Moonstruck
To the diviner everything has meaning. If we are attentive the universe is talking to us all the time. Few of us, I think pick up on more than fraction.
One reason might be that Chinese astrology is so abstract that we may forget that it is astrological at all. Tonight is a case in point when we might usefully remember that the word “eclipse” has the meaning “shutting out” or “taking over” as well as its astronomical significance. In the classical Chinese of the Yi or Book of Changes eclipse also means “regret”.
You will doubtless already know that overnight tonight (12th/13th August) the Sun will be almost entirely blocked by the new moon. Because of the relationship between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun there can only be solar eclipses at a new moon and lunar eclipses at the full moon.
But have you ever stopped to consider just how remarkable it is that a body around a quarter of a million miles away and roughly the size of Canada can appear to block out one many thousands of times bigger and 93 million miles further away?
The implications are astonishing and in the spirit of the Tao I invite you to draw none.
And it happens that this new moon is the one that brings in the Month of the Hungry Ghosts, the time when insatiable spirits alive as well as dead, are reckoned to be abroad. The traditional advice is to steer clear of large bodies of Water and shady forests. Which is depressing news if you’re off say to the Costa del Sol or Bavaria.
And as it happens the path of the greatest occlusion (over 90%) crosses Greenland as well as Northern Spain. So if we put together the ideas “Greenland”and “taking over” we might derive some literal meaning. The universe may be telling us all manner of things.
They may not be literal. Perhaps by the time the Hungry Ghosts Festival arrives with the full moon on the 27th we will know more.
Don’t forget my date selection crash course – four hours on the afternoon of the 19th September. No prior obscure knowledge required.
Contact: sheilashworthfengshui@gmail.com
And here’s a link to this month’s podcast
Meanwhile keep a song in your heart, a smile on your lips and a spring in your onion.