The Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century is This Week
The longest partial lunar eclipse is this week. What can we learn from the ancients about this celestial transitional event?
In the early morning hours of November 19, the moon will be in partial eclipse. NASA says the moon will slip behind the Earth’s shadow for about two and a half hours, and weather permitting, a huge swatch of the planet will be able to see at least some of the eclipse. The moon, as well as other celestial bodies, have played a big role in the lives of ancient peoples, mystics, and shamans.
Jack Cary, researcher and author of “Paranormal Planet,” said about the history and significance of the eclipse, “In ancient times, eclipses were always seen as an omen, whether it be good or bad. As the sun or the moon becomes shaded over, you’re seeing a connection both of the feminine and the masculine qualities of existence, and because of that it was seen as a holy union.”
What is the connection between the moon and divine feminine energy throughout history?
“The moon itself has always been seen as the goddess of the sky, and because of that all goddesses that were worshipped around the world in ancient civilizations all had this symbolism of the moon itself,” Cary said.
What did the ancient people know about the planets that we should remember now?
“In ancient times, Pythagoras, who was the inventor of a cult that worshipped numbers, came up with the idea of the ‘music of the spheres,’ this idea that each planet had its own frequency kind of like a musical scale. And these eclipses, when they line up with one another, have an effect, a vibrational effect, that then encompasses the entire magnetic field of the Earth and actually affects biology on this planet,” Cary said.
For many cultures, the eclipse is a symbol of change, a time for rejuvenation and renewal. How do we honor the planets and ourselves during this time of change?
“There are many mysteries of the moon. The ancients, as they saw these omens, didn’t realize that every ancient civilization saw that as an omen. I think what we can learn is that these are moments when we can both stand in respect and awe of the celestial movements of the planets, just even in our solar system, and just how sacred that is. The most important part I think is looking inward and then making that cosmic connection that is representative of an eclipse,” Cary said.
To best see this eclipse, NASA says it will begin at about 2:00 am on the East Coast of the United States and 11:00 pm on the West Coast.
Scientists to Broadcast New Message to ETs Across the Galaxy
Scientists are planning a new message for any potential extraterrestrials in the universe, by sending a cosmic ‘hello’ to any intelligent life in space.Â
When we make contact with extraterrestrials, how will we communicate with them? What if we sent them a message showing information about Earth, humanity, and our technological capabilities?Â
That was the idea behind the Arecibo message in 1974, designed by Frank Drake and Carl Sagan. The now-famous message was the most powerful broadcast sent into space, from the, now defunct, Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. The binary message consisted of our solar system, strands of DNA, a human figure, and chemicals related to Earth, among other things. Â
Now, nearly 50 years later an international team of researchers introduced a new message intended for extraterrestrials. The team, led by Jonathan Jiang of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, felt it was time to update the Arecibo message since we have come so far technologically since 1974. Â
The proposed message dubbed “the beacon in the galaxy” will include some similar information as Arecibo, including, “[B]asic mathematical and physical concepts to establish a universal means of communication followed by information on the biochemical composition of life on Earth, the Solar System’s time-stamped position in the Milky Way relative to known globular clusters, as well as digitized depictions of the Solar System, and Earth’s surface.
