Three things cannot hide for long: the sun, the moon and truth.
Gautama Buddha
At the age of a quarter of a century while living with my brother in Ibiza I experienced a lunar eclipse in the ‘now’. It was probably expected and had most likely even been mentioned on page 4 in the local newspaper, but not known to me. As I often was want to do, I headed out at about 11pm in search of a dance and walked around the port of Ibiza towards Pacha with boats still lined up to the quay on the road side. One of them was probably my friend Pete’s Mediterranean antique sail boat called the Isla Blanca. I am sure I was wearing the quirky ‘materialed’ cigarette leg trousers that I had made having taken a pattern off a pair that fitted (we do say this in the UK) me very well and a baggy t-shirt. 1978/9 was a magical time on the island. Sin and innocence were solid bed fellows. The sea sparkled and pollution and life-threatening climates were not yet words on everyone’s lips. Fishing boats put-putted as they set out to sea each night at this time in anticipation of bringing back a good, but not obscene, haul to market. Having danced in my own world for two hours my body was tired, and I headed home—about a twenty minute walk. Confusion reigned as I looked up for the full moon that I had left home under. Or perhaps it was a time shift or worse still, a glitz in the matrix. The full moon did look more like the Apple logo. Living as I was in a foreign land a long way from Cape Town, my childhood home, it would be true to say I was now submerged in a language I couldn’t speak, and living amongst a people I had no experience of, Romany folks I shared Sa Penya with. It certainly wasn’t for me to second guess my surroundings. On the walk back to Calle Alta 34 a celestial ghost kept taking bigger and bigger bites out of the moon, my moon that night. And then it dawned of me—I was experiencing my first lunar eclipse. Ah, that was it. The Earth must be placed exactly between the moon and the sun wherever it was now in the sky somewhere else around the globe. This must have been how those early settlers felt who lived on the plains fifty thousand years ago, or whenever it was we roamed the Earth in animal skins.
Apparently there are two to five solar eclipses each year, with a total eclipse taking place about every eighteen months. A partial lunar eclipse happens between two to five times a year, with a total lunar eclipse occurring every two or three years.Only a few die-hard fans used to chase eclipses until now and with April 8 looming fearfully ahead of us. Yes, in the US fear has been ratcheted up for the last two weeks. Until now the only advice ever given ahead of solar eclipses was to use slitted glasses. Now people are being warned to stock up on fuel, food and water.
The US has gone full steam on closing a number of schools in the path of total eclipse, calling up disaster management teams, even the nuclear disaster unit. A number of counties have declared a state of emergency. From what you may ask. Sorry I can’t help you there, my US friends, but you have been warned. Apparently they say people are going to clog up the highways and byways, empty shops and garages of all food and fuel, and there will be dangerous food shortages to follow. One but wonders what they know that we don’t know. Starting to sound a lot like the warnings of what was going to happen at midnight 31 December 1999. But does one stock up, also known as emptying the shelves, just in case? I hear that there will truly incredibly be a comet passing across the eclipse which should be visible by the naked eye. Images show it to be a stunner with a swirly whirly very very long tail. And NASA thinks it could be helpful to fire three rockets at the lunar shadow. But more weirdly the scientists at Cern, Switzerland, who openly admit they don’t really know what they are doing or even whether they run the risk of upsetting our very own universe, are going to fire up the Large Hadron Collider and bash a couple atoms into one another. I don’t know about you but I fail to see how this helps humanity thrive and be happy.
Astrologers tell us that all that happens in the celestial realm has an impact on us. This is not something I find so strange. Maybe why I do wonder whether an Alien nation has been in situ on our planet for sometime already, or more likely become body snatchers who work their way up through governments and organisations etcetera etcetera with the sole intention of slowing ridding the Earth of our presence. Could be a possible explanation for the awful things our rulers are doing, not only to the planet but also to us, supposedly their kin and the bearer of future generations. Or are we living in a ground hog day where every day is April 1. I did notice that this year there was no appetite for jokes. Luckily, it is at this point I remember the tin-foil hat on my head and relax. Phew! Nothing to see here.
jennie's red book 