Lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse will occur this week, on Wednesday, June 15th.

photo courtesy of toasty ken

They happen twice a year but depending on where you are in the world, they may or may not be at a convenient viewing time or when the skies are clear. Unfortunately, the eclipse this week won’t be visible to those of us in North America because it’ll occur during our daylight hours.

I can recall only one specific lunar eclipse. A near disaster occurred on our boat that night.

It could have been purely the result of  inexperience and strong tides that happen when the moon is full (even though we were in a spot with negligble tides). 

But it could have been more than that.

Cafe Astrology  says, ”Many people tend to fear eclipses, simply because they often bring about a crisis of sorts that leads to a significant event or change.” 

I’m not a follower of astrology, but it was the full moon of that lunar eclipse, while we were living pretty much outdoors and on the sea, that hit us over the head with the realization that the moon holds subtle control over us. It wasn’t just the sea that threw us a disaster, emotions ran equally high. The most memorable line of that night:

“Thank God you can’t see under this table because I am sitting here with no pants on, and it is because of you.”

I’ll save the rest of the details for my book, but do you see what I mean? 

What exactly is a lunar eclipse? It’s when the sun, earth and moon all align so that the earth blocks the sun’s ray from hitting the moon.

During total eclipse, the moon typically glows orange or red because even though direct sunlight cannot reach the moon, indirect light does illuminate it, but the light first has to travel through Earth’s atmosphere which filters out blue light, leaving only the orange color.

Shadow and Substance  has a cool animated graphic of the upcoming June 15th lunar eclipse.

On the West Coast of the U.S., Penumbral Eclipse will begin at 10:24 AM (hence, why we won’t see it), with total eclipse taking place between 12:22 PM and 2:02 PM. Penumbral eclipse will end 4:00 PM.

Although North America won’t see the lunar eclipse, if you’re close to the sea, it’s a great time to head to the beach to search out marine creatures normally underwater.

That’s what we’ll do. And afterward we’ll sleep outside under the full moon, because oddly, despite that night I wouldn’t want to relive, I find myself compelled to be outside and near the sea.

This time we’ll stay safely on land. I’m planning on no disasters this time. 

Are you in a part of the world where you can view the lunar eclipse? Total eclipse will be at 20:12 UTC. Convert to your time zone here. 

Do you have a full moon or lunar eclipse story?

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