Holy Double Helix, St. Patrick! ~ 17 Mar 2006

The leprechauns might be enjoying a good laugh as humanity rubs their eyes wondering if the spiral image of a double helix nebula near the core of our galaxy is real or the result of Irish nog. If it is real, does it mean anything? Obviously people want to know. Yesterday, my e-mail in box took a record number of forwards (the kind I actually read, you know, real stuff about the Universe). It’s true. A nebula with a twist received its official proclamation from Mark Morris, Keven Uchida and Tuan Do.

This amazing attribute of the core of our galaxy verifies the magnetic twists and turns resulting from the activity of the black hole in the center of our galaxy. First, the facts: This nebula is about 25 parsecs (pc) in length (1 parsec equals 3.26 light years) lying about 100 pc from the dynamical core (ah, the singularity of the black hole) and is oriented perpendicular to the galactic plane. The two continuously helically wound strands complete 1.25 full turns, totally impressive but still not enough for a gold medal in the Olympics.

Does this point, the “DNA Nebula,” confirm the concept of DNA? Not really, but it offers up many symbolic considerations of the flow of energy, possibly the weave of kundalini and other such things. If nothing else, it’s got people looking at the center of the galaxy - as they should. The actual position was a bit hard to find. In reading the technical paper, I found that they centered some observations on the bright infrared source, AFGL 5376, which according to the zodiac, appears at 26 Sagittarius 09 minutes with 59.5 as round up change, and at 5 degrees 43 minutes and 43.0 seconds of south latitude. This should be close enough.

Infrared energy is interesting. It would activate the root chakra in a human body asking that the power of releasing that which could clog and needs to be released, gets released. Further, it regulates the forgettery factory. It’s all about forgetting learned concepts, deleted dysfunctional behaviors and purging memories that fail to support enthusiasm, optimism and aspiration. So, given that it’s a holiday, conduct a ceremony or two. Delete old files on your computer as an offering. To finish the homage, purge your cache. Then explore your emotional history for worries that do not matter. Ditch them. Discipline yourself not to think about all the fears that never plan on impacting your life. To pull a page from the I-Ching, the superior person does not permit thoughts to go beyond the situation. To pull a page from the Double Helix Nebula and it’s proximity to the Galactic Center, spin it differently. Come up with an innovative, brilliant what if kind of solution, apply it, and forget about it. While many joke about the ability of the Irish to raise a glass (I’m a wee bit Irish on me mum’s side), and as some drink to forget, raise a glass of something to propitiate forgetting dysfunctional behavior.

Now the centaur, Pholus (now 4 Sag 08 Rx), wants to quell all objections in advance, given his trine to Saturn and Node. Raising a glass does not mean getting hammered nor compromising a person’s well being who has a negative susceptibility to alcohol. The above suggestion stated raise a glass of something to propitiate the Wonder of Creation. That’s right. Take your favorite beverage - green tea (the caffeine there makes me hyper), carob soy milk, carrot juice, blue agave nectar or Guinness and render your well-intentioned energy to honor the Mystery of Creation. Personally, I’m going to have a spirulina margarita - hey, it’s green, okay?

One more thing of note. The ancient astronomy teachers used nebula structures to test the perceptual ability of their students. The edges of the nebula appear diffuse - you know, a bit nebulous. If a student referred to a nebula as a star, they had to sit and re-ponder until they could perceive the obvious. When the blur is obvious, just say so. They say that keeps things neatly untangled.