Create a guideline of life events based on the motion of the stars
HELIO COMPASS inventor Kaichi Sugiyama offers a commentary on the real-time motion of the stars, and this inspires Swedish pizza parlor Omnipollos hatt to design a pizza. Each edition of Cosmic Pizza presents a new pizza created through a collaboration between HELIO COMPASS and Omnipollos hatt.
Conjunction of Uranus & Jupiter
March 14, 2024
December 9, 2037
February 9, 2052
April 24, 2066
February 13, 2080
July 10, 2093
November 22, 2106
November 22, 2120
May 7, 2135
January 5, 2149
June 25 2162
Solar system’s no. 1 oddball
Uranus is a modern discovery, first observed as relatively recently as 1780. The terrifically eccentric celestial object had an axial tilt of nearly 90 degrees, meaning both the planet and its rings appeared to spin sideways. Until then, Saturn was the farthest planet from the Earth visible to the unaided human eye, so finding that the solar system actually reached beyond that was a moment that expanded the horizons of humanity.
On top of its unique features, because its discovery coincided with the extraordinary advancement of civilization during the Industrial Revolution, in astrology, Uranus is associated with characteristics like progress, reform, and technology. “In other words, the introduction of unconventional ideas from the outside,” says Kaichi Sugiyama. “Uranus is held as a symbol of breakthrough discoveries.”
The English name Uranus derives from the Greek god Ouranos. The element uranium was also discovered around the same time and named after the planet, curiously forming a link between the macro-world of the universe and the micro-world of chemical elements.
Once-in-13-year innovation
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, in both size and mass, and it continues to swell at an incredible speed today. In astrology, it’s often associated with the nuances of expansion, inflation, and like Uranus, advancement.
Once every 13 years, Jupiter and Uranus come to conjunction—that is, the two planets lie in a line on the same side of the Sun.
“That’s like two hands of a giant clock coming into alignment, marking a turning point when the fusion of two elements ushers in a new era.”
If Uranus represents technology, and Jupiter expansion, then their fusion suggests “a sensational transition where a technology that was previously only a dream is widely adopted by society and developed into a completely new infrastructure.” The likes of ChatGPT might be one such technology.
The next conjunction is expected on March 14, 2024. Since the HELIO COMPASS recognizes the spring equinox as the New Year, that falls in the transition period between the end of one year and the start of the next. How exciting if there were some importance in that timing too.
The motion of the stars juxtaposed with life
Uranus orbits the sun once every 84 years, and Jupiter every 12 years. Try overlapping the two revolution cycles, and we can see that Uranus’s 84 years can be divided into seven cycles of Jupiter’s 12 years.
Now, let’s try juxtaposing this with our human lifetime. Supposing, for the sake of example, that we live until the age of 84, we could create a very rough guideline of major life events: graduate from elementary school at 12, become a working adult around 24, get married and have a family around 36, become an experienced expert at one’s job around 48, celebrate Kanreki (in Japan, the completion of our first sexagenary cycle) at 60, go into retirement around 72, and finally wrap up our life’s journey around 84.
We humans invented the concept of time. Weeks and years exist only because we’re aware of such cycles. Similarly, if our lifespan is influenced by the motion of the stars, it’s only because we believe so. It’s that simple—it’s all in the mind. And yet, by seeking out a connection between the celestial cycles and our own sense of timing, “we can put our life in perspective. Under normal circumstances, we probably wouldn’t think about our life on a scale of 84 years. But the HELIO COMPASS helps us see the big picture via the motion of the stars. Amazing, isn’t it?”
A SLICE OF SPACE
Cycle of Life
This time, Omnipollos Hatt created a base of Greek feta cheese sprinkled with thyme, spinach, and oregano, and topped it with 27 olives expressing the moons and 13 onion expressing the rings. Voila—a pizza depicting Uranus, the only planet named after a Greek god.
Kaichi Sugiyama
Sugiyama made his debut as a rekishi calendar maker in 2022, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar into Japan.
