ARTIST: Clive Walters
TITLE: Total Solar Eclipse
MEDIUM: Ink and Acrellic
CONTACT: http://www.clivewalters.com/
FEATURE ARTICLE
The Magic and Mystery of a Total Solar Eclipse
The truly amazing thing about a total solar eclipse is that the Moon – relatively small, Earth’s satellite – is able to totally cover the face of the Sun, which is relatively huge, the centre of our solar system. It’s all about distance and perspective from planet Earth: what one could call natural magic. Since the Moon astrologically is the planet most associated with magic, in the sense of the applied use of the imagination, then we have a very interesting scenario unfolding this month.
My own eclipse story goes back to 2002. I had a vague memory of seeing the sun as a shadow on a piece of paper when at primary school, but that was it. The 2002 story began with a geologist friend who is an eclipse chaser; he travels all over the world to see a total solar eclipse of the sun. Having been secretly envious of his travels for some time it was easy for me to be convinced to go to an eclipse in my own country. That was December 4, 2002’s eclipse in Ceduna, South Australia: nothing less than heading down to the Great Australian Bight. The queues, airports, then ten hours driving through the desert from Adelaide not withstanding; it was my own country after all. Our happy, dusty band of seven travelled in convoy and converged on Ceduna. Past memories of sandy, shady camping sites were shattered as I erected my ‘two-man’ tent – big enough for a smallish bed – on many small stones. This is desert country, even though coastal. Australia’s first total eclipse in many years fell in the heart of drought country, under a rare Fire sign configuration. And I was hooked…
The Magical Space
Now 2012 delivers an eclipse in such a different location – far north, happening at dawn, as opposed to far south, happening at sunset. A relatively easy travel compared to the Bight. This time I doubt that I will be huddled under a blanket to hold off those extraordinary arctic winds that blow across the southern oceans, even in summer. This time, our destination is tropical and the astrological symbol is not Fire; we have the Water element instead. What does this mean? Well, Water signifies emotions, depth, sensitivity, feelings and the very human domain of needs and attachments. Scorpio, the Water sign in question is about the most focused and fixed version of all of that, and here’s that word again … Scorpio is the diver in deep places and signifies magic, the power of the imagination to transform us and our circumstances.
When, on November 14, the shadow of the Moon races towards you across the water or the land at the rate of about 23,000 kilometres per hour, spare a thought for gratitude. This is a rare life event and a privilege to experience – the ‘kairos’ moment when time stands still. Regardless of the length of totality, (Ceduna had 32 secs of totality, FNQ has 2 minutes) allow the timelessness to envelop you. Since totality only occurs in an approx 100 km wide ‘shadow path’, not much of Earth sees a total eclipse at any one time. Relax and you may see planets off to the side of the Sun in the twilight darkness – perhaps Saturn and Venus in this case. When that diamond flash happens at the end of totality, get your eclipse glasses back on quickly to keep your eyes good for another such day. In 2002 the local Adelaide Advertiser called the eclipse ‘a moment of magic’, and that as they say, is what it is all about.
The Dragon’s Journey
There is a wonderful astronomical term – the ‘draconic month’ – that harks back to both the ancient Chinese and Indian take on eclipses. The ‘draconic month’ is the time it takes Moon to travel from the ‘Node’ and to return to that same point. The Nodes are known in Vedic astrology as the ‘Head’ and ‘Tail’ of the Dragon and they are the opposite crossing points of the ‘ecliptic’ – the path that Earth traces around the Sun. For a total eclipse to occur the Moon must be close to one of the Nodes. This eclipse aligns with the North Node, the ‘Dragon’s Head’ in Scorpio, which is considered a positive connection as opposed to the South Node.
It takes approximately three and a half hours for the Moon’s shadow to race across the Earth and to complete its eclipse path, thus the odd time difference between eclipse and New Moon that has had some of us stargazers scratching our heads. It is only way out in the South Pacific, getting close to the coast of Chile where the eclipse ends, that the maximum totality of four minutes and the close proximity between eclipse and New Moon, occur.
Destiny’s Dragon
Dragon symbols represent life force; containing past and future, it imprints the present. Seen as both primal power and destiny, the dragon carries that strong link between eclipses and destiny in the ancient traditions. The Mayans, another race that kept meticulous eclipse records for millennia, also had a special figure – their great teacher/protector was Quetzalcoatl, which means ‘plumed serpent’, rather dragon-like as well. The serpent may represent the cobra with its hood expanded, and since the timeline for the Mayan ‘long count’ began on 13 August 3114 B.C., which was very near the start of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, some scholars think Quetzalcoatl came from Egypt. Whatever paths the transmission of knowledge took, we have the mysterious fact that the fifth of the Mayan ‘great cycles’ of approximately 5,125 years is about to be completed on December 23, 2012, and November 14 is the last solar eclipse of that cycle. Mystery enacted and hidden things suddenly visible are a part of the natural magic of the total solar eclipse. With that to consider, enjoy the oldest show on earth. I shall.
Christine Broadbent, Astrologer.
REGULAR FEATURE
Food for Thought – Juicing for Health
The digestive processes required to separate nourishment from fibre take around 3-5 hours. Digesting vegetables and fruits uses energy. A portion of the food is used as fuel to generate this energy. Drinking fresh, raw juices is entirely different; the juices are used almost entirely in the nourishment and regeneration of the cells, tissues, glands and organs of the body. Juices are absorbed into your bloodstream within minutes, compared to the 3-5 hours with fibre.
Enzymes
The basic key to the value of nourishing the body is the life present in the food. The elements within this life are enzymes. Enzymes enable us to break down food so that it can be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream as energy. What happens when you are low in enzymes? Your body stores waste and weight. You become unwell. Fresh juices are abundant in enzymes, but only if consumed straight away. Where there is life there are enzymes.
Do not drink your juice any closer than ten minutes before food or one hour after food. Should you drink your juices with the food you are eating, the juice combines with the fibre food. The greater value of the juice will be lost since it goes through the normal digestive process with the eaten food. Consumed separately from eating food, you will benefit from the juices entering the bloodstream within minutes.
Keep juices separate without adding supplements and fibre
As the juice is absorbed straight into your bloodstream instead of going through the normal digestive process, do not add anything else to your juice, e.g. supplement powders or vitamised nuts or seeds. Use these another time, after the juices have been directly absorbed into your bloodstream. It is also best not to dilute your juice with water. The fruit and vegies are whole in themselves without changing the juice by diluting it. Nature would have added more fluid if it was needed.
Juices are Not a Complete Meal
Juices are great for detoxifying and regenerating your tissues. They are not meant, long term, to take the place of meals. Fibre contains no nourishment but serves a very useful and much needed purpose as an ‘intestinal broom’. Without fibre as roughage, the colon – and the body as a whole – cannot be maintained in a healthy condition. Juicing gives your digestive system a temporary short rest.
Suggested Beneficial Juices
BEETROOT, PINEAPPLE, CARROT, SPINACH, to which you can add parsley and ginger.
There are seasons when the delicious beetroot and carrot are yuk. They can taste irony, earthy or strong. If you are new to juicing and find your juice awful – don’t give up. The vegies do become tasty again. If they are unpleasant use less of the strong-tasting ones and test how well you handle extra pineapple to aid the flavour. Greens like spinach are strong-tasting and are best used in small quantities. Limit the quantity of beetroot when new to juicing to a quarter of the total juice. If more than this, should your liver not be functioning really well, you could feel nauseous as the juices are quickly cleansing your liver. No problem here except that you are likely to not want to drink juice again. Use small amounts to start with to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.
Faye Rosie. Shaman, Medical Intuitive, Naturopath and Author of The Power of Your Spirit and the transformational healing Heart Healing Symbol Cards. Email: faye@hearthealing.com.au. Phone: 4055 2868.