William's Lunar Tree Calendar: The Great Alignment

During this night, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and Mars, in that order, are all within 27° of each other (in Taurus, with Mars just in Gemini).

This is unusual enough, but around 23:45 BST (22:45 GMT, 18:45 EDT, 15:45 PDT), there is a series of conjunctions between all these heavenly bodies, with a maximum orb (allowance) of 5.5°. Given an orb of 8°, this series lasts from about 18:45 to 02:45 BST (17:45 to 01:45 GMT, 13:45 to 21:45 EDT, 10:45 to 18:45 PDT).

In addition, for around 30 minutes either side of 01:45 local sun time in Europe (and more approximately elsewhere), your Earth will also be in Taurus (see Earth in Astrology). This time is 02:45 BST for London, 03:00 BST for Cornwall, 02: 10 EDT for New York City, 02:20 PDT for San Francisco, 23:30 (4 May) Sydney Time for Sydney - here your Earth is in Taurus an hour either side of the time.

This is altogether a very powerful time, and worth staying up late for in Europe. The energy will all be concentrated in one direction, making for a very earthy time: good grounding after the Aquarius celebration last month, and very appropriate for Beltane time.

As well as the conjunctions, Uranus in Aquarius makes square aspects (90°) with Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon, and Neptune in Aquarius has squares with Venus and Mercury. Neptune also has a trine aspect (120°) with Mars, allowing us to feed into powerful psychic energy. Pluto in Sagittarius is the only planet not involved.

Below is a chart for London at 02:40 BST (01:45 GMT) on 5 May, when Uranus and Neptune are near the Ascendant. I have included close ups of the aspects and the aspect grid. It is an entirely remarkable chart, and not easy to draw because of the forest of conjunctions (blue) and squares (purple). Conjunctions intensify the planets' energy in combination with others', and squares represent energy pulling across each other. It is an earthy, sexy, maverick chart of great power.

CHART
Click on the graphic to download a version that is on the same scale as the excerpts below (176K).

The Chinese lunar sign is the metal snake, and the Chinese Ascendant is the (water) ox. The five elements are 2 x metal, wood, water and fire (so no earth surprisingly). There are 3 yins to 2 yangs (well balanced).

CLOSE UP ON THE ASPECTS
See the grid below for the exact positions, and meaning of the symbols.

Purple lines are square aspects (90° angle between the pair).

Blue lines are conjunctions (0°).

Green is trine (120°).

Intense colours show aspects within 2° of true. The weakest aspects are 5° to 8° out of line.

ASPECT GRID
Follow a pair of planets across and up: if it is a cream square, there is no aspect.

This really is a most unusual grid, with the colours separated out as they are.

Note that there is only one pair of planets within two degrees of each other.

William's Lunar Tree Calendar 2000

The Great Alignment of the Planets

night of 4 - 5 May 2000

	CHART Click on the graphic to download a version that is on the same scale as the excerpts below (176K). The Chinese lunar sign is the metal snake, and the Chinese Ascendant is the (water) ox. The five elements are 2 x metal, wood, water and fire (so no earth surprisingly). There are 3 yins to 2 yangs (well balanced).
	CLOSE UP ON THE ASPECTS See the grid below for the exact positions, and meaning of the symbols. Purple lines are square aspects (90° angle between the pair). Blue lines are conjunctions (0°). Green is trine (120°). Intense colours show aspects within 2° of true. The weakest aspects are 5° to 8° out of line.
	ASPECT GRID Follow a pair of planets across and up: if it is a cream square, there is no aspect. This really is a most unusual grid, with the colours separated out as they are. Note that there is only one pair of planets within two degrees of each other.