"Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star."
~W. Clement Stone
Stone’s quote may be correct for this month’s full moon, which you could actually manage to miss and only see stars.
Lots of magic to talk about for this week’s Magical Monday feature!
Tonight, in the early hours before Tuesday’s dawn EDT, we will have a total lunar eclipse. The glow of the full moon will be draped in shadow of the Earth on the very date of the winter solstice. Three amazing events together!
The passage of the moon through that shadow will be equally visible from all places within the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon. It will be visible across all of North and South America, as well as the northern and western portions of Europe, a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea, much of Japan, as well as the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii —about 1.5 billion people will be able to view this lunar phenomenon. This will be the first total eclipse in 34 months.
The eclipse will become noticeable when the moon begins to enter the Earth's dark inner shadow, the umbra. A small scallop of darkness will appear on the moon's left edge at 1:33 a.m. EST (Dec. 21) or 10:33 p.m. PST (on Dec. 20). The moon is expected to take 3 hours and 28 minutes to pass completely through the umbra. It will pass entirely out of the Earth's umbra at 5:01 a.m. EST/2:01 a.m. PST.
During total eclipse, although the moon will be entirely shrouded in the Earth’s shadow, it likely will not disappear from sight. Instead, it should turn a coppery, reddish color, from the Earth’s atmosphere refracting sun’s rays into the area of the shadow.
Other names for the December full moon include: the Full Cold Moon; the Full Long Nights Moon; Oak Moon; Moon of Long Nights; Long Night's Moon; Wintermonat (Winter Month); Heilagmonoth (Holy Month); Big Winter Moon; Moon of Popping Trees. The term Long Night Moon is appropriate because the midwinter night is indeed lengthy, with the moon above the horizon for a long time.
Correspondences:
Nature Spirits: snow faeries, storm faeries, winter tree faeries
Herbs: holly, English ivy, fir, mistletoe
Colors: black red, white and black
Flowers: holly, poinsettia, Christmas cactus
Scents: violet, patchouli, rose geranium, frankincense, myrrh, lilac
Stones: serpentine, jacinth, peridot
Trees: pine, fir, holly
Animals: mouse, deer, horse, bear
Birds: rood, robin, snowy owl
Deities: Hathor, Hecate, Neith, Athene, Minerva, Ixchel, Osiris, Norns, Fates
Power Flow: to endure, die, re-born; Earth tides turning. Darkness. Personal alchemy. Spiritual paths. Reach out to friends and family, the lonely and needy.
Be sure to stay up late, or get up early. For all this lunar magic to coincide again in N. America you’ll have to wait until April 14, 2014. So, don’t miss it!
Art references: Dark Moon17 (top); Shadow T Matsumoto (bottom)
Total eclipse gave a pink-orange glow. The color was caused by the sun’s rays passing the sides of the Earth, through our planet’s atmosphere and refracting in those gases, to bend as orange wavelengths onto the moon’s surface. Those reflected to us, hence the observation of the eerie orange moon. Science aside…quite a magical site!
