By Cal Garrison a.k.a. Mother of the Skye
This week’s horoscopes are coming out under the light of an Aries Moon, on the day that the Sun enters Leo. The fire element is blazing hot, and both lights might as well be sitting on top of the world right now. My hunch is that this combination will not only get the next seven days off to a good start, it will pave the way for the heliacal rising of Sirius and serve as a perfect prelude to the Egyptian New Year.
Here in the states we’ve been having a bit of a heat wave. This is nothing new–it is an annual occurrence. What we refer to as “the dog days of summer” always begin around July 3, and culminate on or near Aug. 11. As we sit exactly halfway through what in the Northern Hemisphere is the hottest time of the year, it might be good for us to look at what the dog days are really all about.
Most people think that they were named after the fact that the family dog spends this stretch of the summer listlessly panting on the front porch, or under a tree, or lying around somewhere doing whatever it takes to take the edge off the high temperatures. There are undoubtedly plenty of reasons to see it this way. Beyond that, some of us have heard that there is a connection between the dog days and the movements of the dog star, Sirius. Those of us who are aware of this are closer to the heart of the matter.
Sirius is a big star and thus easy to locate. As of this moment it is still invisible north of 41 degrees latitude. About three weeks from now, if you are out at night and look up at the Orion constellation you will be able to see it. Focus your gaze on the left hand star in Orion’s Belt, draw a straight line from that point directly out to the first star that meets your eye, and you will be looking at Sirius. Long thought to be a singleton, Sirius is actually a binary star system. With the exception of the sun, it is the brightest star in the heavens, owing its brilliance to the combined emanations of Sirius A and Sirius B.
Once a year, in the latter part of the month of May, Sirius sets below the horizon and disappears from the night sky for approximately 60 days. As the sun moves on its path from the early days of Gemini, through Cancer, and begins its passage through Leo, Sirius emerges from the underworld and reappears, anywhere between late July and the early days of August. Making its initial ascent on the eastern horizon on the day that it happens to rise in conjunction with the Sun, what we refer to as the Heliacal rising of Sirius marks the point where both bodies shine down upon the Earth in tandem. The dog days of summer and the annual heat wave that is currently roasting us here in the States stem from the fact that the two brightest and hottest stars in the sky are working together, bombarding us with twice as much light and twice as much heat.
What is also worth mentioning relates to the origin of the term for the dog days. Anyone can see that the common name for Sirius is the Dog Star, and assume that this is enough to explain it – but both the dog days, and the Dog Star derive their meaning from the mysteries of the Dogon Tribe, an ancient tribe from Mali, in West Africa.
The Dogon and their myths are older than time. These people have always had a full understanding of the Cosmos, and of the physics of the Earth and its relationship to the greater universe. Their cosmology centers entirely around the cycles of Sirius A and Sirius B, and of the relationship between that binary system and our sun. If you are interested in looking into their story read, ‘The Sirius Mystery” by Robert Temple, or for deeper insight “The Pale Fox,” by G. Dieterlen and M. Griaule.
My feeling is that the next few weeks will be loaded with heightened possibilities for newness and change, on multiple levels. These forces will inundate us, for better or worse. How will things roll? As most of you know, everything depends on consciousness. The extent to which we are in touch with what is real and true, and with our highest good, will determine our experience, individually and collectively, for three more weeks. Let me leave you with that and invite you to take what you can from this week’s ‘scopes.
