When I worked in a Planetarium, we did a “Christmas Star” show in December. Among different ideas such as a comet, a nova, or a conjunction of planets so close that they might have looked like one very bright star, we also talked about the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in Pisces in 7BC. It was discovered by Johannes Kepler in 1614. Kepler was also the person who showed that the orbits of the planets were not circular but ellipses, and that in turn paved the way for Isaac Newton to formulate the law of gravity. In some ways Kepler was the last of the medievals and the first of the moderns. Kepler also determined that Jesus was born in 4BC. I was very interested to find this confirmed by John Dominic Crossan using different information.
“Triple conjunction” refers to the movements of Jupiter and Saturn. They were in opposition, i.e. on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. This means that they were at their brightest, and also that they went “retrograde,” that is that they went backward from their usual movement. “Retrograde” actually describes the effect of the earth in its orbit, moving faster than the two outer planets, just as the train next to you appears to be going backwards as you pass by it. Jupiter moves faster than Saturn, so Jupiter would pass Saturn, making the first conjunction. Then both planets would turn retrograde, and Jupiter would pass Saturn again — second conjunction. The third conjunction happens when both planets go direct, as Jupiter, now behind Saturn, catches up and passes it again.
Babylonian astrologers would have observed the conjunction in 7BC. Once Jupiter and Saturn were direct, Mars came in and joined them. This planetary activity took place in Pisces, which to the astrologers signified the land of the Hebrews. It is not surprising that some of them might have traveled to Jerusalem to enquire about a “King of the Jews.” I find it highly unlikely that they would have been directed to the “stable,” which has no historical verification.
A number of years ago, as I was driving back from Montpelier a little after sunset, I saw the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, which had been going on for a while, and the two planets had been joined by the crescent moon. This happened in 2008. I’m a modern person, with a degree in Astronomy, but those three objects blew me away. It was not hard to see them as spirit writing on the sky.
As we arrived in Advent this year, I thought again about the triple conjunction, and realized that the show in the planetarium, with little colored lights, bore about the same resemblance to the real sky as a picture of the sun does to the real sun. The real thing, in 7BC, must have been truly spectacular, like that view I had seen of Jupiter, Venus, and the crescent Moon.
Then, listening to the Carol of the Three Kings, the last verse struck me: The gifts were three: gold, frankincense and myrrh, the names of the Christ were three: “Glorious now, behold him arise, King and God and Sacrifice…” the planets were three: Jupiter – King, Saturn – God, Mars – knife, blood, sacrifice. I think the story is not a tale of three Kings, bearing gifts to a baby in a stable, but a memory of three planets announcing the birth of a very important being, the Avatar of the Piscean Age.