New Agers! Listen up!
Pull out your crystals. Deck your halls with boughs of sage. And don your Druid apparel.
The early morning of 21 December is your time to revel.
For the first time in 372 years, a total lunar eclipse and the winter solstice occur on the same night. It would be a trifecta if Linda Evans and Yanni were to get married.
For the rest of us who are less crystal-oriented, it is still a big event.
Full lunar eclipses are rare. But one of the best treats for North Americans is that we get the full show. Assuming weather permits. And that is why we Mexicans (in our portion of North America) may trump some of you up north who are struggling with snow and rain.
The last time a lunar eclipse happened on the winter solstice, the puritans were kicking Anne Hutchinson out of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Charles I was heading down a road where his claim to rule by divine right was about to leave him nowhere to hang a crown, and a group of shipwrecked English sailors set up a colony in Belize -- creating a language anomaly in Central America.
Here are the details of this morning's eclipse. (For those of you who will not read this until the show is over, I am certain television will show you something later today.)
As the earth revolves around the sun, and the moon revolves around the earth, there are times when the earth will get between the sun and the moon -- casting a shadow on the moon's surface. In the same way hammy divas try to upstage their co-stars.
That is what will happen this morning.
Around midnight, a slight shading will occur on the moon's surface. About 33 minutes later, the earth's shadow will start appearing from the moon's left. And then it will be light's out around 1:41 a.m. CT.
Assuming that old tradition is not correct (you know, the one about some demon eating the moon), the shadow will start moving away within 70 minutes.
To get a clear view of this rare morning, I am going to be up on the roof of the house.
Of course, I will need to take a gallon of OFF with me to fight off the flying, biting critters.
It will be interesting to hear what each of you were able to see where you are.
Assuming that old tradition is not correct (you know, the one about some demon eating the moon), the shadow will start moving away within 70 minutes.
To get a clear view of this rare morning, I am going to be up on the roof of the house.
Of course, I will need to take a gallon of OFF with me to fight off the flying, biting critters.
It will be interesting to hear what each of you were able to see where you are.
