The Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli’s 15th century painting Primavera is uniquely related to this week’s morning sky scene, especially Thursday, Feb. 1, when the gibbous Moon wanes past the star Spica an hour before sunrise.
Spica is the star of abundance held in the arms of Virgo, a constellation often depicted as the maiden, or the pregnant virgin. In Autumn, this star of abundance sets in the West, marking the harvest time. Here in the mid-winter, Spica shines through the morning light, a beacon of what is to come. The year is new, rife with possibility; then halfway through the season a turn occurs, and what will come begins to announce itself.
In the sky, the Moon moves past Spica. In the calendar, it’s the halfway point in the season, when many different cultures celebrate the mystery of inner light, literally, the light in the belly. Botticelli’s painting depicts two separate moments in the season’s narrative: what comes before and what comes after this halfway point.
On the right of the image, Zephyrus blows cold and gray from the wintry past, chasing after the nymph Chloris, who gives way in the next moment to her evolved self as Flora, goddess of flowers.
On the left, the Three Graces dance a roundel, arms upheld and fingers interlaced beside Mercury, messenger of the gods and herald of what is to come, guardian of the garden in which the scene unfolds, where the fruit-trees are laden with oranges, symbol of fertility.
Standing at the center back is Primavera, the pregnant virgin, our star Spica, cupid above her head, suggesting that it is in fact love that sees us through this turn.
In the calendar, this seasonal turn happens on Feb. 1, the day the Moon greets Spica in the morning sky. There is not much shadow on the gibbous Moon, which means the Spring Moon comes early this year.
