Libra Rising

Now is a good time to get a feel for the difference in the sky between Libra and Aries - or at least take a first step toward understanding. 

I was out this morn at 5:40 looking for Mars rising in Libra.  I thought I saw it but was never completely sure the whole time I hung out studying the constellations. I was waiting for Venus to come up.  When it did, it was of course bright and unmistakable.  But the distance in the sky between the faint light of Mars and brilliant Venus was farther than I thought it should be.  From the chart I knew they were only 16 degrees apart.  That 16 degrees in the sky looked more like 25 to me.

It took a while for me to become certain I was 'seeing' the longer rising time of the sign Libra.  I hope I can get another chance to observe in the next couple of mornings, while Venus is not much more than 15 degrees ahead of Mars in the zodiac.  15 degrees is 1/2 a sign. 

I made charts to show the difference in time between Libra and Aries rising.  We can't directly observe Aries rising right now, but Stellarium gives a good visual approximation.  Here is a link to a quick video showing the way the ecliptic changes through the hours.  Planetarium software helps find your way around the starry bowl, but it is no substitute for the real deal.  You have to go outside and see in the big expanse just how dramatic the difference actually is.  Once you see the variation from one sign to the next you will know the zodiac signs are not about the constellations, but about the changing distance between the ecliptic and the celestial equator.

And then there's the math.  19 mins for a small Libra section to rise vs 11 mins for the same section of Aries to rise.  I put colored smudges over the local times at the top of each chart.

The 4 charts:
5:40am (green)   13d Libra 29m rising

5:59am (blue)   17d Libra 25m rising

5:07pm (red)   13d Aries 21m rising

5:18pm (redder)  17d Aries 36m rising

AC is an abbreviation for ascendent.  It tells which degree of the zodiac was coming up at the the given time and location.  It took 19 mins for 4 degrees of Libra to rise and tonight, even though we can't see for that daggone Sun, it will take 11mins for 4 degrees of Aries to rise.

So if you get a good look at Venus and Mars while they are rising in Libra, there are a good two weeks left, you can compare that to a planet or two rising in Aries when the next opportunity comes along.  Starting at about 5:40 or 6:00am look east, where you see the Sun come up in the mornings, for the faint red light. Then pay attention to how far it rises until bright Venus comes up around 6:20 am.  The distance between them is what 16 or 17 degrees looks like in the sign Libra.

Happy sky watching!

   

Jupiter and Sun

Sun is lined up with Jupiter today.  This is a chart for this morning in Raleigh. 

I put a green smudge on Jupiter and Sun, and a blue smudge on Saturn.  Saturn was coming up on Raleigh's eastern horizon.

Zodiac and Galactic Plane

A (not so) quick clarification

It has been over a year since I first started talking in posts about the angle of inclination between the ecliptic and the galactic plane.   It was a major revelation for me.  While searching  - how is the solar system situated within the Milky Way? - I did notice lots of people asking the same question on forums. There's lots of info about where  (Orion arm), but our orientation is rarely addressed.

I've gotten really slack about just weaving the concept into posts as though people have some familiarity with it.  For those  who don't, here is a link to the post where I first introduced the concept.  Between the Sun and Galactic Plane

I will include an image at the bottom from Brian Fenerty, which was the first graphic representation I found on the internet.  It came from a really cool astronomy page about how fast earth is traveling.

Not too long after finding some good graphics and learning how to set the view from the perspective of the Galactic Plane on Stellarium (free downloadable planetarium sodtware for your computer) ,  I rigged up a 12in earth globe at an angle to a table surface similar to our angle with the Galactic Plane. http://mpkellagher.blogspot.com/2016/03/trash-globe.html?m=1

So all this talk about Cetus the whale being on the midheaven when we face down into the bottom of the Milky Way, or Cygnus the swan being on the midheaven when we are turning down ... is related to our angle to the plane of the Milky Way.

To make sense of the constellation myths takes some focused meditation on actual heaven, as opposed to the heaven we grew up hearing about,  but like Plato I think the angle of the spheres that the stories refer to are a lot more fascinating than the surface entertainment value.  I know Socrates showed respect for the morally edifying qualities of the myths, but was inclined to censor the ones about gods behaving badly.

Timeaus, where I got the clue that the constellation stories were more than novel entertainment or edifying tales, is one of the few dialogues written by Plato that is not in the voice of Socrates.  Socrates was more occupied with catching intellectuals sleeping at the wheel than actually teaching trigonometry or celestial mechanics.  Plato used the voice of a younger man named Timeaus to outline some of the basic concepts of astronomy.  I was lucky to find a well annotated side by side translation by Benjamin Jowett.  I get a thrill out of unravelling the riddles of what appears to me to be a memory system infused with a timeless sense of humor. 

I say 'appears to me' because I have yet to see any similar  approach to the constellation stories outside Plato's Timeaus.  I do not yet have a page dedicated to an explanation of the constellation stories that refer to the galactic plane, but I do have a page about the mechanics behind the mascots of the zodiac.  I invite you to check it out and see if it makes sense to you. 

So, to paraphrase Plato; there are two circles and they make a cross like the letter X. 

If you're like me you'll think he's referring to the ecliptic and the celestial equator.  I assumed Benjamin Jowett did not know what he was talking about when he said Plato meant one circle is the ecliptic and one is the galactic plane.  Later, when studying the Fenerty image you see below, I saw the light.  Ha ha.

There are 2 systems being poetically described in the stories of the old constellations.  (This does not include constellations named after the time of Plato.)  One system is the zodiac which explains the relationship of our tilted earth to the ecliptic.  The rest of the old constellations like Pegasus, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Cetus and Orion (under world characters), Auriga, Canis Major, Argo Navis. Cygnus, Aquila (Milky Way coming up or Milky Way going down), then a couple from the upper dome of the galaxy - Ursa Major and my favorite, contained in the 26,000 year circle of the moving north pole, Draconis.

I know this is a lot of information to take in at one go.  Please do not give up on making sense of heaven.  It is worth your time to focus on these riddles when you are in a seriously meditative mood.  Once you 'get' the stories the gods will be your good buddies for like for ever.

 

Planatery Ephemerides

Sometimes you look at a chart and see that a planet is retrograde and wonder when it started its backward motion.  Or you may see a planet at the beginning or end of a sign and wonder about the exact moment of crossing.  The Planetary Cycles and Sign Ingresses files at astro.com are an excellent source for gaining quick, precise answers to these questions.  All it takes is a few clicks and in less than 30 seconds you can download the file you need to see how time was flowing before and after the moment you are studying in a chart.

Planetary ephemeris files are a bit different from basic yearly ephemerides.  Nowadays there are many basic yearly ephemerides available for free on the internet.  Some sites even have the files as web pages that do not require downloading.  While the yearly ephemeride files at astro.com include the midnight Universal Time (aka GMT) positions of all planets and the north node for every day of the year, the planetary files focus on the exact Universal Times for points of interest in the cycles of individual bodies.  So instead of just knowing Jupiter entered Scorpio sometime after midnight UT on Oct 10, 2017 you can see the exact moment of ingress.

A few posts back, in Microscope to River, I included screenshots from the 2017 astro.com ephemeris.  Today I present a series of highlighted screenshots showing how to navigate to the ephemeris and download a file for Jupiter.  You need the Adobe pdf app to open and read the downloaded files, or another app to read pdf files may work. 

The first image shows where to click on the astro.com home page.  After selecting the Astrology drop down menu scroll down and click on 9000 Years Ephemeris.  Yes, 9000 years.  Amazing the wealth of perfectly good data people give away for absolutely nothing.  This form of generosity is a constant source of inspiration for me..

Scroll down past the few explanatory paragraphs and the list of centuries and select Planetary Cycles and Ingresses.  From there you can pick your planet and the time period you are interested in. 

For current Jupiter info you want the 1600 - 2100 file under the heading  Jupiter cycle data.  The 4th image shows where to click.  Unless your device is slow it should not take more than a fraction of a minute to download.  Since the file begins at 1600 you have to scroll way down to get to 2017.

The last ephemeris image shows Evening set highlighted on Oct 13 in green and Morning rise on Nov 8 in yellow.  Just above the green line you can see that Jupiter entered Scorpio  Oct 10 at 13:20 UT.  Raleigh converts UT to eastern time by subtracting 5 hours (8:20am) and then adding an hour for daylight savings, giving 9:20 am.  We check our balance of time by requestiing a chart for Oct 10, 9:21am Raleigh to see if it shows Jupiter at 00Scorpio.

You can see Jupiter at 00Scorpio in the chart that wraps up this post.  It was a bit above the eastern horizon in Raleigh, but of course invisible because of Apollo's many arrows.

Another Busy Mercury Transit

Can you spot Mercury and Sun above the eastern horizon in the chart for 8:33 this morn in Raleigh?  And Jupiter right on the line?  Sun is only 15 degrees behind Jupiter in the Zodiac.  It will catch up to Jupiter in about 15 days.  Up until a few weeks ago we could see Jupiter for a few minutes in the west at sunset.  Now the Sun is so close that the bright shining planet is invisible.

Soon Venus will also disappear.  It is coming closer to Sun every day.  But the Sun, with Venus in tow, is moving further from Mars.  So while Jupiter is gone for a few months, Mars is just beginning its long journey through the night sky.

Sometimes it is wise to just focus on the movements in the charts and not try to figure out what is really happening in the sky.  Like taking a few bites from a sandwich and saving the rest in a plastic bag in the fridge.  If you keep looking at the Sun and Moon and other planets like you're opening the fridge to check out what's available, you'll remember the rest of the sandwich is there when you're hungry for it.

Reading the Old Timey Map

This is what Venus and Mars 6:23am in Raleigh this morn looks like in the chart.  Venus is so bright it is unmistakable.  It is maybe a finger ahead of Mars.  Mars is very faint and red.  At 6:23 they were about a thin hand (fingers pointing sideways) above the trees. 

The second chart shows when they were first visible above the trees at 5:50am.

Acid and Electric Stars

I was thinking about electrons and how the physicists on Quorum keep repeating that they are not particles.  I recalled a conversation about clean, mild acid and how that feeling in my jaw when i'm tripping reminds me of  electric stars.

Electric star is a game I learned from skydivers.  An opened wire hanger is inserted into a live electrical outlet and a group of people hold hands with the two people nearest the outlet  holding the "live" wire.  As people drop out of the group the current feels progressively stronger.

I only did it once, but the current running through my body was a cool and intriguing feeling.  I wondered if being able to participate in another electric star after all these years would help me better understand electrons.  It was the first time I had ever thought of that one experience in an electric star as educational.

I made a chart for the moment.  The Leo section of Sagittarius was rising here in Raleigh.  Saturn, which just entered the Virgo section of Sag was right there on the eastern horizon.

Remember, as you look at the chart, that we residents of Northern Hemisphere look south to see the equator and ecliptic, so east is on the left and west is on the right.  Everything under the horizontal line is on the far side of earth from Raleigh.

Mercury was on the MC, which stands for Medium Coeli, a latin abbreviation for midheaven, which is the same thing as due south.  In other words, Raleigh was rotating to the closest point with Mercury in it's 24 hour cycle.  (We faced closest to the Sun at about 1:02pm today)

There is a key at bottom left of the charts if you're not sure about the symbols for the planets.  Mercury is right near the MC in the first chart, and Sun is right near MC in the second one.  Then you can see the Moon at the bottom of the chart 'opposing' them.  I think of opposition as fulfillment, as in full Moon shining through the night.

Many Meditations

The chart is for Thurs afternoon in Raleigh and shows Venus catching up to Mars.  It will be late afternoon in England and the Sun will have set in Pakistan.  But for all of us on Earth the planet of kindness and harmony will be meeting the one of strife.  They are the two closest to us, we live between them in our orbit around the Sun.  This meeting occurs as Venus travels toward the far side of Earth's orbit with Sun.

In terms of the zodiac, that poetic breakdown of the realtionship between our celestial equator, our bulging waistline projected like a circular light stick that children carry for night fests, into the heavenly heights - the relationship between that imaginary but at the same time very real belt and the belt of our parh around the Sun; kindness meets striving in the Aries section of Virgo. 

You can see them together at 19 Virgo near the top of the chart.  I've come to think of this section, just after the halfway point of the sign of apprenticeship, as the step where the student has reached fulfillment of study and practice and must now put their new awareness to the test of the unknown.  I picture a student teacher in front of his first students or a scientist  executing her first experiment.

A couageous step in learning is the place where these two planets meet. 

Meanwhile Moon is in Aries, Mercury is racing at top speed of the inner track around the far side of the Sun.....

And because Sun and Mercury are in Libra they are both disposited by, or disposed to listen to and heed the advice of Venus.  Jupiter in Libra has been diposed to Venus all year, and since Saturn in Sagittarius has been disposed to Jupiter, and Pluto in Capricorn disposed to Saturn we have all roads leading ultimately to active kindness.

But kindness itself, the actual planet Venus, will be on the front line helping Mars strive through this learning challenge, this trying out of fresh ideas. 

There are so many avenues for meditation in every chart.  The opportunities for wisdom are far beyond my little mind.  I slip into contemplation of this moment like a swimmer letting herself down into the water. 

Why is the glyph for Virgo so similar to the one for Scorpio?  Could it be the cross at the foot of Virgo's two humps shows crossing above the ecliptic while the Scorpio arrow shows shows climbing toward the final ascent?  As planets advance through Virgo, Libra and then Scorpio we see them progressively lower in the sky.  The change in Virgo is rapid, but only apparent to those who consciously measure the change from one day to the next. 

The m with the cross reminds me of our day trips up mountains in childhood.  We ran through the foothills eager to get to the real fun of scrambling over boulders and jumping across crevices.  After an hour of hiking we could look down and see a limited view of the fields and roads from where we started. As we ascended the mountain the valley fell farther behind and smaller in relation to the expanding horizon.  Libra glyph, could it be a cloud hovering over a horizon?  Then before the final Sagittarian thrill of running around for various views from the top, we had the Scorpio scramble over craggy terrain.  The switch backs and hairpin turns made it seem like we were going nowhere.  We had to watch our step and keep track of how younger siblings, or the dog that got out of the house and tracked us up the mountain, made dangerous passages.  We started gauging time to see how much daylight we had left, some days we had to face the sad realities of delayed starts and turn around before reaching the top.  Scorpio - so close we hated turning back - such an investment of time and energy seemingly wasted.

Virgo, Libra and Scorpio - the ascent that leads to the only comprehensive understanding of where we actually began.  And when we look at the sky it appears as a descent.