more significance:

· When the Mars-Sun conjunction takes place there are celestial bodies in all eight directions

· On the day this conjunction takes place the Moon is in its eighth day

· The number eight denotes the power of super natural to re-write the history of chaos that commenced on 2000 and ends in 2008, an eight year period.

5. Action and Re-action

The Action is for the world to send greetings to the Jewish nation which begins the festival of light on December 22. As each day passes with candles lit in ascending order the heaven and the eight stars that were located in the eight directions shall be illuminated and would bestow blessings of the Lord on the terrestrial beings.

The Re-action is also of eight-fold:

1. Changing of helmsmen in countries across the globe takes place

2. Un-doing of actions by despots, maniacs and ungodly men who brought the world to its knees in politics and economics

3. Establishing peace in theatres of war across the globe

4. Stabilizing the world economic system such that confidence in currencies and banks is restored

5. Investing in prosperity and growth such that the peace dividends percolate to varied segments of people across the globe

6. Liberalizing trade and movement of people so that the entire globe becomes a small village

7. Understanding different cultures across the globe so that bridges are built and boats are never burnt

8. Raising the sense of social responsibility of the people so that Charity is one again enthroned.

Muthu Ashraff

Cosmic Adviser

Mobile:   +94 777 265677

E-mail:    cosmicgems@gmail.com

Web:      http://www.cosmicgemslanka.com

Your Lucky Star – Cosmic Considerations

Every person is born under a celestial object. It might be a Star, Cluster or Nebulae. The last two are referred to as Deep Sky Objects (DSO). In this Blog I am writing about stars only. Whether a birth star is a Lucky Star or not depends on two considerations: One relates to astronomy; the other relates to cosmics. In an earlier Blog I wrote about the astronomical considerations. In this, I give you a bird’s eye view of the chief cosmic considerations about your birth star.

1. Name of a star

Most of the big and bright stars are already named. About 70 percent of such names originate from Arabic sources, while about 20 % are derived from Greco-Latin sources. The balance is contributed by diverse sources including Hebraic, Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Turkish, Chinese and host of others. Let me give you few illustrations:

· Aldebaran (alpha Taurus) from Arabic means “followers”

· Hydor (lambda Aquarius) from Greek means “water”

· Ascellus Borealis ( gamma Cancer) from Latin means “ northern donkey”

· Sargas ( theta Scorpion) from Babylonian

· Nunki ( sigma Sagittarius) from Sumerian means “ voice from the sea”

· Yildun (delta Ursa Minor) from Turkish means “ dance”

There are variations of names as well. Few examples:

· Al-Ras Al- Asad Janubiah ( epsilon Leo) known as Al-Ras-Al- Asad Australis

· Tejat Posterior ( mu Gemini ) Tejat from Arabic means “unknown “ and posterior from Latin means “ rear”

· Tarazed ( gamma Aquila) from Persian means “ Scale”; also referred as Al-Meezan from Arabic with similar meaning

· Kochab ( beta Ursa Minor) origin is disputed between Hebraic and Arabic

Stars found after the Middle Ages were not named. In order to classify the stars Bayer used individual letters of Greek alphabet. This was done purely on the basis of visual magnitude. Since the alphabet has only 24 letters modern astronomers use numbers instead of names or alphabet. For cosmic purposes it is the name that matters a lot.

2. Colour of a star

The colour of a star and its surface temperature are co-related. From ancient times colour of star was accorded great significance. Few examples are given:

· White – Deneb Adige ( alpha Cygnus) – denotes immense wealth

· Pale Yellow – Al-Gorab (delta Corvus) – denotes misery

· Blue – Denebola ( beta Leo) – denotes power & glory

· Red – Antares ( alpha Scorpion) – denotes bravery & victory

· Orange – Altarf ( beta Cancer) – denotes cold & calculated personality

3. Location of a star

Position of star is of prime importance. Greek astronomer Ptolemy discoursed on the subject of the cosmic relevance on the basis of each star’s location in a particular constellation. He identified more than 1000 stars in 48 constellations. Ptolemy used direction, part, limb or position to identify the location. For example, in the case of stars in Aries constellation, he employed head, mouth, back foot and tail as specific locations. Depending on this location, each star has different cosmic effect, he concluded. This leads us spontaneously to the subject of constellations.

4. Constellations

Basically, a constellation is a group of stars, seen from the earth as forming a particular pattern in the sky. In ancient times, constellations were named mainly after living beings: Greek Gods, Mythological figures, Heroes, men and women, animals, birds, Fish, serpents, dragons and many others. Virgo & Hercules are good examples. Very few of them were named after a device such as pair of scales as in the case of Libra. Of course, utility items such as sword, bow and arrow were in the list; mode of transport such as ships found their way to the heaven.

Arab and Greek astronomers were locating stars by observing the sky in the northern hemisphere by naked eye or using early telescopes. As the middle age passed, astronomers were travelling to continents in the southern hemisphere and by using modern equipments they were able to find several stars. By this time the life style has changed from agriculture to industrial age. Hence new found stars were grouped under constellations with such names as Circinus (comapss) and Telescopium (telescope), both of these formed by La Caille in 1752. Not that the astronomers were entirely mechanical in their mind-set. Still they had a sense of breathing in their thoughts. Pavo (peacock) constellation formed by Bayer in 1604 bears evidence to this.

As technology progressed, the need to re-capitulate constellations arose. Argo Navis (Ship), an ancient constellation was sub-divided into four individual constellations; Carina (Keel), Vela (Sails) Puppis (Stern) and Pyxis (Compass Box). In the modern times the International Astronomical Union has recognized 88 constellations to bring the burgeoning of constellations to an end.

It must be pointed out that these 88 constellations are now divided into eight constellation families. The Zodiac family consists of the 12 zodiacal constellations such as Aries. The Hercules family has 19 constellations the largest number for a single family whereas Orion family has only 5 constellations including the famous Orion the hunter. Astronomers Bayer added 11 new constellations while La Caille was proficient with 13 of the new ones.

5. Asterism

In addition to be grouped under a constellation, some of the stars get into prestigious clubs known as “asterism”. An asterism is technically a sub-group within a major constellation. The asterism is known for a particular pattern, or symbol or form. Few of these are explained below:

· Sickle of Leo: a sickle shape asterism traversing from head to the body of the lion. The stars are Regulus ( alpha), Algeiba (gamma), Aldhafara (zeta) & Al-Ras Al-Asad Australis (epsilon) all in the Leo constellation

· Belt of Orion: a belt shape asterism in the waist of the hunter. The stars are Mintaka (delta) Al Nilam ( epsilon) & Al Nitak ( zeta) all in Orion constellation

· Circlet of the Fish: a circle in the mouth of the western fish. The stars are Fom Al-Samakah ( beta) , gamma,, theta, iota, kappa, lambda and 19 Piscium all in the Pisces constellation

6. Formation

Stars do make a formation within and across constellation into various shapes such as triangle, square, round etc.

1. Within constellation: The stars located in the western and northern part of the Cancer constellation forms a Square. The stars are: eta, theta, zeta and mu Cancer. Incidentally all these stars are located between 8.12 hrs to 8.50 hrs of Right Ascension (RA)

2. Across constellation: The stars Markab (alpha) Scheat (beta) & Algenib (gamma) from the Leo constellation form a major Triangle by joining Alpharetz (alpha) of Andromeda constellation.

7. Lunar mansions

Stars find their home in Lunar Mansions, known in Arabic as Al-Manzil al-Kamar. There are 28 lunar mansions. The boundary line of each mansion is defined by several writers, such as Abneragel( Ali bin Ali-Rajal) , Dorotheos, Agrippa, Al-Biruni and Ibnu Arabi.

8. Zodiacal signs

Lastly, stars are also at home in a particular zodiacal sign. The ancient 12 signs are accepted without contest. Yet, it must be made clear, that the Sun travels in its ecliptical path across these 12 signs plus Ophiuchus ( Serpent carrier) & Cetus ( Whale) constellations as well.

Both Lunar mansions and Zodiacal signs are given in zodiacal degree rather than in the astronomical measure of Right Ascension. At present time these two measures do not tally. The Vernal Equinox of 21^st March originally fell on the Aries sign. At present, it is in the Pisces sign. In time to come as we move on to the Aquarian age it would fall on Aquarius sign. This is due to what we call as the precession of the earth given as the difference between the solar time and the star time. Nothing to despair! We have two consoling facts:

1. Due to the tilt of the earth in its axis, at present 23 degree 44 minutes we have different set of circumstance. The tilt itself is variable and the International Astronomical Union periodically computes it. As a consequence we have differences in seasons and climate; more than that, the change of North star. Right now the North Star is Polaris. After 5000 years the North star would be Alderamain ( alpha Cepheus) and in 12000 years time it would be Vega ( alpha Lyra)

2. The Universe is on constant move. Our Solar System is moving. Milky Way Galaxy, to which our solar system belongs is moving. To cap it all, the Local Group of Galaxy to which the Milky Way belongs is also on the march.

Therefore, movement is a fact of life on earth and in the heavens. We can map the movement on the Lunar mansion as well as in the Zodiacal signs as well and get on with our work.

Though there are many other cosmic considerations, the above 8 items are the chief ones that need to be evaluated to find out the impact and influence of your Birth Star.

Muthu Ashraff

Cosmic Adviser

Mobile:   +94 777 265677

E-mail:    cosmicgems@gmail.com

Web:      http://www.cosmicgemslanka.com