Keeping an Eye on the Real Sky — Part 2

February begins with Venus and Mars joining up in morning sky. Venus rising 30° ahead of the Sun has just finished her retrograde, and now awaits Mars to catch her by Feb 16th, teaming up like allies before their meeting with Pluto at 27° Capricorn in the first days of March.

Visually as morning stars in the southern hemisphere Venus can be seen below Mars and to the his left, and in the northern hemisphere Venus can be seen just above and to the left of Mars. Remember as we look to toward the celestial equator from either hemisphere, we are looking up or down from above our below. To understand this turn your back to the celestial equator and tilt your head backwards to see things as if from the other hemisphere, helpful when seeing graphics, photos and images that show the opposite hemisphere you are in. The image shown on this page, is set for Melbourne Australia on 7th Feb 6:00am, with Mars, Venus and Mercury as visible morning stars, as the Sun and Saturn rise, Mars is at the head of the Archer constellation, near fixed star Kaus Borealis, with Mercury on his cape, Venus on the shield, known as the small constellation Scutum and the Sun and Saturn plot their next cycle in the belly of the Sea Goat.

In recent years it has become quite significant to separate the words used for constellations and signs, so as not to confuse people when learning and trying to understand astrology as it translates in the real sky. I am more than often surprised as practising astrologers, have no idea what goes on above. As we know precession has separated signs from constellations over the past 2000 years by now 25°, and using different words to define SIGNS and CONSTELLATIONS help us also separate them. It really is the foremost requirement fo understanding what we are doing as astrologers,, lesson 101 for me when teaching about signs and constellations. If we don't get set on the right course, our astrology will be off by miles in the future. Of course it is the one big thing we get ridiculed for so much by astronomers, that we don’t understand the difference. Using these differentiations will help us all advance further this understanding and maybe teach astronomers a thing or two!

SIGNS - CONSTELLATIONS

Aries - The Ram, Taurus - The Bull, Gemini - The Twins, Cancer - The Crab, Leo - The Lion, Virgo - The Maiden, Libra- The Scales, Scorpio - The Scorpion, Sagittarius - The Archer, Capricorn - The Sea Goat, Aquarius - The Water Bearer, Pisces - The Fish

The image above shows the three 3 types of zodiacs we should all be aware of as seen on an astrology chart.

Tropical Zodiac : The inner wheel set at zero Aries, all signs are of equal size 30° each, that begins when the Sun crosses the equator at the vernal Equinox, set for 7th Feb, 2022, Melbourne, 6:00am

Sidereal Zodiac: The 2 middle wheel, all signs are 30° each, begining with the include the Lahiri ayanamsa calculations (there are various others) that begins with zero Aries on April 15th when the Sun is opposite the fixed star Spica. We can see the 24° difference quite clearly in the diagram.

Constellational Zodiac: Showing the various size differences of the constellations in regard to the signs, for example The Maiden(Virgo) takes up about 50° of the ecliptic, whereas Scorpio are large constellation, as it crosses the ecliptic only takes up about 10°. The diagram below shows the same as above, with the Constellations as their asterisms seen in the sky.

Back to the skies ahead! From around February 9th, 2022, Venus reaches her greatest brilliancy, and it is at these times you can even spot Venus during the day, follow the Sun on the ecliptic line or use your trusty phone app to find exact position. Read FULL article on her next cycle here and dates for next 19mth cycle.

Jupiter is still seen in evening sky during February and begins to sink into the Sun’s beams by mid Feb, making morning skies much more exciting during February for planet watching, with the first exact Mars - Venus conjunction at 17° Capricorn on 16th February. Worth getting up for. Mars and Venus travel together for an unusual and visible morning star phase for over 50 days using a 5° orb in February and March. Yet we can see using Stellarium and the graphic ephemeris, (See page 38) that they won’t completely meet by parallel and declination during this period.

By March 6th Jupiter meets the Sun at 16° Pisces, as Mars and Venus make their next conjunction at zero Aquarius, much closer in the real sky than the previous meet up, and 3° apart in parallel, almost a teasing aspect if you think about what Mars and Venus mean. (see image top right) Visually they are now both ahead of the Sea Goat, heading thru the Sea Goat constellation, moving forward yet following where Mercury, Saturn and the Sun have just been, leaving clues along the way.

By the time of the Vernal Equinox, Venus reaches her 48° maximum elongation from the Sun, before meeting Saturn on March 29th, followed by Mars and Saturn meeting on the 5th of April at 22° Aquarius this time at the tail of the Sea Goat. Mars will make a direct hit in the same declination and therefore parallel to Saturn, (see image middle right and graphic ephemeris) making this a most significant meeting, the last few have also been close, 2020, 2018, but not always. Learning to see conjunctions by parallel, is a great way to see how planets truly line up, not just in zodiacal longitude measured along the ecliptic. When planets line up on all levels, we know we have a most significant alignment occurring.

With the divine conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune meeting at 24° Pisces on April 13th, they also meet at the same parallel accentuating their coming together in Pisces. They meet near the circlet of the Fish constellation the head of the Southern fish. Researching this part of the sky and its meaning in other cultures and cosmologies, it’s interesting to note that in Taiwan, China and Korean starlore, this area of the sky denotes clouds, rain, lightning and thunderbolts. In ancient Lithuania this area of the sky and the Fish constellation were seen as a lightning bolt, connecting Heaven and Earth. In western Greek mythology the story of the Fish and the origin of Pisces, tell the tale of Aphrodite and her son Eros being chased by a monster, Typhon (Typhoon comes to mind)) So they turned into fish and jumped into the river to escape. They tied themselves together with a cord to make sure they would not lose one another in the tumbling waters. Venus and Mars also enter tropical Pisces, Venus April 6th and Mars April 15th joining the divine gathering, a visual feast to behold, with the balsamic Moon joining also at the end of April. Also, quite a signature for wild and wet weather ahead!

Learning to use declination and parallel with the graphic ephemeris and software like Stellarium give us a better visual sense of what is happening in the sky. The mornings are on fire in the coming months, so get out there and take it in!

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All stellarium images set for Melbourne, Australia. Graphics by author.