Hey everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying the recent solstice vibes, and that your summer (everybody in the northern hemisphere) is off to a great start.
Tonight and tomorrow night there is a very special opportunity to observe a rare celestial event: a tight Moon-Venus-Mars triple conjunction. The last time we could have seen an alignment like this was in February of 2017. The next time won’t be until November of 2027, nearly 6 1/2 years from now.
So get outside somewhere special tonight, perhaps with someone you love, and find a spot where there is a great view for the sunset. After sunset wait to see Venus and the Moon emerge from the twilight, and then wait until it’s darker, (about an hour after sunset), and you should be able to see Mars very close to Venus. They are within about a degree of each other these next five nights, and if you have good conditions it should be pretty easy to spot Mars, though it is not much brighter than a star right now. This is because Mars is nearly as far as it gets from the Earth, and is about to disappear from view behind the Sun in about a month.
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Tonight the Moon will be below them both, within 4-5 degrees, and tomorrow night it will be above them. If you have a pair of binoculars it is worth bringing them to see Mars really pop, and to seen its striking red color. I brought my binoculars out last night, and it was so beautiful Mars within the same field of view as Venus.
Venus and Mars are truly the dance partners of the solar system. No other pair has the cycles of visibility that these two do, sometimes appearing in the evening sky and then coming back for another dance in the morning sky six months later. Sometimes they can conjoin twice in the evening or the morning skies, and sometimes they don’t quite meet, but stay close together for a longer period of time. Every six 1/2 years they cannot be seen at all when they meet for an unseen dance in the underworld, where they are obscured by the light of the Sun.
When they meet in the evening sky Venus is moving towards the Earth and is growing brighter in the western sky night by night. Mars, on the other hand, appears to dim in brightness as we on the Earth move further away from them towards the other side of the Sun. It is Venus on their return from the underworld meeting with Mars who is on their way there. Venus shares her light and love with Mars, granting him courage as he embarks into the depths that she has just returned from. They will be close together like this for the next couple of weeks.
Six months from now they will again see each other on the dance floor and they will embrace after a long absence. In this case it will be a long dance in the morning sky lasting from about the end of January until mid April. They will be brighter than they are right now and visible for longer in those morning skies before sunrise.
As I feel into the uniqueness of this embrace of lovers in the evening sky, I hear two clear messages coming from them, “Pursue what you love the most, what turns you on, what brings you the most pleasure,” and “remember that life is a dance and that you must fully participate in that dance.” Sometimes it’s a morning dance, and other times an evening dance. Sometimes lovers are absent from each other, and sometimes they send love from afar, but they are always with us, reminding us of the force and potency of love to transform heartache and heart longing into love rekindled and burning bright.
These planetary dancers are asking us questions. How are you gaining strength from love right now, and how are you giving love to yourself, as you leap towards those pleasure timelines? Are you reminding yourself that love is always dancing with you in all that you pursue, and what is the goal that love has in mind for you?
Whom do you love and what do you love? What attracts you the most, and what actions do you need to take so you don’t miss those timelines?
For me, it is spending time with the sky and her amazing rhythms and pulses. So I’m gonna get after it, because I’ve learned enough by now to know that it is so worth it to take the time to pray under the sky.
Wishing you all happy sky watching. Blessings! Love!