By Len Wallick
Its a busy sky, literally and figuratively.
It would do us some good to start with the literal for a change. Weather permitting, make some time to go outside at night, soon. Tonight, if possible. Just after sunset, look to the West for an impressive lineup. Close to the horizon and to your right is the biggest challenge, Mercury. If you are lucky enough to live on a high spot away from city lights (or on the beach) you just might be able to make it out. Binoculars will help.
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From there, follow a diagonal up and to the left. Straight ahead and unmistakeably bright is Venus. Very near Venus for the next night or two, is the bright star Regulus. Keep looking up and to the left to find Mars and finally, Saturn. With Venus, you can’t miss. As for the rest, remember the diagonal sight line and the fact that planets don’t twinkle.
Just before dawn in the East, look towards the south to find Jupiter, nearly as bright as Venus. To the left and close to the rising Sun, the crescent Moon.
There, didn’t it feel good to get away from the computer for a while and see the real thing? Now when you look at today’s chart, a few things could fall into place with a different perspective.
And perspective is what today’s astrology seems to be calling for. There’s a lot going on and sorting it out is a challenge. Sort of like our collective and personal lives. Starting with the big stuff. This weekend is the total solar eclipse most of us will not see. Most of us are bound to feel it, however. It concludes the cycle that started with the partial lunar eclipse that took place on June 26.
The eclipse cycle takes place in the midst of the cardinal t-square which is getting tighter by the minute. Uranus is retrograding back towards the Aries point. In doing so, it is approaching its fifth and final exact opposition with Saturn which is now direct in the final degree of Virgo. Pluto meantime, is still retrogressing in the fourth degree of Capricorn.