Storyteller's Night Sky 2026-05-20 (Venus and the Moon in the Daylight)

In their relationship with one another, Venus and the Moon are the epitome of social grace, and they’re about to demonstrate this through one of their most beautiful encounters. And let me just say, that such a sight is more than a passing gesture, it’s an invitation, and it’s being sent by the cosmos to humanity right now ~ especially Monday, May 18, when it will be possible to spot celestial love and beauty in the daytime, with the Moon as our guide. In order of brightness, the objects in our sky usually go from Sun to Moon to Venus, to Jupiter and on to the star Sirius. But notice, though the Moon can outshine Venus in brightness, it never will. But why? Consider, Venus’ orbits takes it between Earth and Sun, and though it can get to the other side of the Sun when viewed from the Earth, it can never get to the other side of the Earth from the perspective of the Sun. So picture it, we never see the planet Venus on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. Venus is only ever in the morning sky or the evening sky, close to the Sun. Right now Venus is in the evening sky. Unlike Venus, the Moon can orbit to the other side of the Earth from the Sun, that’s when it gets to Full Phase. But when the Moon is near Venus, either in the morning sky or the evening sky, it’s always at crescent phase ~ it’s never a gibbous, never full, but always a crescent near Venus. And this is the absolute grace and beauty of it. It’s as though the Moon, in deference to the goddess of love and beauty, withholds itself, to let the other shine. There’s so much wisdom in this gesture, of putting the other first ~ it overflows with grace, and it’s an invitation to humanity to consider the same. Monday, May 18, look west shortly before sunset. Once you spot the thin crescent of Moon, look left, and there you’ll see Venus. This apparition will get brighter as the Sun sinks lower, so plan some evening activity ~ a picnic, a meditation, a walk with someone you love, and live into the imagination of grace growing into the world. One of the other ways to see Venus in the daytime is during a solar eclipse, which is, again, due to the activity of the Moon ~ at eclipse it blocks the Sun so the goddess of love and beauty can step out from behind the veil of light. Which makes you wonder, what manner of being is so great that it uses light as its veil? In the astronomy of the Middle Ages it was believed that the sphere of Venus marked the boundary of the third heaven, and that the shadow of the Earth reached only that far. This, too, is an invitation to humanity, to consider that we can cast our shadow upon Venus, or we can, like the Moon, let love and beauty take the lead. After the Moon meets Venus on Monday the 18th, it sweeps on up the sky toward Jupiter on the 19th, passing the giant planet on the 20th and moving toward the star Regulus at the heart of the Lion on Friday, the 22nd. This Moon will achieve Full Phase for the second time this month on May 31st, which makes it a Blue Moon by current definition ~ this augments the sense that we have upon us a rare opportunity.