Living with the Stars

  On the 21st of December 2024, at 10:20am, the Sun moves into the sign of Capricorn. Over the past three months, ever since the autumnal equinox, Planet Earth's wobble has tilted the northern hemisphere away from the Sun. Tomorrow, the Sun will reach it's maximum declination south of the equator (remember, it's the height of summer in the southern hemisphere) and will start moving towards the equatorial (the equator projected out into space).  So why is this chart is important enough for a blog post to be dedicated to it? This type of chart is called an Ingress Chart and is used in mundane astrology, which charts the progress of a place (in this case it is set for Malta) at the moment the Sun enters the sign associated with a solstice or an equinox. In short, the affairs of a nation can be judged by this type of chart and is one of the most ancient types of judged charts in astrology. The planets signify specific things; the Sun, the ruler of a nation; the Moon, its people...

  On Thursday night, at 21:50, we celebrate the Summer Solstice. the time of year which celebrates the first astronomical day of the Summer season in the Northern Hemisphere. This means that tomorrow marks the longest day of the year and also the shortest night, measured in terms of daylight.  https://www.umass.edu/sunwheel/pages/moonteaching.html The Solstice marks a point in the year when the Sun is at its northernmost point. This point is an abstract one, on the celestial Tropic of Cancer (the Tropic of Cancer projected out into space), a parallel 23.5 degree north of the celestial equator (the equator projected out into space). At this solstice, as opposed to the Winter Solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is most tilted towards the Sun by a maximum angle of 23.5 degrees.  The Ancient ones knew about this day and gave it the utmost importance. They tracked the Sun's path across the sky and the length of daylight hours.  Scientifically, the summer solstice represents...

Have you ever wondered why we were taught that summer starts on the 21st of June? Or why the zodiac sign of Cancer begins around that date? Or indeed, the others seasons were assigned the dates they were assigned?  It is all very simple - it all has to do with the movement of the Earth around the Sun.  The summer solstice (as opposed to the winter solstice) occurs when the North Pole has maximum tilt towards the Sun. It is at this point that the sun reaches its highest position in the sky (outside of the tropics) and is also the longest day. Depending on the calendar, the summer solstice occurs between the 20th and the 22nd of June for the Northern Hemisphere (and between the 20th and the 23rd December in the Southern Hemisphere).  This year, the Summer Solstice occurs on the 21st June at 11:13am. This is when the Sun is at 0 degrees Cancer. This zodiac sign is associated with the crab, but in actual fact, it is the scarab which is a more precise representative of this si...

  Merry Solstice, readers!  At 16:59 hrs today, the 21st of December, the Sun moved into the zodiac sign of Capricorn, marking the end of its journey south and the return of light to the northern hemisphere. In three days, the light will begin to increase.  The return of light may not be that significant for us people living on an island in the Mediterranean, but further up north, where the nights are never ending, Yuletide was a huge event, where logs were burnt and people sat around fires and told stories. More south, our megalithic temples are now understood to be calendars in stone to mark the seasons, so tracking the movement of the Sun is understood to have been important, whether it was done for spiritual or agricultural purposes.  Astrologically, the chart cast for the Capricorn Ingress tells us a little bit about what's to come over the next few months. The Sun (circle with a dot) was below the horizon at zero degrees Capricorn. Most notable is a square aspe...