Signs of the Times
Celestial Report
Spring 2010
by Steve Santini
March, 2010
I
In Genesis, Moses wrote that the lights in the firmament of heaven were to be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and years. The Hebrew word for "seasons" is "moade." "Moade" means an appointed time for a meeting. Some derivatives from this word carry the meaning of "marriage." And we know that the coming of the Lord is figuratively referred to as a wedding ceremony a number of times in scripture. In addition, from the apostle Paul's revelation of the great mystery from the ascended Lord Jesus Christ, we know that the figurative marriage is the consummating union of the saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus.
In February, the previous movements of the planet Mercury caught my attention. During the Hebrew fall feast days of 2009, Mercury was moving in retrograde motion within the five star group within Virgo called "Awa'. At that time in February, I had just read Dr. Earnest Martin's work on the star of Bethlehem. From this work, I learned that the same retrograde movement of Jupiter within "Awa" in late December 2 BC prompted the Magi to travel to Jerusalem to search out and honor the young Jesus as the long awaited king.
Mercury is the messenger symbol. It represents the angel Gabriel who was sent to deliver a message to Daniel as he was among the Magi during what is know as the Babylonian Captivity in Hebrew history.
The star group "Awa" spans from the left shoulder of Virgo through her midriff to her right arm. In her left hand, Virgo holds a shock of wheat. In scripture, wheat represents the faithful in Christ Jesus or the figuratively feminine in the body of Christ. In her right hand, Virgo holds a shock of barley. Barley represents the saints or the figuratively masculine in the body of Christ. So, it appears that this star group represents a connection between the faithful in Christ Jesus and the saints through a generation within the feminine womb of Virgo. That generation is undoubtedly Jesus Christ, himself.
In this regard it is interesting that the name Jesus represents his soul that was brought forth by the feminine Holy Spirit while the name Christ represents the masculine spirit of Christ endowed through the Father.
With this article about Mercury within "Awa" in my mind, the relatively close conjunction of Mercury and Venus on April 4th of this year as reported on NASA's spaceweather.com website caught my attention. It did so because it occurred within the Hebrew spring feast of Unleavened Bread and because one of the more ancient representations of Venus is that of the love between a newly married wife and husband.
When I looked closer two aspects of this conjunction of Mercury and Venus it became more interesting to me. On my website, I had just reposted my 2004 article about the loop very bright comet Bradfield had made around the principle star in Pisces named Al Riesha. As you probably know, Pisces is depicted as two fishes bound by a cord. In the middle of the cord is a loop where the star Al Riesha is located. According to ancient languages, Al Riesha means, "the knot tied." It meant the same then as it does now when one speaks of "tying the knot" in marriage. This conjunction of Venus and Mercury on April 4th, 2010 took place in Pisces just above this bright star Al Riesha.
Secondly, on April 4th when the conjunction between Mercury and Venus took place, Mercury began a retrograde motion in which it will perform a triple conjunction1 with the star Al Riesha. The motion in this retrograde zone will span the days from the Feast of Unleavened Bread through, first, the day of Jesus Christ's ascension and then through the feast of Pentecost this year. Then on May 28th Mercury will exit its retrograde zone and continue forward around the zodiac.
Later this year, Mercury will again go retrograde. At that time it will perform a very close triple conjunction with the star Sarcam on the ecliptic in Leo. The ancient meaning of Sarcam is "the joining." Occurring within that eight-week retrograde zone will be Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the of the royal month of Tishri when Jesus was born in 3 BC, the Hebrew most holy Day of Atonement, and most of the Feast of Tabernacles.
To conclude this year, Mercury will perform an infrequent triple conjunction with the Golden Gate of Heaven between Sagittarius and Libra. This triple conjunction becomes unique when one considers that the sun will also be in the Golden Gate in late December for one of the present 24 sequential yearly times since 26,000 BC. Within this time period will be the winter solstice, a time in which a number of ancient cultures believed that life was renewed through resurrection.
There is also a Silver Gate of Heaven 180 degrees around the circle of the zodiac where again the galactic equator crosses the ecliptic just beyond the horns of Taurus. This year, Venus will uniquely pass over this Silver Gate on the Day of Pentecost. This will occur the day after the Moon, in a rare occultation, passes over Venus.
II
The same principles used in studying the scriptures apply to studying the dynamics in the celestial sphere. The context and the scope must be considered. The context pertains to that which is in the immediate vicinity while the scope pertains to a wider view of past and future events.
Within the context of these retrograde motions and triple conjunctions by Mercury this year is the retrograde motion of Jupiter. It takes 12 years for Jupiter to make it circuit around the zodiac. Each year it sequentially goes into retrograde motion near or within each of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. This year it starts its retrograde on April 29th just under one of two fishes of Pisces. It is the fish that is close to and is directed along the ecliptic, the path on which the planets, sun and moon travel around the zodiac at their individual rates. Of the two fishes joined by the band in Pisces,This fish where Jupiter goes retrograde represents the masculine because it is swimming toward the Golden Gate of Heaven from which it is believed that the saints will descend. (On the other hand the fish joined to this one is swimming towards chained feminine Andromeda representing the bound church to be set free one day by her saviour represented by the stellar sign of Perseus.) The most ancient name of Jupiter is "Zedek," as in Melchizedec, and it represents the masculine spirit of Christ. The ancients considered Jupiter as the ruling planet. One should also notice that just above this fish and Jupiter's 2010 retrograde motion is the sign of Pegasus, which means, "returning from afar joyfully and quickly."
Also within the context of this year's retrogrades of Mercury is the position and condition of the sun. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun therefore it never strays far from the sun literally in space and visually from earth. So in each instance of Mercury's retrogrades the sun is also present in the vicinity. When Mercury is far enough away from the sun it will be seen only shortly before sunrise in the east or shortly after sunset in the west. In each instance of Mercury's retrogrades it will be seen in the west after sunset as it enters retrograde and then in the east before sunrise as it ends each retrograde movement. Some biblical astronomers, with expertise, say that when a sign appears in the western night sky that it is in regard to future events while when in the eastern sky the sign pertains to that which is current. It seems here that the meanings of Mercury's retrogrades are proximately impending
From Mercury's proximity to the sun, it seems that the messages of Mercury pertain to the sun. It also appears that the Sun represents something in the masculine realm while its companion luminary, the Moon, represents something in the feminine realm. The sun has the greatest influence of the two on growth through maturity to harvest but the moon has much more influence on fertility and germination in the life cycle. It could be that the Sun represents the power of the Father while the Moon represents the power of the feminine Holy Spirit.
As to the condition of the sun: For those who have followed the ending of the last sunspot cycle and the beginning of the current cycle you know that this cycle was unpredictably delayed by two years. By now you may also know that on April 5, 2010 the earth was hit by a very powerful, untimely and unexpected blast of solar plasma from an explosion on the sun. So far it has been labeled as the most powerful solar storm since December 2006. As a result dynamic and brilliant auroras appeared in the North Country. And, those of you who received my email about the noticeable change in the sun's X-ray flux signature a week before the appearance of the unicorn over Norway2 might also be interested in the fact that on this year's annual Hebrew feast day of Purim the sun's X-ray flux signature changed again. It now appears to additionally have a rhythmic beat similar to that seen on a heart monitor.
Xray Flux April 3rd, 4th, & 5th, 2010
Kp Index - Major Solar Storm through April 5th & 6th, 2010
Spaceweather.com's Aurora Galley April 5th and 6th 2010
Related Articles
A Record Sixteen Bright Comets