Assessment of Present Situation 

The head of the comet Hale-Bopp is clearly no direct danger in respect to a collision on this pass, provided it obeys the normal rules associated with the concept of gravity as it seems to have in the past. Since past encounters with what appears to be this particular comet suggest that the whole comet may have a very high electrical charge, and our solar system is best described as an electromagnetic construct, then it would perhaps be imprudent to rule it entirely out of the picture. 

Although Berosus linked cosmically inspired disasters to all of the planets being aligned on one side of the sun and pointing to either Cancer or Capricorn, he was probably being rather simplistic in this. He would be correct in using this technique to indicate the general orbit of the offending comet, but there is no possibility that such a configuration could occur each time the comet appeared, and no way that its head almost hit Earth each time. We need to look for a more reliable explanation than he gave if we seek the mechanism for the reputed past disasters. 

Since each reputed disaster dealt with has occurred about the time that the comet appeared, we need to look for a plausible mechanism that does not require implausible repeated planetary configurations. There are only about three aspects we can be sure of for every appearance of this comet. 

1. It will pass directly above the sun on each occasion and, at that time be at right angles (or square) to every planet in the heliocentric solar system. The square aspect is considered to be adverse by astrologers, even though they always confine themselves to a two dimensional solar system rather than use a three dimensional solar system. 
2. It will leave the inner solar system by piercing the plane of the ecliptic very close to the Earth's orbit, at about 11 degrees of the constellation Gemini (astrological Cancer), and strew unusual debris into the Earth's orbit at this point. When the Earth passes through this section of its orbit in what is currently early January, it will run into this debris and, at the very least, its inhabitants will witness a spectacular fireworks display.  
3. Since the comet this time has a beak, it has always had a beak, and each time it enters the solar system it will spray the sun, and anything directly between it and the sun, with what appear to be large charges of positive ions. (Positive ions are expected since all other matter would be repelled either by sunlight or by the massive net negative electrical charge on the sun established as fact by an Australian astronomer, Professor Bailey of Sydney University)

Of these three phenomena, a combination of the first and third seems to be the only possible mechanism for providing the magnetic / electrical dipole presumably needed for toppling the Earth on its axis, and for producing the massive solar flares needed to produce consequent conflagrations on Earth of the type described in the Phaeton myth.. Incidentally, the Sun's magnetic field should protect it fairly well from charged debris travelling directly to it in the plane of the ecliptic, but only offer very poor protection from charged debris shot down from directly above, or up from directly below (as this comet can do). The nearer the comet is to the sun the more potent should be its effect, and this present pass seems to be one of its closest ever. 

The second phenomena mentioned above is the type capable of producing events such as those described in the plagues of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, with fiery debris falling from the sky. Some toxic chemicals could fall on the Earth at such times. 

Of course, if the solar system has already been stirred up by a new ionic source such as a comet, it is possible that the favourable and unfavourable astrological aspects may be enhanced, and their attendant geomagnetic effects may also be enhanced, either for good or for evil results. (The effect of the heliocentric astrological aspects on sunspot activity has by now been established beyond all reasonable doubt by people like J.H. Nelson of RCA ⁸¹ , whose techniques were even gratefully used by NASA. 

The Sumerians seemingly placed great importance on the passage through the plane of the ecliptic of both the intrusive debris and the displaced planet Tiamat. Goodwin ¹³ points out that comets tend to be significantly disturbed when piercing the interplanetary magnetic field which lies in the plane of the ecliptic. Comet Hale Bopp was certainly disturbed when it pierced the ecliptic beyond the orbit of Jupiter when it only had a negligible length of tail. This disturbance appeared to be linked to attendant sunspot activity and a burst of volcanic activity on Earth. 

When Hale Bopp next pierces the plane of the ecliptic ( about 20 April to 20 May 1997 ) then it will be less than twenty percent of the distance it was from the sun when it last pierced the plane of the ecliptic beyond the orbit of Jupiter, and it will be about 25 to 30 times more powerful in respect to the sun, than it was then. It will also have a long, highly electrically charged tail (possibly well over 100 million kilometres long and possibly several million kilometres in diameter. At the instant that the head of Hale Bopp pierces the plane of the ecliptic, its whole tail should also lie flat in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), acting as a barrier to the spiralling solar wind and probably behaving as a huge solar wind pump as well. It may well be capable of causing massive electromagnetic disturbances to the interplanetary magnetic field, and rocking nearby planets on their axes. Under such circumstances, the solar wind could become electrically illuminated, and appear in the sky as the rolled up scroll referred to in Biblical prophecy. 

During the time that comet Hale Bopp is piercing the plane of the ecliptic, the planet Venus should move into a position that is nearly directly between Hale Bopp and the Sun, acting as a type of electronic valve grid between the cathode that is the sun and the effective anode that is comet Hale Bopp. The electromagnetic interactions and ultra low frequencies caused by this temporary alignment may be very powerful and may have comparatively unforeseeable effects. After all, if historic records are correct, Venus was never in its present orbit at any past time when comet Hale Bopp appeared in the inner solar system.