Crescent Moon-Mercury-Pleiades-Sunset Apr 26, 2009

Space Weather News for April 25, 2009

SUNSET CONJUNCTION: When the sun goes down on Sunday, April 26, step outside and look west. An exquisitely-slender crescent Moon is lining up with Mercury and the Pleiades star cluster for a three-way conjunction in the sunset sky.

Click here for the full story and a sky map.

UNEXPECTED SOLAR ACTIVITY: The sun produced an unexpected burst of activity on April 23 when an enormous prominence rose over the northeastern limb and erupted. A coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed away from the blast site, but the billion-ton cloud is not heading toward Earth.

Visit SpaceWeather News for movies of the event.

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Well, April 26’s Moon-Mercury-Pleaides conjunction at Sunset sounds lovely visually and astronomically – but perhaps not as lovely astrologically due to the mythology of the Pleiades.

Plus, first view of the slender Crescent Moon begins the Lunar Calendar month in the East.

The Pleiades is a small cluster of 7 stars which takes up less than one degree in the heavens (about the width of one finger) at the end of the zodiac’s sign of Taurus, the Bull.

There are centuries’ worth of myths associated with the Pleiades, aka the ‘Seven Sisters,’ and themes for the cluster vary slightly: ‘a Narrow Cloudy Trail of Female Stars (Manilius), the Seven Sisters of Industry (China), the children of Atlas, the seven daughters of Pleione, and the seven doves who took Zeus his divine ambrosia.

The Celts (my clan for the most part) link them to the Fates and the achronycal rising of the Pleiades marked their month of mourning for lost friends. (This relates to the first of our month of November which pre-echoes what we now call Halloween, and Nov 1 which some call, All Saints Day.)

In India, the Pleiades myth was linked with seven mothers who judged men and could wound them with their moon-shaped razors, if so judged.

Crescent Moon (symbol of the Middle East), Mercury, and the Pleiades…Iran’s lady captive, Roxanna Saberi, set free perhaps? (Moon is out-of-bounds of the earthly plane and having to manage on her own for now….sign petition below.)

In ancient Greece, the stars of the Pleiades were part of a cult of Aphrodite who gave birth to seven daughters only to turn them into a flock of doves which became the seven stars of the Pleides. The leader of the doves was dove-goddess Alcyone, who brings good weather for the planting season.

Nowadays Alcyone is positioned at 00Gem00 Gemini, and the star’s keywords are ‘something to cry about’ (‘Horary Astrology’, Anthony Louis.)

This difficult star is associated with exile and suffering; water and/or flooding may be connected as well with sorrow ensuing.

Hopefully, the Crescent Moon and Mercury at Sunset on April 26 amongst the beautiful stars of the Pleiades will bring the world dried-up tears and joyful ambrosia sans sadness!

Sign an online petition to release Roxanna Saberi here.

Apr 26, 2009, Washington, DC, Sunset 7:51:36 pm edt:

ASC 6Sco52, Sun 6Tau52…’7 Taurus’…’A Woman of Samaria Comes to Draw Water from Jacob’s Well.’ (‘360 Degrees of the Zodia’ by Lynda Hill.)

Hour of Jupiter (23AQ23 – 4th house with Chiron and Neptune 26AQ12), Moon 1Gem43 just barely into 7th house with Mercury 27Tau06 conj Fixed Star Algol, a star with one of the more vicious reputations in the sky.

In fact, Diana Rosenberg has connected Algol’s prominent activity in charts of harmful fires.

At Midheaven (MC) of the Sunset chart set for DC is 13Leo30 which displays Pres. Obama’s natal Sun position.

The 5th house line-up of Uranus 25Pis00, Venus 00Ari46 (AP), and Mars 3Ari25 have asteroid Atlantis there also at Aries Point…keywords for Atlantis: ‘where we feel doomed; abuse of power.’

Venus and chart-ruler Mars are engaged in an ‘opportunity aspect’ (sextile = 60 degr) with the Moon in Gemini, sign of travel, esp air flights, and I pray that all captives may be returned soon to their sorrowing families as world leaders’ accustomed ‘abuse of power’ be transcended by doing what’s right for a change!

But now there is that lonely, unaspected Saturn 15Vir15 Rx, 10th house, acting as the ‘bucket’s handle’ once again but with Luna on the verge of ‘spilling out’ of the bucket and meeting up with transiting Midas 7Gem50 Direct in 8th house…could this indicate ransom money being paid for a certain detained lady?

And on another level a Moon-Midas contact could indicate more relating to our current financial issues (8th house) as money (Midas) is made available to the people (Moon.)

Well, bring it on – it was ours to begin with!

All in all, I’d say that April 26’s celestial display has more meaning in the Lunar Calendar than in our Solar-based world…because most of the info we get from our culture concerning such celestial events is simply ‘lovely.’

Have you any thoughts on the subject?

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‘Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars’ available at Amazon Books; Saturn as bucket handle explained more fully by the excellent John Townley at AstroCocktail, if you’re thirsty.