Every day of the week-to-view pages of The Earth Pathways Diary includes Astrological and astronomical information about the Moon and the Sun and some of the planets.
Moon Phases are illustrated according to how the Moon looks in the sky. The Moon astrological signs are illustrated by their astrological glyph. The Void of Course Moon times are indicated by V.C.
The retrograde phases for Mercury, Venus and Mars are included. Mercury has several retrograde phases each year however Venus and Mars have less frequent retrogrades
Accurate times on the week-to-view pages are included for the Moon Phases, Moon VC and Moon astrological signs. Accurate times are included for the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. These times are given in GMT or BST according to the time of year in the UK. The Earth Pathways' own in-house astrologer Lucille Valentine has provided this astrological information since we began in 2007.
The sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset times will need to be adapted for exactly where you are. For local area and time zone maps we like to use timeanddate, the world’s website on time and time zones, which includes moon and sun times for particular places in the world.
Astrological interpretations of what this might mean are included in the Earth Pathways Diary as well as the Earth Pathways Wall Calendar. Each year we invite an astrologer to write these insights and you can read the previous years' wisdom on our Showcase website.
The Sun's astrological signs are illustrated by their astrological glyph.
The Sun's astrological signs are aligned with the seasons: at the Spring Equinox the Sun enters Aries, at the Summer Solstice the Sun enters Cancer, at the Autumn Equinox the Sun enters Libra and at the Winter Solstice, the Sun enters Capricorn. In other words, we use the Tropical Zodiac.
Astrology FAQs
The fixed stars
Our earth spins on its axis and, in addition to this, the axis traces a slow circle through space (some people call this the wobble) taking something like 26,000 years to return to its start point. Looking out from earth from the same place and at the same astronomical moment every year – looking at the inky dark sky every year on the night of equal day and night – the equinox – the stars patterns that rise change very, very slowly. They change so slowly in fact that the stars and their positions are called the "fixed stars” – but they are not fixed. Astrologers have always recognised the precession of the equinoxes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_and_tropical_astrology but they are not used for interpretations in western traditional – or tropical – astrology.
The Tropical system - Western traditional astrology
The Earth Pathways uses Western traditional astrology – or the tropical system – which defines the start of the astrological cycle as being the vernal equinox i.e. the start of Aries is at the moment of equal day and night and the start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
We look closely at the relationship between earth, her moon and sun and the other planets. Accompanying the astronomic facts of planetary placements we have a system with rich symbolism which is ancient and, though the dark ages tried to eradicate it, most of its knowledge has been recovered by continual efforts and translation by the community of astrologers. The system works at many levels – it is internally consistent and symbolically deep. It does not reject precession of the equinoxes since it does not clash with it. The great ages, the slow changes, do not obviate relevance of the system of symbols that we use. Sidereal astrology is the system of astrology which is based on the changing background star systems. The most developed of these is the Indian or Vedic system of astrology with a history which stretches as far back as the written word but with different mythologies. As valid as the one that we use but distinct from it. Modern western sidereal systems are less settled. There is no agreement on how to map the sky – with a few competing systems – and a less developed symbol-set.
Lucille Valentine 2015
Why can't I see the lunar eclipse where I live
The Moon phases in the diary
We have had enquiries about whether the moon phases in the diary apply to everywhere on the planet at the same time. Good question! The moon phases happen at the same time but here on Earth we express it according to our local time zone. In the Earth Pathways diary we use the current UK time zones (either GMT or BST). If you are in a different part of the world you will have to convert to your time zone wherever times are mentioned for moon phases. This also affects moon rise times. A good conversion website is timeanddate.com.