The Gathering

God Bless you Brothers and Sisters in Christ.  This post will contain information relating to Venus, which was shared in the previous blog post named "The Morning Star Rising in Our Hearts!".  If you have not read that post yet and watched those two videos by Stan, I humbly encourage you to do so now...

If you have watched Stans videos, you undoubtably noticed how Venus does a retrograde loop back into the womb of Virgo this fall.  It is a beautiful loop reminiscent of the loop Jupiter did inside the womb of Virgo back in 2017 leading up to the Rev12 Sign.  But something immediately struck me about Venus this time.  It's loop culminates just inside the Brightest star in Virgo, commonly known as Spica.  I will describe Spica more later, but I really want to convey how beautiful this sign is above and beyond what Stan shared in his videos.  He illustrates the symbology of the Virgin birth wonderfully, but I truly believe it is no coincidence how Venus wraps around Spica, a very very unique star, so perfectly.... a motion that I have come to affectionately call "THE GATHERING".

Ok, I am struggling here because this is a very beautiful and rare thing and I made this awesome moving image that shows it so well but I have been unable to upload images to this site for a few years now...and it will not work no matter what I try! It must be the same issue that doesn't allow me to comment anymore.  Anyway, I encourage you to look it up on Stellarium... so in leu of a graphic I will try to describe it better for you here in this paragraph below....

As of this writing, Venus is steadily moving backwards in the sky (opposite direction of the Sun and Moon) towards the brightest star in the Constellation Virgo (Spica).  Normally it visually flows with the Sun, Moon and rest of the planets, but about once a year it goes backwards for about a month or so.  It has been going backwards (retrograde) since the beginning of October. On October 24th, it meets up with the Sun and transitions in front of it and back to being the "Morning Star" (2 Peter 1:19). It is interesting to note that on this day Venus is physically closest to Earth...which is pretty cool when you think about it.  Then, on November 7th, Venus will be aligned with Spica, and it just so happens that the last sliver of the moon will be briefly aligned as with it as well (Matt 18:20). All three are briefly line up in a perfectly spaced row for a few hours. A few days later, on November 11th, Venus begins a tight curve around Spica (aka THE GATHERING) and by November 13-14th it is directly behind it and beginning it's loop back in it's normal direction. During the last few days of November, Venus increases it's brightness and distance from the Sun, giving it the maximum possible time to be visible in the sky. (Psalm 19:1).  The most optimal time to see Venus is actually right around November 25-26th, Thanksgiving Day! (You can't make this up!)  It is on this day when this potential "Sign of the Son of Man" (Matt 24:30) will be most perfectly displayed as the Morning star is birthed from the Virgin.  Then as the month ends and December begins Venus starts to fade slightly and speeds up to catch back up to the Sun, which it will eventually achieve in August of 2027, at which point it will cease to be the morning Star for a time being.  If you watch Stan's "Part 2" video, at the 21:45 mark he shows this well using the Stellarium software.  He also did an even more though description in a previous video which you can see here.

I am a visual person, so trying to describe that all with words is not easy for me.  I am hoping just some of the wonder and perfection of God shines through.   What I want to focus on now is Spica... the brightest star in Virgo and the star that Venus seems to "Gather" during its loop.

Spica is a very unique star, and no coincidence it is mentioned in the very first chapter of  EW Bullinger's famous work "The Witness of the Stars".  The book describes that ancient understanding of how God used the stars and constellations to describe the Gospel and prophetic plan of God through the ages since the beginning of time.  I have had the pdf available on this site under the resources page for years, if you want to check it out here is a link.  The Witness of the Stars - E.W. Bullinger

It should be noted that Virgo is the first/most important constellation described in Bullinger's work.  In that, Spica is the first star he describes in detail since it is the brightest star in the constellation.  The section were he speaks about Virgo starts on the bottom of page 26 in the pdf linked above... I encourage you to read it.

As for Spica, aka "Al Zimach".  Here is what he has to say (found on pg 28):

Thus the brightest star in VIRGO has an ancient name, handed down to us in all the star-maps, in which the Hebrew word Tsemech is preserved. It is called in Arabic Al Zimach, which means the branch. This star is in the ear of corn which she holds in her left hand. Hence the star has a modern Latin name, which has almost superseded the ancient one, Spica, which means, an ear of corn. But this hides the great truth revealed by its name Al Zimach. It foretold the coming of Him who should bear this name. The same Divine inspiration has, in the written Word, four times connected it with Him. There are twenty Hebrew words translated "Branch," but only one of them (Tsemech) is used exclusively of the Messiah, and this word only four times (Jer 33:15 being only a repetition of Jer 23:5). Each of these further connects Him with one special account of Him, given in the Gospels.

(1) Jeremiah 23:5 --"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, That I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH (i.e., a Son), And a KING shall reign and prosper." The account of His coming as King is written in the Gospel according to Matthew, where Jehovah says to Israel, "Behold thy KING." (Zech 9:9; Matt 21:9) 

(2) Zechariah 3:8--"Behold I will bring forth my SERVANT the BRANCH." In the Gospel according to Mark we find the record of Jehovah's servant and His service, and we hear Jehovah's voice saying, "Behold my SERVANT." (Isa 42:1) 

(3) Zechariah 6:12--"Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the MAN whose name is the BRANCH." In the Gospel according to Luke we behold Him, presented in "the MAN Christ Jesus." 

(4) Isaiah 4:2--"In that day shall the BRANCH of JEHOVAH be beautiful and glorious." So that this Branch, this Son, is Jehovah Himself; and as we read the record of John we hear the voice from heaven saying, "Behold your GOD." (Isa 40:9) This is the Branch foretold by the star Al Zimach in the ear of corn.

Spica is depicted in Stellarium as a Sheath of Wheat.  The Latin meaning of Spica denotes an Ear of Corn.  Both of these could be tied to the Rapture via the harvest analogy.  But E.W. Bullinger brings us back to the ancient Aramaic name "Al Zimach" which means the branch.  He does a great job laying out several verses stating that The Branch is another name for Jesus.  But I will go a step further and say it is a name for us as well!  Not only are we "The Body of Christ", but in John 15:5 Jesus says that we are The Branches!

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Furthermore, you may have caught in the description of Spica in "The Witness of Stars", that it is actually a double star.  Two stars, so close together, orbiting each other that they are indistinguishable from one another. Sound familiar?  See John 17:22-23 It was only due to modern specialized telescopes were we able to discover this.

Here is a very good link to learn more about Spica:
https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/speed-on-to-spica-the-15th-brightest-star/

In the link, it is described how they orbit their common center of gravity in only four days. Because they are so close, the two stars in the Spica system are individually indistinguishable from a single point of light, even with a telescope.  The link also has a very good rendition of what Spica looks like with the 2 stars. 

I would love to share that picture since it reminds me so much of us and Christ, but since I am seemingly unable to attach pictures and any only YouTube videos, here is a real video of Spica from a telescope.  As you watch this, ponder how this unique star, really 2 stars picturing Us and Christ, The Branch and the Branches, could be shining as a beacon home for us.  Two lights, inseparably linked, orbiting each other, shining together.  Then picture Venus, the Morning Star (Rev 22:16), swooping around Spica and gathering us in as part of what we hope is "The Sign of the Son of Man" leading up to our Blessed Hope! (Titus 2:13)  In addition to what Stan shared in at the end of his Part 2 video, I could not picture a more beautiful way to symbolize our gathering to Him.  

In closing, perhaps Jesus saw it the same when he used this unique visual to explain the parable of the sower to in Matthew 13:36-43.

Then Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He replied, “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping an gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

He who has ears, let him hear.  Mathew 13:36-43

And as Daniel described:

At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning of nations until that time. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.

And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt. Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:1-3

A few other notes you may find interesting:

• It should be noted that I found that this Spica, Venus, Moon conjunction Nov 7th is actually one of the Top 10 Best Skywatching events of 2026 listed by the Farmers Almanac.  Here is the link if you want to read what they said:  https://www.almanac.com/best-skywatching-events-2026
• November 7th, the day of the triple conjunction, is me and my wife's 17 year Anniversary
• November 11th, the start of  what I have called "The Gathering" aka 11-11 is what Stan named is YT channel several years ago, long before he knew anything about this sign!
• The distance Venus will be from Spica is about 2 moon widths, or the same as a couple a finger widths when your arm is fully extended.  I did a search of several thousand years and could not find an instance when Spica was looped so closely to Spica.  I plan to do an even more though search in the days to come... but you can be assured this is a very rare event.
• I also find it interesting that the world distorted Gods original meaning of the name of Spica from 
  The Branch in Virgos hand, to wheat as depicted in modern star art.  Especially in leu of verses like Luke 3:17, Micah 4:12, etc.

God Bless you all, hoping others will start digging in to this awesome sign!  Abba Up!!