The Solstice Treat: Full Eclipse of the Full Moon
This Tuesday brings a special treat for Winter Solstice. Not only is it Solstice but also there will be a full moon. And it just gets better. There will be a full eclipse of the full moon. The eclipse starts on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am. As it begins, the earth’s shadow will appear as a dark-red bite at the edge of the moon. It takes about an hour for the “bite” to swallow the entire Moon. Total eclipse is at 02:41 am and lasts for 72 minutes.
If you aren’t planning to enjoy the entire eclipse in the dead of winter in the middle of the night, choose this moment: 03:17 am. That’s when the moon will be displaying the most vivid shades of coppery red. The next full eclipse of a full moon on Solstice will be December 21, 2094. I expect to miss that one. This Solstice is a very special celestial treat, if the weather holds out.
So, will the werewolves change back?
Not until early this morning. Howl.
I’ll be hosting a medicine circle ritual tomorrow at an old sacred rock outcroping near Great Falls. Some friends of mine will be doing a similar one at a Mayan Ceremonial site in Guatemala.
Essentially we’ll be syncing up our thanks to the Creator for the natural bounty of the Earth and continue to pray that all humans will achieve peace with nature and themselves.
That sounds neat, Rod. I know someone who would probably like to join you.
Maybe you could do a write up later?
MH, check your email.
I will put some photos up on my blog… I hope to start a trend.
The trick is to make the circle out of stone ground cornmeal, or natural seeds, that way the Earth and animals can clean it up after you’re done.
Rod, please email me. I have lost your address. Important question.
Moon.howler07@yahoo.com
Kirsten Gillibrand
says the 9/11 bill will go through in the next day or 2 and that she has the votes. I have listened to her several times over the weekend and today and she is very articulate on this subject.
Looking forward to the moon and the pictures. I’m not into the above hippy heathen stuff but whatever floats someone’s boat.
I wanna see a blood moon!!!
I just heard that this particular type of eclipse last happened in 1648. You miss it this time around and you may have a long wait for the next one.
Wolverine is right. It is very rare. Thanks for those stats, Wolverine.
marin, what might seem like hippy heathen stuff to you might be very sacred to someone else. Also, the entire concept of Solstice is rooted in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and probably other religions I don’t know about.
I suppose all my ancestors at one time were very much Solstice observers.
No. There was a total elipse of the moon on the eve of grandfathers wake in December of 1997. I remember that because we grandkids were mesmerized by it and we left the wake to watch it. The next day, the day of his burial, a nor-easter slammed NYC with such ferocity that the graveside service will be remembered by all there as one of the worst storms ever! The hearse fishtailed, the flower arrangements blew away, the priest could barely be heard over the wind. And when the priest said “May he rest in peace,” HUGE chunks of ice rained down from the skies and everyone made a break toward the vehicles on seriously numbed feet.
NASA must have missed that one, DB. Maybe it wasn’t on the day of the Winter Solstice.
The next one is supposed to be somewhere around 2096 if I remember right. Maybe they occur roughly once a century.
Set the alarm clock for 0300 so wife and I can bundle up and grab a view.
Correction, the next one will be in December 2094. Not that any of us will be around to see it!
47 great lunar photos from last night
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Lunar-Eclipse/ss/events/sc/122010lunareclipse#photoViewer=/101219/481/urn_publicid_ap_org2eee8cb7247e4e2a92e00b3d6d22d75f