Even Asteroids are Getting Worked Up

It’s been an interesting week, and now we have some unusual news from the world of astronomy. A body discovered in 1906 and thought for more than a century to be an asteroid now looks like a comet. It may not be one — but it seems to have developed a halo and a tail. Monday evening, astronomer Steve Larson from the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona was first to notice a plume from (596) Scheila. This may simply be dust and ice scattered as the result of a collision with a meteor. Serennu shows Scheila’s current location at 22+ Leo, completing a grand fire trine with the Sun and Eris.

Scheila was discovered Feb, 21, 1906 by A. Knopf in Heidelberg, Germany, and was named in honor of a friend of his. The same year, the first motion picture was produced and Mahatma Gandhi created the term Satyagraha — loosely translated as ‘Soul Force’, or ‘holding on to truth’,  and which is a philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance. We know it was the Satyagraha theory that influenced Nelson Mandela’s struggle in South Africa under apartheid, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s campaigns during the civil rights movement in the United States, and other social justice and similar movements throughout the world.

Scheila made a close approach to Jupiter’s orbit in November 2008 — right when Obama was elected president.

The name Scheila, or the more standard English version — Sheila — originated from the Gaelic word for ‘blind’. The physical metaphor of someone or something blind — like justice — being struck by a meteor and as a result, providing light in the darkness may be an apt exclamation point on the already crowded and mostly benefic sky over Mr. Assange’s judicial proceedings. And maybe, even over us. In mythology, blindness is sometimes associated with the gift of prophesy.

Tracy over at Serannu.com notes:

Scheila is waking up, flaring up, showing her true colours, letting out her inner fire — as she trines the Sun and Eris… and contacts with Eris do tend to have that effect on people. There’s more than a touch of Sleeping Beauty to it; Scheila was discovered in 1906, she has ‘slept for a hundred years’ and the wicked fairy in that story is definitely an Eris figure.

Yes, I can totally see [the] completion of a circuit in fire image, she is like a piece of magnesium or something volatile like that, which flares as it’s plugged in to the circuit. We can all feel this energy of extreme provocation building I think (Sun-Eris), and it’s as if she’s the one who’s flipped out on our behalf.

Scheila’s discovery degree is 18 Virgo, which has the Sabian symbol of ‘A Ouija board’ — echoing the theme of foretelling and divining the future (or prophesy). Kirsti Melto, working with information written by Raimo A. Nikula about the Saturn-Neptune opposition in Julian Assange’s chart offers some insights on how Sheila functions in his set up:

In Assange’s natal chart there is a T-square: Saturn-Neptune, 1992 QB1-Pholus-Okyrhoe conjunction as the apex. The empty leg opposite the apex (of any T-square) can point to an area of life where the tension of the aspect pattern can be released. In this case the empty leg points to Virgo. Assange’s T-square is discharging in the Virgoan manner by organizing information and leaking thousands of documents.

Nikula fills in the other side of Assange’s T-square:

As is well known, Saturn-Neptune in mundane astrology is indicating “leaks,” shipwrecks, oil leaks, pollution, chemical problems etc. The concept of the WikiLeaks is to leak information intentionally. Flowing from Sagittarius to Gemini, the leak is actually on the level of knowledge and information. At the same time Saturn-Neptune is providing a basis for that kind of psychic growth, which typically gives birth to ‘disappointed idealists’ as the original positive expectations of the world and mankind darken, and Saturn takes control. Then it is the time to start telling how bad the world really is in the end. Sagittarius and Gemini are the signs of knowledge and information, but they are in the 2nd/8th houses, which means that the knowledge and the information is owned by somebody, it is filed, or it is in a secure databank.

And Kirsti continues:

Now we have learned that Assange’s natal asteroid Scheila (his personal Ouija board) is in Virgo, opposite [his natal] triple conjunction (at 04Vir39). Comets are messengers. Scheila is acting up now. With what Eric wrote yesterday (Mercury, Hermes etc.), it all makes sense!

This piece of space matter first appeared in a year of startling and momentous change throughout the world, and the birthing of concepts that would change the course of history in the 20th and 21st centuries. Under this kind of sky, one hopes for the best for not just Mr. Assange, but for all of us. Getting lit by a meteor on this week of all weeks in this year of all years could be as clear a message the sky can give:  The light is on for those who want to see.  Bear witness. Fight for what is right.

Thanks to Len Wallick for alerting the Planet Waves teams to this event last night, to Fe Bongolan for getting a great draft onto the boards (including the nail-on-the-head last paragraph), and to Tracy and Kirsti for their input. Finishing touches by Eric. – Amanda