On February 27th at 6:05 AM by Joshua Tree CA time (6:21 AM PST), there will be a moon-Jupiter conjunction. Even more significant is that, from that perspective, it is predicted to appear as though Jupiter and the moon are touching. The expression is "Jupiter riding on the shoulder of the moon" and the image of it is so old that the ancients were writing about it before that planet got the name of Jupiter.

In days long gone, Babylon was the last great astrological center until modern times. In the great gap from 500 BC, when Babylon fell, to the good Copernicus, there were 2000 years and precious few actual observers of the skies.

Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon (which means, by the by, Gate of God, and was really pronounced babilu) had to contend with civil strife, plague, the army of Cyrus, and a powerful political priesthood devoted to Marduk, the great god of these neo-Babylonians and identified with the planet Jupiter. However, Nabonidus and his mother, Adad Guppi, before him, were devoted to the moon god Sin.

Nabonidus wrote, “In the beginning of my everlasting reign, they (Marduk and Sin) caused me to see a dream. Marduk, the great lord, and Sin, the luminary of heaven and the underworld, were standing together.”

Here, history, tradition and the dream world blend. On the first full moon after Nabonidus was inaugurated, the moon and Jupiter were parallel. Now, one could argue that the moon, albeit not a full one, and Jupiter appear to stand together once a month for 11 out of 12 months a year, and that this was a case of Nabonidus manipulating an astrological omen. But this was spectacular. On the evening of 4/24/556/BC, in Babylon, the moon rose at 7:52 PM and Jupiter, riding the moon’s shoulder, rose at 8:02 PM.



An hour later, and very clearly visible above the horizon from Nabonidus’ eastern view, the moon occulted Jupiter completely, at least mathematically. Modern mathematics applied to modern astronomy, but are they right? The picture of Jupiter riding on the shoulder of the moon as noted by Nabonidus can be progressed over several minutes and so show that the moon will completely occult Jupiter. This was a huge event to a guy facing a priesthood of Jupiter, who would personally install in Marduk's temple his own version of the moon god (something the priests would describe as a hideous thing like a demon in a tiara). So, as long as he was writing things down, you'd figure Nabonidus would have added that detail. Or maybe it didn’t happen the way our science would make it appear.

Our science, as astronomers or astrologers or astronauts, all comes from NASA. They're the guys who, every few years, publish the projected positions of specifically Venus but other planets as well. Everyone uses these numbers to plot horoscopes or photograph astral events or sail by the stars. Right down to the last thousandth of a degree, they agree. However, there are some good folks out there, amateurs of astronomy, the fastest growing hobby in America, who are making and photographing actual observations which prove that the predictions of NASA aren’t perfect and are, in some cases, wrong.

Good King Nabonidus knew his astrology and more than once used his knowledge to change history, even ours. Remember the old tale of how Thales became the Father of Philosophy because, in the service of the Ionian king of Mileta, he was able to so accurately predict a total eclipse that the startled peoples made a lasting peace? So says hair-brained Herodotus, the Father of History.

Truth be known, there was an eclipse on that date, and scholars use this as a means of astronomically dating historic events. Such facts also disprove many long-held historical assumptions. The mighty Cyrus was at that meeting; it was indeed his presence that had those gathered together attempting to join forces to spread the burden of placating Cyrus. Nabonidus, a devotee of the moon and a master of astronomy with easy access to astrological observations dating back without exaggeration thousands of years, was also present, as the ambassador of the Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar. We have some of those written materials in the form of cuneiform tablets and they are copies of even older materials lost down the sump hole of time before history.

Nabonidus was a far more likely candidate than Thales to have revealed the eclipse information. While king, he would wizardly whup the priesthood by presenting an omen that would instate his daughter as the moon priestess of Ur, exactly as the Akkadian Sargon the Great had done in the 3rdmillenium BC. The priesthood had looked into livers and said that there was no propitious omen for such an event. The gods had spoken. Then, from Nabonidus’ perspective, predictably Sin made known his will.

Here is Nabonidus’ press release as presented by Beauleiu:

“On account of the wish for an entu priestess, in the month Ululu, the month whose Sumerian name means “work of the goddesses,” on the thirteenth day, the moon was eclipsed and set while eclipsed. Sin requested an entu priestess. Thus (were) his sign and his decision.”

Nabonidus had done his homework.

Here is the omen, “If in the month Ululu an eclipse (of the moon) occurs during the morning watch, Sin wants a high priestess.”

Seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? The omen had been seen.

Nabonidus, last king of Babylon, as depicted on ancient steles, looks like a proper old wizard with pointed hat and staff to measure the stars. That’s not what set him apart from other kings. Usually, the king is shown facing the viewer. Nabonidus is the first to choose to be represented facing the stars. That’s not the only curious little first this curious little guy begot. He is the first person in recorded history to have a conversation with a dead person, in this case a famous king, in a dream. He was also the first to record a scene shift in a dream. Not just a dreamer, Nabonidus built dozens of cities, defended his religion, furthered science and lived to a pretty old age for those days.

On February 27, 2005, at 6:05 AM by Joshua Tree time, the place to be for the finest observational post this side of ancient history is Joshua Tree, California. Bring your telescope. If you get a photo, I’d love to know. You’re not just shooting the moon, you're shooting history, mystery and intellectual imperialism. Will they appear to touch, or miss by this much? Will the moon occult Jupiter and if so, for how long? Something’s going to happen and nobody knows exactly what until it does. From the perspective of Joshua Tree, the latitude is very close to that of Babylon. Of course, the elevation's higher but then the skies were clearer. If you do shoot the moon, let me know; the Schoch Committee is accepting photographic evidence of divergences between NASA’s predictions and actual events. You could also become an internet star, as there’s a whole world out there interested in exactly this kind of proven discrepancy.



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