This is a good time of year for looking at Leo. Any time after the sun has set and the stars have come out, look to the east and there he will be, rearing up on his hind legs. This evening both the moon and Jupiter will be together in the constellation, making it even easier to find: the nearly-full moon will appear to be inside the lion's body - or on his chest like a medallion, maybe, since Leo is actually a lion lying down with his paws forward like the sphinx - while Jupiter is beneath his hindquarters.
If you had looked at the evening sky at sunset a couple of weeks ago only the front part of Leo would have been above the horizon; today, March 5, is the first day of the year when the whole constellation is above the horizon at sunset. We have noticed before how the ancient world took note of the dates when certain stars were rising at sunset, and it seems that we might have another fragment of the old stellar calendar here with Leo. How? Because today is the feast day of Gerasimus, a fifth-century monk who is supposed to have taken a thorn from the paw of a lion, after which the lion became his companion (and, according to the story, shared his new master's vegetarian diet, which can't have been much fun for the lion). Is it just coincidence that the saint with the lion has his day on the one day in the year when Leo is first fully visible? I don't think so.
Jupiter was exactly opposite the sun and Mercury this week. According to the old astrological weather books, this raises the temperature, and provides a thaw after freezing weather. And so it did.
