Full Blue Supermoon Tonight!

Hello everyone –

Tonight, skywatchers around the world will be watching a celestial rarity – a full blue supermoon – and residents of the Pacific Rim will be able to see a total eclipse of the Moon! You can read all about tonight’s lunar events at Earth & Sky, with a special feature article available from http://earthsky.org/tonight/super-blue-moon-eclipse-on-january-31.

So just what is a Blue Moon? It’s the second Full Moon in a calendar month – a phenomenon that happens only once every 2-1/2 years or so (hence the expression, “Once in a Blue Moon”). The Moon won’t actually appear blue in the sky tonight – but that’s OK – it will still be bright and beautiful, like every other Full Moon that I’ve ever seen.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, here are some of my favorite poems about the Moon, which has been my favorite celestial object for as long as I can remember! J

Introduction to Our First Poem:

            The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their protoscientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of Nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.  In the following poem, we can learn how the ancient Greeks perceived the Moon, not as a dead rock in space, but as a living entity (or as a celestial orb ruled by a divine guardian – in this case, Artemis [in Greek] or Diana [in Latin]).

Orphic Hymn #8: TO THE MOON

(The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS)

Hear, divine queen, diffusing silver light,

Bull-horned and wandering through the gloom of Night.

With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide

Night’s torch extending, through the heavens you ride:

Female and Male with borrowed rays you shine,

And now full-orbed, now tending to decline.

Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon,

Whose amber orb makes Night’s reflected noon:

Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night,

All-seeing power bedecked with starry light.

Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife,

In peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:

Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend,

Who gives to Nature’s works their destined end.

Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail!

Decked with a graceful robe and shining veil;

Come, blessed, divine, prudent, starry, bright,

Come lunar-lamp with chaste and splendid light,

Shine on these sacred rites with prosperous rays,

And pleased accept your suppliant’s mystic praise.

“Faeries”

By Evaleen Stein
 

Grandfather says that sometimes,
When stars are twinkling and
A New Moon shines, there come times
When folks see faery-land!

So when there’s next a New Moon,
I mean to watch all night!
Grandfather says a Blue Moon
Is best for faery light,

And in a peach-bloom, maybe,
If I look I shall see
A little faery baby
No bigger than a bee!

“Eldorado”

By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Gaily bedight,

A gallant knight,

In sunshine and in shadow,  

Had journeyed long,  

Singing a song,

In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old—

This knight so bold—  

And o’er his heart a shadow—  

Fell as he found

No spot of ground

That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength  

Failed him at length,

He met a pilgrim shadow—  

 ‘Shadow,’ said he,  

 ‘Where can it be—

This land of Eldorado?’

‘Over the Mountains

Of the Moon,

Down the Valley of the Shadow,  

Ride, boldly ride,’

The shade replied,—

‘If you seek for Eldorado!’

“The Moon” (From A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1885)

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

The Moon has a face like the clock in the hall;

She shines on thieves on the garden wall,

On streets and fields and harbor quays,

And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,

The howling dog by the door of the house,

The bat that lies in bed at noon,

All love to be out by the light of the Moon.

But all of the things that belong to the day

Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;

And flowers and children close their eyes

Till up in the morning the Sun shall arise.

Until next time – keep looking up! :)

Rob

Lighting a Candle of Hope to Banish the Gloaming

Hello everyone –

It’s been another difficult week to watch, listen to, or read the news. Stories of hatred and violence, both within and beyond the United States, are once again dominating the headlines. At times like these, we may be tempted to wonder if the world can really be improved by our ongoing efforts. Despite tragic setbacks, I still have faith in the future and in humanity’s ability to rise to the occasion and forge a new pathway through the third millennium – a pathway that leads to justice, freedom, and peace for all humankind. Below are two songs that brought hope and encouragement to me in the days and weeks following 9/11/2001; they still speak to us today, very loudly and clearly, and remind us to “keep on keeping on,” no matter how dark it may get before the dawn.

“Where My Heart Will Take Me”

(Theme from STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE)

Lyrics by Diane Warren

It's been a long road, getting from there to here.

It's been a long time, but my time is finally near. 

And I will see my dream come alive at last. I will touch the sky.

And they're not gonna hold me down no more, no they're not gonna change my mind.

Cause I've got faith of the heart.

I'm going where my heart will take me. 

I've got faith to believe. I can do anything. 

I've got strength of the soul. And no one's gonna bend or break me. 

I can reach any star. I've got faith, faith of the heart.

You can watch the opening sequence of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE here, featuring the theme song as performed by Russell Watson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPn-lTytfGo

“Who Would True Valor See”

By John Bunyan (1628-1688)

(Excerpted from Pilgrim’s Progress, 1678-1684)

Who would true valor see,

Let him come hither;

One here will constant be

Come wind, come weather.

There's no discouragement

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a Pilgrim.

Who so beset him round

With dismal stories,

Do but themselves confound,

His strength the more is.

No lion can him fright,

He'll with a giant fight,

But he will have a right

To be a Pilgrim.

Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend

Can daunt his spirit;

He knows he at the end

Shall life inherit.

Then fancies fly away,

He'll fear not what men say,

He'll labor night and day

To be a Pilgrim.

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – “Where Do We Go From Here,” 1967

Until next time –

Rob :)

Welcome to the January Stars!

Hello everyone –

Happy New Year 2018! I was able to view the winter stars and the Full Wolf Supermoon over the Yuletide holiday break, and I’d like to share some of that stelliferous magic with you through this edition of Quotemail. So here are some poems about the North Wind and the stars (from the archaic Greek Orphic Hymns), along with a poem by Sara Teasdale about the winter stars.

FROM THE ORPHIC HYMNS

Editor’s Note: The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants. Several dozen of these were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission as the Orphic Hymns. In the poetic forms of their protoscientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.

Orphic Hymn #6: “To the Stars”

With holy voice I call the stars on high,

Pure sacred lights and genii of the sky.

Celestial stars, the progeny of Night,

In whirling circles beaming far your light,

Refulgent rays around the heavens ye throw,

Eternal fires, the source of all below.

With flames significant of Fate ye shine,

And aptly rule for men a path divine.

In seven bright zones ye run with wandering flames,

And heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:

With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright

Forever shining through the veil of Night.

Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fires!

Propitious shine on all my just desires;

These sacred rites regard with conscious rays,

And end our works devoted to your praise.

Orphic Hymn #79: “To the North Wind”

Boreas, whose wintry blasts, terrific, tear

The bosom of the deep surrounding air;

Cold icy power, approach, and favoring blow,

And Thrace a while desert exposed to snow:

The misty station of the air dissolve,

With pregnant clouds, whose frames in showers resolve:

Serenely temper all within the sky,

And wipe from moisture, Aether's beauteous eye.

“Winter Stars” (1920)

By Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

I went out at night alone;

The young blood flowing beyond the sea

Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings —

I bore my sorrow heavily.

But when I lifted up my head

From shadows shaken on the snow,

I saw Orion in the east

Burn steadily as long ago.

From windows in my father’s house,

Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,

I watched Orion as a girl

Above another city’s lights.

Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,

The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,

All things are changed, save in the east

The faithful beauty of the stars.

Until next time – be sure to go outside or look out your favorite window on a winter evening, and enjoy the view!

Rob