winter solstice lunar eclipse: rites of passage
…[existential] changes of condition do not occur without disturbing the life of society and the individual, and it is the function of rites of passage to reduce their harmful effects. That such are regarded as real and important is demonstrated by the occurrence of rites, in important ceremonies among widely differing peoples, enacting death in one condition and resurrection in another. — Arnold Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (from this year’s Theme at Burning Man)
By now, most people know that this winter solstice is unusual: there’s a full moon AND a lunar eclipse all happening at the same time depending on where in the world you happen to be around midnight Monday Dec. 20 and Tuesday Dec. 21.
This combination of celestial events is so rare that the last time there was a full moon and a lunar eclipse on the winter solstice was nearly 400 years ago, in 1638. The next time it will happen will be in less than 100 years. If we can see it here on the Northern Hemisphere will make it even more special; in 2094, it will be seen on the other side of the globe. In the Americas, our next total eclipse will be April 15, 2014.
There’s a lot of power in all this, starting with the change of seasons from nights getting longer to getting shorter (or vice versa depending on where on earth you live). People mark this with rituals like the ones I’ve done and written about in this blog post.
The monthly full moon has energy as well–most of us have felt it at least once. Maybe we don’t turn into werewolves, but certainly our hearts grow fuller, grander, a little more wild and risky.
Eclipses too are forces of change and transformation. During a lunar eclipse, time is conflated–a whole lunar cycle of 29 and a half days occurs in a few hours. Many believe that the time of an eclipse is when Lord Ganesh leaves Mount Kailash to walk among us here on earth.
Just the fact that we are able to have an eclipse at all, that our moon is just the right size and we are just the right distance to observe this phenomena, is almost fantastic.
The Astronomy Chart from Mr Eclipse
An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at a Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. The closer the Moon is to the center of the shadow, the more total the eclipse. A lunar eclipse is visible wherever the Moon is above the horizon.
If the Earth had no atmosphere, then the Moon would be completely black during a total eclipse. Instead, the Moon can take on a range of colors from dark brown and red to bright orange and yellow. The exact appearance depends on how much dust and clouds are present in Earth’s atmosphere. The expectation with this eclipse is that the moon will be quite red.
All three together–the solstice, the full moon, the sun positioned to create a period of eclipse, should make you think, consider, reflect, to possibly engage in rituals, to set your intent for the time to come.
Believe me, it can be quite powerful. Read more…
a poem for a lunar eclipse
Tues Aug 28 2007 315am
The moon is burnt orange
the sun took a bite & then another
covering the moon with its shadow
only lit now by light
reflected by earth, by us
It’s spooky & a bit crazy
yet I want to wake my son up
show him our moon
its light should be spilling
across my bed across my face
instead it is eerily dark
when only a few hours ago
it was light
It looks sad alone quiet
up there in the dark
with only a few trees to
hug it lost w/o its light
Post with details about the lunar eclipse (astronomy, astrology, rituals and more) to follows.
For the Monday Poetry Train this week, I offer this 3:15 experiment poem from August 2007 which fits in with the upcoming lunar eclipse tonight at midnight Pacific Coast time. In the 3:15 Experiment, participants from around the globe wake up and write at 3:15 in the morning every night in the month of August in order to stay in a that half awake, half asleep semi conscious dream state…raw unedited 3:15 poems are posted on the website, the 3:15 experiment
And while I do have a new poetry collection out of poems Middle of the Night Poems From Daughter to Mother :: Mother to Son which you can order from en theos press in print or ebook form, this poem isn’t in that book.
Dear Santa,
All this talk about SantaCon is putting me in the mood for Burning Man 2011, the year of Ritual, with a theme of Rites of Passage.
(See photo at left of the Man burning in 2005 by Wade Scribner.)
You see, 2010 was a really difficult year and I miss my peeps. You know, the ones who see a parade and want to join in–and already have a costume ready? Burners. Those are my people. They’re givers, just like you.
And Santa, even though I am doing my best to bring a little bit of that Burning Man spirit home from the desert by doing these ArtRides and being myself, I need a little rejuvenation.
Santa, I need to go Home again, I need to be someplace where there’s more people like me, my tribe, where I can relax the most and be myself and not feel judged. You know what I mean by “Home”–Black Rock City out there in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. Way out west, about the same distance from LA as Seattle as Boulder.
So Santa, I’d just like one thing in my stocking, and I bet you can guess what it is.
That’s right Santa, I’d like a pair of Burning Man tickets–one for me and one for my wonderful husband. We went to Burning Man together ten years ago in 2001 as friends; now we’re married and sharing this life together and adventures with our son who’s 7 and been to Burning Man three times. We’d like to go this year and renew our vows to each other.
I realize, Santa, that these tickets you’d buy for us are Read more…
Ventucky SantaCon 2: Singing in the Rain?
Subject: Save Santa! A SantaCon Bicycle Ride in the rain?
This is NOT a Santa Skunk ride (you know how you get that stripe down your back when you ride a bike when it’s been raining?)
So here’s the latest SantaCon plan: meet near the Pier/Promenade Playground around 1pm. Then we’ll be prowling or music and mayhem and protection from the rain if necessary. Our agenda includes Taco Hut (that’s where we’ll have lunch), Eric E’s, Aloha, the big hotel, then along Main. The Watermark has music from 2-5pm and we’ll see where else we can find music to dance to.
If the weather permits, we’ll ride up Ventura Ave and over to Art City.
Download and bring your own copy of the Santacon Carol Book here: http://santarchy.com/other/santacon-carol-book.pdf
(AND YES, you MUST wear a costume. NO, you can NOT get by with a red shirt and Santa hat. It’s about the FUR!! See in the picture of us from 2009? Fur! White Fur! Lots of it!
BE CREATIVE, ya lazy bum! Jeans, in particular BLUE jeans, will be removed and destroyed without warning. Don’t tempt us. Red jeans might make the grade.
Bring innocent toys to hand out to kids and naughty toys to give to adults.
IT IS YOUR CIVIC DUTY TO MAKE PEOPLE WONDER WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.
Santa doesn’t get arrested. Always remember the four F’n rules of Santarchy:
(1) Don’t f* with kids.
(2) Don’t f* with cops.
(3) Don’t f* with security.
(4) DON’T F* WITH SANTA!*)
Please RSVP and comment to let us know if we should watch out for you and whether you’ve been naughty or nice.
Enjoy the photos by Daniel Boggs iPhone from the First Friday SantaCon; hopefully they will motivate you!
xxxxooooxxxx from Ms Claus
PS Yes, you Santa, you do need to wear the monkey suit…
Here are some previous blog posts with more advice:
Must Be SantaCon Part 1: Photos From Save Santa First Friday ArtRide December 2010
It wasn’t as cold as the North Pole on First Friday December 2010, but it was cold enough for this group of Santas to bundle up in our Santa best for our third First Friday ArtRide and SantaCon. Here’s a few photos by me and the story; more photos by Daniel Boggs to come!
We gathered as usual for our FFArtRide on the Ventura Beach Promenade and California Street. Some Santas watched the sunset while others watched their drinks empty at Aloha’s bar.
Our first stop was the Artists Union Gallery, conveniently located next to Aloha. From there, we broke with tradition and rode up California Street to the gas station at Thompson for a quick air stop and to wave at the people trapped in their cars on this beautiful clear night.
Next we went to the “new” classy Photon Gallery on Santa Clara and California where we oohed and aahhed at Claudia Pardo McFayden’s luminous clouds and admired the iPhone photos as well as those of owner Peter Duffy. We’d been trying to get in there for several rides and finally it was open when we were there!
We cruised Main and stopped at Fox Vintage for cupcakes and Lynne Okun’s art, then near the Mission we visited Sylvia WHite’s pop-up gallery where we were stoped in our tracks by unusual ceramic art and to take some photos.
We then rolled on to Bell Arts where there was lots to see and buy including the annual holiday ceramics show and beautiful handmade scarves and hats by Dawne Fowkes Cushing–I bought two hats and matching scarves, one set in purple and the other in periwinkle, olive, and mango!
Our next stop was Art City where Jeremy was djing. Lots of young people were there enjoying the music and the amibance; here we are with Jeremy and his wife Michelle.
Time to head home–on we went to WAV, then Keven Eckhart-Smiths, then home!
Along the way, we lost Santas to food, fun and frolic–also to one broken arm from a tree climbing accident at Bell Arts! This was a first real calamity on a ride (beyond costume failures and flat tires –which we haven’t had since we stopped going to Stoneworks…)
We hope you’ll join us for our next ArtRide Sunday December 19–Save Santa SantaCon Sunday December 19. Our next First Friday ArtRide is a Tweed Ride January 7 followed by a Think Pink ride in Febrary with an afterparty in the El Jardin Courtyard hosted in part by Kama Sutra–perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Know what’s happening with the San Buenaventura ArtRiders by subscribing to this blog and liking our page on facebook!
All photos here taken with my trusty iPhone; next up, photos by Daniel Boggs from HIS trusty iPhone to get everyone in the mood to ArtRide with us Sunday Dec. 19!
San Buenaventura ArtRiders Bicycle & Social Club in the news
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Alex Wilson of the Ventura Country Reporter joined the San Buenaventura ArtRiders “Revenge of the Nerds” ArtRide in November and wrote about the rides and our mission in this week’s paper!
Save Santa! Ride your bicicyle with us in a holiday themed SantaCon ArtRide Sunday December 19! We’ll be making mayhem at the Pier playground and promenade around 1pm! Just look for Santa!
PS Pouring rain cancels…drizzle may see us simply riding to downtown for music and mayhem. Follow @artpredator on twitter for the latest news.
Tonight at 730pm, award winning poet and publisher J.P. Dancing Bear will read from his new collection of poetry, Inner Cities of Gulls (Salmon Poetry) at the Artists Union Gallery 330 S. California St. Ventura, CA.
J. P. Dancing Bear is widely published: his poems have appeared in over a thousand publications including Shenandoah, Mississippi Review, Cimarron Review, Poetry East, North American Review, Atlanta Review, Verse Daily, Poetry International, Marlboro Review, Hotel Amerika, Seattle Review, Permafrost, Controlled Burn, Cranky, Rattle, and Slipstream.
His chapbooks include What Language, winner of the 2002 Slipstream Prize and three full-length poetry collections: Billy Last Crow (Turning Point, 2004); Conflicted Light (Salmon Poetry, 2008); and Inner Cities of Gulls (Salmon Poetry, 2010).
According to his website, “Dancing Bear’s poems have been nominated ten times for Pushcart Prizes, for the Foreward Prize, and four times nominated for Best of the Web awards. In 2003, he was a finalist for the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America for his manuscript Gacela. Bear’s manuscript, Lines Cast, was a finalist in the 2008 National Poetry Series.”
A resident of the Santa Cruz/Monetery Bay Area of California, he is the host of “Out of Our Minds” a local weekly radio show for public radio station KKUP featuring some of today’s best contemporary poets. He is the editor of The American Poetry Journal and the owner of Dream Horse Press, which publishes the Orphic Prize and APJ Book Prize series.
An open mic follows the featured reading. I will be there tonight reading from my new poetry collection Middle of the Night Poems From Daughter to Mother :: Mother to Son (en theos press 2010) and some of my students will be there reading too. Join us to listen or to read your own work!
Poem for Today’s Geminid meteor showers
What follows is a poem I wrote last summer during the August Pleides meteor showers. I wrote it soon after my mom died, on the night of what would have been her 73 birthday.
The poem and people’s strong positive responses to it influenced my choice of the cover art by Alan Sailer for my new poetry collection, Middle of the Night Poetry From Daughter to Mother :: Mother to Son (
which you can order from en theos press in a limited edition of 108 signed and numbered chapbooks; soft cover to come soon).
via art predator
For more Poetry, catch the Monday Poetry Train!
Wish Upon A Star: Stay Up for Geminid Meteor Showers Monday
Monday night, December 13, the Geminid meteors will once again delight sky watchers with shooting stars after the waxing half moon sets (about midnight here on the western Pacific coast.) Last December, Bjørnar G. Hansen took this photo of a Geminid meteor with the northern lights and it was posted on NASA’s APOD site.
Aurora Shimmer, Meteor Flash
Credit & Copyright: Bjørnar G. Hansen,
Explanation: Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on December 13. This 30 second long exposure records their shimmering glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, it also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from December’s excellent Geminid meteor shower. Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, the trail points back toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view. Both aurora and meteors occur in Earth’s upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, but aurora are caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of cosmic dust.
NASA’s APOD site is very cool and full of amazing images, mostly of the heavens but I am fond of the ones that connect heaven and earth like this one or these images which depict winter solstice sun. In case you’re wondering, APOD stands for A Photography of the Day. Learn more about APOD here.
1 Day Holiday Boutique CSUCI Gallery
Come by and pick up a copy of my new poetry chapbook, check out my broadsides, see what the other 20 some vendors have to sell, enjoy art, and share your “#pinotmoment! Learn more below!
via The Write Alley
art predator 