The Astrology Podcast
Transcript of Episode 503, titled:
Comets in Astrology
With Chris Brennan and Rod Chang
Episode originally released on August 15, 2025
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Note: This is a transcript of a spoken word podcast. If possible, we encourage you to listen to the audio or video version, since they include inflections that may not translate well when written out. Our transcripts are created by human transcribers, and the text may contain errors and differences from the spoken audio. If you find any errors then please send them to us by email: theastrologypodcast@gmail.com
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Transcribed by Teresa “Peri” Lardo
Transcription released August 31st, 2025
Copyright © 2025 TheAstrologyPodcast.com
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CHRIS BRENNAN: Hey. My name is Chris Brennan, and you’re listening to The Astrology Podcast. Joining me today is astrologer Rod Chang, and we’re gonna be talking about comets in astrology and his new book on this topic that’s titled Comets in Astrology. So hey, Rod; thanks for joining me today.
ROD CHANG: Thank you for inviting me; I am so excited!
CB: Yeah! I’m excited to have you as well. We were just talking about the last time that we met up in person, and it was at the AA conference in —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — 2019 in the UK.
RC: Yeah.
CB: Brilliant. All right. So I’m excited about this topic, because I’ve actually been researching comets myself intensely for the past couple of years, and originally I was gonna put together a separate episode on it. But it was getting kind of big. But I didn’t know any other astrologers that were into comets, so I was very excited to see the announcement about the publication of your book recently through Wessex Astrologer and the book is coming out this month, so I thought we could have a great conversation today to sort of give a big overview of comets and some of the things that we both looked into when it comes to that topic.
How did you first get into this topic?
RC: Oh well, I think probably have to go back to around 2013 when there was a comet called Comet PanSTARRS. That was the I think from the end of 2013 and then people started to discuss about this comet, and I was approached by a Taiwanese journalist, a reporter. Asked me about, you know, make some prediction or forecasting about the comet, and I was like, I have no idea! I have zero knowledge about comet. I mean, being an astrologer, I like, talk about transit, outer planet, and sometimes about fixed stars. But I never, never studied comets before. And the only word I can squeeze out was ancient people think there is disaster, and I was feel shame about myself. And that was the point I say, no! I have to go through it, because I really want – I was really wondering why we never talk about comet. And I’m sure we definitely have some, you know, ancient astrologer’s work on it, and I never – as you know, I was working in modern astrology, psychological astrology, rather than working intensely like you with the traditional knowledge. And I say, I have to at least go back to see how ancient astrologers talk, and that was the starting point.
CB: I love that. All right. So it’s been this whole 12-year journey. And I like how you came to it, because I think it’s the same for many astrologers, which is even though comets are a very notable astronomical phenomenon and we occasionally hear legends about them from ancient times as acting as omens and as problematic significators, there’s very little discussion about comets in modern astrology in like, the 20th and 21st century. And I think part of that is just they happen so infrequently that we don’t regularly have to think about them that much I think, right?
RC: I agree. Hundred percent agree with you – this is one point is like, because when we are notice there is a so-called “great comet” in the sky, and it would draw people’s attention. But we know now – and the media, especially with social media – everything could be exaggerated. So usually maybe I’d like to, you know, draw more attention from the follower or reader. So like we say, apparently there would be a comet brighter than the Moon or something, and people start, “Oh my god, where is that comet?” And that is interesting, because it always ended like a disappointment, because comet appearing in the sky are not like that. Like, what, the 1996 Hale-Bopp – that was the huge, huge phenomenon because that comet was huge. But most of the time, we don’t even notice them unless you get up early or sleep late or some, you know, or pay a lot of attention chasing the comet. And that’s one reason that great comet are not that often. Usually probably like, one every seven years or 10 years. We cannot predict it.
But there is another reason, I think. I think most of us are not familiar – we are unlikely. Ancient astrologers, they have to calculate ephemerises themself, and they are very familiar with calculating. For us, it’s like, we click an app; we click on computer, and we don’t even working with ephemeride. So when comet’s there – and also, even with experienced astrologers, we have difficulty calculating orbit of comet. We have to rely on, you know, scientists and astronomers and NASA to formulate those orbit calculation. So that is another factor, I guess, because we don’t have ephemeris of comet. And that —
CB: Right.
RC: — really contribute like, oh, we don’t know where it is; we better not talking about it!
CB: Yeah, that’s a really great point that even most modern astrology software or websites don’t even calculate comets. So it’s not really even – that sort of goes to show how little astrologers have sort of studied them in contemporary times just because I guess there’s not a lot of people asking for them, or they’re so infrequent. So for example, even Halley’s Comet only comes like, once in a lifetime like every 75 years or so —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — so it’s like, that’s so infrequent that it gives not a very regular opportunity to study it in terms of contemporary events. And as a result of that, astrologers only sometimes get interested if a really big one shows up occasionally.
RC: Yes. And also there is another challenge. I don’t think it’s the software designers’ fault, because each comet have their own particular orbit, and they usually just show up out of blue. You know, like, suddenly they appear. So I think the software developer have difficult to update it; they probably can update it once, you know, everything has settled down, and then so it’s not regular update for them. I think maybe that is another challenge.
I did notice some, I don’t know, some astrologer who was very familiar with astrology software that do use – you know, there is some astrology software – that Astrolog, that freeware – and to show comets’ orbit, and that was the first time where like, wow! That is amazing! But that need a lot of dedication and a mathematic mind.
CB: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s go back and let’s start at square one. What is a comet, just in terms of its composition and things like that?
RC: Well, I think comet from astronomy’s view, comet was, you know, could be from three different places in our solar system. One would be Oort cloud, and also around the outside of the edge of our solar system. I think the comet from there usually is kind of we should say the long, periodic journey; they will come back, you know, very maybe like, Halley’s Comet. But that would be like, 70 years or 80 years, and that was – some comet will just appear once. And so from that origin – edge of our solar system. But recently, from the astronomer, they also talking about those comet around what we say? Asteroid belt. Or between Mars and Jupiter. Those comet would be like, you know, periodic, short period. The comet maybe come back every four, five years. And that is like, three place that we can notice comet coming from.
The comet, well, from that kind of edge of our solar system usually composited by dust and ice; that’s the main composite, and then some chemical compound, when they come to approach the – I think when their orbit pass around Jupiter and Mars, because they’re heating by the Sun. And so the gas and ice start to evaporate, and we start to see the beautiful tail. You know, the mark of a comet – tail, this beautiful, beautiful tail.
CB: Yeah. I love that. So and that’s the name for a comet is “comet” in Greek meant like, a hairy star from —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — the tail, because it’s composed of dust and ice and rock and other sometimes liquids and gases that are frozen out in space. But then when it comes to the inner part of the solar system by the Sun, it starts heating up and then you get this long, sometimes very beautiful tail that stretches for a very long period of time and can be very visually striking when it gets close enough to the Sun and to earth.
RC: Yeah. And we know that different comet have their own tail shape, and one of the way to interpret the comet in ancient times is by their tail.
CB: Right. Yeah. Most of the interpretations in ancient tails were symbolic having to do with things like the color, the visual appearance, like, the shape of the tail and other factors like that.
Let’s see, so before we get there – so you made a distinction between astronomers distinguish between short period comets, which are ones that take 200 years or less to do a full orbit and come back to being visible again near us, whereas long period comets are ones that take more than 200 years. And in some instances, those can stretch out thousands and thousands of years, right?
RC: Yeah. Some comet never come back!
CB: Right. So they just come in for one quick swing, or there was one in the past year or two that was on like, a 10,000 year timeframe or like, something crazy like that —
RC: Yes.
CB: — I think, right?
RC: Last year. Yeah, last year was that comet is famous. I think it’s my first great comet. Its name is Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, and it has a particular name. I have to go through it, and I’m sure but some astronomer believe it’s called hyperbolic. So it’s like, a comet will just like, come near the Sun and eventually will eject away from the solar system. And that would be like, it could be several thousand years or 10,000 years, but some of them will never come back.
CB: Got it. Okay, yeah. So you’re talking about the one from last year that I think peaked in intensity in October, and that was one of the reasons I got interested in comets because of some of the comets and weird ominous things that were happening in the lead-up to the US presidential election last year. And that was —
RC: Wow!
CB: — one of them that was – yeah! Which was – so how do you pronounce that one, because I’ve always struggled. It’s…
RC: Okay, yes, it is very interesting about the recent comet’s name. Well, this one called Tsuchinshan-ATLAS – the first name is Chinese, Tsuchinshan – purple mountain. Purple mountain. That is —
CB: Nice.
RC: — dedicated to the observatory in China in Nanjing called Tsuchinshan, purple mountain. And ATLAS is an organization belonging to NASA, and that is kind of an alert system for the asteroid. You know, impact of asteroid. So you will hear a lot of comet ATLAS; it’s dedicated to this name. And so Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is the great comet of last year.
CB: Got it. Yeah. So that is one we will not see again in our lifetime or any time soon, right?
RC: True, yeah.
CB: Yeah. So that’s an interesting thing in and of itself is that comets are somewhat erratic compared to what we’re used to with like, planets or fixed stars or other things that are used in astrology, because a comet kind of comes in out of nowhere sometimes and just appears. And what’s interesting about that is even though we have tracked a lot of periodic comets that we know to anticipate – like Halley’s Comet, for example – there are some that are newly discovered that sometimes astronomers don’t discover until they’re like, relatively close, so that it still comes as somewhat of like, a surprise when they’re newly discovered and show up.
RC: Yeah. Well, let me give you an example. It was very, very interesting one – I think it was the 2023. There is a comet called Comet Nishimura. And this comet was really come out of blue. It only been discovered maybe couple weeks before we can see it. And this type of comet, because this particular of this comet as we call it a Kreutz sungrazer. So it moved very, very close to the Sun. So it’s hiding behind the sunlight where you can really – we have difficulty see it. And it was just lucky, at least Japanese astrophotographer, he just take a photo every morning about, you know, around the Sun, and then trying to exam. And he found that one just a couple weeks before it shows up. And that was really out of blue! And so this is, you know, even we can kind of forecast or calculate older comets’ – like, periodic comets’ – orbit. But they can still surprise us. I think this would be like, take into the modern astrology’s term. I would say surprising or out of blue could be one of the character of a comet.
CB: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense to me. And also because even the ones that are periodic that show up in less than 200 years, let’s say, there’s still an unexpected element to them in the sense that sometimes they’ll get close to the Sun, and the Sun will hit them in a certain way, and the tail will be ignited and will become really beautiful and obvious and long. But other times, the astronomers don’t know how long the tail’s gonna be or how visually spectacular it’s gonna be until it actually gets here. And sometimes they’ll be anticipating that a comet will be big and really bright, and then it’ll be a disappointment because it’ll actually be very dim or the tail won’t be very long that time. And it’ll come and go without, you know, being that spectacular.
RC: Yeah. The famous one is Halley’s Comet last visit in 1986 was a big, huge disappointment for all comet chaser, for all amateur astronomer, because I think we know it’s coming back, and then everyone was prepared, all the telescope, and they’re just waiting for to have good weather and they’re going to make a record of this comet. But that year, well, Halley’s Comet – this shows up, but with weather condition and with the angle, the tail wasn’t beautiful enough. So people were, you know, they get very upset about this 1986.
Another one is you probably heard of; it’s called Comet Kohoutek in 1973. And that was also because, you know, media exaggerated it would be the comet of century. Now we hear this word very often. Any tiny comet, they will call it comet of century! And then will end up disappointment, because we never know how it going to shows up.
CB: Right. Yeah. I love that. So it’s like, it can go either way, and so there is this erratic sort of unpredictable quality to them which also kind of ties into the astrological interpretation. And I know a lot of times in ancient times, eclipses would sometimes be interpreted similar to eclipses – or sorry, comets would be interpreted similar to eclipses – in that there’s something that’s surprising that’s almost like, breaking out of the natural cycles of things and doing something that’s anomalous or that’s like, weird or interruptive.
RC: Agree with you. I think most people familiar with Ptolemy’s book, and I think in his book, he put comet with eclipse interpretation with color of eclipse and the comet. And there is truth that comet does have, I think, a meaning of disruption. Because as an astrologer, we calculate orbit of the movement of the planet, and we can even calculate eclipse when they’re going to happen and where going to happen. That’s true. But a comet is one of them really going to kind of surprise everyone, I think, before like, Halley’s really work out the orbit of comet around the 18th century. And then I think it almost come to surprise us, and then like eclipse, it usually give us a bad omen!
CB: Yeah. There tended to be – like eclipses, comets tended to be interpreted as negative omens in ancient astrology. And for the most part, that’s true; there are exceptions to that in some instances where they could be interpreted positively based on some conditions both in the western tradition as well as in the Indian tradition where Varahamihira has like, a long list of different types of comets. But for the most part, yeah, like eclipses, they seem to be interpreted oftentimes as coinciding with negative or difficult things.
And that actually brings up an interesting point about something I realized is that in the western tradition, there were debates about what comets were. And unfortunately, Aristotle believed that comets were just atmospheric phenomena, and as a result of that, because of how influential he was as a philosopher, a lot of people in the west followed Aristotle’s belief that they were just atmospheric phenomena rather than actual like, celestial bodies. But I feel like that actually set back research into comets in the west as a result of that false belief about what they were. But in the Chinese astrological tradition, they actually had a very long history of documenting comets and making very good records and also interpreting them astrologically. And they were frequently referred to as “broom stars,” right?
RC: Yes, indeed. I think the earliest we can find a record was 613 BCE in the record called Spring and Autumn. And that is kind of a very early historical record in China. And it was a record that year, 613 BCE, of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, there is a broom star around the Big Dipper or plow, we say. That was a record of, I think, that was Halley’s Comet, and that was around the Big Dipper area, so Ursa Major, you know? The area. So that was very interesting.
I have to say, I’ve been so lucky to be able to read all those historical record, and it does help me to went back to the Chinese history book to dig out loads of comet history. And I haven’t done enough to be honest; I feel shame about myself, because there’s a whole lot – few thousand years record – and if I have to go through one by one, I mean, that comet book would be maybe like, triple or, you know, bigger size. But it’s very interesting to read those record, really, because we can calculate a date they appeared. So like, you mentioned about Aristotle’s comet, and it was I think astronomer believe it was appear around like, 371 BCE. Recently, I think it was last month, they were still a paper discuss about its orbit and tried to confirm the date. You know, confirm the date and the comet. So that was so interesting through this kind of ancient record, and we can understand comet – how it impact us, and we can also, for me, like, I enjoy doing mundane astrology study, so I can go back to those year to see, you know, is there any indication related to the comet indicate about the maybe disaster or maybe some important political, economic event?
CB: Yeah. And I love – you mention in your book that two of the earliest comets that were recorded in Chinese sources in 613 and 240 BCE have later been identified as actually recordings of Halley’s Comet. So —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — sometimes astronomers can go back and actually identify and know what comet it was that was being observed at different times in history.
RC: Yes! And I think – yes indeed. There are even earlier record – I think there was earlier record in the Chinese documentary. But we are not sure is that real, the first thing, and they speculate about is that we talk about is this Halley’s Comet, or we kind of just by calculating is it possible? You know? It’s possible Halley’s Comet back to that time; that was a really long time ago, even before 613 BCE. So that is interesting. Even like, we say for the Aristotle’s one, we still have to work on the orbit and to try to confirm, and we still say we are not sure.
CB: Right. Yeah. I love that. So right, so you said in the book that there may be a sighting in Chinese sources that goes back to almost like, 1000 BCE, but it’s not —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — clear if that was like, a live sighting or if it was just calculated later after the fact.
RC: I think so. Most likely the afterward, yeah.
CB: Okay, got it. So but as a result of the – there was debates, so not everybody in the west believed what Aristotle said that was just atmospheric, and there were different astrologers that talked about or wrote about comets at different points in history in the Hellenistic and medieval and renaissance traditions. But in terms of the astronomy, it’s really during the Renaissance and the early modern period that astronomers started figuring out in the west that these comets were periodic, and Edmond Halley especially stands out as somebody who was a friend of Isaac Newton who was developing his theories of gravitation. And through that, he was able to predict that this comet was a recurring phenomenon, and that he predicted when it would recur, which was later confirmed after his death like, 18 years later. And that was sort of became the foundation of modern cometary theory at that point, and that was like, a huge turning point in astronomy.
RC: Definitely. I think when we talk about comet, we will always remember Halley’s and his calculation in, I think, around 1705. It is really, really important for us, and even also I think there’s one thing is also it kind of proved Newton’s law. You know? Newton’s three law of the gravitation. And that was so interesting when he – but you’re right. He didn’t live long enough to see Halley’s Comet come back. That is a big shame. But I think he did this calculation is so important for astronomer. But another one I think for both astrology and astronomy, another person we should mention is Tycho Brahe and his dedication to comet I think inspire a lot of, you know, the astronomer afterward. I think in the 1577, he started record – he do observation and calculation about comet in 1577. And also I think in 1586, he really working on astrology. I loved that when I find that book here. This book with his record of the comet, where comet was about, and how he make prediction interpretation of a comet, and also working with like, you know, the lunar phase – New Moon, Full Moon – and all these kind of things. I think in both astronomy way and also astrology way, he is the one. And this book is written in Latin, so, you know, it would be for a lot of astrologers should go have a look; it’s very interesting. I couldn’t read Latin, so I only can use the Google Translate to have inkling. Yeah.
CB: Yeah, he’s a fascinating character, Tycho Brahe, because he was so focused on improving astronomical methods and setting up an advanced observatory in order to make more precise observations and calculations. But one of the things that he did during that process was observe some comets and do some of the most detailed and advanced tracking of comets that had been done up to that point, aside from the Chinese astrologers and record keepers that had been watching them for centuries. So that became kind of an important turning point with Tycho Brahe and then Johannes Kepler. And it’s interesting that the two of them were not just astronomers but they were also astrologers who were applying astrological significance and meaning to comets.
RC: Yeah. And that is kind of – I agree, because they are both working as an astrologer. So their record or, you know, for us, for working astrologers, it’s more fun to be honest. But I think Halley’s definitely very important to calculate the periodic comets’ orbit, and we start to think about, oh, so they are related rather than they just one-off, you know? Because we know Halley’s Comet has a designation number one-P. The periodic comet number one. So when we talk to astronomer, we give them the comet’s name; they will say, “Which one?” But if we give them the designation number, they say, oh, you talk about that one! So there are some periodic comet they will go with number – one-P, two-P – like, last year, we have one is called 12-P. It’s also named the Devils Comet. That is the number 12 of periodic comet. So I think, as you mentioned, Halley’s calculation is so important for scientists and for astronomer. But I think it’s also important for us.
CB: Yeah, absolutely. So the 12-P was Pons-Brooks, and that was the one that appeared around like, April timeframe —
RC: Yeah!
CB: — I think, right?
RC: Yes —
CB: Okay, cool.
RC: Yeah. Let me talk about this comet, because it was so fun, because there was a time I first went to California. So that was the first time I went to California, and I tried to chasing this comet with my tiny telescope. I finally saw it, and I just realized it has a name called Devil’s Comet. That is another, I think, the characteristic of comet is unpredictable. Because as a periodic comet, they keep coming back; it kept coming back. But it is very interesting. This time when this Pons-Brook coming back, it bright up kind of one hundred time than before. So that would be because the, you know, nuclei – the compound, the nuclei – inside of it was kind of a quite active. So it bright up, and also showed this thick, split tail like a devil’s horn. So that’s why we call it a Devil’s Comet, or I think of Millenium Falcon like in Star Trek? Am I right? I hope I’m not —
CB: Yeah. Star Wars?
RC: Yeah, Star Wars. Sorry about that! Yes, Star Wars.
CB: A lot of angry nerds that might get very upset at this call.
RC: Forgive me!
CB: Yeah. Yeah, that was a good one that appeared last April. And so you chased it. So you went there to actually observe it to California? You traveled —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — to follow it. Some people do that with eclipses, but some people do chase comets as well.
RC: Yeah. I think I kind of recently developed that, because I chase solar eclipse too. So last year was, you know, eclipse we can see in United States I think from Texas to even to New York, right? Buffalo. So I was thinking, well, I have time! And a comet was appearing in the sky, and we have eclipse, and I may be able to film it during the eclipse. So I really packed my gear and went to California and traveled down to Texas to chase both of them. But then I – well, unluckily, well, I see comet. I see solar eclipse. But I didn’t have chance to see them both appear in the same sky!
CB: Okay, yeah. I forgot that was the one that did coincide with the Great American Eclipse last year, and that was one of the things that first got me interested in researching comets is I really wanted to know what that was about and what that meant. So that one is a 71-year comet, Pons-Brooks —
RC: Yes.
CB: And one of the things that’s important that I learned was that the shorter term comets that are less than 200 years, those tend to orbit along the ecliptic along the same plane as like, the Sun and the planets, whereas the longer form comets that are longer than 200 years, they tend to be off the ecliptic, and they can come in from like, any direction basically, right?
RC: Well, obviously, I only learned from you today! Because I didn’t really pay attention on that. But I hope that’s true, because that makes sense. That makes sense, because I think the long periodic comet, I think they come really far, and they can really go anywhere. They can really go anywhere. But this kind of short period comet, they are really more binding with the movement of the solar system, and they gravitate off all the planet and the Sun. So it does make sense.
CB: Yeah. Definitely. One of the realizations I had about, you know, those great advancements that were starting to happen in discovering that comets were periodic and that you could calculate their orbits once Newton’s theories of gravitation were developed, and all this great activity is happening around the 17th century where we’re in the west truly finally starting to understand comets. And there’s the option then once they’re known to be periodic that we could study them more, but at the same time, astrology’s in decline in the west. And I think that’s actually then had this side effect where astrologers were not in a good position to truly develop a great cometary theory for astrology in contemporary times, just because the timing was kind of bad, basically. That we just finally started to understand what comets were and how to calculate them at a time when astrology was in decline, at least in Europe and in the west. So that’s part of like, what’s being done more recently with research like the research that you’re doing and now that we have the option to study these things and track them more carefully is that you can actually go back through history for the periodic ones and see like, what happened around the time that different comets appeared at different times in history.
RC: Yes, I agree with you. I think the lack of the tool, because we probably just rely on other people calculate the ephemeris for us. And then we lack knowledge of basically learning astronomy, and if we only focus on – I don’t want to blame psychoanalysis, but if we’re only talking about 12 signs and the planet, and we ignore – I think some of us probably already ignore the sky, what happens in the sky. We only care about what’s showing on the chart, you know, on the app. That is our right we just give away. We don’t really go through it. But I think as technology develop and also more open source that we can apply – for example, now we can easily go to NASA’s website to calculate comets’ ephemeris, as long as we know how to read it. And that is what I really want to share in this book to tell our, you know, comet chaser, comet amateurs going to find out comets’ ephemeris and working on it. And then, you know, calculate and do our own interpretation or do our own study, because I mean, not many people did that before. I’m definitely not the first one to be honest; there’s a lot of, you know, astrologers also working on it. But it’s kind of interesting. More and more people will be interested in comets, so it’s nice we get tool now. We get tools so we can start to work on it.
CB: Yeah. And I’m sure there’ll be even more tools, but now it’s actually – right, it’s actually we have the ability now to study these things and calculate them, so now it’s time to do the hard work, which is to go back and study what they coincided with in history in terms of different events. And that’s a large part of what you try to tackle in this book is you identify some major comets at different points in history, and you try to see what was going on in the world at that time, right?
RC: Yeah. I really love mundane astrology, so I think that is how usually we’re going to study when we notice like, a major movement of an outer planet in the history. And we want to go back to see what happened during that time or even like, a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction through different signs, through different elements. So I say maybe I use this method, go through the comet, and see what I can get. And I was really surprised. I mean, or I shouldn’t say surprise. Well, it’s there – the old evidence is there, and we just have to, you know, take them out to find any relation between the historical comet. Like, well, the famous one – 1066. We know its relation. The Halley’s Comet 1066 is relation for the Halley’s Comet related to the Battle of Hastings and then William the Conqueror, you know, taking over England. But apart from that, there’s only few comet has been written down like that. So I mean, but I think also other astrologer, for example, Lilly – William Lilly – he did write his forecasting of a comet in, I think, what? 16 something? I’m trying to remember. I think it’s 1670-something. And that was very intriguing. When I read that book, I was like, oh my god, it is right there in front of us, but why I never go to read it!
CB: Right, just in terms of these records of different comets that did show up at important turning points in history. But it’s just like, yeah, you’ve gotta do the work to go back and actually research what was going on in history at that point to understand the context of events that may have been important. And one of the things that you focus on in the book and is a useful filtering mechanism is that there are comets that astronomers classify as “great comets.” And this categorization is a little bit nebulous, because there’s like, a bunch of different factors that go into whether something’s classified as a great comet or not. But there are at least this notion that over the centuries that there have been some comets that are much more big and like, spectacular and visibly striking than other comets. And so that can be a useful starting point for going back and studying what they mean in astrology is just identifying some of the top comets in history.
RC: Yes. Great comet would be a very interesting topic to talk about, because there are not many. But I think Halley can take it a few, you know, more than four, five time in the record Halley’s Comet always been categorized as a great comet. But it is very interesting, like you say, nowadays the recent time how we define a great comet. I have an idea; it’s about why we don’t really see great comet now. One thing – light pollution! And I think one thing about this light pollution since we bright up the sky, when we see the comet, we barely notice it. For example, I think in 2020, a comet called Comet NEOWISE has been classified as a great comet. But when I went to see this comet in central London, it just like a tiny hair with my naked eye. And I was saying, is that a great comet? Which is like a – I think maybe people like me, we will have imagination – great comet should be like, you know, huge, bright things hanging up in the sky and bright up the sky and say, “Oh my god! That is a comet!” But I think maybe we should – what should I say – maybe it’s our imagination, you know, trick us. But also the media like to say, you know, “comet of century.” But I think last year when I see this so-called “great comet” in 2024, the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, it does gain his name, because I was in… I was so lucky, because I was in the Canary Islands, and that was really nice area for stargazing. So the star was so dark, and then comet was really hanging there and bright as a really big and beautiful tail – long tail. I think if you see my book, the cover of that book is the – I took the photo. I took that photo of the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS; that was exactly what I saw it. And I say yes, if that is called “great comet,” then we probably have to understand why astronomer call it “great comet.”
For example, there’s another one. While we editing my book, my editor remind me, said, “Do you know there is another comet called ‘great comet’ of 2025?” I was like, oh really? I heard about – I know there is a comet in the early 2025 called ATLAS – again, the same name. But astronomer call it “great comet” because when it was close to the Sun, it was so bright, but it was too close to the Sun and only appeared in the south hemisphere. So for us, we couldn’t see it. Maybe only for the astronomer in the south hemisphere, they would notice. They know there is a comet coming up, and they prepare; they can see it. But most of us and it probably only appear in the day just before sunrise maybe for a couple minutes, and that’s it! But for them, they categorized it as a great comet.
CB: Got it. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I always remember Comet NEOWISE from 2020 because it was discovered in March of 2020, which is like, right when the pandemic and the lockdowns were hitting —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — and then it became visible over the course of the next few months when we were still in the very early stages of all of that and everything that was happening in 2020. So it was kind of crazy.
So did you say – so you took the image that’s on the cover of your book?
RC: Not the NEOWISE. Oh, you mean this one?
CB: Here, I’ll share it. Yeah, yeah. This one?
RC: Okay, yeah. Please. Yeah, this one is Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, the one —
CB: Okay.
RC: — last year. The one last year. Yes. Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
CB: From October of 2024?
RC: Yeah.
CB: Beautiful. Okay, nice. I love that. Yeah, so that’s a good picture, but it raises the point where, you know, sometimes there’s just like, crazy comets – like Hale-Bopp was in 1996 or 1997 – that are just visually spectacular. But a lot of the times, comets can just be smaller and just something where you can barely notice the tail. But nonetheless, there’s something going on there. And in modern times, we’re losing our ability to see it as much because of light population. But sometimes if you go out to like, the country or something like that, it can be much more visually striking.
RC: Yeah, that’s just my guess, because I don’t know how the ancient astronomer or ancient astrologer, you know, classified a great comet. Maybe they are really like, maybe some of comet could be as bright as Hale-Bopp. I think that would be amazing. But I think… Another chance we’re going to see the similar comet like Hale-Bopp, probably very rare, to be honest.
CB: Yeah. It’s exactly rare to see something like that. Like, it’s hard to put numbers on it, but it’s like, you know, not significant – insignificant comets or comets that are less in magnitude, less visually appealing, happen semi-frequently. Like, you’ll get like, one, maybe two a year occasionally or every two to three years you’ll get a little one. But it’s like, the more striking ones are like, once a decade or 15 years or 20 years or something like that.
RC: Yes. So when I prepare my book, I was really expecting to see a great comet. So I went through the history record, the recent one, the recent history record, and to see when was the last time a striking great comet appeared in the sky? And the one I can found was back to 2007 – Comet McNaught. That was the huge one. But only can be seen around the south hemisphere. And it has a very beautiful tail. And that was the one so-called maybe in – what should I say – maybe it would be one-fifth our description of a super great comet. It’s like, a striking view. And people would be, “Wow!” with that kind of amazing. Look! Yes. The tail is like a fan! Have you seen it? It’s a —
CB: Yeah.
RC: — very, very beautiful, this McNaught. This one is really beautiful.
So I think if we look at the photo, and then the photo I took about the 2024, I think the 2024 still the least bright than this Comet McNaught. So I think you are right. Most astronomer will say, yeah, you can probably expect maybe like, seven or 10 or 20 years to see a great comet like that. But what’s quite interesting because since I published this book and I feel like I have – I really want to tidy up, prepare some information for our colleagues. So I want to find the record of the visible comet. Doesn’t need to be great comet, but as long as they’re visible and I can put down the record. So I went to this book, this series book called Cometography —
CB: Oh yeah, that’s a great book.
RC: Yeah, great book. Whole series of six volumes. Really detailed, all the comet you can see from history. And I think the recent one – last week, I was in kind of not really working, so I start to prepare. I scale every page from volume five, I think, from 1983 to 1993. And the 800 page, I scale one by one. Guess how many comet I found? Only nearly around 12. I maybe missed one or two. But maybe only 12 visible comet during that 10 year. And most of —
CB: Wow.
RC: — them are maybe like, magnitude five, magnitude six. You know? Those I could barely see it. Barely see it. And during that 10 years, probably apart from ‘83 to the 1993, so probably only one – Halley’s Comet – could be considered as a great comet. But still, we know that year, not many people see it. So we can say safely that 10 years, we didn’t see any great comet!
CB: Yeah. That’s been kind of a bummer that we haven’t had any more spectacular ones for quite a while.
So let me share an image of Hale-Bopp just from Wikipedia. So this is Comet Hale-Bopp, and this is a long-period comet, but it was —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — pretty visually striking in the 1990s.
RC: Yeah.
CB: Here’s an image from 1997 of just like, how it appeared in the sky with its big tail. And then we’ve got like, Halley’s Comet over here. Here’s a picture from 1986. Yeah. So, you know, they show up every once in a while, and then we get an opportunity to look at them. And I’m trying to think – one of the things about that I learned – oh yeah! Actually, have you ever read the text? It’s one I’m very fascinated by and I hope somebody translates it at some point, but it’s called like, The Book of Silk, and it was this text from China that was found from like, the 2nd century BCE. And it has illustrations and a whole typology of different types of comets. And I haven’t seen a lot about this text, but I have seen some images. There’s like, some images out there on like, Wikipedia and other places like that where it actually has drawings of like, what the different types of tails look like as well as potentially some different astrological interpretations. Yeah, but that would be something interesting to study at some point. And one of the reasons I’m interested in it is it seemed like there was a recurring theme in Chinese astrology of calling them “broom stars,” and sometimes the notion that they would like, sweep away the old government at that point or that there was something that needed to be cleaned up about the government. And sometimes the rulers at the time would make active changes in the government if they saw a comet that they thought meant was indicating that something wasn’t going right and they needed to do better or something like that.
RC: Yeah. I think that go back to the name of the comet in Chinese called huixing. Most of the Chinese people would understand as the stars of wisdom. This is today’s name. But in the ancient Chinese, it doesn’t write like that way; it write like broom. So it was like, the tail of the comet is like a broom, so wipe out things, try to cleansing, try to wipe out dust. So that was the original idea in the Chinese name of the huixing was a broom star. But I should say, well, that because those comet with tail. Now we know some comet, they are too tiny. Like, those comet still can be visible, but they are very tiny. And they appear in the sky just like another planet, a weird planet moving around somewhere else, but not on the ecliptic.
So Chinese astrologer call them either guest star – kexing – a star that guest. It’s just a guest; it will pass, and it will never come back. Or some we’ll call them like, either evil star or monster stars. So they are at least like, three or four, five different names in the Chinese ancient record can refer back to comet. But these broom stars are definitely very clearly with the shape of broom with the comet’s tail. And one thing is very interesting about the 1066 Halley’s Comet, because I know everyone know about, you know, Battle of Hasting and in the English literature or some history record. So I say, I was wondering, and I really want to know what happened in China at that time. And we have the record, so I went back to historical record to do a little bit of, you know, study. But very interesting, yes, the detail was really… Like, record was very well detailed in the historical record about how Emperor react when the astronomer report there is a comet appear in the sky. And the Emperor’s first reaction is, “Oh my god. I probably did something bad!” So he decide to first fasting. He decide to fasting and also kind of ask for all the minister to working harder and be careful. Try to find out what’s wrong, what we did wrong, to have this sign in the sky. And he even like, ask the great historian to fix – to kind of, I shouldn’t say fix – to starting to do research of a historical record, trying to work out what is good Emperor and what should I do? And it was very interesting – he really care about this sign of a comet appear in the sky 1066. Unfortunately, he also pass away that year! Very next year, he pass away. So that kind of, you know, the rumors —
CB: Wow.
RC: — the rumors of the comet take the king away was kind of that year because we know he’s not the only one. I think we have Harold II in England and also Harald III in Norwegian. They both die around that time, and also this Yingzong in China – he died I think in 1067 in January.
CB: Oh wow. Okay. Yeah. And there’s so many instances like that. And I know there was another instance like that in China in 1881 where the emperor – I was reading one article where it says the emperor issued a decree asking ministers to aid one another in maintaining an attitude of reverential watchfulness and to cultivate a spirit of virtue and examine their shortcomings. And I thought that was really interesting that there was like, this moral component that would sometimes come up in Chinese astrology when they were viewing comets or when a comet showed up. And I sort of reflected that it was almost as if centuries of them developing the idea that broom stars sweep away politicians or governments meant that when one appeared that you should be extra cautious so as to not bring about your own downfall politically. Or at least that’s kind of my inference there.
RC: I agree with you. Yes, I think that they would be really cautious with this kind of strange phenomenon in the sky and especially comet would be one. It’s predictable and unusual. So they’d be super cautious when it appear in the sky.
CB: And there was in more recent times a century ago a famous example of that where there’s like, one or two or three comets that appeared around 1911 and 1912, and that was the end of the Chinese dynasty and the beginning of the Chinese Revolution, right?
RC: Here we’re talking about 1910. Two comets —
CB: 1910.
RC: One is Halley’s Comet, and one is called Great Daylight Comet, 1910. I think Great Daylight Comet appear in January, and Halley’s appeared a little bit later around, if I remember correctly, around April; maybe I’m wrong. But two comets, one after another. During that time, not only China – I think in the western world – we start to believe that the comet can bring the toxic gas, and a lot of people prepare like, an anti-comet hat, anti-comet pill. And then in China, yes, that does related to when we believe the modern revolution of a new China coming up, lead by the revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat-sen who was considered as the father of the modern China. So he was leading the revolution in I think the peak. There is a lot – I think the revolution was begin even before 1910. But the most important year it was 2011. One after another revolution, one after another. And eventually I think Puyi was, I think, removed from his throne around 1912.
CB: Okay.
RC: Yes.
CB: And that was the end of like, the last imperial dynasty in China that had started way back – well, that dynasty started way back in like, the 1600s, I think, right?
RC: Yeah.
CB: Okay. So yeah, so sometimes, you know, can coincide with really major events. And that seems to sort of fulfill some of the traditional interpretations of comets to a certain extent in China, so it’s interesting that it culminated with that. And then yeah, the one we keep talking about from last year, from October of 2024, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, and how I noted how that coincided with the US presidential election and just the massive changes that are now taking place over the course of the past several months here as a result of that seems relevant to some extent as well, even though that comet wasn’t necessarily like, a great comet in the sense of, you know, Hale-Bopp or Halley’s Comet or something like that.
RC: Yeah. I think this comet – two comet, I should say, two comet in 2024.
CB: Right.
RC: And it does have some kind of – if we look at from the mundane astrology view, it’s very unusual. It’s very unusual. And like what we’re talking about in 1910, two comet – two bright comet. That was a super bright, and like we’re talking about 2024. But when you say the US presidential election, it is really – you know, as astrologer, we need to pay a lot of time to go to study. And I think what I did, because I was work with my book, so I don’t really working on intensively. But that when it compare with Joe Biden’s chart, Kamala Harris’s chart, and Trump’s chart, it look pretty interesting. I don’t know how you do that work; I’m so curious. Now I’m so curious about your research with this comet with the presidential election, because I didn’t really put all my force on it. But it does relate to what happen from last year to this year.
CB: Yeah. So let’s talk about that and some of the ways that astrologers interpreted comets or tried to approach it. So we’ve talked about how – I mean, one of the things we should say is that comets were viewed as omens in a type of astrology when astrology was still tied in with divination. And in divination, the appearance of something from the perspective of the observer is what really matters. So it’s not necessarily that like, a comet shows up, and it’s causing things to happen. But instead, the comet is acting as like, a sign or an omen of something important that’s happening in the world that’s almost like, being announced at that time. And actually, I think that’s why after I got into comets over the past couple of years, it made me go back and look at some material I had worked on years ago on the Star of Bethlehem. And I actually strongly suspect that that’s what they were trying to describe in the Christian, you know, bible with the birth of Jesus is they may have been trying to describe a comet. And there’s debates over whether there was a comet that was in that timeframe that would have fit. But it may have even just been like, a literary device because of this notion of it like, moving and announcing something.
So comets as ominous phenomenon, but part of being ominous phenomenon is you need to pay attention to how it appears, what its color is, what the shape of the tail is and if it creates any sort of like, pattern or shape. What are some other – there are other factors I know that you pointed out that astrologers were using later in the tradition as they were paying attention to casting a chart for the discovery or the visibility, right?
RC: Yeah. I think this is from that more likely discovery chart – one of it is discovery chart – but from the record of Tycho Brahe, I think he was focused on the syzygy about the lunation – New Moon and the Full Moon. And I think probably is here from your podcast to discuss why ancient astrologer are very focused on the syzygy because of the timing, because one of the reason could be the timing because they really couldn’t find the exact time of certain, you know, ingress or something. So the New Moon, the Full Moon time could be one of the key. And that would be interesting explain why he used the New Moon chart of the comet in 1568 if I’m – yeah, 1586, sorry. 1586. And he used the New Moon chart. And also interesting, he also cast the when comet crossed the ecliptic. I was like, why? And that is —
CB: Right.
RC: — interesting. But also, he did because he write down the time. When he first see the comet, he write down the time and cast the chart. So I think this show us how he worked, you know, comet in the chart. And that then inspire us, maybe, you know, how could we study the comet with the discovery chart, or I haven’t really paid a lot of attention on a discovery chart, because nowadays, one thing – nowadays, we have discovery time. Precisely. You can even, if you know how to read those record, you can even get hours and minutes and the place. But the problem is how we identify comets, the way we identify comet is so different. The ancient astrologer, they looked with their naked eye. But the scientists nowadays, they discover with telescope while comet is far, far, far, far, far away when they still have no light. So I was like, which way should we go? Maybe if I can identify – sometime there is a record the first naked eye observation with the date or time, then we can draw the chart. That would be very interesting. But if we draw – I think – well, because the most astronomer, they use telescope, we can still draw the chart. I think it still means something; I don’t know how you say that, because you are more familiar with traditional way, especially with the visibility of the planet and stars. I don’t know how you see that.
CB: Yeah, no, I agree. I think both are relevant, both the discovery date of the comet and then probably the first visibility of the comet as well as subsequent things like when it crosses the ecliptic. Because when it crosses the ecliptic, that’s when it can cross the path of other planets. And I know in some of the ancient texts, they would interpret a comet differently based on if it crosses over any planets when it’s visible. So for example, if it crosses Mars or Saturn, that would be interpreted negatively versus if it was crossing Jupiter; then in some instances they would interpret that positively. So but the first discovery chart is probably still relevant, because it makes me think of – I did an episode recently, I just released today actually – we’re recording this on August 3rd, 2025 – with Philip Graves. And we were talking about how astrologers first started trying to understand the meaning of Uranus empirically once it had been discovered. And that it was interesting that it was discovered in the sign of Gemini, which it’s just come back to, you know, over the past month.
RC: Yeah.
CB: And something that happened in the past month, right after Uranus went into Gemini, about a week later, there was a news report that astronomers had discovered something new about Uranus that it was emitting heat and like, more heat from its core than they expected based on previous instruments or previous scans so that it was raising some additional questions about Uranus that maybe required them to do send further probes to it or other things like that. And I thought there was something significant about that, then, that Uranus had just returned back to the sign of its discovery and somehow there was something related to it that was coming up in the news. So to me, that sort of further confirmed that there might be something to first discovery charts when humanity first becomes aware of a celestial body that continues to be active and relevant with respect to that in some way.
RC: Yeah. Amazing! I totally agree, and I love what you say. How could we not love astrology with all this? When we use even we say the discovery chart, and this discovery chart probably using telescope rather than with naked eye. But it does come. And when it’s returned to the discovery position, it has something to do with it, and that’s fascinating. I love like, this kind of a moment, you know? Goosebump, you know, getting up, when you hear this kind of news. I say, how could you not love astrology? It’s amazing! I like this kind of thing. But also I think with comet, one thing you mentioned earlier about when comet cross the ecliptic and also when comet cross with planet, let me give you example. I also put in the book, but not in the mundane section. That was a kind of – I mean, side product of all my when I studied. Because my editor and publisher say, “Could you mention a little bit more about the comet with natal chart?” So I went back to do more study, more homework come out. And while I was study Agatha Christie, she was a legend, and she lived through the First World War and Second World War. So I was studying her life during the First World War, and I realized one thing; let me share this interesting with you. The first was in the 1914, just before the First World War started, there were three comets can be seen in the sky. There were three comets. None of them were great comet, but they all have the record about naked eye observation during that time. And then there is a comet called Comet Delavan – sorry, Comet Delavan, which can be seen around July to September. And I think it was kind of crossed Saturn, aligned with Saturn at 20 late degree of Gemini. And very soon was also passed the, you know, zero degree Cancer; most of mundane astrologer call it the world axis. And that kind of alignment was kind of, you know, during the just beginning of the First World War. That was kind of something. And the first comet was Comet Zlatinsky was in May, and the second one is Delavan start from July, and then right before the First World War start, and the third one – Comet Campbell- was from September. Three visible comet that year; that was kind of —
CB: Wow.
RC: — wow!
CB: Yeah, that’s really impressive. And so that was the year that World War One broke out?
RC: Yes. And also I think the comet crossed with Saturn, and that, like you say, you know, that usually – if I remember, I should go back to my database to double check. Because when I studied with three comet, I think it’s not only one; they have kind of three of them. I mean, maybe two of them, either both crossed with zero degree Cancer, and also conjunct or aligned with Saturn. I think at least two of them, at least two comet that happened in this – I was like, wow. You know?
CB: Wow. Okay. Yeah, that’s impressive.
So and you mentioned studying it with Agatha Christie, and that brings up a point – a question – about you know, sometimes there’s famous instances like we’ve said about famous people dying or world leaders dying around the time of a comet. And like, the most famous, for example, is like, Julius Caesar who a comet appeared after he died during his funeral. And his adopted nephew who became Augstus used it for political purposes, basically, to say —
RC: Yes!
CB: — that this was Caesar, and he was being deified, and therefore by extension making Augustus the adopted son of a deified god. So he sort of like, leveraged it for his own purposes. But it was interesting nonetheless that a comet appeared during the funeral of Caesar as a notable example.
RC: Yes. I think he’s not the only one, but he’s a super famous one that we – I think this – what should I say? This story also make comet into a very important position in Roman society. I think Pliny the Elder says that in Rome, we have a temple dedicated to comets. And that was —
CB: Right.
RC: — that was because same reason, and that was so interesting. Caesar is the one. And while I was doing my study, there were a few famous people are kind of related to comet. Well, for people living in England, well, I can say Princess Diana. I think the year she was born, there was a comet, and then the year she pass away, Hale-Bopp was there. And then another one is very interesting is the previous Filipino politician, Ferdinand Marcos. And he was get his presidential position, get his power, when comet was, you know, appear in the sky. And then I think he was removed from his position when Halley’s Comet appear in 1986. So that was interesting coincidence too.
Another one, most recent one – let’s talk about Pope Francis. Because the year he become Pope was 2013 when the comet PANSTARRS appeared in the sky. And that day was the day when comet crossed ecliptic from south to north. I always remember when of our dear colleague from Texas mentioned that when I was giving a talk, and then she say, do you know that was the day comet moved from south to north and we had first pope from south hemisphere? I was like, oh boy! Gosh, thank you for sharing this! But we —
CB: Interesting.
RC: — and we know he pass away early this year, and then last year —
CB: That’s Pope Francis?
RC: Yeah, Pope Francis. And the —
CB: Okay.
RC: — you know, comet. One comet appeared when he was, you know, being elected as a pope, and then one comet when he was pass away. So there – I don’t know how to say, but this kind of study just make you say, “Wow!”
CB: Yeah. Another really famous one that I love is Mark Twain who – he has this famous quote where he said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It’s coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.” And he did end up, like, dying within that year. So he was born when Halley’s Comet appeared, and he died when Halley’s Comet appeared. And that then ties in where, you know, it may not just be sometimes like, the death of like, a famous person or a world leader or something like that, but also sometimes the potential for a comet to appear when a significant figure is born as well.
RC: Yes. I agree. This is kind of legend or what we know about comet usually related to the death of the famous people, politician, or leader. But not only leader, I think; a lot of famous people are probably more or less related to or equal to this comet’s calling. But it’s quite interesting is like, who is more sensitive to comet? You know? And that is kind of interesting idea in astrology.
Like, I heard about – forgive me if I can’t remember the name – Jonathan Flynn? An astrologer in the United States. I think he was the one who inspired me, because I read his article. He was studying comet, and then through my friend Mark Cullen, he introduced me his article. And he was talking about people who were born in the year as a comet are more sensitive to comet. You know, I wasn’t sure, because never has there any study on that. So maybe that will be my next project really do a serious study. I tried to prove not, because I would like to say anyone can apply comets’ energy, just so you know. Just a little bit liberal idea. But it could be, you know? It could be. But I think we need more study on this idea, who is more sensitive to comet. But definitely famous people, because I think from the psychological astrology view, the deaths of the famous people are really awakening us in the society. Make everyone to face this, you know, fundamental issue of life that one day we will gone. And especially with famous people, country leader, super famous people, we are more kind of striking by it. We’re like, oh my god; they can die. And how about me? You know? So in that way, I think that could be the one significant of comet would be like, collective grief or collective awakening.
CB: That’s interesting; I hadn’t thought about that, but that makes sense that maybe there’s something symbolically to the comet appears, and it’s this bright, magnificent thing that everyone looks at, but then it disappears and goes away and almost like, symbolically dies. Almost like you’re lighting a match that suddenly becomes very bright and visible, but then the match goes out, and the fire is sort of like, snuffed out. And maybe in some ways, that’s almost like, tied in with some of the ancient beliefs like in Plato that each person’s soul is like, assigned to a star in some way.
RC: Beautiful. Yes, I agree with you, with this beautiful image. It would really remind us our life our earth is limited, and we can’t live forever. And through those famous people, it kind of awakening because like, oh, my god! Especially I think with Caesar’s story, and then after there would be the kind of like, like 1066 and then one after another, most famous king or emperor are usually kind of, you know, afraid when comet appear. So it building up, I think.
CB: Yeah. One of the ones I always remember was very early in my astrological studies, only like, five or six years into it. Saddam Hussein died I think around the time that Comet McNaught that we were talking about earlier and showed images of appeared and was very bright, and then disappeared. And I think there’s even a famous like, Shakespeare quote about that, where Shakespeare in the play, the tragedy of Julius Caesar, he says, “When beggars die, there are no comets seen. The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.” So already in Caesar, like, there’s this notion of like, comets being associated with prominent people and especially yeah, the death of prominent people.
RC: Yeah. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I think it looks like true, because when we study comet, we usually notice that. Right? Why I say I’m not sure just because we need really more study on it; we really need to go to dive into comets’ record and go through it. But apparently at this moment, very few – there is little numbers of comet I study. It does appear, it sounds like it’s true that with the famous people I usually more tie with the, you know, comet their deaths and important event in their life. So yeah. And that was very, very interesting with Shakespeare’s quotation about that when beggars die, there’s no comet, but when prince die, there’s comet there.
CB: Sure, yeah. And I’m sure there’s much more nuanced approach to comets and different things that comets can indicate or different ways that they can show up in like, society or culture or art or sciences or other things like that in the same way that other planetary cycles and things can apply to many different levels of things in society or even eclipses, which are traditionally associated and still sometimes coincide with the death of prominent people. Eclipses can also indicate other important turning points in human history as well for different positive or negative reasons. And this is still, you know, for both of us – for you and I – you know, very early stages of research, but that we’re trying to set like, a new foundation that other studies can be based on in terms of what a fascinating area comets is and how much work there is to do in order to really develop this more in the field of astrology.
RC: Yes. It is fascinating, because the one thing as we mentioned earlier, because lack of resource that not many astrologer are not familiar with comets’ ephemeris and going to work with comet. And now we know there is a resource – this website – and we can use, we can apply. I really want to see more, you know? Our dear colleague to join us, to discover because comet is one thing. A comet is one of the wonder in the astrology, to be honest, because for us, it’s so new! For us, it’s so new. Well, for the ancient astrologer, they spent time to seriously study it, and let’s do our version, too. But I think their observation, their study will definitely offer us a starting point, like Lilly’s study, like Tycho Brahe’s study, or even ancient, in the Arabic studies. All those idea how we study comet, they offer us. For example, like, when we see the comet with color, and when we discuss the comet’s color, we use the ancient astrology view – what color is like, you know, like blood reddish? It would be Mars. And that would be of Mars nature with this comet. I think it was in a few record, it does relate to plague or something.
What’s very interesting, we have to go to study it and we have to go to see it. One thing I want to – I also put in my book about for our dear colleague, if we go to observe the comet – if you only see it from media – the photo from the media was edited. You know, Photoshopped! So you really not able to see the true color of that comet, because you know, saturation, more brightness. You will turn comet to same. And also, another problem is with the pixel of a camera. The color camera. I usually turn the celestial object to green first, and if the photographer did not calibrate the photo, the photo you see, the comet will be green all the time. And so this is one thing we have to notice. So when we want to judge comet by its color, we have to go to see it with our own eye rather than see it from the picture. This is one thing we have to know. And also, like, quite interesting – the comet’s shape. It was so new for me, because I was just like, I think when I see this comet in 2024, and I keep asking myself, what does it look like? you know? It doesn’t look like a round comet, but it doesn’t look like a pen, a laser beam, or something. I just keep asking myself, say, what would ancient astrologer categorized this comet, you know? What they would name it? And I was just like, that is so interesting, you know? There are so many things we learn from the ancient texts and then we can really also develop our own interpretation.
CB: Yeah, absolutely. And it also encourages you watching the one last October really encouraged me to get more into observational astronomy. And that and then also the recent Mars-Regulus conjunction that happened in June of this year was really beautiful and brilliant. And in addition to like, some of the events that it coincided with, which are not as beautiful or brilliant, but the point is that there’s a good reason to start going outside and looking at the sky again as astrologers, and take it from not just looking at the two-dimensional chart, but going out and starting to get used to how to identify where the planets are in the sky each night or which ones are visible, or how to identify like, when a planet’s a morning star versus an evening star, and how to identify when the Moon or other planets are crossing by a certain fixed star and like, knowing what fixed star that is. Because all of that becomes very, very useful when a comet shows up, and then all of a sudden you can be able to identify it by knowing that, you know, it should come out in the morning when all the other morning stars come out just before sunrise, or maybe it comes out as an evening star just after sunset or something like that. Or knowing that it’s supposed to cross over a certain planet or fixed star, all of that can be very useful for being able to get that visual identification of it, which would then be used to interpret it symbolically.
RC: Hundred percent agree with you. Hundred, hundred percent agree with you. I love stargazing, and like you say, it’s not only – I think one thing very directly, you gain the knowledge about why the ancient astrologer says this. Like, for example, correct me if I make a mistake, like, Venus and Mercury would be more strong when it’s occidental because they are evening stars or something. And with all this – when you are visualizing it, you know, the Mercury and the Venus – especially Venus in the evening star – is super bright, super beautiful. And then there’s different way when it’s rising before the Sun; it’s totally different. So when we going out to do this stargazing, it’s not just fun. We can really directly to reflect what we learn in the book, and that was really priceless. But also it will kind of – we have kind of a direct dialogue with cosmos when we put in this more interesting and spiritual or maybe symbolic way. No matter if that star we know it or not, or the constellation we identify or not. Does that constellation appear in our chart? For example, Orion in the wintertime. Orion is not in our chart, but we will have Betelgeuse or Bellatrix, the fixed stars. But when you see them, you have dialogue with them, and that is kind of priceless moment, I think. I really, like you say, I really encourage all our colleague, go to see the stars! Just learn the sky. Because it’s our textbook too.
CB: Absolutely. And you mentioned earlier one of the things you’ve gotten into is astral photography and taking pictures of the sky, which is its own sort of sub-discipline that you’ve got to learn and you can learn different things to become better at, right?
RC: Yes! I think – before, I mean, maybe – let me say five years before, if you want to do the astral photography, you have to spend a lot of money. But now with the technology, I think with a little bit money, a couple hundred dollar, you can get a very nice so-called electric digital telescope that can really help you to see the planet and the beautiful nebula, and the clusters. But also, you can do it with your smart phone. Going out to – if you know how to operate your smartphone, sometimes you can take a beautiful Milky Way. And when you have that photo, you will start to, you know, thinking about what does that mean? Like, for example, when we see the Milky Way, we see it in one way before the Milky Way, and that would be Antares and Scorpio. The beautiful Scorpio. Then let me share with you like, the first time I see the whole beautiful gigantic Scorpio constellation appear in Greece, it’s just like, walk toward me like, now you understand why the ancient people afraid about this constellation. It really coming to haunt you; coming to get you! And I was like, ouch. That is beautiful. And then soon I learn, right after that is Milky Way, and then after that is Sagittarius. You know, that is kind of interesting visualizing astrology in our sky.
CB: Yeah, that’s brilliant. I love that. Well, yeah, and it really connects you back to the core of what a lot of the basic principles that we take for granted in astrology are all about is a lot of those techniques that we use that are thousands of years old at this point, a lot of them just go back to basic astronomical things about the visual component of what you can see that you might not get if you aren’t looking at the sky yourself.
RC: Yes, I agree. And that really, at least for me, it helped me to understand. It helped me say, oh, okay, when you see it, you will not forget why the ancient people say this or that, you know? So I think especially for traditional astrologer, if you went out to see the sky more often, you probably will, you know, get more idea or maybe just, like, oh maybe certain terms or certainly terminology could describe a celestial phenomenon about the moment and then why they make that interpretation. I think that would be very, very interesting.
CB: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and getting back to that ability to interpret natural phenomena as conveying symbolically significant information under the premise that the universe speaks to you or speaks to humanity at different points in time, especially at important junctures where there’s an important turning point that’s taking place for a lot of people. And that’s, you know, probably important because even though we’ve focused and a lot of the ancient texts focus on like, let’s say the death of major people or even the birth of major people, which can sometimes be like, a singular event, a lot of the texts also refer to major events taking place that coincide with comets as well, and I think that’s an important component is that a comet showing up is not necessarily was gonna be just like, a singular event that it coincides with, but rather the unfolding of a sequence of events that impacts a lot of people. And so that can be one of the reasons why sometimes comets were associated also with like, natural disasters and other things in the ancient world, because that can be something that impacts and changes the lives and the direction of large groups of people over let’s say a period of time.
RC: I agree with you. Like, for example, we talk about Aristotle when he talk about this comet in the 371 BCE. When he writing in his what we call meteorology about related to earthquake, and the following by disaster one after another. Back to astrology, I think this type of event happen to ourself – for example, an individual. If we facing this kind of disaster, it would be life-changing. It would be life-changing for any one of us. And then it force us to live with it or to find the way, another way of life. So it totally change us, but I like to go back to one of mythology-related comet in the epic about the Trojan War, which I mention in the book. The prince, Aeneas, in that during the Trojan War, he saw the comet as a sign. And his mother, Venus, was, you know, kind of tell him – say in a dream – tell him, say, “You should leave. Take your father and leave Troy and go somewhere else. Follow the comet.”
So somehow, “follow the comet” – it could be also find a new way. Well, eventually the legend’s talking about he’s another founder of Rome. So it’s kind of interesting to, you know, the comet as a significant in one way disaster. But in another way, help us to find a new way to survive or, you know, to living another life.
CB: Yeah, especially if there’s like, radical changes like in the same way that eclipses can sometimes indicate radical changes. And that can be tumultuous sometimes. Those changes can like, push you in a direction that you might not have gone otherwise, which in the long term can sometimes be productive. But I’m glad you mentioned the tails, because there were some ancient texts that talk about the tails or the directionality of the comet indicating the direction of the world that might be impacted. Like, for example, I found this passage from this book from the 12th century called the Syriac Book of Medicines, and there was this article by Rudolf titled, “A Great Star Falls.” And one of the quotes was it said,
“The star with a tail indicates famine and pestilence. The star with a spear indicates war and strife. The star with a beard indicates a change of government and its downfall. And know that in the quarter of the earth to which the tail of the star is directed, there will be anger, and that which is to be will be.”
So I thought that was really interesting —
RC: Yeah.
CB: — in terms of the potential for the symbolic directionality of the comet perhaps indicating something like, geographically in terms of places to watch out for and things like that.
RC: Yes, I think the one thing is very important – during the ancient times, the ancient astrologer has this knowledge – they are the only person who can interpret the comet. So with comet’s tail, where comet tail pointed, or what comet’s tail looks like. Yes, with comet’s tail, what comet’s tail looks like and they used that shape of the comet to make interpretation; it’s very interesting, and I think we should learn more with it. For example, in the beginning, you mentioned about not every comet as a bad omen. Some comet, like for example I think in the book they probably write like, if comet look like another Sun, that would be a good omen for the king and the great prince. So not all the comet is a terrible, bad omen with disaster or death of a king. But also interesting is about the tail – where the tail pointed to. But it’s quite interesting. I mean, I make a joke – forgive me for my ignorance – I always make a joke about, well, that’s because the ancient time only view astrologer who can see the comet and then who can interpret the comet. But nowadays, in every continental, there will be an astrologer who dared to go to look at a comet and with the comet tail point to west sky, that maybe say, you know, their neighborhood country would be in problem. But if every country has this astrologer going to say that, it would make a chain, you know? And that is kind of, well, but I think we should still study it, because I mean, not every country or every continent has astrologer or astronomer going to make that observation. I think it’s important as astrologer going out to see the sky and then look it and then make its own interpretation. And that would be the important work so we can study, we can re-exam those ancient texts. But if we just like, look at a chart, we probably miss the chance or we give the right away. And also you mentioned something quite interesting about the quarter. I think that is very interesting! That should be one of the study we dedicate more time on it.
CB: Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, and I think that’s really worth emphasizing that while the vast majority of literature on comets is negative and views them as ominous and a source of major difficulties, that there were interpretations of comets as indicating positive things in some instances in the ancient world.
So Hephaistio of Thebes, for example, talks about a comet that he associates with Jupiter because he has a list of comets that he associates with each of the planets. And the one associated with Jupiter actually is supposed to indicate some positive things. Varahamira has a very long list of comets from like, the 7th century written in Sanskrit in India and different types of comets. And some of them do indicate positive things. Or I found this quote from a very early Christian author, like church father, named Origen. And he’s talking about comets, and he lived I think around the 3rd century. Let me double check that. Yeah. He lived in the 3rd century, and this quote from Origen, he cites an earlier Egyptian Stoic astrologer named Chaeremon, and here’s the quote from Origen. He says,
“It has been observed that at great events and at the most important changes of earthly affairs, stars of this kind appear which signify either changes of kingdoms or wars or whatever may happen among men, which can shake earthly affairs. And we have read in the book on comets by Chaeremon the Stoic how comets have sometimes appeared even when good events were about to happen, and he gives an account of these.”
So unfortunately, we don’t have that book on comets that survived from Chaeremon the Stoic who was from somewhere around I think the first century CE. But from this report, from this 3rd century Christian author, we can hear that sometimes they did associate comets with positive things even though the tendency was to interpret them negatively.
RC: Yeah, and I think that is, like you say, unfortunately we don’t have that text. And then most people just simply remember the easy to remember thing – the death of a king. So we are easily to associate comet with bad omen. And I think that’s another reason I start my study. I really want to find out more about comet. And unfortunately, I mean, when I started, I was working with more like, modern astrology way, and I look at the chart and dig out more things. And the traditional astrology’s really not my strength. But I try, I do my best, but thank you for, you know, mention those book. I mean, that would be so important for me to, you know, to go back and then to study more about their interpretation. Because that would definitely mean something different when we, again, to see another comet and we are trying to make another interpretation about it. You know, that would be really important for us.
CB: Yeah, absolutely. So I’m glad that you kind of set a nice foundation in your book, because a large part of the second half of the book is going through some of the great comets and establishing some like, timeframes and some of the most important comets to study as well as talking about some events that happened around those times. So it provides a really nice foundation that people can use in order to begin to investigate what comets mean in astrology.
RC: Yes. Well, for me, it’s still a work in progress. And I have to admit, this is very new. This study is very new. And I, to be honest, even until published this book, I wasn’t sure am I doing the right way to study? You know, because I was just like, I use the knowledge I have trying to exam, but I wouldn’t dare to say I found the truth or something! But I just like, it would be a good starting point, especially with the tool, with the knowledge, with my experience I have to exam comet in this way. But that means there is so many other way. Like, for example, I keep saying I’m not familiar with traditional technique. If we can really go to exam those comet, I really, really, really, really want to see one day we can exam those comet also with the traditional technique, and that would be fascinating. That would be really fascinating. But while I’m writing my book, also, you know, with limited of a page, like, I couldn’t really write every comet with their syzygy. I really want to do that too! I really want to maybe, you know, spend some time to check the syzygy or compare the quarter of the comet. That would be so interesting to continue to study. But thank you for, you know, giving me this chance to talk about this book. And I really want to see more astrologer, more colleague to share their idea about comet.
CB: Yeah, definitely. I’m glad to have the opportunity, just because like I said, I’ve been researching this for the past couple of years and kind of building it up too much to that I needed to do like, a huge, comprehensive episode on it that covered all of the history and the astronomy and the philosophy and, you know, answered once and for all and went through a whole list of all of the great comets. But then I saw your book was coming out, and I thought I would just take this opportunity to have, you know, this discussion to sort of like, open this field up for people and to share some of our different thoughts and some of the different things that we’ve got so far. And then I’m excited to see – you know, I’m hoping it gets integrated and maybe some websites like Astro-Seek, for example, Petr from Astro-Seek is very good at integrating new things. So maybe people could request that he integrate some comet things into his website. And I’m sure this is gonna be a field that will open up as an exciting new area of research in the coming years. Yeah. Go ahead.
RC: Yeah, definitely. I mean, when you say you going to do those thing, I thought, wow! That would be so cool, because we know when you are interested in one subject, you really go deep in it, and so we are really lucky. We are so lucky to have you. So looking forward to see you, you know, go through the comet; that is going to be fun! And going to be very helpful for your audience, you know, are into the astronomy and astrology. They’re going to be fun to listen those podcasts.
CB: Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, hopefully we can crowdsource it. You know, I had some help already with research by Vandana Gyan, and I’m sure other people if they wanna go back and identify some of the different great comets in history and research some of the events that coincided with them, then we can eventually pull those resources a little bit more in order to create something more comprehensive. But at this point, I’m really glad you wrote the book and created a new foundation for all of us in terms of starting to talk about this issue of comets and identifying some of the most important ones.
So yeah, congratulations on doing that and good work.
RC: Thank you, and thank you for inviting me. I’m so excited finally being here on Astrology Podcast!
CB: Yeah. Well, you definitely, you know, writing such a book, it was a good job, and I’m glad that we did that. So what do you have coming up or what are you working on? What’s your website and do you offer consultations and classes?
RC: Yes, I do offer the webinar kind of once a month. I will dedicate some time – I will do the more likely mundane astrology webinar. But sometime I would like to share some topic with beginners to share with like, people who are just into astrology and to help them to get into astrology. So also I do some, you know, podcast and YouTube. The channel is AOAUK1, and just like most likely I will like, once a month I will have a mundane astrology discussion with astrologer in Europe. And also sometime I will just talk about some transit, and that’s what I’m working on. Mainly my teaching is teaching student from, you know, Chinese-speaking world because that’s my mother tongue. So I will be, you know, spend more time on it. But in English one, I will run the webinar once a month; that’s what I’m doing at this moment. But also like you say, this continuing study of comet will be one of the things I’m dedicating, like I say earlier, I’m going back to scan the comet one by one. Try to handpick those visible comet and then so you know we will have a list that we can study. And once I have those result, I will put on my website is RodChang.com.
CB: RodChang.com? Okay.
RC: Yeah.
CB: Excellent. I will put a link to that in the description below this video on YouTube or on the podcast website where people can go to find out more information about your work. And the book – what’s the release date of the book?
RC: I think it should be on 20 of August, if I remember correctly. Yeah, I think the worldwide release the 20 of August.
CB: It looks like in the US, it might be released on August 13th.
RC: Yeah! I noticed that, but thought – so this is why I wasn’t sure, because I think in US it’s earlier!
CB: Okay, interesting. Yeah, well, that’s great. I mean, those are some of the best electional charts this month, and it’ll be just after that Venus-Jupiter conjunction that’s happening in Cancer —
RC: Oh, yes.
CB: — which will be so beautiful and brilliant in the morning sky rising —
RC: Yes!
CB: — over the eastern horizon at that time.
RC: Yes! And that, you know, it will be so nice to go to look at or for some people who believe in spirituality, channeling it! Or just sheer enjoy the beauty of a planet shining in the sky.
CB: Absolutely. Cool. All right, well, people should check out the book, and you can order it today or pre-order it on Amazon or order it once it’s out. But otherwise, thanks so much for joining me and congratulations on the release of the book.
RC: Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me.
CB: All right. Thanks everyone for watching or listening to this episode of The Astrology Podcast, and we’ll see you again next time.
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