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Astronism
BIOGRAPHY OF COMETAN
The Founder of Astronism
Portrait taken of Cometan at age eleven.
Portrait taken of Cometan at age nineteen.
Portrait taken of Cometan at age twenty-one.
Portrait taken of Cometan at age twenty-three.
Introduction and early life
Cometan was born Brandon Reece Taylor on 1st July 1998 at 5:30pm in the Sharoe Green Unit near Royal Preston Hospital in the English county of Lancashire in the United Kingdom. Cometan was born to Sean Taylor (b. 1970), a vending machine business owner and Louise Counsell (née Warbrick) (b. 1970), a hair salon owner, and both of whom are of English ancestry. At the time of his birth, the only sibling Cometan had was his older sister, Lucia Richardson (b. 1989).
Cometan was graced with two sets of grandparents; his paternal grandfather was Derrick Taylor (b. 1930 d. 2011) and his paternal grandmother was Irene Taylor (b. 1932 d. 2015). Cometan's maternal grandfather is William "Bill" Warbrick (b. 1936) and his maternal grandmother is Hilda Warbrick (b. 1937).
Cometan's had been partners since 1991 but had never married and in 2002, when their own offspring was four years old, they had a bitter separation that resulted in a long and drawn-out end to their relationship. His parents' separation would have a significant impact on Cometan's life thereafter, particularly during his childhood, but it also arguably transcended far beyond his childhood into his writings throughout his life. Cometan later recalled his father sleeping on the floor of his son's bedroom during the waning months of his father's relationship with Cometan's mother. This event would become the defining factor in Cometan's childhood, however, he did not realise then what such an effect the separation of his parents would have over him, the impacts of which would only reveal themselves later on in his childhood.
Childhood
After Cometan's father left their home at 10 Maple Drive after receiving settlement from Cometan's mother, their son would not ever live with his father again and there remained a distinct absence of the role of his father in Cometan's life thereafter. Although Cometan did see his father frequently, his father played little to no active role in Cometan's domestic upbringing.
A year or so after Cometan's father had left, his mother introduced Julian Counsell into he and his older sister Lucia's lives. Around the same time, Cometan's father introduced Nadine Lathrope who would later marry Cometan's father to become the boy's stepmother. This was the darkest time for Cometan during his childhood as those closest to him at the time recall him lashing out at them, behaving particularly badly, and exhibiting strange behaviour including lying and being overtly unsociable. Although his parents took him to numerous different hobbies and activities to try and get their son to interact with other children, Cometan could not dedicate himself to anything for more than a week or two.
The main point of stability in Cometan's life throughout his childhood and the place where he was arguably the happiest was at his paternal grandparents' house at 222 Longmeanygate. It was his paternal grandmother, Irene, who had a significant impact on Cometan's childhood as Cometan spent the majority of the weekends throughout his childhood with Irene. Irene Taylor was a mother of twelve children and a devout Roman Catholic whose devotion to the church and high religiosity made her almost infamous in the local area.
Cometan would spend the weekends of his childhood with his grandmother and his cousin, Thomas, whom were always mistaken to be brothers, going from church to church for different masses and visiting different religious organisations across Lancashire. Although Cometan did not pay any particular attention to the religiosity of his grandmother at that time, it is this part of his childhood that is considered to have significantly contributed to his religiosity later in his adolescence which of course manifested itself in the founding of Astronism.
Irene Taylor had become so enamoured with her form of Catholic religion that many saw her house and family cult-like. The entire house was religiously decorated with statues of Jesus, paintings of religious iconography along the walls and a series of Holy Communion portraits of her children and grandchildren were placed throughout the house.
Many elements of the way Irene conducted her household can be considered cultic by nature as she followed such a Traditionalist form of Catholicism that even many priests were quoted as saying that Irene was following a different religion to their own. It would be surmised after her death that Irene was part of the Latin Mass Society and Opus Dei, the lay Catholic religious organisation. It was Irene's ultimately goal to have her grandsons become priests, particularly Thomas and Cometan.
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