Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin), discovered in July 2007, is going to its closest approach. It will pass the opposition to the Sun at this period, and will have the greatest magnitude. The comet is predicted to be 5th magnitude, which means it could be visible to the naked eye. Though celestial bodies of 5th magnitude are visible to the naked eye, it will be not so easy task to see the comet in the sky. It will be visible only in rural locations without a light pollution.
We can try to see this comet at 24th-26th of February, at night. It will have only 5th magnitude, therefore it can be visible only after the end of astronomical twilight, i.e. when the Sun after a sunset reaches altitude of 18 degrees under the horizon. At this time we can try to find the comet somewhere between East and South-East. I think the good reference points can be Saturn and Regulus.
If you will be lucky and discover the first appearance of the commet in the sky, you can erect the chart and make a prediction. But what if we are not so lucky? Fortunately, The astrological tradition allows to say something about a comet even if we don’t know the moment of its first appearence.
Let’s consider this comet Lulin with the chapter on the comets from Astrologicorum libri VII by Tommaso Campanella.
First of all, we have to consider the colour of the comet. The comet is expected to be green. Campanella doesn’t describe such colour. But a green comet we can find in the text by Hephaistio of Thebes:
The Sword-like belongs to Hermes, and appears strong and green, and has oblong rays around itself. When it appears from the part of rising, signifies evil intents toward kings of Persians and Assyrians and poisonings from satraps. When appears at the setting, it indicates the same for those who live in the West.
Well, the comet rather must appear in the East part of the sky, than in the West. And we can say nothing about its form before we see it.
The same fragment on comets was translated in Latin, and now it is known as Ptolemeus de stellis cum caudis. More over, it is incoprorated in the book of Guido Bonatti:
And the Lord of Ascona is said to be of the condition of Mercury. And its colour is blue. And it looks small in comparison with the other comets. And it has a long tail. And it extends its rays in one side or another like a wing, and carries heads under it bringing them back to one place. When it appears, it signifies the deaths of kings or leaders and nobles who are fit to reign, and especially toward the part to which it extends its tail or rays, and it signifies wars.
As you can see, the colour is changed to blue. Latin ceruleus means blue, azure. But we have no choice, let’s the comet will be the comet of Mercury 
According to Campanella:
A comet of Mercury gives lightnings, thunders, earthquakes, great winds, violent storms, new arts, always destructive for the mankind.
Campanella says that the brighter a comet, the more efficacious it is. Our comet is expected to have 5th magnitude. It is not bright at all. Therefore, we can’t expect some great effects from it.
Campanella says about the period of visibility as well:
The long duration shows the great significance of the effects and their long duration. The short duration is contrary. I also believe that how many months it continues, so many years it has for the signification…
Our comet will be visible only few days. Therefore the effects must be not so important and long-lasting.
Comet Lulin moves against the succession of the signs. And Campanella says:
When it is carried against the succession of the signs, it always shows a changing in laws…
Another important question is where the effects of the comet will be most strong? According to ancient tradition, we must consider the sign of the comet at the moment of her first appearance. It is Virgo in this case. Therefore the most powerful influence will be in the regions belonging to Virgo.
But there is another way of estimation the region. We have to find the maximal declination of the comet during the period of visibility. This case the maximum is not so great – about 10 degrees. Therefore the most strong effects must be in the regions about 10 degrees of geographical latitude.
But what about the chart for this comet? Campanella refers to Abu’l Hasan Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Misri:
Haly observs the very beginning of a comet, if it can be known, or the place where it is at the first conjunction or opposition of the luminaries after its appearence, if impossible to get the beginning.
The new moon at 25th of February can be this first conjunction. This day the comet will cross the ecliptic from the North to the South, and will be placed in Virgo.
Date Longitude Latitude
February, 23rd 24Vir45 0n11
February, 24th 19Vir37 0n07
February, 25th 14Vir30 0n03
February, 26th 9Vir26 0s01
February, 27th 4Vir25 0s07
The comet will cross the ecliptic near to the fixed star ρ Leonis, or ascella sinistra, the left armpit. Though it is rather the right armpit for us, but if we will see it on a celestial globe, the armpit will be left definitely
This star has the nature of Saturn and Mars according to Johannes Stadius.
And a day before, February 24th, the comet passes a conjunction of Saturn. Though hardly there will be a conjunction of their bodies, because they are distant one from the other in about 2 degrees by ecliptical latitude.
At the new moon, the comet will be placed in the XI Lunar mansion marked by the stars Zosma and Chertan and called az-Zubra (a withers) or al-Kharatan (a mane).
Andalusian astrologer of the X century Aby Ali Ibn Hasan Ibn al-Hatim describes the image of this mansion as a man riding a lion, there is a sling (a lash in the Latin fifteenth-century translation) in his right hand, and his left is on the lion’s ear.
There are similar descriptions of the image in various texts on Lunar mansions. For example in Zodiologion-s of the famouse Alfonsinian magical manuscript (Ms. Reg. lat 1283a). We can see in the Zodiologion attributed to the famous Kankah al-Hindi:
La onzena mansión, que es dicha Azobra e otrossí es dicha Alcaratén…e señalarás en ella figura del león e un omne cavallero sobr’él, que l trava de las orejas…
(The eleventh mansion, which is called Azobra and also is called Alcaratén…and engrave an image of a lion and a man riding on it, who grasped the ears…)
Or in the Zodiologion attributed to Pliny:
La onzena mansión es Azobra…figura de omne cavallero sobre león, teniendo en su mano diestra un dardo, e la mano siniestra puesta sobre la oreja…
(The eleventh mansion is Azobra…an image of a man riding a lion with a dart in the right hand, and the left hand is placed on the ear…)
The integration of this magical image in the lists of degree symbols is another curios point. If we look into Astrolabium planum by Johannes Engel, we find a man riding a lion as the symbol of the first decan of Leo:
The first face of Leo is of Saturn. It is the face of cruelty, misdeeds, violence, and of assuming difficult works, boldness, and passion.
Then we see the same motif as the symbol of the 7th degree of Leo:
Vir equitans leonem. Fortis erit viribus et vir sapiens.
(A man riding a lion.This man will be physically strong, and wise.)
Johannes Engel says in his book that his list of degree symbols is based on the manuscript attributed to Pietro d’Abano. Only one manuscript with this text survived, and rather of all it is precisely the same manuscript used by Engel. Sometimes Engel rather paraphrase the manuscript, but this symbol he repeats almost verbatim.
7 Vir equitans leonem Fortis viribus et vir sapiens
And the same image of a man riding a lion we can find in the mentioned Alfonsinian magical manuscript. 7th degree of Lion in the Book Of Co-Risings attributed to Pitágoras, i.e. Pythagoras:
En el VII grado sube un omne cavallero en un león. El qui nasciere en él será cabdiello de gran tierra e amigo e consejador de los reyes.
(In the VII degree ascends a man riding a lion. One who will be born in it, will be a commandant of a great territory, and a friend and a counsellor of the kings)
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Tags: Bonatti, comet, fixed star, Mundane astrology, Stadius, translations
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Hello Anton,
Have you seen Ms Fiorello’s post blaming you in copying her analysis of the Lulin comet? All I can see is that two astrologers wrote two posts on the same comet – there is no further resemblance in method or style whatsoever. Are you going to defend yourself against such a cheap attack?
V.
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Hello Valerie,
There are so absurd accusations that to answer on them is absurdly as well. As Socrat said: “If an ass bit you, you don’t drag him in court”. I think, the irrelevance of those complaints about imitation is obvious to everyone who has capability to understand the sense of the text: the only similarity between two texts is that both are dedicated to comet Luling. All the rest is different, and only a crazy mind could use this to blame me in plagiarism. Unfortunately, some people are incapable to understand this. I can analyse the content of this my post in detail for them.
First of all, the posts have absolutelly different ideas and reasons of writing. My post is devoted to the possible visibility of the comet. Comet’s appearance is one of the important phenomenon for traditional astrological interpretation over centuries. And this is generally known fact. Thereagainst, the Fiorello’s post is dovoted to the discovering of the comet with the telescope.
There are 131 lines in my post, whereas her post is much shorter and less informative. First 18 lines say about comet’s visibility, conditions of possible observation etc. There is nothing similar in Fiorello’s post.
Then 2 lines on Campanella’s book. This book is not mentioned by Fiorello, and her post doesn’t contain any quotation from this book. All quotations in my post translated from Latin by me. Why Campanella? Because his chapter on comets is quite suitable for my purpose. It is short, lapidary and well structured (Campanella’s book can be found at http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57271r . It is another edition, but it doesn’t matter in this case. See pp.89-94). It is easy to find that below I follow this chapter. In fact, the traditional rules for judging on comets are not a secret. They can be obtained without knowledge of Greek and Latin, and even without holding Italian translations from Greek and Latin made by Bezza, Faracovi etc. English speakers can found lot of useful information on this subject in so famous and widespread book as Lilly’s “England’s Propheticall Merline”.
Then 3 lines on green colour of the comet. I think, everybody can find that the comet has green colour in every report about this comet by any information agency, in spite of Fiorello’s claim on primogeniture of her mentioning of the comet’s colour. Alas, it is not her personal invention.
Then 5 lines of the quotation from Hephaistio of Thebes. My translation from Greek from August Engelbrecht “Hephaestion von Thebe und sein astrologisches Compendium”, Wien, 1887, p. 98. The picture with the text is from this book. Fiorello doesn’t mentions this text, say nothing about quotation. I wonder how could I, as she claims, “steal” something which is not there in her post at all?
Then 2 lines saying that the comet will be first seen rather in the East. There is nothing similar in Fiorello’s post.
Then 3 lines with mentioning “Ptolemeus de stellis cum caudis”. Fiorello mentions this text as well and gives a small quotation from it. Is Fiorello’s post the source of my mentioning of this text? No. This text is well-known. Its Italian translation by Giuseppe Bezza can be found in Giuseppe Bezza “Arcana Mundi: Antologia del pensiero astrologico antico”, Milan, 1995, pp. 660-662. Fiorello quotes from this book without mentioning the author of the Italian translation she used. The same she made in her post with the translation of this text – she mentions the number of the manuscript BN-Paris 7432 (it looks so cool for naive reader! I even can add: fo. 146v-151r. It doesn’t mean I’m the coolest, Bezza just gives the complete reference), but says nothing about Bezza’s translation she translated this text from. This Giuseppe Bezza’s book is famous enough. There is a review of this book in the famous magazine “The Traditional Astrologer”, issue 15, October 1997 pp. 29,30. A very good magazine by the way, I was a subscriber then.
Then 7 lines from Bonatti. Fiorello doesn’t mention this text: this is my translation from Latin from Guido Bonatti “Tractatus astronomie decem”, Augsburg 1491, p. 287r. The picture with the text is from this book.
Then 2 lines about the difference in the colour in Greek and Latin texts. There is nothing similar in Fiorello’s post.
Then 3 lines about the comets of Mercury from Campanella. Fiorello doesn’t mentions this text of Campanella.
Then 3 lines about comet’s brightness. There is nothing similar in Fiorello.
Then 7 lines about the period of visibility. There is nothing similar in Fiorello.
Then 3 lines about the movement against the sign’s succession. This peculiarity of the comet’s movement is mentioned in various reports of information agencies. More over, there are ephemeris of the comet below. I calculated it by myself from NASA’s ephemeris. The calculations were made with the tool you can find in this site. The tool is written by me. So, I could see this peculiarity of the comet’s movement making the ephemeris.
Then 4 lines on the position in a sign. Fiorello mentions position in a sign, but 1) it is the standard item mentioned in almost every text. 2) Fiorello mentions Aquarius, while the comet could be visible in Virgo.
Then 4 lines about maximal declination. There is nothing similar in Fiorello.
Then 5 lines about the chart of the following syzygy, comet’s crossing the ecliptic in the sign of Virgo. Fiorello mentions previous syzygy, she doesn’t give the exact quotation, nor mentions the sourse. I give the sourse and exact quotation.
Then 6 lines of comet’s ephemeris. They are calculated by me, as I said above. There is nothing similar in Fiorello.
Then 52 lines about comet’s movement close to the fixed star ρ Leonis and Saturn, about Lanar mansion, degree symbol etc. There is nothing similar in Fiorello.
Having the line numbers you can calculate the rate of similarity
Anton
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Cheers Valerie!
>Have you seen Ms Fiorello’s post blaming you in copying her analysis of the Lulin comet?
>It does not surprise me at all. Ms Fiorello has accused Anton in other “crimes” as well. For instance, Anton’s article on Placidean Houses of Ibn Ezra (http://www.antonblog.net/astrology/ibn-ezra-as-placiduss-preincarnation/) was actually stolen from Cielo e Terra. That what Ms Fiorello claims in one of her spam-letters to me. What a bad luck for her.
I am really the worst person to send this rubbish to. Anton based his article on the Russian translation of Ibn Ezra’s writings. The translation was performed by me and my partner, V. Apanasik, from the original Hebrew texts. Due to the fact that Anton is very well versed in the medieval mathematics, he had no trouble to convey Ibn Ezra’s house system principles to modern reader. This proves that Ms. Fiorello lies, putting credibility of her other stories under serious doubt. A liar is not believed when he speaks the truth.
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