On Tuesday, March 3rd, the Moon will be totally eclipsed by the shadow of the Earth ~ and some part of it will be visible for everyone throughout the US. To prepare, I recommend checking out sunset and moonrise times for Monday, March 2nd, the evening before, when the nearly-full Moon will rise in the East before the Winter Sun sets in the West. Get your viewing spot ready, and gather the elements of ceremony ~ a prayer, a poem, candle, a true fairy tale ~ the things that make it possible to move through the shadow without diminishing the inner light, and enact your simple ceremony then, by the light of the setting Sun and the rising Moon, before the Moon gets the upper hand and heads toward the shadow of the Earth in the belly of the Lion.
Tuesday’s Full Moon is the last Full Moon of Winter in the northern hemisphere. The next Full Moon, on April 1st, sets all the spring festivals of renewal in motion. The April Moon will appear among the region of Virgo stars, beneath the feet of the Virgin, you could say. Tuesday’s Full Moon is in Leo, and if you follow its path, you’ll see that the eclipse comes to maximum when the Moon is beneath the belly of the lion, just past Regulus, the star of the King.
What fascinates me about this is that here we have the Moon, eclipsed by the Earth’s shadow near the star Regulus, the star of the king at heart of the Lion, and this will be visible throughout the US. Three months from now, the Moon will occult the planet Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and this will also be visible throughout the US. So the accent mark in both of these events is on LOVE, and, potentially, on how to sustain love as we move through the shadow.
The ancient Druids read the future in the shadows cast by their mighty cromlechs; the 19th century Scottish writer George MacDonald wrote a richly imaginative tale on The Shadows in 1864 in which he described his protagonist’s encounter with a shadow like an operation, and as the shadow passed across his forehead, he closed his eyes, only to open them a moment later and find that his senses were more opened as a result.
The 18th century German idealist poet Novalis wrote in his Great Fairy Tale:
Eros took the paths of night
By the pallid Moon espied:
All in rarest gem bedight
The realm of Shadow opened wide.
Covered with a mist of blue
Hemmed with a golden seam,
He followed Fancy as she drew
Him over land and stream.
And the American poet WS Merwin’s poem The Wings of Daylight is a favorite of mine for contemplating in relation to a lunar eclipse experience. I’ll share the whole thing in a moment, but before we go there, let’s also consider the constellation Leo, and the star Regulus, one of the four Royal Stars of Persia that bears the mark of the King. Regulus is classified as a first magnitude star and is one of 10 first magnitude stars that is along the path of the ecliptic, the path that the planets and Moon follow as they orbit about. Of these 10 chief ecliptic stars, Regulus is the dimmest, which lends itself to imagining that here we are not dealing with a bold and domineering king, but with a servant leader inspired by love and compassion.
And then a shadow falls toward us from the Moon. This shadow is our own, cast from Earth into space, and reflected back to us from the Moon. According to Richard Hinkley Allen, an ancient Ninevite tablet has the inscription: If the star of the great lion is gloomy the heart of the people will not rejoice. Our quest is to meet the shadow with love ~ now, and three months from now, when the Moon occults Venus. To find love as the highest expression of what radiates forth from this geography of the world where these shadows are happening, which is across the continental US. It could all be coincidence, but why not take advantage of these celestial gestures and fill them with goodness, truth, beauty?
Here’s W.S. Merwin, to close:
Brightness appears showing us everything
it reveals the splendors it calls everything
but shows it to each of us alone
and only once and only to look at
not to touch or hold in our shadows
what we see is never what we touch
what we take turns out to be something else
what we see that one time departs untouched
while other shadows gather around us
the world’s shadows mingle with our own
we had forgotten them but they know us
they remember us as we always were
they were at home here before the first came
everything will leave us except the shadows
but the shadows carry the whole story
at first daybreak they open their long wings.
~Mary
Hear this episode of The Storyteller’s Night Sky on podcast here, and wherever you listen. The Moon will rise with the stars of Leo Monday evening, March 2nd, and come to eclipse several hours later. Check local times for event details.