Wednesday UFO Watch – July 13th, 2022

It’s Time! We hope you’re having a great summer! This is Week 26! If you’re new, here’s a FAQ that will get you started. Reminder: send us a picture of your completed punch card and we’ll send you a little something in the mail!

At its very core, WUFO is a fun break from the week to hang out and enjoy each others’ virtual presences. You can do as little as go outside (or check a sky cam) at 10 PM your local time, or as much as hosting your own WUFO watch party (virtually or IRL)! WUFO has also created itself in a way and is continuing to grow all on its own – we’re here for the ride, wherever it may take us. We’re glad you’re here, too!

This week we’ll be raising donations for Mary’s Place:

ABOUT MARY’S PLACE

Mary’s Place ensures that no child sleeps outside by centering equity and opportunity for women and children.

Since 1999, Mary’s Place has helped thousands of women and families move out of homelessness into more stable situations. Across five emergency family shelters in King County, we keep families together, inside, and safe when they have no place else to go, providing resources, housing and employment services, community, and hope.


WHAT THEY DO

Each day, our housing team works with families to address barriers and empower parents to build family stability, secure housing, and prepare for employment. Kids are connected with schools, participate in fun and enriching activities, and go on outings and adventures in Kids Club. In the evening, families in shelter eat dinner, do homework, spend time together, and prepare for the week ahead.

If you’re in a position to do so, please consider sending them some support!

Weekly Live Contact Session

YouTube player

Gone are the days where you need to check various socials for our weekly live contact sessions – now, you can watch the stream right here at 8:30 PM PST. Hit that bell icon to turn on notifications for this event!

Stargazing Side Quest

Your Wednesday Night UFO Watch party side quest is here, courtesy of Astrologer Extraordinaire Maighdlin Kelly:

Your side quest for 13 July 2022 will be to watch the Full Moon rise! 🌕 But wait there’s more to it! You may have heard from the astrologers and witches that this full Moon is in Capricorn ♑ Thats true, in a particular context. This week’s side quest we will be observing the difference between the tropical zodiac and the constellations, bc there is a difference! This image is cropped from a printout of tonight’s night sky from Sky & Telescope’s interactive sky chart (free). We can see that the 🌕 will be rising around 10pm, that it is just passed the constellation Sagittarius and is making its ways to the constellation Capricornus.

How can the Full Moon be in Capricorn if it isn’t even in the constellation Capricornus? The answer is not that the astrologers are wrong, they are just using a different system of measurement, a different zodiac. In the image below, the yellow highlight roughly marks the ecliptic, the path the sun takes through the sky, aka the earth’s orbit around the sun. You’ll recognize some familiar zodiacal constellations: Leo, Virgo, Libra, etc. Notice however, how they are all different sizes…

(You’ll also see how Ophiuchus is not on the ecliptic, but that’s for another side quest LOL). The constellations up in the sky are all different sizes, but the zodiac astrologers are referencing are NOT, they are all exactly 30° each. Besides the constellations, there are TWO zodiacs: tropical and sidereal. Sidereal zodiac is based off the fixed stars then dividing the sky into 12 = sections of 30°. Back in the day the sidereal zodiac and constellations were more aligned, but…

Due to precession of the quinoxes, (the orientation of our axial tilt wobbles like a spinning top which changes what we see in the sky, same thing that gives us different pole stars over the millenia) this has shifted over the years.

This is not something that took astrologers by surprise, btw. And this brings me now to the tropical zodiac, what I use, and what many western astrologers use. This zodiac, like sidereal, splits the sky up into 12 = 30° segments, but…

Instead of the circle “beginning” at a particular fixed star, its actually based on the earth’s obliquity (axial tilt) and seasons. Just like how spring begins with the Sun at the celestial equator (earth’s equator extended out), so does the tropical zodiac.

Astrologers still observe the actual positions of the celestial bodies in the heavens: syzygys, occultations, eclipses, etc. So while an astronomer unfamiliar with millenia-old techniques might think we’re making shit up, we’re actually just using several diff contexts for nuance.

Remember, none of the zodiacs are real. The constellations only look the way they do because we’re on earth. Rick Levine says “the 12 signs of the zodiac arent up there, theyre in HERE” points to noggin. Astrologers are very interested in the “in here” + positional correlations. So when we go watch the full Moon rise tonight, see if you can find the Sagittarius constellation to the right of it in the sky. If you are out stargazing long enough, you will be able to see the Capricornus constellation rise, which is where the Moon will be found tomorrow 💖

This was a long one so thanks for reading all the way to the end if you did! And if you want to learn more about the tropical zodiac, earths obliquity and seasons, I am doing a (free) class with @seaofceres for Sharing Spaces at the end of the month!

Be sure to tag with your full moon pics tonight!

⭐ Bonus point for finding ♐!
⭐ Another point for watching ♑ rise too!

Consider joining Maighdlin’s Patreon here for more Astrology awesomeness.

Shop WUFO Merch

You can visit our shop here. Right now, the shop has both WUFO and Liminal Earth merch, but it this will soon be a WUFO-only shop. Also: we are offering FREE SHIPPING each and every Wednesday! Use code WUFO at checkout!

This is an excellent way to support WUFO as we put a lot of time and energy into making each week as awesome and accessible for folks as possible!

Last Week’s Recap

Last week, Garrett and Bex hosted WUFO (Jeremy took a week off)! It was rather laid back; together, they shared stories from some of their first investigations together, discussed the fusion of the paranormal and plants, and then finished up the show by conducting an Estes Method session with the Tenney Sounds (carrier waves mp3) and our favorite Pothos, COCO!

The official transcript is currently being written, check back here soon. 

You can watch the full, unedited stream (and all past WUFO streams) by joining Liminal Earth’s Patreon for just $1!

Let’s see how folks spent WUFO last week:

Tonight’s Plan

Tonight’s WUFO Checklist:

  • Set out UFO water
  • Gather snacks
  • Boost/donate to this week’s fund
  • Perform some groundwork/light meditation
  • Join our weekly Live Contact Session at 8:30 PM PST
  • Use a night sky app or head outside to participate in the Stargazing Side Quest
  • Commune with nature and/or your loved ones
  • Take a pic of your setup/activities and use tag

As always, we are conducting our weekly live contact session right here, this time at 8:30 PM PST. Join us for some card pulls and an Estes Method session! If you’re wanting to watch directly from this site, all you have to do click the video above when it’s time!

Once 10:00 PM PST rolls around, we will head outside to look up and spend some time gazing at the sky. Bring plenty of snacks, blankets, and maybe some hagstone binoculars (if you just happen to have some around, like Jeremy). This concludes today’s WUFO post – we are SO excited for tonight’s watch! Who’s going to be “looking up” with us?!

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