only not running related.
sagittarius to south 0°
The Great Attractor
Caption and credit
It may not just be Chiron that makes Sagittarius so intense, unusual and
worldly/unworldly. Today's truly strange installment may suggest what
does, and suggest why, if Chiron has an affinity to Sagittarius, it's as
powerful a planet as it appears to be.
when the sun is south.............
The Earth and Sun are now aligning in the direction of the midpoint of
Sagittarius, halfway between Scorpio and Capricorn. Among the many
strange marvels of the sign that contains the galactic center is another
galactic point called the Great Attractor, located at about Sagittarius
14 degrees and two minutes. As I write, the Sun is at Sagittarius 14
degrees and one minute.
It's probably best if I leave it to astronomers to begin the discussion
of what the Great Attractor is, or seems to be, and then move into the
astrology.
According to the University of Illinois Cosmos in a Computer web page,
"The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies [Andromeda is our nearest galactic
neighbor, not counting our own sub-galaxies, or clusters] are the
dominant structures in a galaxy cluster called the Local Group which is,
in turn, an outlying member of the Virgo supercluster. Andromeda --
about 2.2 million light-years from the Milky Way -- is speeding toward
our galaxy at 200,000 miles per hour. This motion can only be accounted
for by gravitational attraction, even though the mass that we can
observe is not nearly great enough to exert that kind of pull. The only
thing that could explain the movement of Andromeda is the gravitational
pull of a lot of unseen mass -- perhaps the equivalent of 10 Milky
Way-size galaxies -- lying between the two galaxies."
Okay, interesting enough. Some invisible "thing" with the gravitational
force of an object with a mass ten times our own galaxy is drawing the
Milky Way and Andromeda together, and it's believed that the two
galaxies will eventually collide.
But now consider this.
"Furthermore," the authors continue, "our entire Local Group is hurtling
toward the center of the Virgo cluster at one million miles per hour.
The Virgo cluster lies some 50 million light years from Earth. Only the
central region is shown [in the photograph] above, containing two giant
elliptical galaxies, M84 and M86. The visible part of the cluster is but
a small portion of what seems to be out there. Nevertheless, the Virgo
Cluster, along with several other large clusters, are in turn speeding
towards a gigantic unseen mass named The Great Attractor."
[For more astronomical information, use these links for a Quicktime
movie, or a much smaller sound file (both of the same interview with
Jeremiah Ostriker of Princeton University) that describe this
phenomenon. This link, to Scientific American's site, tells more of the
story, as does this link at Astronomy Picture of the Day.]
How the senses deceive us. We can see nothing there, visibly. But our
instruments tell us that everything is moving toward it -- a million
galaxies, if you can imagine such a thing -- and that it's emitting a
simultaneous broadcast of infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray
radiation, among many other frequencies of the spectrum.
"It's demonstrably more like a quasar than black hole," says Philip
Sedgwick, the Arizona-based Centaur astrologer and one of the few people
who has researched the psychodynamics of the Great Attractor as it shows
up in the charts of his clients.
"It doesn't appear to be punching a hole into another dimension, but
rather, it allows us to see around things." In other words, its massive
gravitational force bends spacetime so profoundly that we can get a view
around the back of the universe. "It allows you to see around the bend.
It clears the way. It's almost as if you're moving around behind
something.
"Nobody knows what it is, or why everything is drawing to it. This thing
is prodigious. It's the largest thing that I know of, that they
[astronomers] know of. They can't really see anything out there. So what
is it? We don't know. The point itself retreats from us, but everything
is following it, in hot pursuit."
Sedgwick, a Scorpio, adds, "It is the ultimate Sagittarian statement of
leave me alone, don't crowd my space, coming into the most extreme."
People born with the Sun, Moon, ascendant or another important planet
close to, or aspecting, this point will often find that they have a
polarizing effect on people around them, making unusually close friends
and intense enemies as well. They can give the impression that they hold
the key to the mystery of the universe, correctly or not.
"The perception is that people on the Great Attractor have unusual
appeal or potency. They find themselves in vast circles, accidentally.
Or they have impacted masses of people and think they have created no
influence in their lives whatsoever," he said.
The current Saturn-Pluto opposition has come within two degrees of this
point since late July. "With Pluto having been there, and with Saturn
about to finish it off, people with this point prominent in their charts
are maturing into a calling, as it were. They are discovering what their
calling is," he said.
He added that it's often prominent in the charts of people who feel as
if they are in some way alien from the rest of the human race, even
literally. Elian Gonzolez, for example, was born Dec. 5 and his Sun is
right there. As Pluto went over the degree recently, the house where he
lived in Miami was turned into a museum, and in that city he's held with
the reverence of the baby Jesus. Mohammed Atta, the pilot who flew
Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, was detained in Miami at the same
time on immigration charges, and was then released.
"But in addition, these are people who feel alienated and yet they bring
in different levels of consciousness, and this is why," Sedgwick said.
Among its more noteworthy subjects is Walt Disney. In the astrological
community, one of its most prominent spokesmen, Rob Hand, is born with
the Sun conjunct this point as well.
If you know your chart, check for planets in the middle degrees of any
sign, but principally a fire sign or a mutable sign, to see whether you
have a major aspect to the Great Attractor.
<< Prior | Contents | Continued >>
Phil Sedgwick, a truly great teacher, offers a course in galactic
astrology on tape, and has his own ephemerides of Centaur planets
available. You can email him in care of Planet Waves at
[email hidden]. Phil did a class at Norwac 2001 on the Great
Attractor, which is available from [email hidden]. FYI, Rob Hand
gave an excellent talk on Sunday night on astrology and magic, available
from the same source.
Home | Horoscopes | What's New | Consultations
Space graphics above: Samples of the Center of Centaurus A, courtesy of
APOD. Credit: E.J. Schreier (STScI) et al., NASA. Explanation: A
fantastic jumble of young blue star clusters, gigantic glowing gas
clouds, and imposing dark dust lanes surrounds the central region of the
active galaxy Centaurus A.
This link written and posted Dec. 5, 2001
42°N,83°W 90°N,180° 90°lat,
3rd planet from the Sun.
Milky Way, Orion arm.
U.S.A., Michigan. west of Port Huron
Bottum of Lake Huron.
