planets and stuff about to happen

Would you not agree that this time around the doomsday prophets are
conspicuous by their absence?

Where are the warnings about the imminent end of the world no doubt to occur
this coming Thursday June 21st?

- Firstly, as we all know, this Thursday a total solar eclipse (a
'swallowing of the Sun') will take place over parts of Southern Africa.

- Additionally, the Red Planet (Mars, associated with War) will be extremely
close to planet Earth - the closest it has been in THIRTEEN years.

- As if that were not enough, June 21st is also the solstice day (mid-summer
/ mid-winter point) for our home planet in its journey around the Sun.

- And for the astronomy buffs, here's another even rarer angle: the position
of the maximum total eclipse on the Earth on Thursday occurs very close to
the sub-zenithal point of Mars. In other words, Earth will be very nearly in
the Mars-to-Sun line at the time, and since there will be a total eclipse
occurring, it means the Moon is nearly in that line also! (but it's not
exact, since Mars will be past opposition).

Now if THAT collection of celestial events is not enough to guarantee
certain calamity, nothing is! Where are the knowledgeable and wise
soothsayers, astrologers and other pseudoscientists when we need them??
:-)

The truth of the matter is that the astronomical events occurring on
Thursday have simply come together by co-incidence alone - as is bound to
have happened many times before in our planet's 4.5-billion year history.

There is no significance, destiny or design behind them whatsoever. On
Friday morning life will carry on as normal - and that's a prediction we can
make with confidence.

LOL Mark I admire your confidence!

Nobody is ever gonna accurately predict the end of civilization as we know it. Even us Christians have been taught. The world has always had it's naysayers and it always will.

No one knows the day nor the hour, right eyesoftexas? :o) Kimberley

Mark,
Coincidence? I have a hard time believing in coincidence. Not that I'm about to evangalize anyone, but the big picture points in the direction of a certain amount of guidance and beauty in all of the celestial workings. once you set a group of mechanisms (if you will) in motion, there is a fairly predictable sequence of events that will take place with relatively accurate timing. To watch it all is one of the great joys we've been given. And I predict that we will have that privilege for long time coming!

Kathleen

}}}}}THE SKY IS FALLING>>THE SKY IS FALLING!(((((
LOL I figured the "lil Red Hen" was about as accurate as the stargazers!

Absolutely, ZanyM. All this planetary/doomesday stuff always makes me wonder if we, as a species, don't take ourselves a *little* too seriously. After all, would the planets really put on that kind of showstopper just for OUR benefit? Not likely.

I've got to say, though, that astrology really blows my mind. I've done some charts up for myself and other people, and they have tended to be incredibly accurate. Another strange thing: my horoscope in "The National Post" is always accurate - strange, because those horoscopes are only based on your sun sign, which is really general. But, about two years ago, the very last line in my horoscope said "Floss". I thought that was really funny, so I clipped it and stuck it on my bulletin board. About 3 weeks later, I went to the dentist, and she found that my gums were in horrible shape from two years of student-poverty-induced neglect. Stranger than fiction, I tell you.

flaky flaky fishy girl,
pisces

I think about the only thing that we can predict with any confidence is that the Red Sox will fold before the season ends! :>)

Don't forget gum disease! :)

Only the father knows the day and hour. We are like weeds in the garden, not knowing when the 'roundup' is about to be sprayed!LOL!

There was a terrific thunderstorm over the north of England when I was a teenager at school. All our lessons were suspended. One or two girls went into hysterics and went home. Pitch black, all the lights had to be switched on. I'm on the east coast of England, but my cousins in Liverpool on the west coast had it as well.
My best friend went to a Roman Catholic school. All the nuns believed that the Last Day had come. They were all down on their knees praying.

About "the Father":
Culturally, we tend not to think of God as having a sexuality (even though God is always named as male in popular parlance), but that was not always so. In many instances in both canonical literature, and some religious literature which was not canonized, aspects of God are characterized as female. For instance, the Wisdom of God is named as Sophia, a feminine name. The naming of God as feminine as well as masculine can, I think, be a real saving grace for Christian women trying to understand the nature of divinity.

Pisces,
Adding feminine titles to God doesn't do anything for me.

I enjoy thinking about Him as my Father who wraps His arms around me, and keeps me safe.

And, besides, if He is coming soon, bring it on! I've got nothing to worry about. I know where I'm headed.

Jennifer

Beautiful, Jennifer. And poetic.

An ardent feminist (ack! NO! the dreaded "f" word"!), I have a hard time identifying with a God who is symbolized by the structures (which we ALL perpetuate, not just men) that are oppressive not only to women, but to men as well. God was not just all of a sudden male, but came to be characterized as such by people trying to understand the nature of divinity. God as male is further substantiated by the platonic idea that male is "spirit" and good, and that female is "body", and therefore somehow bad. I don't think that my search for a characterization of the divine that includes both female and male characteristics negates a deep fundamental belief. I do wish, though, that I didn't need to, that I found solace in the idea of a father's arms comforting me, because that's really a beautiful image. Your faith must be miles and miles and miles deep.

Speaking of Faith, Big Red, where is yours? I thought this was the year!
Ever the optimist,
Cynthia

Cynthia;

Still hoping, I've been a Red Sox fan since Yaz was a rookie many years ago. They'll always keep you on the edge of your seat but never seem to get it done. Hope you're right, maybe this is the year!

I guess we dodged the bullet again?

Hey guys,
reading through my last few postings on this thread, I realize that I have crossed a line. I hope from the bottom of my heart that I didn't offend anyone, or disparage anybody's religious beliefs. Sometimes I can get so caught up in the academic study of religion, that I forget that religion is nothing without the people practicing it. I'm a fool.

Sorry again,
Shelly

Isn't mercury in retrograde as well?

Oh, no, Shelly Pisces, you are no fool, believe me. (S)he that hath ears to hear, let her/him hear! And 'kind hearts are more than coronets' - (back to the films!)
Not for nothing do I live with a Piscean theology student!

In my lifetime, I can remember about six times that some sectors of the public panicked over celestial events. I remember one group sold all their worldly goods and gave them to charities (if it was the end of the world, what were the charities supposed to do with the money?), undressing, and waiting naked atop a mountain for the second coming. LOL, I'll bet they froze their buns off.
Saw a little tape called "Blow the Tannery Whistle" about a tannery in Sylva, NC. (The southern Appalachian mountains had a lot of tanneries in them in the first half of the 20th century). The whistle was for shift changes. But one cold winter night, frightening waves of bright colors filled the sky and everyone was convinced it was the end of the world. So they blew the tannery whistle so everyone could go home to be with their families for the final "coming". Of course, it was only Northern Lights.
Perhaps these groups have now seen too many embarressed people to panic like this any time soon, but it will happen again when the memories fade a little.

I think the year 2000 saw so many prophesies that we are now all out of them for now. Lets face it, in our (alledgedly) enlightened age we are no longer afraid of the dragon swallowing the sun......or are we?

Just remember the sign of a true prophet, is that they are right 100% of the time. Not just once or twice.
And who falls into this spot?

Certainly not me! Most of my "prophecies" involve trying to "prophecize" that the phone will ring with a call from that cute boy :)

Vinca - thanks, I needed that. BTW, why the Red Sea?

plant_girl_maine - yeah mercury and mars are both in retrograde so put off anything important such as business meetings cos it'll all end in tears (apparently :))