Ask Christine Astrology

I’ve tried a few times, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mercury for myself, with or without a telescope. Now Yahoo! News has picked up a column by Space.com astronomer Joe Rao that beautifully describes how Northern Hemisphere observers might be able to spot our swift neighbor if the view is unobstructed and the atmosphere cooperates.

Tomorrow through May 22, with best naked-eye viewing around April 30-May 6, look low in the west-northwest sky at dusk. Rao says that tomorrow, Mercury should become visible about 30 minutes after sunset. He gives excellent viewing instructions in the article I mentioned above.

I wonder where I can get a good look at the west-northwest sky this week?

It’s just this side of too-early-to-be-awake, but I got out of bed just to get a good look at Jupiter before the Sun comes up. It’s at about 21 Capricorn, just about square the Sun now at about 21 Aries, so I can see it high in the southern sky, a bit east of south, as the dawn approaches.

Jupiter’s not happy in Capricorn, in plain terms. Consult a Ptolemaic table of essential dignities and you’ll see that Jupiter is in its fall in Capricorn. The Greater Benefic typically cannot act as a benefic here. I suppose it’s because Jupiter, a hot, moist planet and naturally associated with generosity and abundance, can’t find the fertile soil it needs for expansion in Capricorn’s craggy, mountainous earth.

There are two small spans of Capricorn where Jupiter has some essential strength. From 0 Capricorn 00 to 9 Capricorn 59, Jupiter is in its face, the least of essential dignities. From 12 Capricorn 00 to 18 Capricorn 59, Jupiter is in its term, the next dignity up from face. Jupiter will revisit its term from the end of June until the beginning of September, during its retrograde period.

Speaking of that retrograde period, did you know that whenever Jupiter is stationing - direct or retrograde - it is trine the Sun? This is a smart shortcut to remember whether you’re a horary or a natal astrologer. If you see Jupiter trine the Sun in a chart, keep in mind that Jupiter is on the verge of changing directions (or has just done so), and that it is extremely slow compared to its usual speed. Obviously this doesn’t apply to transits to your natal chart.

Jupiter’s first station this spring is at 22 Capricorn 22 on May 9th. Jupiter retrogrades back to 12 Capricorn 32 and stations on September 8th. So summer in the Northern Hemisphere will be a great time for Jupiter-spotting.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, look up at the sky any clear evening this month to see the approaching dance between one wanderer you know well and one fixed star you may not know as well. The latter is the glowing heart of the Lion. The former is the cold planet of lead.

These spring evenings are the perfect time to observe the grand constellation of Leo, the Lion. Look up in the southern sky around 10pm any night this week to see a great backwards question mark (the lion’s head and mane) punctuated by the fixed star Regulus. Its name is Latin for “Little King,” and it’s also known as the Heart of the Lion from its location in the constellation.

Just to the left of Regulus these days, parking on the Lion’s chest, is the planetary wanderer Saturn, slow, cold, and elderly. A little distance further to the left, a small triangle of stars depicts the Lion’s crouching hindquarters. As spring progresses, you’ll need to step outside a little earlier each evening to see the constellation Leo at its height.

Saturn right now is retrograde in the early degrees of Virgo, about 2 degrees 18 minutes today. Regulus is poised just at the end of Leo, at 29 degrees 56 minutes. If you observe them carefully over the next several nights and weeks, you’ll see Saturn’s position verrrry sllllowly shift to the right, approaching, approaching, but growing slower and slower. The distance it has to travel to reach Regulus is small - just a couple of degrees of arc. The weight of leaden Saturn seems ready to drag down the Lion’s shining heart.

But the conjunction is never achieved. Saturn creeps to a fraction of its usual measured, ancient pace as it approaches its station. Finally, stationary at 1 Virgo 40 the first weekend of May, it comes as close as it will to the Little King at the end of Leo. And since, in this astrology, planets in two adjacent signs cannot be conjunct, its cold lead does not conquer the Heart of the Lion.

What can we expect from Saturn, ever the slowest of the classical seven planets, grinding to a halt in Virgo? I’d say inertia is the order of the day, the sense that you just can’t get projects off the ground. Lodged in Virgo, the sign ruling the intestines, stationary Saturn is a tummy ache that just won’t move. (Are you drinking your water? Getting enough fiber? Taking a walk after supper?)

Mentally, it’s a case of the doldrums, a penchant for melancholy thoughts. If Saturn’s station corresponds to an onset of inertia for you, perhaps spending time with your most regal, spirited friend - high-tempered, magnanimous, and generous - could help shake off those blues.

Each month’s full moon has a name to some folks, did you know that? I was vaguely aware of the prettier-sounding ones such as Full Strawberry Moon and Full Harvest Moon. But seeing that March 21st this year brings the Full Worm Moon made my nose crinkle a bit in confusion. How does a worm come to be honored with its own moon?

The answer, of course, is obvious when you think of farming. Lowly though it is, the worm is our natural earth-plower and soil-improver. In one end and out the other, soil goes through earthworms and, enriched with nutrients, is much the better for passing through. And the tunnels formed by worms as they live their lives help air and water circulate through the earth. What could be better for preparing land for new plantings after the frigid stillness of winter?

So this is the Aries/Libra full moon: the first full moon of the solar year that began at the spring equinox. The sign marking new life connects to the sign of fall’s harvest, when we hope the land may pay back our attention with a plentiful crop. A promise is made; we sow with the hope of reaping.