The Storyteller's Night Sky

We get a first glimpse of what what's in store for us each year at the eve of summer’s first New Moon, which is July 14th. Two days prior, on July 12th, the Moon enters its dark phase, and with Venus at star Regulus all week, the question is clear: Is this the path of love?

This time of year is a time of destiny forming, when all the ingredients are on the table and the master chef, in this case, the gods, enters the celestial kitchen to craft us as the masterpiece. The old year, 2026, has breathed fully out. Now, 2027 begins.

Earth and Sun pause in their shared breathing on Sunday, June 21st before Sun ascends the horizon in the US. There's a magic line up of Mars, twilight, Solstice, First Quarter Moon and dawn to carry us all to summer's hieghts.

Venus is evening star and attended by Jupiter and Moon all week, making it easy to understand why the planet is associated with love, with beauty, with poetry. This week Moon occults Venus, opening a window into the cosmos through the heart.

There are two things to know about Venus right now: first that it's being amplified by proximity to Jupiter, our largest planet, and then that it will be blocked by the Moon over the entire US. How will we respond?

Blue Moon at Antares on May 31st calls our attention to our relationship with the stars, which one shined over our birth and will receive us in return at our death.

The Moon leads the way to Venus in the daylight on May 18, then moves up the sky passing Jupiter May 20 and Regulus May 22 on the way to Blue Moon May 31.

This week in the stars it's all about feet ~ how we walk into the future, how we realize the goals of earth evolution, how we encounter our mortality and our own, immortal nature.

Venus is moving through the horns of the bull to catch up with Jupiter at the Straits of Gemini. Will we be overcome by doubt, or will we persevere with faithfulness to a higher, greater truth?

The Full Moon on May Day, May 1st, aligns with the spring cross quarter day, and amplifies the potency of this moment in the year's cycle. Known as Beltane in the Celtic tradition., this is a time for celebrating, protecting, and augmenting fertility.

On Tuesday, March 3rd, the Moon will be totally eclipsed by the shadow of the Earth ~ and some part of it will be visible for everyone throughout the US. To prepare, I recommend checking out sunset and moonrise times for Monday, March 2nd, the evening before, when the nearly-full Moon will rise in the East before the Winter Sun sets in the West. 

There’s a mighty cultural and celestial convergence headed our way, and it's time to join hearts and hands for the good.

The first New Moon of the New Year happened on Sunday, and now we approach what is traditionally known as the coldest night of the year, the eve of St. Agnes, on January 20th.

It’s the time of year for considering the big celestial phenomena coming our way, and dream into what they might mean. So get out your calendar ~ here are some dates worth noting.

The year's most prolific meteor shower radiates through the night from the region of Gemini stars this week, caused by the “rock comet” Phaethon, who in Greek mythology dared to lead the horses in his father's Chariot of Fire.

The inner planets Moon, Mercury, Venus call our attention to the forces of destiny this Thanksgiving week.

The Moon is waning toward New Phase, when it stands between Earth and Sun; Mercury is retrograde and also about to stand between Earth and Sun; and Uranus is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, and on Thursday this will be a veritable gathering of the gods.

Overnight Tuesday to Wednesday is the peak of the Northern Taurid Meteor Shower, which radiates into the night from near the star cluster of the Pleiades, in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. Take note that this meteor shower is known to produce fireballs!

Wednesday's "Super Moon" is like a mighty cosmic mirror focusing celestial light toward Earth, to enkindle and enflame human hearts with enthusiasm for what's good and true.

The constellation Capricorn is the “gateway of the gods” and this week the Moon casts its shadow across this gate when it occults the brightest star there the night before Halloween, when preparations are being made to travel about imitating malignant spirits and fantastical creatures.

The meteor shower of the mighty giant Orion peaks overnight this week, and with Moon at New Phase, conditions are great for casting your wishes up to the falling stars ~ and making use of Orion's belt of invisibility.

It's often said Harvest Moon is given its name because it's the Full Moon closest to autumn equinox, and because it’s big and bright, farmers can stay out later in their fields. But the real meaning is deeper and reveals an innate sense of how to live in harmony with the cycle of the year. 

There's a terrific tale unfolding in the sky right now, with the great constellation Orion rising up in the morning sky in the east while the starry crown slopes toward the west, where the Sun is setting below the celestial equator now that it’s equinox time. 

Sun and Moon get in a game of celestial teeter totter with Saturn just prior to equinox, setting the stage for dynamic encounter with the self in an endlessly turning world

The Moon was fully eclipsed last Sunday and will spend this week waning through its gibbous phase, until it arrives at the last quarter of its cycle next Sunday, September 14th, when it reaches the horns of Taurus, the Bull, activating a "holy secret."

On Sept 7 there’s a Total Eclipse of the Moon, only visible on one side of the Earth, in Asia, not in the US. The Moon will rise Saturday evening, the night before eclipse, 20 minutes before the Sun sets, the two great lights straddling the horizon, “dividing the day from the night, a sign for seasons, and days, and years.”

In August, there’s a formula for finding the most romantic night of the season: Once the Moon comes New, count seven nights while watching for the summer’s brightest star to reach the zenith. Then the conditions are right for the love story that unfolds overhead, bridging the vast expanse of the Milky Way river of stars, and gathering us all in its wake.

This week's waning crescent Moon is a boat of spirit knowledge, bearing earthward all it has gathered in the celestial light throughout the month and bringing it ashore during the few days before New Phase when we don’t see it.

Tuesday morning, the planets Venus and Jupiter will be spectacularly close, while overnight Tuesday, the Perseids come to their peak. It is the stuff of the world's greatest love stories, and you don't want to miss it, any of it.

The convergence of things that takes place every year in the first week of August includes the seasonal cross quarter; the Christian Feast of the Transfiguration; and the anniversary of the birth of Victorian poet Alfred Tennyson, whose love of astronomy is a celebration of this starry season.

The drama of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' occurs in this season, and asks us to take care, for when we do not heed the abundance of love and harmony pouring forth from the heaven’s brink, the stars guiding our humanity may cross.

There's a pile up of planets in Pisces this week, calling us to wake!

There’s a culmination in the stars this week, with Uranus changing signs on Monday, and Saturn beginning its four-month retrograde after midnight Saturday. In between, the summer’s first Full Moon occurs, a remarkably fertile time when all available light is reflected to us from the thickest region of Milky Way stars.

The stars that guide the soul to the most noble bonds of friendship this week.

The classical Greek myth of Leto and her twins, Apollo and Artemis ~ Sun and Moon ~ is unfolding overhead in the sky this week.

We are part of an incredible planetary system ~ a living breathing harmonious social organism, and we are asked to take a noble place within it, especially at Solstice, when Earth forces are breathed out to the cosmos in full offering of itself.

The Moon will be Full after midnight on Wednesday, looking south along the Milky Way river of stars. The June Moon is the “Honey Moon,” and since it's Full in front of the thickest region of the Milky Way, this week's all about the land of milk and honey.

The poetry and story this week is inspired by the planet Venus at its greatest elongation west of the Sun, which means the goddess of love and beauty is furthest away from the Sun, rising nearly two hours before sunrise.

The cycle of the year unfolds in successive stages that are easily measured by the rhythms of the Earth, Sun, and Moon through the cosmos, and in the sequence of festival days in the various cultures around the world. Monday brings the last New Moon of the Spring in the northern hemisphere, followed by the planet Venus reaching its greatest elongation, or distance, from the Sun next Sunday.

Into the morning triumph of birdsong before sunrise come Venus, Saturn, Neptune, and Moon ~ scene that only happens every 30 years or so.

The Moon comes Full on Monday, then wanes through the Milky Way on the anniversary of the death of Emily Dickinson, a teller of the All-Embracing True Tales (as the ancients called poetry and myth).

The Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks overnight Monday to Tuesday, while that Ole Mother Goose Cygnus the Swan takes wing over the Northeast horizon, trailing a Milky Way of stars!

Wednesday night is the eve of the season's cross quarter day, the halfway point in the Spring. At the eve, a secret portal opens, but we have to be aware, because Jupiter and Moon are standing at the door as guardians, to see whether we can pass of our own, or whether we must be "butted" through!

It's the week of the April New Moon, which means it's time for celebrating international dark sky week. And don't miss Venus and Saturn, setting the stage for an exercise in contemplation during the Moon's dark phase.

The Moon gave way on Saturday, when it came to its Full Phase below the celestial equator, the furthest-away Full Moon for the year. And with Mercury and Venus now both in direct motion again, these three destiny planets support a mood of moving forward to meet the spiritual new year at last.

Though the Sun came to its equinox moment two weeks ago, the Moon only yields its position of dominance in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere this week, unleashing the year's high cosmic mystery. And this year, Venus ends its retrograde at the same moment ~ standing still to see what rises with human hearts to meet the mystery.

This week, the planet Neptune moves from tropical Pisces into Aries, across the vernal point out of the water and into the fire. How will we meet it?

The celestial bodies that weave with human destiny (Moon, Mercury, Venus) are making unique gestures right now, and with Neptune about to change signs, it's time to state your intentions and not wait on what dreams may come.

Equinox comes on Thursday like an invitation from life to celebrate our soul-spirit nature while Venus helps us know how this mystery lives in the heart.

There’s a Total Lunar Eclipse overnight Thursday to Friday this week (March 13-14), and the best way to prepare for it is to find a place to catch moonrise and sunset the evening before it happens, and then, to do a bit of ceremony.