The shepherd has taken the West wind gently in hand while the king stands guard over the dragon, where that beast stirs in the North, its stoney sleep troubled by the princess who readies to stage a scene at this week’s ball, dressed in the most brilliant colors of the season, gifted by her fairy godmother.
In other words, the constellation Boötes sets in the West after sunset at this time of year, while Cepheus the king keeps an eye on the constellation Draco in the North, coiling about overhead, host to this week’s meteor shower, the Draconids, which peak overnight Friday to Saturday. This is not a prolific meteor shower, so it’s easy to imagine the dragon only slightly stirring, rather than mounting ferocious battle.
In the meantime, the fairy godmother Moon wanes as a crescent through the morning sky, carrying the last rays of summer sunlight toward new phase on Wednesday. Then on Friday, just before the dragon’s meteor shower, the Moon, now a waxing crescent and appearing at the end of the day instead of its beginning, sweeps past the planet Venus, goddess of love and beauty, where she approaches the threshold of Scorpio at the star Dschubba in the West. Dschubba is known as the tree in the garden of light that stands in the midst of the abyss, like Cinderella, standing atop the stairs readying to enter the ball.
The poetry, myths, and fairy tales of ages are like code-speak for the mighty moral imaginations that are written across the sky by the stars, gifted to us every night of the year like once upon a time, and supporting us in realizing that happily ever after can follow even the most challenging of life’s circumstances.
Happy storytelling with the stars this week!
~ Mary
A rich man’s wife became sick, and when she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, “Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you.” With this she closed her eyes and died. From Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm, to accompany the image above, from Sky&Telescope.
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