The Witches Astronomy Journal for Thursday, August 2nd

Custom Planetary Positions

August 02, 2018
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

 

Sun: 10 Leo 13
Moon: 13 Aries 54
Mercury: 21 Leo 13 Rx
Venus: 25 Virgo 27
Mars: 02 Aquarius 26 Rx
Jupiter: 14 Scorpio 07
Saturn: 03 Capricorn 29 Rx
Uranus: 02 Taurus 33
Neptune: 16 Pisces 00 Rx
Pluto: 19 Capricorn 31 Rx

True Lunar Node: 05 Leo 52 Rx
Mean Lunar Node: 05 Leo 35 Rx

Chiron: 02 Aries 05 Rx
Ceres: 14 Virgo 39
Pallas: 12 Leo 14
Juno: 13 Taurus 42
Vesta: 22 Sagittarius 09

Your Daily Sun & Moon Data for Thursday, August 2nd

The Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 89.46° E
Sun Altitude: 29.55°
Sun Distance: 94.333 million mi
Next Equinox: Sep 22, 2018 8:54 pm (Autumnal)
Sunrise Today: 6:00 am↑ 67° East
Sunset Today: 8:00 pm↑ 293° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours

 

The Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 245.83° WSW
Moon Altitude: 29.05°
Moon Distance: 243990 mi
Next New Moon: Aug 11, 20184:57 am
Next Full Moon: Aug 26, 20186:56 am
Next Moonset: Today11:17 am
Current Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 72.2%

 

Source

timeanddate

Your Daily Astronomy for Thursday, August 2nd

The Moon spends the day in Aries, inspiring our sense of enterprise. We prefer to meet situations head-on. As much as we seek independence, the challenges of work or tensions related to our ambitions can wear us down tonight with the Moon’s square to Pluto. We have a stronger appreciation of the subtle layers of our interactions and for art, however, as the Sun and Neptune connect via a creative aspect, and we can feel inspired to create something meaningful.

The Moon is void from 10:52 PM EDT, with the Moon’s last aspect before changing signs (a trine to Mercury), until the Moon enters Taurus the next day, Friday, August 3rd, at 3:51 PM EDT.

The sky this week for August 2 to August 5

All eyes are on Mars this week. The Red Planet has finally reached its long-awaited opposition, and will remain a spectacular sight for naked-eye and telescopic observers alike.
By Richard Talcott

Thursday, August 2

Evenings this week are a great time to explore the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. This star group lies due south and at peak altitude between 10 and 11 p.m. local daylight time, well after the last vestiges of twilight have faded away. The brightest stars within the constellation form the shape of a teapot — a distinctive asterism once you’ve found it — though it’s misshapen this year with the presence of Saturn just north of these stars. The central regions of the Milky Way pass through Sagittarius, so it’s always worth exploring this area through binoculars or a telescope.

Friday, August 3

Although Jupiter reached opposition and peak visibility nearly three months ago, it remains a stunning sight from evening twilight until it sets around midnight local daylight time. Jupiter shines at magnitude –2.1 and dominates the southwestern sky as night falls. The gas giant resides among the background stars of Libra the Scales, 1.3° northwest of Zubenelgenubi (Alpha [α] Librae). If you view the planet through a telescope tonight, its disk spans 38″ and displays spectacular cloud-top detail. You’ll also see the gas giant’s four brightest moons. These are the biggest of Jupiter’s entourage of 79 satellites; this number grew by a dozen last week when astronomers announced their discovery of several more far-flung moons.

 

Thursday, August 2

Evenings this week are a great time to explore the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. This star group lies due south and at peak altitude between 10 and 11 p.m. local daylight time, well after the last vestiges of twilight have faded away. The brightest stars within the constellation form the shape of a teapot — a distinctive asterism once you’ve found it — though it’s misshapen this year with the presence of Saturn just north of these stars. The central regions of the Milky Way pass through Sagittarius, so it’s always worth exploring this area through binoculars or a telescope.

Friday, August 3

Although Jupiter reached opposition and peak visibility nearly three months ago, it remains a stunning sight from evening twilight until it sets around midnight local daylight time. Jupiter shines at magnitude –2.1 and dominates the southwestern sky as night falls. The gas giant resides among the background stars of Libra the Scales, 1.3° northwest of Zubenelgenubi (Alpha [α] Librae). If you view the planet through a telescope tonight, its disk spans 38″ and displays spectacular cloud-top detail. You’ll also see the gas giant’s four brightest moons. These are the biggest of Jupiter’s entourage of 79 satellites; this number grew by a dozen last week when astronomers announced their discovery of several more far-flung moons.

Source

Astronomy Magazine

In the Sky This Month

The Moon rolls past one bright light after another this month, including the brilliant planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mars. At the same time, two of the signature star patterns of summer, Scorpius and Sagittarius, roll low across the south. Scorpius really does look like a scorpion, while the brightest stars of Sagittarius, which represents a centaur holding a bow and arrow, form a wide teapot.

August 2: M4
The globular star cluster M4 stands close to the right of Antares, the bright orange star in the south as darkness falls. The cluster contains tens of thousands of stars, but you need binoculars to pick it out.

August 3: Pegasus
Pegasus, the flying horse, is in view in the east and northeast shortly after the sky gets completely dark. Look for the four stars forming the Great Square of Pegasus. The square is tilted as Pegasus rises, so it resembles a diamond.

August 4: 61 Cygni
61 Cygni, the first star to have its distance accurately measured, is in Cygnus, the swan, which is high in the east at nightfall. 61 Cygni is to the lower right of Deneb, the swan’s tail. Under dark skies, it’s just visible to the eye alone.

August 5: Moon and Aldebaran
The bull’s eye, represented by the star Aldebaran, follows the Moon as they climb the eastern sky in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. It is the bright orange star to the lower left of the Moon.

August 6: Star Clouds
The band of light that outlines the disk of the Milky Way galaxy is a rare sight. To see it, you need especially dark skies. And as luck would have it, there’s no moonlight for the next few evenings, although you still need to escape city lights.

August 7: Dark Clouds
The glowing band of the Milky Way is divided by a dark rift across its length. The rift consists of dense clouds of dust. The dust grains absorb the light from the stars behind them, making it look like there are almost no stars at all.

August 8: M11
The star cluster M11 is well up in the south this evening, in the constellation Scutum, the shield. Because its brightest stars resemble a flock of ducks, it’s also called the Wild Duck cluster. Through binoculars, it looks like a patch of mist.

Source

StarDate

Current Moon Phase for Thursday, August 2nd

Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 73%

The Moon today is in a Waning Gibbous Phase. This is the first phase after the Full Moon occurs. It lasts roughly 7 days with the Moon’s illumination growing smaller each day until the Moon becomes a Last Quarter Moon with a illumination of 50%. The average Moon rise for this phase is between 9am and Midnight depending on the age of the phase. The moon rises later and later each night setting after sunrise in the morning. During this phase the Moon can also be seen in the early morning daylight hours on the western horizon.

 

PHASE DETAILS FOR – THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018

Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 73%
Moon Age: 19.93 days
Moon Angle: 0.51
Moon Distance: 389,449.67 km
Sun Angle: 0.53
Sun Distance: 151,806,866.97 km

Source

MoonGiant

Moon in Aries

We’re motivated by a strong desire to start fresh. A gut instinct to start something new is with us now, as well as the gumption to do so. Our pioneering impulses are strong, and we feel energetic, spontaneous, and enthusiastic. We may also be tactless and impulsive now. Excess energy is best channeled into physical activity.

The Moon in Aries generally favors the following activities: Quick actions that yield immediate results. Undertakings that involve the self and the personality. (Staying power may be lacking). Self-assertion, taking on challenges, beginning short-term projects.

 

Your Daily Planet Tracker for Thursday, August 2

The Moon in Aries: Bold, Fiery, Quick to React

August 1 – August 3, 2018

By Tarot.com Staff

In Astrology, the Moon is considered a planet — the fastest moving planet in the sky! The Moon changes zodiac sign every couple of days as it moves around the heavens which means each month the Moon goes through every sign during its lunar cycle.

When the Moon is in Aries
Regardless of what your Moon sign is, for a couple of days each month we are all affected by the transiting Aries Moon. While the Moon is in Aries, we all are a little bit faster to react. We’re all a little bit more intrigued by doing something we’ve never done before. We’re all a little bit more willing to take a risk or take a gamble by pushing into the unknown.

The weatherman may say rain, but expect some Sun to shoot through the clouds during this lunation. Aries Moon draws fire into the atmosphere, stimulating life force and vitality. You’re alive, filled with your own thoughts — it’s all about you today. Trouble is, everyone else is in the same place. Imagine a playing field with plenty of loose cannons. That’s the Aries Moon transit.

During this time, insensitive remarks can land at missile speed and detonate into conflicts. The good news is they’ll end just as quickly as they began. This Moon goes against teamwork, but it’s auspicious for personal challenges — compete against your own limits. What’s that mountain you’ve been wanting to climb? Be daring. Headaches, eyestrain or sinus difficulty imply troubling feelings have collected inside your head. Meet whatever you’ve been avoiding head-on.

Spontaneous Aries is about jumping in and taking risks without being overly concerned about the outcome. Don’t worry about commitment, and let discipline come naturally whenever it’s needed. In fact, allowing yourself to make mistakes provides the freedom required for new things to be discovered.

New Moon in Aries
When there’s a New Moon in Aries, a phase which happens in spring at the beginning of the astrological year when the Sun is in Aries, there’s no better time to take a new idea and put it into motion. We all feel like we’re at the beginning of a major cycle during the Aries New Moon. In a way, this is the time to think about the things in life that you want to explore, that you want to do, the seeds that you want to plant.

Full Moon in Aries
During the Full Moon in Aries, which happens in autumn when the Sun is in Libra, rather than wanting to plant the seeds, this is the time when we want to cultivate the energy, to harvest the seeds that we planted six months ago during the New Moon in Aries back in spring. So the Aries Full Moon is the time when those things that we started to do, that were brand new, are now either coming to fruition and working, or not. If the seeds we planted are working for us, we then have to cultivate the crop, we have to harvest — we have to do something with it. And if it’s not working, it’s time to let it go and to move on to something else.

If you were born with the Moon in Aries
You can calculate your Moon sign’s position in the zodiac (your natal Moon) if you know your exact birth time. While your astrological Sun sign represents your essential being, your Moon sign reflects your emotions, your intuition, and your instinctive responses.

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, and Aries energy is “initiating” energy — it’s the beginning of the astrological year and this sign is known for being bold, active, and extremely fiery. Just remember that the Moon is your emotional being.

Aries is a fire sign, and people with Moon in Aries are usually independent and happy to be on their own. They like challenges and new things, but dislike overt expressions of emotions and prefer when everyone is direct and self-sufficient. If your Moon is in Aries, you won’t like it if your loved ones are emotionally needy — you prefer direct and undemonstrative encounters.

If you were born with the Moon in Aries, there’s a sense of spontaneity at a deep, gut level — a sense of knowing immediately whether something is good or bad, whether you like it or whether you don’t like it. Moon in Aries is also quick to act … and react. This means that anyone with Moon in Aries will be quick to express their emotions, but those emotions will burn fast and hot, and then change.

Tarot.com is Part of the Daily Insight Group ©2018

 

 

For all your magickal needs, think Magickal Necessities

“Because Momma needs home furnishing for the house!”

 

Lammas Night

 

I stood before my altar at Lammastide
And asked the Lord and Lady to be my guides.
“Please show to me a vision that I may see
What sacrifice is worthy to give to Thee.”

 

They showed to me an apple without a core.
They showed to me a dwelling without a door.
They showed to me a palace where They may be
And unlock it without a key.

 

How can there be an apple without a core.
How can there be a dwelling without a door?
How can there be a palace where They may be
And They may unlock it without a key?

 

My spirit is an apple without a core.
My mind is a dwelling without a door.
My heart is a palace where They may be
And They may unlock it without a key.

 

I stood before my altar on Lammas night.
And gave my mighty Lord and Lady bright
The sacrifice They asked for-with spirit free,
Upon that Lammas ev’ning, I gave them me.

—Elexa, Author
Originally published on Pagan Library

Shoot the Bull Chat

Saturday, August 4th

10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. central time

Where, where else, The WOTC Chatroom!

See you there!

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.

2018 August 1

The Iris Nebula in a Field of Dust 
Image Credit & Copyright: Franco Sgueglia & Francesco Sferlazza

 

Explanation: What blue flower grows in this field of dark interstellar dust? The Iris Nebula. The striking blue color of the Iris Nebula is created by light from the bright star SAO 19158 reflecting off of a dense patch of normally dark dust. Not only is the star itself mostly blue, but blue light from the star is preferentially reflected by the dust — the same affect that makes Earth’s sky blue. The brown tint of the pervasive dust comes partly from photoluminescence — dust converting ultraviolet radiation to red light. Cataloged as NGC 7023, the Iris Nebula is studied frequently because of the unusual prevalence there of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), complex molecules that are also released on Earth during the incomplete combustion of wood fires. The bright blue portion of the Iris Nebula spans about six light years. The Iris Nebula, pictured here, lies about 1300 light years distant and can be found with a small telescope toward the constellation of Cepheus.

Orion the Hunter returns before dawn

 

The Wisdom of Buddha

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.