Expert: Tom Whiting - 6/6/2008

Question
I am becoming more and more interested in astrological gardening.  I know which moon phase we are in but I do not know which constellation the moon is passing through.  How do we figure this out?  Looking forward to your answer.

Answer
Hi Stella,
I think it would be called "astronomical gardening", not "astrological".
That's a "dirty" word among us astronomers, as over 99.9% of us
do not accept astrology, UFO's, alien life (Astrobiology- the course
without a subject), ghosts, goblins, ouiga boards, spirits, beast from 20,000 fathoms, elves, ghouls, zombies, flying saucers, or any of that other occult stuff.
We know better.

But to answer the question, the moon's phase and location has little or nothing to do with gardening and farming, let alone what "area" or constellation the moon happens to be in the background of...the moon doesn't even know we are here, and could care less. And the stars making up that area or constellation also could care less, and don't even know we, the Earth, exists either. (And please don't say, well what about gravity and tides? As that has nothing to do with gardening or farming either).

More importantly, it's the temperture and condition of the soil (plant beyond the last frost) and how the climate treats your
plants...sunshine and rainfall....during their rapid growth phase,
and the amount of nitrogen fertilizer you give them (I like 'Schultz'
or "Miracle-Gro").
But to really find what astronomical constellation the moon is in, there are 2 programs which I use, Google Nightsky which comes with the newer Google Earth programs, and an old freeware program called "Skyglobe" which, in addition to plotting out the current night sky, allows you go to back over 4000 years or forward 4000 years...for any date or anytime of the day, and it shows you the entire sky map.
Us astromers always know what phase, and where the moon is, because
we hate the moon....it's just another big light polluter that kills off (renders invisible to us) the deep sky objects like the andromeda galaxy, ring nebula, etc. that we all like to observe.
So we rarely go out observing when there is a bright moon in the
night sky, so we're out of business for about a 2 week period every
month, from 1st quarter to Last quarter phase.
Tonight (6/5/08), two days past new phase, the evening cresent moon is in Gemini (all times are 11 pm....for the rest of the planting time thru the 18th...)
6/5   Gemini
6/6 Cancer
6/7 Cancer/Leo border
6/8 Leo
6/9 Leo
6/10 Leo/Virgo Border
6/11 Virgo
6/12 Virgo
6/13 Virgo
6/14 Virgo/Libra border
6/15 Libra
6/16 Scorpius
6/17 Scorpius
6/18 Ophiuchus
6/19 Sagittarius
6/20 Sagittarius

That should cover the up and coming planting season. NOTE: these
are the ACTUAL astronomical constellations, and NOT the astrological
"signs"...I know nothing about astrological signs, except for knowing that they are either one or two behind the astronomical
constellations...as for us astronomers, they are all occult and mythical anyway, and don't really exist, except in some human's minds.
Note the constellation Ophiuchus (snake holder) on the 18th of
June, that's the astronomically recognized 13th zodiac constellation
which really exists, but astrology conveniently eliminates it...
we can't because it really exists in the night sky, between Scorpius
and Sagittarius.  And it IS scorpius (Scorpions are masculine in
Latin, with a "us" ending, not feminine),as in...Scorpio...there is no such constellation as scorpio...that is a feminine ending, like
Virgo.  And scorpions in latin are masculine, not feminine....thus
the "us" ending.  (a and o endings are feminine, like Libra).
Hope all this helps,
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA USA