At the end of July there was a full moon. There will be another at the end of this month. Checking my diary it’s a full moon tomorrow, a full 28 days have passed.
July’s full moon was to be a particularly special one: it was a blood moon. There was also a lunar eclipse, where the moon falls entirely into the earth’s shadow: the earth, moon and sun are in perfect alignment. It happens a few times each year, but this was to be the longest lunar eclipse this century.
There was a great deal of excitement about this full moon. The moon is always joyful but this was a special one, I had planned to seek it out.
It had been the longest, hottest and driest summer I could remember. The night of the 27th July was sure to be a good one. It wasn’t. Cloud cover obscured the moon for most of us going to watch. Many people nonetheless lined the seafront with cameras clutched to their chests, waiting.
I have lost all sense of time. Recovering from chronic fatigue I have adjusted to my own internal body clock. I do things when I can, when I feel like I am able, and so inclined. Measuring myself against other peoples time frames is pointless. The Thursday before the full moon was due had been a long day, broken up with a long period of rest in the afternoon, I had felt all the achievement of a day from the mornings activities, and by the evening I thought it was Friday. I set out on the wrong evening to watch for the blood moon and the lunar eclipse and I was handsomely rewarded. The photos are poor grainy phone pictures but they show me that whole warm summers evening of watching a beautiful fat orange moon rise in an indigo sky. Reflections rippled in waves, I felt as though I was far away, somewhere far more exotic than I was, to be sitting on the beach in my shorts at 9pm.
The moon and the sea are inextricably linked. Tides are pulled towards the moon, it makes me wonder about other things so effected. It makes me wonder about me, the water within. In search of some greater understanding I found this online:
“What are lunar tides?
Tides are created because the Earth and the moon are attracted to each other, just like magnets are attracted to each other. The moon tries to pull at anything on the Earth to bring it closer. But, the Earth is able to hold onto everything except the water. Since the water is always moving, the Earth cannot hold onto it, and the moon is able to pull at it. “
I need to go and learn more…
