It is unlucky to kill a pig in the wane of the Moon, or the pork will waste in boiling.
It is unlucky to see the New Moon for the first time through glass – such as a window or telescope. But what about my eyeglasses?
A Saturday moon, If it comes once in seven years, Comes once too soon. So, if the new moon is on a Saturday, the weather will likely be bad for the ensuing month.
To see “the old moon in the arms of the new one” is a reckoned sign of fine weather. The sliver of a New Moon does sometimes appear to be hugging the rest of the Moon which looks a bit older.
More fine weather comes with the turning up of “the horns of the new moon.” In this position, it is supposed to retain the water that is imagined to be on the Moon, which would run out and fall to Earth as rain if the horns were turned down.
An animation depiction of the flyby of small asteroid (2012 TC4 ) as it passes under Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Read into this in whatever way suits your philosophy: an asteroid is due to come close to Earth on the day before the November Presidential election.
2020 is the year of the pandemic and civil unrest and a very divisive U.S. election season. And now an asteroid is headed toward us and the timing seems symbolic.
Celestial object 2018VP1 is projected to come close to Earth on November 2, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The object was first identified at Palomar Observatory in California in 2018.
You’ll be hearing about this asteroid in the popular media a lot more in the lead-up to the election. But this is not a disaster film scenario as in Deep Impact or Armageddon.
Asteroid 2018VP1 is small. It’s approximately 6.5 feet, so it poses no real threat to Earth. If it did enter our planet’s atmosphere, it would disintegrate. It’s too small to do more than creating a bolide (fireball) and it won’t make an impact and create the strewn field that appears in every asteroid disaster film.
But here is a political angle. NASA has been directed by Congress to discover 90% of the near-Earth asteroids larger than 140 meters (459 feet) in size and report on asteroids of any size.
When Julius Caesar died, a comet appeared. Many Romans thought that this was a sign that Caesar had become a god.
Into the 1700s, Europeans thought that comets meant that crops would be good and grapes would yield excellent wine.
But generally, comets have been seen as harbingers of bad news.
Here’s a historical example: At the Battle of Hastings in 1066, a comet was sighted. The Bayeux Tapestry shows people looking up at what we now know was an appearance of Halley’s Comet. The inscription there says that it foretold that there would be a change in the kingdom, and William the Conqueror took over control of England from the Anglo-Saxons.
Our reactions to these celestial events have still been unscientific even into the 20th century. There was a mass panic when Halley’s Comet appeared in 1910 and articles then put forward the idea that poison gas in the comet’s tail would kill off humanity when the Earth passed through the tail.
So, what does the appearance of a comet the day before our election foretell to you?
Remember all the hoopla about the total solar eclipse we witnessed in August of last year? There is another partial one today. This Friday the 13th solar eclipse will quite small and be visible mainly over the Southern Ocean area between Australia and Antarctica, so no media coverage here in the U.S.
My thoughts go back to ancient times and what we would now see as strange responses to solar eclipses. How terrifying must this have been to them?
In American Eclipse, there is the story of a Roman emperor who witnessed a total solar eclipse in A.D. 840 and was so upset by this “omen” that he stopped eating and eventually starved to death. Rome went into a civil war.
The Inca feared that a lunar eclipse was caused by a jaguar attacking the moon. They’d try to drive it away by making noise, including beating their dogs to make them howl and bark.
One more positive reaction occurred in the sixth century B.C., during a battle in Asia Minor between the Medes and the Lydians. The eclipse stopped the battle and it was believed that the eclipse was a sign for them to stop the fighting,
Certainly, ancient people looked at the eclipse and had their eyes damaged or were blinded. That certainly added to the fear. Don’t look into the face of God or the gods.
If you were a believer in 13 as an unlucky number and Friday being an unlucky day (more about that aspect here), then adding a solar eclipse made a trifecta of bad luck.
Also take note that solar and lunar eclipses always come in pairs, with one following the other in a period of one fortnight (approximately two weeks).
This is a New Moon supermoon today and is the first Friday the 13th solar eclipse since December 13, 1974. I won’t be blogging about the next one on Friday September 13, 2080..
Most commonly, the June Full Moon is known as the Strawberry Moon, so named for that ripening fruit. In Europe, where strawberries are not a native fruit, this moon was often called the Rose Moon.
American colonists connected it to plants they cultivated – the first crop of strawberries and the first rose blooms.
This year, the next full moon is on Friday the 13th. The last full moon the Friday the 13th was in October 2000 and the next one won’t be until August 2049.
Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. In Spanish-speaking countries, instead of Friday, Tuesday the 13th (martes trece) is considered a day of bad luck. The Greeks also consider Tuesday (and especially the 13th) an unlucky day.
There are several possible origin stories for the superstition, but none is definitive. This is not an ancient superstition and seems to have started only a century ago.
For witches and Pagans, this can be a magical date. There are thirteen lunar cycles each year and 13 is the traditional number of witches in a coven.
The ancient Egyptians had a good association with 13 which was connected to immortality. They believed there were twelve steps on the ladder to eternal life and knowledge. The 13th step was the one that led from death into everlasting life.
Upper-class Romans and Norse Vikings required thirteen guests to be present at weddings for good luck.
This Full Moon can occur before or after the summer solstice but it is always the one that begins summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
Native Americans often called this full moon the Green Corn Moon because it was the time of the first signs of the “corn in tassel.” It meant the start of preparations for the upcoming festivals in the growing season.
Continuing in our series of collecting superstitions, folk traditions and other Moon lore, here is a third collection that focuses on New Moons.
In astronomical terminology, the new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth. At this time, the dark (unilluminated) portion of the Moon faces almost directly toward Earth, so that the Moon is not visible to the naked eye.
The original meaning of the phrase new moon was the first visible crescent of the Moon, after conjunction with the Sun. This takes place over the western horizon in a brief period between sunset and moonset, and therefore the precise time and even the date of the appearance of the new moon by this definition will be influenced by the geographical location of the observer.
The astronomical new moon is sometimes known as the Dark Moon occurs at the moment of conjunction when the Moon is invisible from the Earth.
Here is a collection of New Moon lore:
If the New Moon is seen for the first time straight ahead, it predicts good fortune until the next New Moon.
If there are two Moons (two New or two Full) in the same month, the weather will be unfavorable and unsettled until the next New Moon.
Wood cut at the New Moon is hard to split. If it is cut at the Full Moon it is easy to split.
Looking for love? When the Moon is New, braid your hair or some kind of string while saying: I braid this knot, this knot I braid, To know the thing I know not yet, That while I sleep I plain may see. The man (woman) that my husband (wife) shall be. Not in his (her) best but worst array, Just what he (she) weareth every day. That I tomorrow may him (her) ken, From among all other men (woman).
Look at the New Moon and say: New Moon, New Moon, do tell me, Who my own true lover is to be. The color of his (her) hair, The clothes that he (she) will wear, On what day he (she) will appear.
If the New Moon is seen for the first time straight ahead, it predicts good fortune until the next New Moon.
The English had a saying: that if a member of the family died at the time of the New Moon, three deaths would follow.
Any New Moon on a Saturday or Sunday was said to predict rain and general bad luck.
Good luck will come your way if you first see the New Moon outside and over your right shoulder. You can make a wish that will be granted. The best luck came from looking at the Moon straight on.
Upon seeing the New Moon, bow to your mate or significant other and turn over the coins in your pocket. This will bring you luck in your relationship.
The Irish say never cut your hair, begin a journey, move into a new house, start a business, or cut out a dress on a Friday in particular, and especially if a New or Full Moon falls on a Friday.
Two New Moon spells to find your true love:
When the Moon is New, braid your hair or some kind of string while saying: “I braid this knot, this knot I braid, To know the thing I know not yet, That while I sleep I plain may see. The man (woman) that my husband (wife) shall be. Not in his (her) best but worst array, Just what he (she) weareth every day. That I tomorrow may him (her) ken, From among all other men (woman).
Look at the New Moon and say: “New Moon, New Moon, do tell me, Who my own true lover is to be. The colour of his (her) hair, The clothes that he (she) will wear, On what day he (she) will appear.”
The English had a saying: that if a member of the family died at the time of the New Moon, three deaths would follow.
Although the Koran expressly forbids worshiping the Sun or Moon, many Moslems still clasp their hands at the sight of a New Moon and offer a prayer.
In reading about the full Moon names for my monthly posts on this blog, I have come across a lot of moon lore. Much of it is unattached to particular full Moons, so the information has just been piling up in a document on my computer. So, I decided to collect that information into some very loose thematic threads.
Here’s a second group of lunar beliefs, traditions and superstitions.
Good luck will come your way if you first see the New Moon outside and over your right shoulder. You also make a wish that will be granted. The best luck came from looking at the Moon straight on.
To see the crescent Moon over the right shoulder was considered lucky, but seeing it over the left shoulder was unlucky.
If you move to a new house or location during a waning Moon, it will ensure you never go hungry.
In medieval Europe and England, “Moon’s men” were thieves and highwaymen who plied their trade by night. The current term “moonlighting” is similar, meaning to hold down and additional night job.
Many cultures felt that it was extremely unlucky to point at the Moon, and that curtseys to the Moon would bring a present before the next change of Moon.
It was often said that if a person was born at a Full Moon, he or she would have a lucky life.
A waning Moon was considered an unlucky time for a marriage or birth.
The Irish say that to see the future, for good or ill, take a mirror outside. Let the light of the Moon fall on the surface and stare into it. Any face that appears will be connected with your future.
In Ireland, it is said that if you walk nine times around a faery rath (hill) at the Full Moon, you will be able to find the entrance.
In Italy they say that if the Moon changes on a Sunday, there will be a flood before the month is out.
In Cornwall, they said that if a birth took place during the waxing Moon, the next child would be the same sex as the one just born.
a Roman emperor who witnessed a total solar eclipse in A.D. 840 and was so upset by this “omen” that he stopped eating and eventually starved to death. Rome went into a civil war.
Weekends in Paradelle 