Welcome to Saturday.

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MOON STORIES


Travelers in the Moonlight by Hiroshige (mid 1800's)
wikimedia commons

We have a Blue Moon tonight which is also the Hunter's moon and it falls on Halloween.

Our Moon inspires awe. Look up. Catch a glimpse of the Moon.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCrJ3NflOpE]

Our October sky is interesting, if you have clear skies you can see Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter as well. Saturday’s blue moon will peak at 10:49 a.m. ET, but will look full the night before and the night after.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaSyuJPJfGM]

A Blue Moon is by definition a second full moon that occurs within the same month.
The moon as a symbol of romance:

A Full Moon on Halloween occurs roughly only every 18-19 years.
According to NASA, the next time a full moon falls on Halloween isn’t expected until 2039. I wonder if we will hold elections that year. It's getting spookier all the time.

Halloween has its roots in the Celtic celebration called Samhain. According to the Farmer's Almanac, "the ancient Celts believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at its thinnest during Samhain".

carl Gustave Carus: Klosterruine im Mondlicht 1818
Carl Gustav Carus: Klosterruine im Mondlicht (1818)
Wikimedia Commons

Eartha Kitt's interpretation:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-sfFwAQZJg&feature=emb_logo[video:https... width:200 height:100]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS02GeKuWQ4[video:https://www.youtube.co... width:200 height:100]

The full moon at the end of October is known as the Hunter’s Moon, (aka the Blood Moon) because it marked the time when the harvest was finished and the hunting season began. It is the first full moon to follow the harvest moon.

sappho eng.png
Sappho fragment #34, translated by Anne Carson, from If Not, Winter , 2002.

The moon as a companion:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLKPXkUBfiQ&feature=emb_logo[video:https... width:200 height:100]

Fellow travelers:

Near Hackness, a moonlit scene with pine trees. John Atkinson Grimshaw (1875)
Wikimedia Commons

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Comments

I had to add this video. I think Galileo would have approved. He was partial to measuring things.

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Dawn's Meta's picture

@randtntx

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

@Dawn's Meta Hope you have clear skies on your side of the sea for Moon-viewing tonight.

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Great stuff on the moon Rand. After our first blizzard of the season, the skies cleared and tricked or treated us to a cold, clear view of the blue hunters moon. Perhaps we could call this a CIA holiday,
all spooks day?

Fun fact: there are more pagans than Presbyterians in the US.

For Wiccans and witches, magic is real. They believe that magic happens when “psychic energy” is raised through dance, song or meditation, and is then directed through thought into a particular outcome.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/10/how-wiccans-and-witches-mark-hal...

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Wishing all a powerful Sabbat!

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@QMS

fun with pumpkins...

https://youtu.be/VMmR5g7gU0c

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janis b's picture

@QMS

The eel weaving it's way through the pumpkin was a treat, thank you!

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@QMS Nature is the best magician. I had a great view of the full moon this morning as well. Trying to get in tune with some of that Wiccan spirit.

Thanks for the Wiccan article, very nice.
Someone at the Chester Zoo likes animals and photography, I'm glad.

Thanks for stopping by, have a good one.

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@randtntx

I was able to experience nature in all her glorious fury.
Wrestling the bobbing boats trying to get free
in a horizontal snow gale with nothing but sheer
determination to wrest control. No casualties but my
waning energy. It is all gone now. A couple of whispers
of snow crust on the shaded northern edges of ground.

Haven't had a trick or treater here for years.
Good thing, as I'm plum out of razor blades.
Wink

Simmering down braised red cabbage with the neighbors' apples --
chicken bone stock, yellow onions, a touch of sausage and apple cider.
Fire in the wood stove burning away the blues.

Doesn't get much better than this.

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@QMS so the boat wrestling in the horizontal gale of a blizzard decidedly does not sound fun. After that, you earned the idyllic wood stove ambiance with the lovely soup. That part does sound great.
Have a good one.

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@QMS about the population of Wiccans vs that of Presbyterians. Really funny in fact. I bet the old Puritan colonists are turning in their graves (tonight would be appropriate). All that needless hullabaloo about witches and trials and all. Could have saved a lot of trouble and some innocent probably very nice old ladies as well. Just another example of TPTB being batshit crazy.

I saw you had your first blizzard of the season. I miss blizzards, especially when followed with a calm, quiet morning and deep powdery snow. Hope it's enjoyable for you and not the other way around.

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Lookout's picture

the last time we had a second full moon in a single calendar month – was March 31, 2018.
...
There’s another definition for Blue Moon. It can also be the third of four full moons in a single season, with a season being between a solstice and equinox. The next seasonal Blue Moon will be August 22, 2021.

In recent years, people have been using the name Blue Moon for these two different sorts of moons: second of two full moons in a calendar month, or third of four full moons in a single season.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/when-is-the-next-blue-moon

"According to old folklore," some people say, the second full Moon in a calendar month is called a "blue Moon." They go on to explain that this is the origin of the expression "once in a blue Moon." But it isn't true! The term "blue Moon" has been around a long time, well over 400 years, but its calendrical meaning has become widespread only in the last 25 years.

Finally we arrive at the most recent meaning of all, the second full Moon in a month...
"Blue Moon" seemed to be a truly modern piece of folklore, masquerading as something old....
"Old folklore" it is not, but real folklore it is. Given its present popularity, it may last a long time.
... an e-mail correspondent told me several years ago that calendar printers would always print a full Moon in red except when it was the second one in a month; then it would be printed in blue! That sounded wonderfully plausible -— until I looked at older calendars and found none that were so.

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/once-in...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeDEz_HRd_s]

Have a wonderful Halloween blue moon!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout . I like that sky and telescope website you cite.

Here is a bit about tonight's sky:

The bright orange dot shining well off to its (the Moon's) upper right is Mars. They're about three fists at arm's length apart, more than yesterday illustrated above. Because every day, the Moon moves about 15° farther east along its orbit.

Meanwhile, bright Jupiter and more modest Saturn still hang together in the west-southwest.

For the night sky for the week:
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-october...

Thanks for the Nanci Griffith Blue Moon tune and for the new folklore vs the old folklore info.

Have a good all-hallow's eve.

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enhydra lutris's picture

I especially liked the Hiroshige.

The moon and its cycles was the base of many early calendrical systems, or its intersection with the cycles caused by the earth's passage around the sun. Your vdeo of the solar system model calls to mind all of the cycles upon cycles upon cycles, and the one calendrical system that came closest to accounting for them all. Happy 13 baktun, 0 katun, 7 tun, 17 uinal, 11 kin day.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris . Yup, the moon was one of our early time markers. I'm going to have to look up the meaning of this

Happy 13 baktun, 0 katun, 7 tun, 17 uinal, 11 kin day.

Smile

Glad you liked the column, and you are right, Hiroshige was amazing. It seems he was pretty prolific. I had a hard time deciding which of his pieces of work I wanted to use. They are all captivating.

Hope you have a very good Halloween evening.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx

Hokusai's work. All those guys did great stuff.

The 13 baktun, etc. is today's date according to the Mayan calendar

I almost posted a highly topical wake-me-up to the column this morning, but it was just too tranquil. In honor of all the trick-or-treaters, or whose who wanted to but either held back or were held back, I give you a paen to trick or treating:

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris I haven't heard that song in forever. And yes it is the perfect trick-or-treat theme song.

The millennials I know, really enjoy the Halloween festivities so I feel for them that we have had to put a kibosh on all of that. The younger set who still are at the age for trick-or-treating are going to have to be creative to have fun. I'm sorry for them all.

Way back when, when I was reading about the Impressionist painters, I remember reading that many of them were inspired by certain Japanese artists. Even Van Gogh looked to them for some insights. I didn't know then that it was these guys, Hokusai and Hiroshige, that they were referencing. Funny how things that you didn't pay much attention to initially, show up again and make you notice.

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magiamma's picture

and everyone

Just got this in my inbox. In case anyone is interested.

Q&A with Rupert Read, Spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, hosted by Jem Bendell

https://deepadaptation.ning.com/events/qa-rupert-read-extinction-rebellion

Rupert is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia. He is author of eight books on a range of subjects and specialises in Wittgenstein, philosophy of film, and ecological philosophy. Rupert formerly chaired Green House think tank, and is a former Green Party of England and Wales councillor, spokesperson, European parliamentary candidate and national parliamentary candidate, and former national UK spokesperson for the Extinction Rebellion movement. Rupert is a frequent guest on a range of national UK television and radio programs.

Long early hard day of gardening. Tired now. Thanks for all the info on the blue moon / blood moon. Love all if it.

Be well. Be safe.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@magiamma . Sounds as if you had a good work day. Hope you have that kind of tired where you sleep really well.
Thanks for the link, R. Read sounds like an interesting guy. I have not come across any of his work before, I will check it out. TY.

Thanks for stopping by, take care.

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enhydra lutris's picture

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@QMS is a good one. Kind of creative and festive at the same time.

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janis b's picture

A view of the moon - "oh my god - holy shit - wow … a great reminder that we should look up more often”.

A Halloween musical playlist cultivated from a four hour ride home yesterday, including NZ musicians ...

[video:https://youtu.be/9ynd2A91cXA]

[video:https://youtu.be/eKX8ntjWeas]

[video:https://youtu.be/LoMldQoxnqY]

[video:https://youtu.be/pDzY36FnTRY]

[video:https://youtu.be/YmQlBfxh4Us]

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@janis b . I read somewhere that a large percentage of people cannot see the night sky well since they live in large cities and the stars are not visible because of all the light pollution. It was a huge percentage of people, upwards of 80% or so. That is truly a loss, a clear night sky can be stunning and mind blowing.

I have never been to the McDonald Observatory but it is on my list to visit. Here is a piece of Texas you may not have heard about.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XkF5OmPZ74]

Thanks for the list of tunes. On a quick glance, I don't think I've heard any of them. I'm looking forward to sitting down for a listen later on this evening.

One think I truly enjoy about road trips is listening to music along the way. We have been known to sing along at the top of our lungs (and quite a few in my family cannot carry a tune). Our road trips are identified by the music we listened to along the way, like the time I made everyone listen to too much Edith Piaf or too much Johnny Cash. I don't get to hear the end of that.

Glad you enjoyed the column. Hope you are doing well, take care.

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janis b's picture

@randtntx

It’s good to know that people are working toward less light pollution. Even though I’ve noticed a decrease in city office-lighting over the years I wonder why there is still so much of it. It doesn’t make sense to me. I hope you get to the observatory.

Your family memories of singing out of tune on road trips is a treasure, and the teasing will always be a pleasure of sorts, I’m sure.

Be well and full of wonder.

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Situational Lefty's picture

against humor as we know it.

They don't know how to laugh.

They don't know how to cry.

They don't know how to feel anything beyond what Rush tells them.

#sad

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"The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." Yossarian

@Situational Lefty I wonder if that makes them more akin to zombies than humans. But I do see similar tendencies on the so-called "Left". They are becoming just as doctrinaire and humorless. If you watch the corporate news (which is actually more opinion than news) it seems their main message is just to ridicule the other side.

I guess my interest is to claim that space that celebrates what is best about people. Some of those things are the very things you listed above.

Thanks for stopping by, have a good one.

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