The Storyteller's Night Sky

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.