The final Blood Moon occurs this week – end of the world?
As I wrote last week, the upcoming Full Moon this weekend is not only a SuperMoon (occurring when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth and therefore wields a more powerful influence) but also a Blood Moon eclipse (so called because of the red color that infuses the Moon during the eclipse. It is also the final event of a Lunar Tetrad – a group of four total eclipses that occur within a six month period (read this earlier article for all the details).
(Geeky astro detail: a lunar event is said to be an eclipse when the soli/lunar relationship (Sun and Moon) aligns with the lunar nodes. When the alignment to the nodes is very tight the eclipse becomes a total eclipse and is more powerful astrologically. The lunar nodes represent the flow of life from past to future, and eclipses therefore carry with them the ability to create profound change in our fate and our destiny.
This NASA article points out that in the 21st century we have had a fair number of total eclipses, but this has not always been the case.
“During the 21st century, there are 8 sets of tetrads, so I would describe tetrads as a frequent occurrence in the current pattern of lunar eclipses,” says Espenak. “But this has not always been the case. During the three hundred year interval from 1600 to 1900, for instance, there were no tetrads at all.”
The evangelical rumor mill has jumped on the bandwagon, claiming that at the end of this current Tetrad the world will end, or Christ will return, depending on who you read. Some writers have linked their conspiracy theories to the fact that these […]