The heliacal rising of fixed star Sirius, the brightest fixed star in our sky, is a significant astronomical event where the star Sirius becomes visible just before sunrise, after a period of invisibility due to her proximity to the sun.
Historically, this event was particularly important in ancient Egypt, where it was used to mark the start of the Egyptian calendar year. In ancient Egypt the heliacal rising of Sirius signalled the beginning of the Nile Flood Season, which was the moment of renewal. This is because in spring was the dry season, and food supply was stretched; so Flood Season was the most important event, because it meant abundance of food for the year ahead.
This is why the ancient Egyptians were so excited to see Sirius rising in their sky each year, waited in anticipation for these blessings, and the mythology surrounding the beautiful rising of Sirius has always been related to the energies of life giving, life renewal, and abundance.
The heliacal rising of Sirius is important and always has been, going back to ancient Babylonian astrology. This year we have a beautiful rare celestial event: the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in paran to Sirius, where all will meet around the 14th degree of Tropical Cancer on August 12th, depending on your time zone. Moreover, this conjunction will be trined by the North Node.
Astrologically, this is a very powerful and beautiful energy with the potential of bringing a lot of abundance and joy. For each person, this may be affecting a different part of their life, depending on their unique chart, but the blessings may be there for all. For those who have personal planets around the 14th degree of Cancer, this will be even more important; and depending on the planet and aspect, and where you are on your unique life’s path, this could indeed be a heart’s wish finally coming into fruition.
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This is a rare event, because while Venus and Jupiter meet each other in our sky usually once a year, they haven’t met with Sirius in over eighty-three years. From the perspective of spiritual astrology, as I am a spiritual astrologer, this is quite important for people and their unique life’s path; and for the collective too, it carries beautiful, wise, loving and spiritual energy.
Jupiter is exalted in the sign of Tropical Cancer with Sirius, because here we find the higher spiritual truth that true wisdom comes from the heart, and is heart-rooted. Sirius is a very powerful energy, as the brightest fixed star in our sky, and for those interested to learn more, I’ve written about her in depth in Fixed Star Sirius, the Shining One.
For most of our world, the heliacal rising of Sirius may be happening around the middle of August close to the Venus-Jupiter conjunction, but it depends on latitude, and where you are living.
What is a heliacal rising?
The heliacal rising of a star occurs when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon just before sunrise, following a period when it was either too close to the sun to be seen or not visible at all. Throughout history, the heliacal rising of stars have been used in various cultures for calendrical and agricultural purposes, as well as for navigation and spiritual ceremonies.
Something to keep in mind with heliacal risings of Sirius, and actually all heliacal risings, is not to interpret nor analyze ancient events strictly through the use of modern technology. For example, a lot of people state that for ancestral Egyptians, Sirius’ first appearance began a new year and they make absolute statements on the date. But this is a bit too oversimplified, because the Egyptian calendars were complicated and changed across time.
It is important to understand that heliacal risings aren’t just about math and technology predictions, it is about observing it with your eyes – because the actual date of the first appearance is affected by weather and obstructions at the horizon. The key is observing the star – the date of the first morning appearance, not the theoretical date.
Sirius’ 2025 Heliacal Rising based on Latitude (North)
The below dates are based on astronomer Jean Meeus’ equations, showing the predicted heliacal rising for Sirius for selected northern hemisphere latitudes. These are the theoretical dates, so you’d need to look up the sky for when the appearance will happen.
Latitude (North): Date
20° Latitude North: July 24
25° Latitude North: July 28
30° Latitude North: August 1
35° Latitude North: August 5
40° Latitude North: August 10
41° Latitude North: August 11
43° Latitude North: August 13
45° Latitude North: August 15
50° Latitude North: August 20
55° Latitude North: August 27
You can begin looking approximately 40-50 minute before sunrise, a couple of days before the stated dates above, and you may use binoculars as well if you wish. The heliacal rising occurs on the first day the star can be seen without the binocular.
Suppose you live in Toronto, Canada, which is at 43.6532° N. You may begin to look for the heliacal rising around August 13th in the early morning, and I’ll use Stellarium to show you how to see it.
Here is Sirius on early morning August 13th, and you may see her more brightly the following two days on the 14th and 15th. You can see Venus and Jupiter together beautifully shining at this time also.
Venus is currenly an evening star, which is called her Aphrodite phase, where she is her most graceful, beautiful and abundant, and both she and Jupiter are visible, so their energies of abundance are now fully expressed outward.
Before we move on, a question arising in some people may be:
How come Venus and Jupiter are conjunct Sirius, when Sirius is not next to them in the sky?
And that’s a great question!
A conjunction occurs when celestial objects have the same right ascension or ecliptic longitude. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they appear together in the sky from our perspective on earth. Sirius, being a star, in incredibly far away; her heliacal risings are often linked to conjunctions with other planets, but these planets might not be visually close to Sirius at the time, and
The planets we see in the sky have their path of the ecliptic, and this is the path they move along from our perspective on earth. We can’t possibly see a planet right beside Sirius from our perspective here on earth; just as we can’t see a planet directly next to many of the other stars in the sky, such as Deneb. It’s just not along the ecliptic.
Suppose you have your natal Sun conjunct fixed star Deneb Adige, found at the tail of the swan from Cygnus constellation. If you open up Stellarium, and turn back the clocks to your time of birth, you will see your natal Sun probably somewhere along the body of the water-bearer within the Aquarius constellation. The Aquarius constellation is found south of the Cygnus constellation in the northern hemisphere.
You will not be able to actually see your Sun, or any other planet, ever move through Cygnus, because Cygnus is not part of the ecliptic. But technically, and mathematically, if celestial objects have the same right ascension or ecliptic longitude, it’s a conjunction. So your natal Sun would have the same degree currently associated with fixed star Deneb, even if not viewed visibly next to each other in the sky. And I say “currently”, because while we call them “fixed”, these stars still move, but at a very slow pace from our perspective on earth, because they are so far away from us. This is why fixed stars also change degree, even if only slightly; if Deneb is now at around the fifth degree of Tropical Pisces, years from now it’d be around the sixth.
And another thing to keep in mind is from our perspective on earth, we are seeing a 3D space projected onto a 2D celestial sphere. Objects that appear close together in the sky might be vastly different distances from us, and their apparent positions can change significantly depending on the time of day and year. Due to the Earth’s rotation, the relative positions of stars and planets in the sky are constantly changing. So even if two objects are conjunct, they may not be visible at the same time neither. For people in places where Sirius will be rising towards the end of August, they will not see the conjunction with Venus and Jupiter visibly in the sky, even though it is still happening.
And so,
The 14th degree of Tropical Cancer is the current degree of fixed star Sirius, and as both Venus and Jupiter will be conjunct at that same degree, we say in astrology that they are conjunct Sirius.
How to spot Sirius in the sky
An easy way to spot Sirius in the sky is actually through the Winter Triangle.
Sirius is part of the Canis Major constellation, and is part of a starry pattern known as the Winter Triangle, including fixed star Procyon from the Canis Minor constellation and fixed star Betelgeuse from the Orion constellation. The shape of these three stars creates a triangle, which could help you locate Sirius.
To visualize the stars and constellations, let’s turn on the night vision and see the starry skies and the place in the sky where Venus and Jupiter are meeting and transiting. To make it more fun, let’s use the constellation art also, to see more clearly the asterisms and star patterns making up specific constellations.
The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter creates a bright beautiful light like a big star in the sky, and many believe that this was the event that may have created what we understand as the Bethlehem star. Both Venus and Jupiter, from the perspective of spiritual astrology, are spheres of spiritual wisdom and universal love.
According to Ptolemy, Sirius is of the nature of Venus and Jupiter, and this is a highly benevolent energy of universal love and wisdom that she carries. As she is now conjunct both Venus and Jupiter, this magnetizes their beautiful energy even more. Sirius carries within her energy a path of returning – returning to what matters to us most deeply, and a sense of renewal of spirit. She moves like a love returning us to love.
The place of the sky where the beautiful Venus and Jupiter are meeting is one of humanity and togetherness – a return of light, purity of spirit and embodied love. It is about the beautiful power as co-creators we have, and of our not just being human, but being humane. It is about our values and ways of living, and moving, and the humble truth that life is about interdependence and interconnection.
Love is not a thing like air, floating like a beautiful idea in the sky – it is something to be embodied through our every day lips, hands and gestures. It needs our hands, it needs our words, it needs our kindness and patience of rhythm. It needs us to become real and touch others; to raise each other, lift each other up.
At the heart of Sirius, and the degree of the Venus and Jupiter conjunction, is essentially a heart of humanity; of the realization that all people, all animals, all nature is part of one and the humility of this deserves to be treasured.
Just as the sky holds constellations not just of Greek heroes or names of ancient gods, it also holds names of animals and even objects such as the harp playing music that moves us, the crown of flowers, and the navigational compass leading people to their homes.
What makes it all purposeful is not the surface of it, or image of it, it’s us. The way we perceive it, the way we approach, the way we choose to use it and apply it in our lives. It’s a ritual of approach; if we approach with kindness and reverence, beauty may reveal itself; if we approach with judgment and entitlement, separation may reveal itself. And when we approach a word with the right approach, the word too will reveal itself, and perhaps even deepen us in wisdom.
Everything is art. Love is art, life is art, mystics are lovers, and lovers are artists. We understand our power as co-creators, and when we embody love through our hands, lips and gestures, we become it. Love is not air, nor fantasy in the sky; love is meant to be embodied, and it is us who give it shape and form every day in our seemingly ordinary gestures and words.
Within us are constellations. As above so below, as within so without, we hold it all together inside of us also; and inside of us are our unique landscapes, temperatures, seasons, soil.
Everything is held within the heavens, just as everything is held here. These constellations aren’t stories outside of us, or only relevant if you have a planet conjunct it – we need to mature out of these limited interpretations. It’s deeper than this. There are constellations within us, stories and worlds; and we hold all constellations within us, and all earth within us, all nature and wildlife, and all people, and languages and cultures and histories.
All here is moved with spirit and is part of the divine with consciousness moving through it. Spirit flows through everything. What is a dress, what is a wooden table, what is a canvas if not touches by human hands, infused with emotions, experiences, movements.
If we can truly understand that inside of us lives a divine nature, a divine connection, a sacredness to be honoured and respected, we will be less likely to hurt others. If we can truly understand that if we take all the water from someone only for ourselves, eventually all the land will dry and we too will suffer, we will understand that all in life is interconnected.
If we can truly understand that life is interconnected, we deepen into intimacy with the entire world and everything around; and we enter not just the temple inside, we are inside the dome itself, in the center of our heart, anchored in the ancient truth that all is of one. And it is only ever love.
Art by Edward Robert Hughes, Wings of the Morning, 1905.
There is a rising of love happening, a new dawn.
With all this water in the astrology, this is the path of water which is the path of love. This is intimacy, nurturing, abundance, trust and faith, generosity, ease, harmony, pleasure, emotional maturity, spiritual connection and wisdom, authenticity and inner truth, mysticism, intuition, inner fulfillment, togetherness, belonging, sweetness of connection, joy, grace, tenderness, and deep soul love relationships. There is so much beauty here moving, and desiring us to allow it to move us and move through us.
This isn’t the only rare celestial event we’ve had this year. In March 2025, we witnessed Venus being visible as both morning and evening star in our sky – the goddess of love revealed us a bridge, as she was a star of two skies. I’ve written about this in depth in Rare Celestial Event: Venus Visible as both Morning Star and Evening Star on the Same Day.
You see, each year when Venus changes phases from evening to morning star, and vice versa, she is usually invisible for some time; and during that invisible phase, people recycle the same old stories, year after year after year, about Inanna in the underworld. People forget to look up and actually see the truth and reality of our present moment, and where higher consciousness invites us to be.
This year Venus didn’t lose herself below the horizon, she didn’t become invisible; she kept shining with grace of movement. She revealed us the bridge of love and wisdom, and offered us an opportunity for a deepening. She reminded us that we don’t need to repeat the same old patterns again and again. She reminded us that we don’t need to lose ourselves and travel underworlds for little pieces of wisdom, so that we then again forget it and repeat the same old patterns, as we never learned anything. She reminded us we don’t need to recycle old karmic lessons; that we don’t need to perpetuate false ideas that pain is love; that we don’t need to suffer to ascend, that we don’t need to stay in darkness each year.
We already know the path. We see the bridge. We can step on it. Why do we need to keep doing the same old thing over and the over again. It’s time to spiritually, and emotionally, mature.
If we look at humanity, we didn’t really choose to see her bridge. In the past months we still see history repeating itself. So now she again reminds us – with the rising of Sirius, with her kiss with Jupiter and higher wisdom, with the trine from the North Node and the Moon swimming the waters of truth and universal love and virtue.
As the hands of moon are kissed by her beloved husband sun, and become a kiss itself kissed by the the hands of dawn, in the sacred kingdom of their morning light, the path again is revealed because all merges in the true love’s light. Stars outside cannot make things happen, even when they do all they can to light our way; only we ourselves can walk our path, when we consciously choose to make life more conscious and walk our path with virtue, love and kindness.
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Cover photograph by me, sailing somewhere in the Mediterrenean sea.
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