Asteroid #4724 is a boringly common Main Belt Asteroid and named Brocken. This asteroid has also the somehow funny designation 1961 BC. Of course this would be more funny if something significant and known had happened in 1961 B.C. Brocken has many meanings, it is mythological as well as a place name, hence similar to Pelion, except that it is neither a centaur nor named after anything from Greek mythology.

I deem it important to write about the asteroid Brocken because I’ve seen on a forum how somebody tried to twist Brocken to make it turn into an English word. It won’t turn into an English word! Brocken is named after a place in Germany, but has also translatable meanings. The place is Mount Brocken in the north of Germany, where actually aren’t any mountains. Mount Brocken is a table mount or mesa, similar to those, which are typical for South America or South Africa. Mount Brocken looks like it doesn’t belong to where it is located. This and the frequent occurrence of the Brockengespenst or mountain spectre, which is an atmospheric phenomenon, inspires human fantasy. Meteorologists love to report from Mount Brocken because there is an incredibly windy spot, which allows to dramatize every storm.

Some people call Mount Brocken by the name Blocksberg, although that’s not the very same. Blocksberg is a mythical place, while Mount Brocken is a real place. Mount Brocken is the physical representation of the mythical Blocksberg just like in the more famous case of the Tibetan Kailash, that is the physical representation of the mythical Meru. But Blocksberg isn’t a holy mountain, it is the opposite. Blocksberg is the unholy place, where the devil hosts the witches’ sabbath each year in the night of Walpurgis (the night before the first of May). Witches fly on their brooms to the Blocksberg for the witches’ sabbath. This is a big party, where witches have sex with the devil and are rewarded with powerful witchcraft for another year. Modern covens of real witches make a kind of pilgrimage to Mount Brocken and perform rituals there. These witches prefer lonely spots and have their ways to deal with interlopers. But Mount Brocken is in other parts very touristy and witch-related merchandise is intensely marketed there.

Brocken as a German word denotes a big chunk of something. But it can also be used to describe a person of the type of Brock Lesnar. Funny how even his name is similar.

So you see that Brocken is quite rich in meanings and there is really no reason for trying to twist it into anything else. Asteroid Brocken should astrologically indicate witch-related superstitions, but of course also a tourist area in Germany. Conjunct the rising could Brocken even indicate looking similar to Brock Lesnar.