The Goddess Book of Days for Monday, June 20

Astrological beginning of the Sign of Cancer, dedicated to Ix Chel, Mayan Goddess of the Stars and Childbirth.

The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein

 

The Pagan Book of Days for Monday, June 20

Iron Skegge

The eve of the Summer Solstice, marks the martyrdom of Iron Skegge, tortured on the orders of the Norwegian king, Olaf Tryggvason. He died rather than give up his Pagan Faith.
 

Source

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

 

Monday, June 20

Monday is the sacred day of the moon, personified as the goddesses Selene, Luna, and Mani. The moon is ruler of flow, affecting the changeable and impressionable aspects of people. If a full moon falls on a Monday, then the powers of the moon are at their most potent.

Deity: Mani

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Planet: Moon

Tree: Willow

Herb: Chickweed

Stone: Agate

Animal: Crab

Element: Water

Color: Green

Rune: Lagu (L)

Celtic Tree Month of Duir(Oak) – June 10 – July 7. Oak month is a time for protection and strength, fertility, money and success, and good fortune.

Runic Half-Month of Dag(day) – June 14 – June 28

Goddess of the Month of Rosea – June 13 – July 10
 

Source

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

 

Sky This Week for June 20 to June 26, 2016

This week, it’s all about Saturn … but if you look close, you might spy an asteroid.

 

Monday, June 20

• Earth’s summer solstice occurs at 6:34 p.m. EDT, when the Sun reaches its farthest point north in the sky. The solstice marks the official beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and today has more hours of sunlight than any other. For astronomy buffs, however, long days translate into short nights and extended twilight, which limit our time under the stars.

Tuesday, June 21

• Asteroid 10 Hygeia currently lies near the border between the constellations Leo the Lion and Virgo the Maiden. This region lies about one-third of the way from the southeastern horizon to the zenith after evening twilight fades away. Tonight, you can find the 11th-magnitude asteroid 1° due south of the 4th-magnitude star Upsilon (u) Leonis.

Wednesday, June 22

• Magnificent Saturn reached its peak earlier this month, when it appeared opposite the Sun in the sky, and our view of the ringed planet remains spectacular. It is on display nearly all night among the background stars of southern Ophiuchus, hanging in the southeastern sky as darkness falls and climbing highest in the south around 11:30 p.m. local daylight time. Saturn continues to shine brightly, too, at magnitude 0.1. When viewed through a telescope, the planet measures 18″ across while the dramatic ring system spans 42″ and tilts 26° to our line of sight. This evening also provides an excellent view of the gas giant’s large family of moons. The most obvious is 8th-magnitude Titan, which appears northeast of the planet. Next, look for the 10th-magnitude trio of Tethys, Dione, and Rhea. They appear in a straight line northwest of Saturn and closer to the rings. Finally, target 10th-magnitude Iapetus well to the west of Saturn. Don’t confuse any of these satellites with the brighter, 6th-magnitude star SAO 184541, which appears between the planet and Iapetus.

Thursday, June 23

• Mars remains near its peak all this week. The Red Planet reached opposition and best visibility a month ago but, like Saturn, has not declined much. Mars appears almost due south and at its highest as twilight fades to darkness. The world shines at magnitude –1.5 against the much fainter background stars of Libra. When viewed through a telescope, Mars’ orange-red disk spans 17″. Look for subtle dark markings along with a whitish north polar cap.

Friday, June 24

• Brilliant Jupiter appears high in the west as darkness falls and remains on display until midnight local daylight time. The giant planet shines at magnitude –1.9 against the backdrop of southern Leo the Lion. Jupiter appears equally dazzling through a telescope, which reveals a wealth of atmospheric features on a disk that spans 35″.

Saturday, June 25

• Look high in the northwest after darkness falls this month, and you’ll be greeted by the familiar sight of the Big Dipper. The Dipper is the most conspicuous asterism — a recognizable pattern of stars that doesn’t form a complete constellation shape — in the entire sky. It forms the body and tail of Ursa Major the Great Bear. Use the Pointers, the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl, to find Polaris, which lies due north for everyone north of the equator. Polaris marks the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. On June evenings, the relatively faint stars of this dipper arc directly above Polaris.

Sunday, June 26

• If ever there was a good time to track down Pluto, this is the night. The distant world passes just 2.7′ due south of the 3rd-magnitude star Pi (p) Sagittarii in northeastern Sagittarius, making the task of finding the dwarf planet much easier than usual. Pluto glows dimly at magnitude 14.1, however, so you’ll need an 8-inch or larger telescope to spot it visually.

Source

Astronomy Magazine

Your Daily Sun & Moon Info for Monday, June 20th, Summer Solstice

 

The Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 95.26° E
Sun Altitude: 48.24°
Sun Distance: 94.463 million mi
Next Solstice: Jun 20, 2016 5:34 PM (Summer)
Sunrise Today: 5:41 AM↑ 60° Northeast
Sunset Today: 8:22 PM↑ 300° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 41 minutes

The Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 280.04° W
Moon Altitude: -45.02°
Moon Distance: 245108 mi
Next New Moon: Jul 4, 20166:00 AM
Next Full Moon: Jul 19, 20165:56 PM
Next Moonrise: Today8:30 PM
Current Moon Phase: Near Full Moon (Waning Gibbous)
Illumination: 99.8%

Source

timeanddate.com

The ABC’s of Paganism

Altar To change, deform, or rearrange. Black Magic Magic used by those with much pigmentation in their skin. Centering In the case of public rituals, this practice in done to alter the alignment of text on flyers. Circle A term used by techno-Pagans when refering to circle-dot mode, the storage of binary units using a code of plane figures with a bounding edge equidistant from a fixed point where some of these figures have dots, and some do not. The Craft A movie made in 1996 by Sony Pictures which stars Robin Tunney. Cove A small sheltered bay, creek, or inlet of the sea. Coven Referring to or being cove-like. Discord The appropriate musical notes to be played at dis time in the ritual. Esbat Spanish for “it is a flying mammal.” Flying Something which witches do. Recent surveys show that TWA is the most favored method, though some traditionalists stick with smaller single-engined airplanes. Glossary A place where they add gloss to ceramics. Grounding When all young children who have misbehaved during the ritual are sent to their rooms for the weekend. Hain Sam Hain, founder of a successful company which makes underwear. Handfasting During protests, this is done to ensure the difficulty of ones removal by use of handcuffs. Incense When capable of reasonable judgement, when acting sensible. Jack−o−lantern In the Pagan playing cards, it is the card of the suit of lights (traje de luces) higher than a ten but lower than a queen. Karma An old Star Trek term from the original series which stands for Klingon and Romulan Military Alliance. Lammas Animals of south America of the family Camelidae. Magick An art made popular by David Copperfield and Harry Houdini. Nine The most Pagans you can fit in a standard phone booth in Iowa City. (Trust me on this one) Orgy The ending often used by technopagans at the end of their URL. Pentagram A five sided cracker. Quest What deities send you on when they are bored and have nothing better to do. Rowan A term used on slave ships when the slaves have rested long enough and need to continue rowing. Sabbat Of or relating to hydrogenated organic compounds. The term comes from the French chemist Paul Sabatier. Skyclad A material similar to nickel-clad, though with ozone instead of nickel. Spell A turn at work, a shift. Talisman Opposite of Shortisman. Underwear See Hain. Virginity Sorry, no Pagan I’ve talked to seems to know what this is. White Witch A Caucasian member of the Wiccan religion. Witch Pronoun, what one or ones of several things pointed out. Used as a relative in a subordinate clause representing a noun or noun phrase in the principal sentence. Xerox The easiest and quickest way to go from a monotheistic religion to a polytheistic one. Though it may cost you ten cents. Yorkshire A place where they make a type of bread, perfect for rituals, though they call it pudding. Zygurmist The one who devotes his or her life to studying, in order to make rituals more fun.   Find more great Pagan humor at Turok’s Cabana

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2016 June 19

Galaxy and Planets Beyond Bristlecone Pines
Image Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)

 

Explanation: What’s older than these ancient trees? Nobody you know — but almost everything in the background of this picture. The trees are impressively old — each part of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest located in eastern California,USA. There, many of the oldest trees known are located, some dating as far back as about 5,000 years. Seemingly attached to tree branches, but actually much farther in the distance, are the bright orbs of Saturn (left) and Mars. These planetsformed along with the Earth and the early Solar System much earlier — about 4.5 billion years ago. Swooping down diagonally from the upper left is the oldest structure pictured: the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy — dating back around 9 billion years. The featured image was built from several exposures all taken from the same location — but only a few weeks ago.

Solstice eve moon still near Saturn

Tonight – June 19, 2016 – it’s solstice eve and the moon you’ll see shining near Saturn and the star Antares may look full. The 2016 June full moon and solstice fall on the same date, June 20. But, for the Americas, the June 19 moon is closer to the crest of the moon’s full phase than the moon June 20. Although the full moon and solstice happen at the same instant all around the world, the clock reading differs by time zone. At U.S. time zones, the moon turns precisely full on June 20 at 7:02 a.m. EDT, 6:02 a.m. CDT, 5:02 a.m. MDT and 4:02 a.m. PDT.

So, if you’re in the Americas, as we are, the moon you’ll see during the night tonight is closer to full than tomorrow night’s solstice full moon.

The June solstice comes on June 20, 2016 at 6:34 p.m. EDT, 5:34 p.m. CDT, 4:34 p.m. MDT and 3:34 p.m. PDT. Read more about it here.

In the Northern Hemisphere, we call the June full moon the Strawberry Moon, Rose Moon or Flower Moon.

In the Southern Hemisphere, we could perhaps call the June full moon the Long Night Moon since it’s winter there, and the nights are long, and the moon rides high in the sky.

For the entire world, this year’s June full moon is somewhat unusual in that it’s the fourth of four full moons in one season. Normally, there are only three full moons in a season. But when a season harbors four full moons, the third of these four full moons is often called a Blue Moon.

The first full moon came soon enough after the March 2016 equinox to allow for a fourth full moon before the June 2016 solstice:

Equinox: March 20, 2016
Full moon: Mar 23, 2016
Full moon: Apr 22, 2016
Full Moon: May 21, 2016 (Blue Moon)
Full moon: Jun 20, 2016 (11:02 Universal Time)
Solstice: June 20, 2016 (22:34 Universal Time)

In cycles of 19 years, the phases of the moon recur on, or near, the same calendar dates. Sure enough, 19 years ago and 19 years from now, in the years 1997 and 2035, four full moons take place in between the March equinox and June solstice, and the May full moon counts as a Blue Moon – third of four full moons in one season.

It’s said that the moon rides high in winter and low in summer, but that’s only true of the full moon. Remember, the full moon is opposite the sun. Around the June solstice, the sun is rising farthest north (left) of due east and setting farthest north (right) of due west. It’s highest in the sky (summer) for the Northern Hemisphere and lowest in the sky (winter) for the Southern Hemisphere.

The full moon is opposite the sun. This June solstice full moon will mimic the path of the December solstice sun, rising south of due east and setting south of due west. It’ll follow the low path of the winter sun in the Northern Hemisphere, and, south of the equator, assume the lofty path of the summer sun.

Bottom line: The June 19, 2016 moon, near Saturn on solstice eve, looks full. The June 20 full moon falls on the solstice.

 

Author

The Wisdom of Buddha

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.