New Moon Center Stage in Birjand, Iran

The new moon is now a done deal, but we can still talk about it.  I’ve got a few maps showing where it was in the sky in a few places around the globe.  The sun was not yet up in our town but it was in a lot of other places. 

 

Around here, people up sky gazing before sunrise could have seen Venus, except for the clouds.  I don’t know because I was sound asleep.  Looking at the first chart (for Raleigh) you can see the symbol for our lovely neighbor light (♀) at 4°♊32‛ and it had just ascended.  

The rest of the charts are for the same time in different places around the globe.  

The Sun/Moon pair are pretty high in Istanbul and Baghdad, but not quite center stage.

The last chart shows Birjand, Iran where the local time was 12:38pm.  You can tell it was the same time on all the charts because the fast moving Moon was lined up with Sun and the Universal Time was the same.  Universal Time is about the same thing as Greenwich Mean Time. 

Since Birjand was facing the Sun/Moon coupling, located at almost 6°♋ we know they had just gone through the lowest point in their daily revolution on earth’s tilted axis.  While the Sun is in Cancer (♋) we see it highest in the sky.  Whoever sees the Sun, or any other object on the mid heaven when it is at its highest elevation knows they are at their lowest point in their daily spin. 

While Birjand was it its low point, Bakersfield California was its high point with Capricorn (♑) on the MC (I did not make a chart for Bakersfield- you will just have to believe me, or go find the Bakersfield and Birjand on the globe).  Raleigh was turning down, as shown by the sign Aquarius (♒).  Are you dizzy yet?

For a review of the different signs on the mid heaven and how that relates to the Earth turning on its axis go to this link.

Last but not at all least- it took me 20 years to figure this stuff out. Part of the problem is that this is so difficult to explain - I have not seen it laid out anywhere in my studies of astrology.  Though the concept is amazingly simple it is not at all obvious.  Please do not despair if you cannot make sense of this stuff.  Give it time.  One day you will look at a clock and translate that to knowing where you actually are on Earth in our solar system and it will be worth it to have felt so lost when you started out trying to understand the real meaning of astrology.  Don't give up.....and one day you will know where you really are.

Unicode Values for Astrology Symbols

I found a list of Unicode values for astrology symbols on Wikipedia.  This is a test list.  I typed it into a word document and then copy pasted to the blog post.  To get the symbol,  type in the numbers, then while holding down the Alt key hit the x key.  For example to make ☉ type 2609, then hold down the Alt key (probably at bottom of keyboard) while you type lower case x.

Not all of these work as advertized.  I noticed in the testing that a few of the Unicode values for aspect symbols give a square symbol in a Microsoft document which changes to the Wikipedia listed symbol when copied to the blog.  They won't work everywhere either.  For instance they don't show up at all in my android phone.





Here is a link to the Wiki list  Astrological Symbols

☉= 2609

☽= 263D

☾= 263E

☿= 263F

♀= 2640

⊕ = 2295

♂ = 2642

♃ = 2643

♄ = 2644

♅ = 2645

♆ = 2646

⚷ = 26B7

♇ = 2647

☊ = 260A

℞ = 211E

♉ = 2649

♊ = 264A

♋ = 264B

♌ = 264C

♍ = 264D

♎ = 264E

♏ = 264F

♐ = 2650

♑ = 2651

♒ = 2652

♓ = 2653

☌ = 260C

⚺ = 26BA

∠ = 2220

⚹ = 26B9

□ = 25A1

△ = 25B3

☍ = 260D

Presenting Part 2 in the Zodiac Series

In this 2^nd  installment of the Zodiac Series we view the Cancer quadrant.  (See Stone Circles for 1st part of zodiac series.) When 0degrees Cancer is on the MC, Raleigh is at the lowest point in its daily spin around Earth’s axis.  In the sky, the visible length of ecliptic is bisected, and we can see as much coming up in the East as there is going down in the West.  As we climb through Leo and Virgo to the beginning of Libra, we see the visible length of ecliptic shortening in the East and stretching out further to the West.
  

Beginning with the culmination* of Cancer we enter a protracted process of losing our ability to objectively perceive what is coming next.  By the time 0degrees Virgo is on the MC we are losing more than a degree of visibility in the East for every 5degrees the Earth turns.  The diminished ability to see what is coming is balanced by the stretching out of the ecliptic in the West.

Sometimes I think of a canoe going down a river with thick foliage along the banks. On a long, straight stretch the paddler can see what is coming, but when she reaches a curve the view of the waters up ahead is obstructed by the foliage along the banks.  She can look back on the straight stretch and see far, but the curve up ahead makes it impossible to see upcoming rapids or other dangers.
   

How far will that line representing the midheaven move to the left, showing a shrinking view of the future, before it begins to open out again?  In the 3^rd installment, showing charts for the Libra quadrant culminating from Raleigh, we’ll see just how short the oncoming vista gets. 

* For observers north of Earth’s equator, a point in the heavens culminates when it is exactly due south.  For example when the Sun culminates at midday, it is seen due south.

Spring Equinox Quick Map

We must have a scout map before the Earth gets too far from the cardinal point of the spring equinox!  At 1:20pm clock time today it is actually 12:20pm and we in Raleigh are almost exactly half way down in our daily descent from Capricorn via Aries to Cancer.  During spring equinox, when our ‘side’ is facing the sun, we see Sol on the midheaven when we are sticking out like the bucket on a Ferris Wheel half way to the bottom.  Weeeeee!!!  Aries!!!

And today the Moon is in Capricorn, lined up with Pluto...  it is just disappeared in the west in this chart for 1:20pm. Raleigh won’t see Luna in the sky again till after we have rotated to the bottom (Cancer) tonight at sunset and then come back up on the side facing Mars and Saturn (Libra).  We’ll have to rotate all the way above the middle (Libra) and through half of the sign Scorpio before we round the corner of our planet blocking light from the Moon.  If you are up at 4:30am you can see Mars and Saturn due south and the Moon in the East.  It would take visual super powers to see Pluto wayyyy off in the distance, in the same direction as the Capricorn Moon.

Stone Circles

This is the first of four installments in a series of charts designed to facilitate meditation on how the zodiac was originally developed.

This first installment of 18 half size charts illustrates the culmination of the first 3 signs of the zodiac- Aries, Taurus and Gemini.  In the first chart the line for the midheaven is skewed to the right and labeled 0degrees Aries07minutes.  Notice that the line for the midheaven (MC) moves closer to the middle as we progress through the culmination of the rest of the sign Aries and the following sign Taurus.  By the time Gemini is culminating (reaching the midheaven) most of the change has already taken place.  There is very little difference in the midheaven from one degree of Gemini to the next.  Gemini is the sign of the twins.  Gemini's particular mechanical nature will be even more evident when we get to Sagittarius and you can see the opposing contrast.