Last month, here in St Petersburg, Florida, I watched the full moon rise in the early evening glowing brilliant pink above the water at the cusp of Cancer and Leo, preparing to make its pass through Regulus the following night (see Regulus post in archives).

This month, from my location, THE FULL MOON PEAKS EARLY IN THE MORNING ON MARCH 3 as it sets under the horizon back into the water, just after passing through Regulus hours before on March 2. It is a riveting mirror image—and this time it will be a rare blood moon total lunar eclipse. We will have the great opportunity to really look hard into the shadow we cast into outer space.

For those of us in the shadow path, no matter where we are on Earth, we will all be watching the eclipse happen at the same moment, but we will be in different longitude zones, so we will be seeing it at different times and durations. This spectacular one will straddle the Pacific Ocean between Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North America. Check a sky chart to see if you are in its path and what time you will see it: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/.

THE ECLIPSES SHOW US SOME REALLY INTERESTING RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPSbetween the sun, earth and moon. If you are on the moon while the earth is seeing a lunar eclipse, you would be seeing a solar eclipse. Because all three bodies are in perfect alignment, the Earth viewed from the Moon would appear as a dark disc perfectly blocking the Sun, surrounded by a glowing red 'ring of fire'. If we were to stand on the moon during a solar eclipse, the Earth would be glowing in light with a tiny dark shadow of the moon passing through. As WS Merwin says, "The shadows tell the whole story". Just as the diameters of the Sun and Moon are almost the same from the earth, so are the diameters of the Earth and the Sun from the perspective of the Moon.

THE PREDICTABLE CYCLES IN THE EARTH AND MOON’S RELATIONSHIP have fascinated many throughout the ages in magic, poetics, mathematics, astronomy and astrology. We have known that proportion and ratio observed in the planetary world showed some very coincidental harmonies (Pythagoras), and some problematic puzzles—like the old unresolvable SQUARE THE CIRCLE PROOF(finding a square with the same area as a given circle using only a compass and straight edge). They tried to solve an occult mystery, but they had the wrong perspective.

More recently, a British author named John Michell presented a geometric theory about the relationship between Earth and Moon diameters that could possibly lead us to what the early astronomer mathematician philosophers were trying to articulate.

If you draw the Earth with its diameter of 7,920 miles (radius 3,960 miles) and then draw a square around the Earth - this square's perimeter will equal 4 × 7,920 = 31,680 miles.

Then, if you bring the Moon down to touch Earth's surface (Moon diameter = 2,160 miles, radius 1,080 miles) and draw another circle through the Moon's center as it "rolls" around the Earth (as centerpoint), the new circle's radius (Earth radius (3,960) + Moon radius (1,080) } = 5,040 miles. This new circle's circumference = 2π × 5,040 = 31,680 miles (using π = 22/7).

Result: The heavenly circle through the Moon's center has the same perimeter as the earthly square enclosing the Earth! This ratio is a solution to the ancient philosophical problem of "squaring the circle" with equal perimeters.

"SQUARING THE CIRCLE" HAS SYMBOLIC MEANING for the ancients. The Circle represents heaven (eternal, perfect, divine). The Square represents Earth (temporal, material, human). When both have equal perimeters, then Heaven and Earth are in harmony. Of course this mystery goes much deeper, and best to realize it within ourselves as we become more observant phenomenologists of our relationship to the night sky.

 

There are other coincidences too:

Earth + Moon diameters = 7,920 + 2,160 = 10,080 = minutes in one week

10,080 has exactly 72 divisors = average heartbeats per minute

The Earth and Moon's diameters exist in a ratio of 11:3.

Moon/Earth diameter = 0.2732 (27.32%)

The moon is 27.3% the size of Earth!

For millennia we have been able to follow the peculiar times when the Earth casts its shadow on the Moon. It will be 3 years until the next full lunar eclipse, on New Year’s Eve of 2028. We can figure out all the future relationships between the celestial bodies using mathematics, but can we capture the essence of what is happening? Similarly, if we develop our inspiration, could we also see into the future in relation to other internal cosmic laws?