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It's That Goldilocks Time of Year: this week on the Storyteller's Night Sky

Sky & Telescope
The planets are gathering in the morning sky as though making ready for the spiritual New year, which begins after Equinox and before Spring's First Full Moon.

There are a couple things I really want to talk about this week, even though one of them already happened, and the other doesn’t happen until next week. So here we go.

The thing that already happened is Equinox, which occurred on Sunday, March 20, when the Sun crossed over the Celestial Equator heading North, and a balance was struck between day and night.

This is the first stage of our entering what has been traditionally regarded as one of the most sacred times of the year ~ the onset of the spiritual New Year, when the countdown begins for the seminal festivals of renewal. It’s not happenstance that Dante’s Divine Comedy begins at this time, it’s a clue.

But finding the true path doesn’t just happen when the Sun gets North of the Equator, it really only occurs after the Moon fully reflects that the Sun has returned. This year that doesn’t happen until the third week of April, so it’s like we’ve got all this time to tiptoe into the castle, to be like Goldilocks and take a look around before fully committing to which way we’re going to go.

And it’s not only humanity on the Earth that can gather at this time to check things out, but looking into the morning sky, we can see that the planets are also gathering: Mars, Venus, Saturn, the Moon, and soon Jupiter. Neptune and Pluto are there, too, hiding in the deep space background.

So what is all this? It’s focused will, it’s strong intention, it’s courage, love, bounty and commitment, in the day-to-day, and in our feelings and attitudes about the events happening around us. As John Keats said, “Nothing ever becomes real til it is experienced.”

The morning planets are calling us to the experience. The balance has been struck, soon the Moon will reflect the Sun returned, and all of it seeks out intentions for the new.

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian and host of “The Storyteller’s Night Sky.” As a global advocate for starry skies, Mary led the team that established the 9th International Dark Sky Park in the world in 2011, which later led to her home state of Michigan protecting 35,000 acres of state land for its natural darkness.