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2003-05-16 Eclipse, etc. To begin with, I thought that I should inform you that I now have a new weblog that my beautiful, wonderful sister designed for me over here. I hope that link worked - I was doing the html by memory. So, check it out from time to time, since I'll probably update it more often than I update here (maybe, maybe not). Anyway, on with the real entry. Tonight we were lucky to witness a total lunar eclipse. It started a little after 10 pm, and it's on its way to recovery as I type this. It was pretty amazing - I always love lunar eclipses, and usually make sure that I watch at least part of it. I watched quite a bit tonight, some from inside the kitchen, looking out the back window, and then outside, where I snapped a few pictures. It should be interesting to see how well they turn out. As I was standing outside (shivering thanks to the chilly wind blowing across my sandaled feet), I started to wonder what Wicca would say about lunar eclipses. For those of you not in "the-know", Wicca sees the moon as a symbol for the Goddess, and the sun as a symbol for the God. Now, I may be totally off my rocker, but it seems that one could say that the sun (or its shadow, to be totally scientific) is "overpowering" the moon. Thus, the God is overpowering the Goddess. Although the thought didn't take away my sense of awe at the phenomenon, it almost sounded... like rape. As if the God was forcing the Goddess, or at the very least, if not rape, then taking away some of Her power. Now of course, by this theory, the Goddess also overpowers the God when we have a solar eclipse; but the fact remains that unless we're fortunate enough to be at a planetarium where they have special equipment, we can't look at it (or we can, but it's awfully risky). After this entry, I'm going to do a search to see if there are any thoughts on this. Kind of a melancholy theory, isn't it? Just a sample of some of the "strange" things that cross my mind :) I also had another quirky thought while standing out there: there must have been a bunch of blind people walking around in the early days of "civilization" (Mesopotamia and Egypt - I feel I have to clarify what I mean because there are so many different perspectives on when civilization began). This was, of course, before people knew what caused eclipses, and there were a bunch of spiritual theories to explain it (such as disfavor from the gods). This would mean that most people would probably hide in their houses until the sun re-emerged, but wouldn't there be a few curious people, who just couldn't help but look? Even today, when we know of the damage it can do to our eyes, there are a bunch of risk-takers who look up without any kind of protection (I myself walk around staring at the ground). So, what would stop some people from looking then? Now I'm off to update my weblog and do the web search before heading off to bed. 'Night! |
Portal (coming soon) Get notified: |
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