I cannot let the weekend pass by without sharing my experience of the amazing solar eclipse that happened on Friday. We all know about it. We all saw the media coverage, heard it on the radio, had it blasted to us across all the social networks. At first I was fairly relaxed about the whole thing. I knew it was happening on the day of the Ostara festival, where pagans and spiritual followers welcome the season of Spring, and that it was the day of the Dark Moon (or New Moon if you prefer). I didn’t really stop to contemplate the significance of this fact.
It was only as the evening drew to a close on Thursday that it hit me. This was a Big Happening. My husband had been watching Stargazing Live on BBC2, and I saw bits of it around the book I was reading. But then I began to feel something stir deep within my belly (and no, it wasn’t gas!). It was a bubble of excitement, of some primitive sensation that cannot be expressed in words. You know what I mean. It was that feeling of anticipation, like for a long-awaited holiday or celebration. I knew that this event was Something Big. And I was excited.
The day dawned just like any other. My husband disappeared to work while we were still sleeping (I had been up twice in the night with the toddler, a good sleep as it happened). I managed to shower before the children woke up, and then we got ready for pre-school. My neighbour popped round to give us a pair of special glasses through which to view the eclipse. And that was amazing. We showed my daughter, who dutifully said, “Wow!” although I’m not sure she really understood our excitement.
At pre-school we showed my daughter’s friends the eclipse using the special glasses, and whichever adults in the vicinity wanted to see. And then my friend and I decided to take our toddlers and the dog for a walk while we soaked in the atmosphere of this strange event. We felt the air change. We saw the shadows lengthen. It was a strange kind of daylight, where the day darkened but the traffic never ceased. A few people were watching the eclipse, while others went about their daily business as normal. For my friend and I, it was magical. We knew that this was special. We both felt changed and awed by the energy of the solar eclipse.
How did you feel? Was it magical for you, or just another Friday morning? Please, do share your experiences.
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I love the strange, mystical atmosphere that comes with an eclipse, and this time – for the first time since I can remember – South Wales had a cloudless sky for the event. I took the dogs to Pennard Castle, a ruined castle near where I live. It was full of people with breakfast picnics and magic goggles. I borrowed a pair to view the eclipse. This was a bonus as I’d only gone out to experience the atmos and I got to see the phenomenon itself. I felt truly blessed.
I’d expected the dogs to react to it in some way, but they were more interested in trying to steal the breakfast picnics while the humans were distracted by the view through the magic goggles.
Ha ha, typical dogs! Mine got a bit grumpy when I was standing around looking at the sky, he just wanted to run off and play. Oh that sounds like a fabulous place to view it!
It is – overlooks the sea, as well.
I was not in the path of this eclipse but I saw a partial one 20 years ago. All of us from the office building gathered in the parking lot. One woman discovered you could project the image through a gap if you curled your thumb so we all did that in lieu of goggles. It got chilly as the sun disappeared!
Wow, cool! Yes, the temperature did drop a bit when the moon moved over.