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100 days 'til eclipse: This week on the Storyteller's Night Sky

This week we are within 100 days of the solar eclipse that will cast its shadow over the entire United States, from “sea to shining sea.”

 

The “Great American Eclipse” of August 2017 will be total along a 67-mile-wide path from Newport, Oregon to McClellanville, South Carolina, racing along through 14 states and swallowing five state capitals in its shadow before skipping off the continent and exhausting itself somewhere over the Atlantic. In Michigan, we’ll see 80 percent of the Sun eclipsed.

 

A Solar Eclipse happens when the Moon comes to New Phase close to one of its Nodes. The Nodes mark the points where the Moon’s orbital plane intersects the orbital plane of the Earth. This intersection happens at two places along the Moon’s orbit, once going north, called the North Node, and once going South, called the South Node. 

 

Now bear in mind, Earth and Moon are both in motion, which means the Nodes are not static points in space, they appear to move along the Moon’s orbital path in a rhythm of 18.6 years, and were imagined by the wise men of ancient ages to be the head and tail of a mighty dragon.

 

There are several ways to find story in an eclipse, and one of them is to tune into life events when the Moon’s Nodes move into the place where the eclipse will happen. So listen close, because the Node moves into the “Great American” eclipse point of August 2017 right now, from May 15th to May 25th. 

 

Now whether or not events that occur now will have anything to do with the eclipse in August will require a bit of self research, so mark your calendars; weave your tales; now is the time to engage! And p.s., this is a North Node Solar Eclipse, which means we’re rising up from the belly of the dragon!