By the time you read this, the Hale-Bopp Comet, heralded as the comet of the century, will have made its closest approach to Earth, about 122 million miles, and achieved its maximum brightness, and will be high in the sky above the Pleiades and fading fast. By mid-May it will no longer be visible in the northern hemisphere. If you haven't seen it yet, you have missed the show, and it was spectacular, far more impressive than Hyakutake and even Halley.

According to a recent story in USA Today, Michael Mumma, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Center, said, It's...the brightest comet I've ever seen...This one's a whopper! It is 25 miles wide, which is four times larger than Hyakutake or Halley, is spitting out 100 times more dust, water vapor and gaseous material than Halley, and is 100 times brighter.

The astronomers tell us that Hale-Bopp is not just passing through. It circles the sun in an orbit perpendicular to our orbit about every 4200 years, which means that it intersects the plane of the solar system roughly every 2100 years. As it passes through, it becomes lit up by the sun and visible. Interestingly enough, for those alert to synchronicity, the comet's closest and brightest passage occurred during Holy Week, beginning on Palm Sunday, and culminating shortly after, Easter Sunday. Its appearance on Sunday, March 23, was an extravaganza, since it coincided with a partial eclipse of the Moon.

Since this comet is being identified, in some quarters, as the harbinger of the onset of the tribulation, its timing lends some credence to its Christian significance, and possible role as a portent of big things to come. Gordon-Michael Scallion claims that it last appeared about 2000 years ago, which is possible since the orbit is elliptical, and therefore elongated. He claims that it was the Star of Bethlehem and came to announce the birth of His Messenger whose task was to remind man of his divine nature. If so, and if it is now the Star of Easter, and to some Hale-Bopp a harbinger of the Second Coming of Christ. Certainly, the tragic Heaven's Gate mass suicide represented one group's interpretation, albeit a disturbing one, of the comet's appearance as such an event.

Our interest in any literature that might lend insight into the real or symbolic significance of Hale-Bopp, led us to a new book that appeared to promise such an explanation. When the Comet Runs by Tom Kay, just released in the softcover (Hampton Roads Publishing, Charlottesville, Virginia) has already caught on in the New Age community, and is now starting to find a mainstream readership.

Expecting that the author would claim the Hale-Bopp comet to be the long-expected announcer of the oft-prophesied earth changes, we were surprised to find that the book was a more general treatment of the subject, and Hale-Bopp was not the focus. We later learned that the book was begun in 1992, and the final draft was already with his agent when Hale-Bopp was discovered in mid-1995. He then made revisions to include references to Hale-Bopp. But, remarkably, he had already devoted a large segment of the book to a discussion about the appearance of a comet which would proclaim the beginning of the earth changes!

He quotes several prognosticators who claim that the commencement of the entire doleful scenario will be introduced by the appearance of a stellar body. In the chapter entitled The Fiery Messenger, Kay gives dramatic quotes from diverse, and somewhat obscure, sources. Taken together they paint a vivid picture. Especially noteworthy is a prophecy by British intuitive, David Jevons, given in the late 1970s. This passage comes from Jevons book The Wisdom of Ramala. He says, I believe that the major Earth Changes will be initiated by what I will call the Fiery Messenger. There is even now a star of great power proceeding towards our Solar Body. The star, at this moment, is invisible to the human, or even the telescopic eye, but it is set on a path which will bring it into conjunction with our Planetary System. As it passes by it will affect the motions of all the planets of our System, therefore, will bring about changes on the surface of the planets themselves. The effect of the passage will be to set in motion the Earth Changes that are prophesied. Various lands will sink, others will rise... Jevons was asked if this star had passed through our Solar System before, and he replied in the affirmative. He was then asked if it was Halley's comet, and he answered, No, it is far bigger than that.

Kay quotes extensively from The Earth Changes Report, written by Gordon-Michael Scallion, to support his premise. AR readers will recall that we gave a comprehensive report on Scallion's Blue Star prophecy in Issue #6, in which we pointed out that it was connected with the Hopi Indian Kachina prophecy. In that article, we reported that Scallion believed that Hale-Bopp might be the Blue Star. Now elaborating on this prophecy, Kay quotes Scallion, Now, imagine a star, a blue star, that moves through the heavens at (a) regular cycle, such as a comet, except this celestial object is pure spiritual energy... Kay asks, Is the comet known as Hale-Bopp the celestial visitor spoken of in the prophecies?

Because of the favorable buzz about the book, and because of the Hale-Bopp timing, we wanted to ask Kay his reasons for writing it, and to get an elaboration of his views. We met with him at his home in Virginia Beach. From our conversation, we gathered that the main purpose of the book was to simplify and explain the Edgar Cayce readings regarding the End of the Age, and to tie them in with prophecies from other sources, in an attempt to get a real sense of what is going to happen in the next few years. But, as it turned out, most of the book was taken up by the other sources, and only about 10% concerns Cayce.

Kay has a long-time connection with the A.R.E. and the Cayce teachings. He believes that a schism is developing within the A.R.E. around the likelihood of the predicted cataclysms and earth changes, reflecting a wider polarization within the general New Age community. In this regard, AR readers may recall our article in Issue #10, in which we reported that Pole Shift author John White no longer believes that a pole shift will, occur any time soon because he claims that the precursor events have not manifested. Kay stands with those who feel that the changes will probably happen pretty much the way Cayce said they would, and hence was motivated to write the book to support that position, to bring the doubters back into the fold, and to warn them to get ready. Kay says that you have to know how to interpret the Readings, that Cayce unconsciously chose his words based on the understanding and consciousness of the person he was reading for, and what they were thinking and concerned about at that particular time. Kay says of Cayce, Here's a man who could perform miracles...he was a healer...I know he made some mistakes, and I know why he made them. But I've pretty well broken the code in the Cayce readings.

We asked him to elaborate. Cayce gave a reading back in the 40s... Kay said, what he said was What is needed in the earth today is that Humanity be warned that the day of the Lord is at hand. And that always stuck in my mind...That's maybe one of the reasons I wrote the book, that people have some knowledge, or some insight... In the book, Kay discusses the phrase, the day of the Lord, showing that it was used by both Old Testament prophets and New Testament disciples in precisely the same way, to designate a time of catastrophes when the moral scales will become balanced.

We asked his opinion about the recent, worldwide apparitions of Mary, and he said, I think it's another sign, a very important sign. I think She's here to warn us too...I think She's doing it in order to heighten our consciousness. In a chapter in the book entitled, The Intense Spiritual Transformation, Kay quotes from the book, Mary's Message to the World, written in 1991 by the Texas mother and nurse, Annie Kirkwood. Mary says through Kirkwood, My desire is to warn you of the coming, trying times. I wish for you to turn to God in your hearts and through your minds, for in this way some of you will survive these catastrophic events by renewing your spiritual values. She then goes on to discuss a new electromagnetic energy approaching the earth from space that will raise the vibrations and cause the earth changes. As part of this scenario, a second sun will enter the solar system. This is in accord with Scallion's Blue Star prophecy, and strikingly similar to the Ramala predictions.

Kay's talent for rescuing some very interesting and relevant prophecies from obscurity is best exemplified by his numerous references to a work popularly known as The Grail Message by Oscar Ernst Bernhardt, who died in 1941. This book, actually entitled In the Light of Truth, is virtually unknown in the U.S., although it has been translated into 13 languages and published in 53 countries. It is based on a series of prophetic essays written by Bernhardt beginning in 1924 under the pseudonym Abd-ru-shin. The following excerpt, written before WW II, bears an uncanny resemblance to Scallion's Blue Star prophecy. For years now, knowing ones have been speaking of the coming of this especially significant STAR...It can be called the Star of Bethlehem because it is of exactly the same nature as that was. Its power sucks the waters up high, brings weather catastrophes and still more. When encircled by its rays the earth quakes...Unerringly and unswervingly the Comet pursues its course and will appear on the scene at the right hour, as already ordained thousands of years ago.

Not exactly rescued from obscurity, but certainly revivified by Kay, are the prophecies of Mother Shipton, a remarkable clairvoyant of the 15th-16th century who couched her predictions in crude verse, similar to Nostradamus-type quatrains. According to Kay, Her predictions included automobiles, telephone and telegraph, iron-clad boats, the California Gold Rush and the Crystal Palace in London...the Civil War in England, the Great Fire of London (1666)...World War II, and the women's liberation movement. Kay devotes an entire chapter to Mother Shipton because of the recent discovery of an old manuscript containing prophecies never before seen or published anywhere, and they have everything to do with the comet! Fate works in strange ways, the timing is impeccable. They were written on scrolls and were kept in two jars in a locked room at the Mitchell Library in Sidney, Australia. A woman in Australia copied them down, and managed to smuggle them out thirty years ago. She sent them to Nexus Magazine in early 1995. The editor, Duncan Roads, was convinced they were genuine and published them in the February/March 1995 issue of the magazine. The lost prophecies basically paint a picture of the last days of the end of the age that correlates almost perfectly with Cayce, Scallion, Ramala, Revelations, Mother Mary, Nostradamus, and others. About the comet, she says: