February 21st, 2016

Leaving therapy tonight, none of the street lamps were on so it was very dark. The moon, however, is very nearly almost full, and was large and bright shining through the wispy clouds. My phone did not get a great picture of it, but it was lovely, and a little moving.

September 28th, 2015

Last night's Blood Moon was so amazing. I don't even have words, so I won't bother trying to describing it. I've been in such a peaceful place all day today, it's been lovely.

I got a few grainy photos of the moon on my phone, so I'll share some of those.

This is a shot of the moon around 7:45, before the eclipse. There was just a really nice view of it over the neighboring building.

This is the moon around 9:00, when it was about three-quarters of the way eclipsed.

And this is the moon around 9:15, almost fully eclipsed.

My mom got this amazing shot of the Super Moon effect back home.

She also got this fabulous image of the moon in eclipse. If only my camera-phone took pictures that crisp....

September 27th, 2015

It's the lunar eclipse tonight, everyone! Tonight is the Harvest Moon, "Super Moon", and Blood Moon eclipse all at the same time. It is also the end of a four-year astronomical cycle, called a tetrad. You may have noticed we've been having a lot of eclipses recently; two last year, and tonight will be the second this year. These four eclipses happen about every 11 years, and are significant to different groups for different reasons. 

Some Christians, who take the Bible more literally, consider it a sign of the Apocalypse, as noted in the New Testament. Apparently, there's also a pastor who's claiming that they represent the fulfillment of a prophecy in his denomination. 

The Inca believed that a jaguar attacked the moon during this time, staining it red, while the Mesopotamians believed that it was a sign their king was in danger of demonic attack, and so they would install a surrogate king for the length of the eclipse to bear the brunt of any injury. To the Hupa Native American tribe, of northern California, the belief was that the moon had forgotten to feed his pet mountain lions, and so they attacked him.  

On the Pagan side of things, eclipses can be considered an entire lunar month compressed into one evening, as the moon waxes, reaches full, and wanes as the eclipse occurs. Therefore, magick done during this time can really pack a punch, although one should be certain that one knows what one wants, as the effects can really be far-reaching. 

At this time, as this is the end of a moon cycle, and also of the summer season, magick is best centered around banishing and letting go. I know I'm planning to continue the work I began at Mabon, releasing old energies and moving past some things. I'm hoping to go out tonight and actually see the eclipse, but it's supposed to be cloudy all day, so I don't know if I'll be able to.

It should also be noted that while lunar eclipses are often called "Blood Moons" for the reddish color they turn as light refracts through the atmosphere, the general name of the October full moon is also the Blood Moon, and these events are not the same thing. 

Blue Moon 2015

What a weekend it has been! A blue moon, Lughnasadh, and Fairy Fest, all overlapping one another!

Destiny came over on Friday and we got all our costume things sorted for Fest. We also did an Esbat ritual to celebrate the blue moon, which was her first time doing an Esbat as well. I won't get into all the details, but we got dressed up in some robes of mine and some pieces of magickal jewelry - a pentacle and Tangerine Quartz necklace for me, and a silver wolf necklace for her.

My phone doesn't have a front-facing camera, so my selfies always turn out a little blurry-looking. I thought this was a cute pre-ritual picture, though.

We enjoyed a nice ceremony where we did some spellwork to further our long-term goals, and then afterwards we took leftover cookies and juice outside for offerings, standing under the moon for a while. It had what looked to us like a blue halo around it, and was very bright over the neighboring houses.

As always, my camera-phone utterly failed to do the phenomenon justice, but the pure Goddess energy was really spectacular.

The next morning, we had to be up quite early for Fairy Fest. Lughnasadh dawned bright and clear this year, and for once we had an actual harvest to honor - our tomato crop has delivered in droves now that my dad and brother built them a planter box. 

As you can see, the tomato on the left was bigger than my hand. We've also had bowls full of cherry tomatoes, and as of yesterday several more large heirlooms have come into ripeness.

I took this photo of a (very short) sunflower soaking up the morning rays after I paused a moment outside to set down a bit of toast in offering. Destiny and I enjoyed the light for a bit, and then it was off to Fairy Fest!