by Tom Chase

An important sequence of events seem to have begun in early 1996, when Comet Hyakutake appeared. In March 1996, the issue of Mad Cow Disease (also called BSE) infecting people in England was announced to the public. This brain disease, that resulted from infected beef spreading the disease to people, results in complete brain destruction and death over a period of years; the disease is believed to be caused by molecules called Prions. At this time there is a concern that over the next ten years large numbers of people may develop BSE disease in England and Europe. And on February 5, 1996, newspapers announced that Buddha's birthplace had been found in Nepal. The significant astrological event at that time: Chiron (an asteroid, associated by astrologers with health issues) was at perihelion, closest approach to the sun, on February 14, 1996. And in 1997 we have seen another bright comet, Hale-Bopp.

Let us consider an astrological alignment of planets from 34 years before, to help us understand these events. On February 5, 1962, there was a very significant astrological event: a close grouping of seven planets in the sign of Aquarius, grouped within 17 degrees, at the same time as a solar eclipse. Related to that date is a prophecy of the psychic Jean Dixon, described in the book "A Gift of Prophecy" by Ruth Montgomery, published in 1965 by Bantam Books. Jean Dixon was a popular psychic in the 1960s and 1970s; you could still find her predictions in the tabloids in recent years. She had a vision that on February 5, 1962, a child was born in the Middle East, who would transform the world by year 2000, creating a unifying world religion, and bringing world peace. She saw a cross growing above this man, until it covered the whole earth. This child was a descendant of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti and her Pharoah husband Amenhotep IV, an "enlightened" pharoah, who created a monotheistic sun-worship religion, which was quite a change from Egypt's polytheistic religion before his time.

To understand her vision, we should consider the Christian mythology of the Antichrist. The last chapter of the Christian Bible, Revelation, describes a series of catastrophic events occurring on earth during a time period called the End Times. The End Time events include natural disasters, earthquakes, diseases, wars, famine, and the rise to power of a world dictator known as the Antichrist. The Antichrist and his ally the False Prophet dominate the world for 3 1/2 years, bringing world peace, and creating a unifying world religion. This world dictatorship ends at the Battle of Armageddon, when the returned Christ defeats their armies. This begins a thousand year Millenium period of peace and prosperity on earth.

So, who is this child Jean Dixon saw in her vision? From the description, he could be either the Antichrist, or his ally the False Prophet, or the returned Christ. He would be 35 years old now, and I cannot think of a prominent 35-year old religious or political leader. But the interesting thing about her prophecy is the vision of a cross above the earth. In the Southern Cross concept, an idea of mine, I consider that the 1987 Supernova in the Southern Hemisphere began a positive force in the Southern hemisphere by igniting a nearby constellation, the Southern Cross. Similarly, a 1993 supernova in the Great Bear constellation ignited a nearby constellation, Draco the Dragon, creating problems in the Northern Hemisphere, since the dragon is Satan in Biblical imagery. And you seem to see that pattern, in the last 10 years: positive change in the Southern hemisphere, with democracy coming to South America, and positive change in South Africa, while the Northern Hemisphere has had its problems. So, this Southern Cross idea fits the Jean Dixon idea of a cross forming above the earth.

The time interval between these 2 dates (1962 and 1996), 34 years, is of interest: if we consider the Biblical passage Genesis 3:4, corresponding to number 34 (a technique I like to use to analyze numbers is turn them into Biblical passage numbers), this is an incident in the Biblical Garden of Eden. Eve had been warned by God not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But in passage Genesis 3:4, the serpent encourages Eve to eat from this tree, to open her eyes, and be like God. This would relate to the idea of the Antichrist-- a man who makes himself a God.

In Greek, the language of the Bible's New Testament, each letter is also a number. Therefore, each word can be assigned a number, by totalling the letter/numbers when the word is translated into Greek. "Jesus", for example, translates as 888 this way. An interesting pattern exists, where words or phrases with related meanings are multiples of certain numbers. For "dark side" words or phrases, the numbers tend to be exact or approximate multiples of 666 or 276. 666 is the "Number of the Beast", the Antichrist, in Revelation 13. Examples related to 276: "die" corresponds to 276 in Greek, "Satan" is approximately 276x2, "evil" is 276x8, etc. And 34 years is only 1.5 days from being an exact multiple of 276 days, so 34 years is sort of a "Satanic cycle".

So, what I am proposing is that February 1996 began a critical time period related to the appearance before year 2000 of this Avatar, the Antichrist. This makes sense of some of these events: the announcement of the discovery of Buddha's birthplace, and the unexpected appearance of two bright new comets, Mad Cow Disease appearing. The Antichrist is said to come as an "Angel of Light", like the comet, and is represented as a "star that falls from heaven". Comet Hyakutake crossed through Draco the Dragon, the constellation I said has a Satanic connection, since Satan is the Dragon in Revelation. Also, Comet Hyakutake's closest approach to earth was on March 25, which is the Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Catholic Calendar, which commemorates the day when the Archangel Gabriel informed Mary that she was to be the Mother of Christ. And on April 3, this comet was visible during a lunar eclipse, which interestingly occurs between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. This lunar eclipse gives a "dark side" association to the 1996 Easter period, which again could be connected with the Antichrist.

Considering Chiron, Chiron's Feb. 14, 1996, perihelion agrees with this concept: both Christ and the Antichrist would be healers, like Chiron. Also, Chiron is a Centaur, and the Southern Cross used to be a part of the Centaur constellation.

A recent book on Mad Cow Disease, "Deadly Feasts", by Richard Rhodes (published by Simon & Schuster, 1997), has an interesting comparison between BSE disease and Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel "Cat's Cradle". In this novel, an alternate form of ice, ice-nine, is created by a scientist, this ice having a high melting point so that it remains ice at room temperature. The problem with ice-nine is that it acts as a seed, crystalizing into ice-nine all the water in the world, resulting in the end of the world. The comparison to BSE is that the new crystalized form of brain molecule in BSE may in a similar way tend to crystalize the brains of the people of this planet. And comets are believed to be largely composed of frozen ice-- another connection between BSE and comet Hyakutake. BSE was announced to the public in March 1996 as Comet Hyakutake passed by the Constellation Virgo (here I am talking about the astronomical Constellation Virgo, rather than the astrological sign Virgo). Isis, the Egyptian version of the female goddess represented by Virgo, had cow's horns on her head (this was the later Egyptian mythological representation of Isis). So this gives Virgo a "cow" connection, so it is interesting that the disease was announced as Comet Hyakutake passed by the Constellation Virgo.

Concerning events in 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp passed into the Southern Hemisphere in June 1997, so I would expect that this comet, although becoming dimmer, may increase the positive affect of the Southern Cross on the Southern Hemisphere as it heads toward the South Pole. So I would expect the "Southern Cross" effect of positive change in the Southern Hemisphere, as the Northern Hemisphere increasingly sees problems, to continue for the rest of this decade.

Copyright 1997 by Tom Chase.

Tom Chase is educated in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and writes on Astrology for "Welcome to Planet Earth" Astrology magazine in the U. S. His writing combines Astrology and Biblical symbolism. Tom may be reached at: 60 Thoreau Street, #317, Concord, MA 01742 USA, and email address "zchase@connect.cybersmith.com"