Mars Passes Deneb Algedi May 3 & 4

Mars passes over Deneb Algedi in the morning sky May 3rd & 4th. Deneb Algedi is the star that marks the tail of Capricorn the sea-goat or crocodile (Makara in Sanskrit). Deneb Algedi is actually an eclipsing binary star. It is a binary star system because there are actually 3 … Continue reading →

Moon with Aldebaran & Venus – April 25 & 26

Look due west as sunset darkens to sky to see the Moon join Aldebaran this evening April 25 and then Venus tomorrow April 26. Aldebaran is the alpha star of Taurus, marking the eye of the Bull. Aldebaran is a red giant with a radius 44 times larger than our … Continue reading →

New Moon April 22, 2020 Ashwini Nakshatra

The New Moon on April 22, 2020 at 22:26 Eastern Daylight Time occurs at sidereal 9-Aries-16 (Lahiri ayanamsha) in Ashwini Nakshatra. The image below shows the chart of the new moon cast for Washington DC. The new moon in the 6th house indicates there is a still a health concern. … Continue reading →

Lyrid Meteor Shower active April 16 – 28

Activity from the Lyrid Meteor shower begins tonight April 16 and ends on April 28. Earth will be passing through the orbit of comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. Some of the debris left behind by the comet will enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn creating the streaking or shooting star effect. The … Continue reading →

Nine Conjunctions in Sagittarius in January 2020 Involving Mercury, Jupiter, Sun, Ketu, Saturn and Pluto

There is a stellium of 6 planets transiting through sidereal Sagittarius in January 2020. In zodical order on January 1st they are Mercury, Jupiter, Sun, Ketu, Saturn and Pluto. Ketu made its exact conjunctions with Saturn and Pluto in the spring of 2019. The Sun made its exact conjunction with … Continue reading →

Eclipses Surrounding the 2020 New Year

I have always looked at eclipses as wild cards in astrology because on one hand they can obscure or hide things (as the moon blocks the sun or earth’s shadow overcasts the moon) making things fail to materialize as expected. Yet on the other hand they can reveal what is … Continue reading →

Nitya Yoga (panchanga)

Nitya means daily.  These are daily yogas formed by the angular relationship between the Sun & Moon. Since the Moon travels on average 13°20’ a day, these Yogas are based on that angle of separation between the Sun and Moon. These take a bit longer than a Nakshatra where only … Continue reading →

Karana – Half Lunar Day

There are 60 Karanas in a lunation cycle that represents a 6° separation between the Sun and Moon – half the longitudinal length of the 30 Tithis. They too will vary in the length of time due to the varying speed of the Moon. Karana means instrument. They give us … Continue reading →

Tithi – Lunar Day

The Tithis are the 30 divisions of the synodic cycle1 between the Sun and Moon, or put another way, the 30 lunar days between one New Moon and the next. The actual length of the Solar-Lunar synodic cycle is about 29.5 days. Therefore, we would think each Tithi is slightly … Continue reading →

Nakshatra (Panchanga)

The Nakshatras are the 13°20’ asterisms that divide the zodiac into twenty-seven segments, often called the Lunar Mansions. The Panchanga will list the Nakshatra that the Moon is in at the start of the day and give the time it enters the next Nakshatra. We must pay attention to the … Continue reading →