The
2006 Passover Lunar Occultation of Spica
Something is Going On
Here
By
Steve Santini
2/21/06
On the first moment of the annual Hebrew Passover Feast commencing the evening of April 13, 2006, there will be a discrete yet profoundly unique heavenly sign. Over Jerusalem, as the sun sets in Pisces in the west, the full moon will rise in the east completely occulting the star Spica, in the sign of Virgo. Within the hour the event will have passed yet its message should be significant.
At 6:00 pm the occultation will be in its height with the
star Spica behind the moon as viewed from Jerusalem. Six pm is the beginning of
a new day in Hebrew culture. Six pm on April 13 is not only the beginning of a
new day, it is the first of the seven days of the Passover Feast in 2006 and as
such it is the beginning of the new Hebrew spiritual year. The Feast of
Passover begins with the remembrance of the Hebrew night in Egypt in which the
angel of the Lord slew all the firstborn males of Egypt yet preserved the
firstborn males of Israel because they had slain a male lamb, sprinkled its
blood on their doorposts and eaten its roasted flesh for the evening meal as
instructed by Moses. (It was immediately after this 10th plague that
the Pharaoh allowed the children of Israel to depart to worship their God.) It
was also on this late afternoon before the beginning of Passover about 2000
years ago that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried as the sun became
darkened. The Passover Feast occurred in the Hebrew early spring month of
Nisan. The month of Nisan was determined by the lunar month in which the barley
grain matured. The first of this grain was given as an offering in the temple
Passover ceremonies. The star Spica, according to the ancients, represents
harvested barley grain.
Spica was a star worshipped over
centuries in the ancient world of the Middle East. Joanne Conman writes in her
2002 publication, The Round Zodiac Ceiling of the Temple of Hathor in Denderah that “a number of constellations known to us
were described in a poem called Phaenomena, written by Aratus, who lived
about 315-240 BCE in Cilicia, in what is now Turkey. Aratus' information about
the stars is consistent with the way the stars would have appeared about 2200
BCE, so it appears that Aratus had access to some ancient material. Additional
support is found in the section of Aratus' poem where he specifically discusses
the history of the worship of the star Spica over centuries.” The apostle Paul
quoted a line in Aratus’ poem to the Athenians as recorded in the book of Acts,
chapter 17, verse 28. It reads, “For in him we live, and move, and have our
being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his
offspring.”
Virgo, the woman, is a Latin name given to the heavenly
sign in which Spica resides. Many centuries earlier the sign of Virgo was
considered “the Furrow” by the Babylonians. Spica is the alpha or
brightest star of this sign and one of only four bright stars that can
potentially be occulted by the moon in its varied cycles. Spica is the star by
which the ancients set the beginning of the zodiac. It was 180 degrees from
Spica around the ecliptical circuit of the sun in the sign of Aries that the
zodiac began. This alpha star in Virgo represents the harvest of barley.
The Babylonians saw Spica in Virgo as a representation of harvested barley
stalks held in one hand with her other hand holding barley roots directed
upward. (Virgo Star
Names) Scripturally, in the great mystery of scripture, barley is a
representation of the figuratively masculine saints while wheat is a
representation of the figuratively feminine faithful in Christ Jesus. It is the
few saints now still residing in physical bodies on the earth that are to be
harvested first by transformation while the faithful in Christ Jesus will be
harvested second by resurrection. Then both will reside together in union
within the Jerusalem that will come from above.
Because of the numerous variables in the dynamics of multifaceted celestial mechanics, this precise sign has never occurred previously in the history of modern man nor has it in the longer term of the 26,000-year cyclical progression of the zodiac. Even beyond the current cycle of 26,000 years, the astronomically slim odds of a repetition of this event could lead one to say, “Because of the varied and continual movement of the heavenly bodies in relation to one area of the earth, never before and never again will a straight line form passing from Spica through the center of the full moon, touching the earth tangently, from east to west, along the line between the spot on the Mount of Olives where the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and the Hebrew’s Holy of Holies of their temple and, correspondingly, the anciently known entrance into the Garden of Eden, and then ending as it touches the sun in Pisces on the beginning of the Hebrew Feast of Passover and at the moment of the beginning of a new spiritual year.”
It is also interesting that on this day of April 13th of 2006, an energetic disruptive area of the sun that has caused record breaking severe weather on the earth in the recent past will once again be centrally earth directed as it has on each solar rotation over the last ten months. Likewise, on the 13th of April the recently discovered naked eye visible comet named Pojmanski, another record setting and the 14th in a series since Comet Hyakutake in 1996, will be between the heavenly decans of Cephus and Cassiopeia representing the enthroned king and the enthroned queen respectively.
The bound fishes of Pisces, where the sun sets on April 13th, represent the subconscious of two types united. These Piscean fishes’ Coptic name is Pi-Cot Orion which means the congregation or fishes of the coming prince. The star where the bands join in Pisces is Okda, meaning the united in the Hebrew language and Al Rischa in the Babylonian, meaning the knot tied. Today grooms and potential grooms are often asked about “tying the knot.” This term has its origins in the ancient eastern custom of the groom tying the girdle of his bride during the wedding ceremony. Even today in the Hindu wedding ceremony this custom is retained. The groom ties a red cord around his bride’s neck during the ceremony. Here in Pisces, where the sun sets on the western horizon of Jerusalem, is the representation of the coming union of the saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Scripture, in
Genesis 1:14, states that the lights in heaven are for signs and for seasons
and for days and years. In the ancient Hebrew language the word for seasons is moade
as written with English letters. This word means a signal for an appointed
meeting, conventionally one year, according to Strong’s Analytical
Concordance to the Bible. The probable Hebrew root word, yaad,
according to the same, means to meet or more specifically to engage
for marriage.
Like the Persian Magi who came to honor Jesus “after” they had seen a series of celestial signs concluding with the promised Messiah’s specific star rising in the east, only time will fully reveal unto the world this heavenly sign’s significance.
The Moon’s Unique Orbit In 2006
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/060317_night_sky.html
Sky and Telescopes Lunar Occultations 1/1-6/30, 2006
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/article_1468_2.asp
The Path of the 100% Occultation
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2006bstar/0413zc1925.htm
A Heavenly Sign For
Passover 2007
Copyright, Steve Santini, 2006