So yeah, April was a pretty bizarre month, huh? I hope you have all survived this Twilight Zone-esque existence relatively unscathed, and that you and your loved ones are happy and healthy. As they say, the show must go on (despite costume malfunctions and historical global pandemics), so I'm here with this month's gift guide full of interesting stuffs to keep you entertained no matter where you find yourself today.
Bringing back the Taurean love...ruling planet Venus is a steadfast sky companion most of the year for the Northern Hemisphere: evenings in the Western sky at dusk from January 1st to May 24th, and mornings in the Eastern sky at dawn from June 13th to December 31st. Fun Fact: Venus and lil' bro Mercury will be closer than usual in the night skyย on Friday, May 22nd, so take your adult bevsย outsideย with ya and do some saucy stargazing.ย
Taurus is associated with the element Earth, which I find to be a rather applicable affiliation, especially now. When I thinkย of Earth, I don't just think of the planet as a physical entity. I think of all the people, plants, animals, quirks that make Earth, well,ย Earth. These last few months have been a testament to just how beautifully powerful and resourceful we can be when we use our abilities to love and take care of each other. We are clearly capable of having compassion for one another, and for the sphere we spin upon -- so let's keep it going, strangers-who-are-practically-family-now! We will always rise above!
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Gemini, our other birthday boys, are under the influence of Mecurial magic -- which is also really fun to say. I feel like ol' Merc gets a bad rap sometimes because it's not one of the flashier planets in the line-up; however, there are some benefits to being influenced by theย Swift Planet. Your weight on Mercury would be 38% of your weight here on Earth. Boom! Instant slim. It's one of the five planets we can consistently see with the naked eye. Even me, who has sight in the negativeย (yes,ย negative)ย 7's. Well, that's a fib. I can't see jack diddly without some kind of eyeball enhancement device, but yeah. You can literallyย keep an eye on your ruling planet. That's some intimate ass support.
ย Fun Fact: Mercury gets the moniker Swift Planet because it can lap the Sun in a mere 88 days.ย
The super rad Jellyfish nebula (one of my favs - it looks like modern abstract art!) can be found in the constellation of Gemini. Made up of supernova remnants that are anywhere between 3,000 and 30,000 years old, Jellyfish lies approximately 5,000 light-years away from us. Fun Fact: The nebula is said to span a little larger than the size of our full Moon. Bonus FF inside a FF: The Moon is 4.5 billion years old. Whoa, dude!
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Although you have to wait until December, there is a sweet meteor shower that's called the Geminids, and will peak the evening of the 13th into the 14th this year (put it in your calendar now like a responsible adult). What's interesting about this shower is that it wasn't associated with a particular comet until within the last forty years. An asteroid called 3200 Phaethon was first detected by NASA in 1983 (my birth year was poppin' yo!) and thought to be the source of the sky show; however, with further study, Phaethon has been reclassified as an extinct comet that has lost its outer layer. This gives the Geminids a luminosity boost because the flaming meteor shower matter is mostly rocky (say that three times fast) versus the softer, icier debris from comets.
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I'll leave you with the friendly reminder that we still have the really neat-o zodiac constellation necklaces for all da signs (well, as long as they last, since they've been discontinued). So go snag one for yourself (and your bae, boo, bestie, all dem) here.
xo
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