Commentary

It seems that the world lies too still and too deathly quiet in the middle of Deep Winter, but the Sun finally starts to rise earlier this week, finally cutting away at the length of the nights, complementing the sunset times that have been been occurring later just a little every few days since the middle of December.

The Bedding Plant Moon, weakens the meteorological tides as it reaches apogee (its position farthest from Earth) on January 14.

“Different atmospheric conditions – different kinds of weather- are, precisely different moods,” writes the phenomenologist,  David Abram.  “Wind, rain, snow, fog, hail, open skies, heavy overcast – each…affects the relation between our body and the living land in a specific way, altering the tenor of our reflections and the tonality of our dreams.

What might that mean this week? Maybe a little optimism, in spite of the arrival of Deep Winter.

This week, the Bedding Plant Moon waxes and waxes, coming closer and closer to Earth. And the New Year will arrive as that Moon becomes completely full and reaches perigee, its position closest to Earth, becoming what many people call a SuperMoon because of its tidal strength.

The Sun reaches its winter solstice declination on December 21, and that same day it passes from early winter’s prophetic Sagittarius into Capricorn, the fulfillment of the archer’s promise. Capricorn is the sign of the year’s end and of its beginning, the fulcrum on which longest nights of the year balance and fall into January and then turn toward June.

If you go outside an hour or so before Sunrise, look up to find the Big Dipper high overhead, its winter position before dawn Like the hands of a great clock, the Dipper's motion around the North Star tells the time of year.  When it lies in the west before Sunrise, daffodils will be in bloom. With the Dipper deep along the Southern horizon in the early morning, lilies and roses flower. And when it has moved to the eastern sky, the first leaves are starting to turn for autumn.

The dark sky sets the stage for the arrival of Early Winter. The Paperwhite Moon, bringing more holiday paperwhite bulbs into bloom, wanes gibbous into its final quarter on December 10. Rising late at night and setting near midday, this Moon passes above you before dawn.

In the east Mars and Jupiter are the morning stars together in Libra this week.  Arcturus, the most prominent star of Bootes, precedes them toward the center of the sky, chasing the Moon. Low in the northeast, Vega is rising.