Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Blue moon, you saw me standing alone..."

Those are words from a song. We are going to have a blue moon tonight.


But of course, it won't actually be blue:

If skies are clear, blue moon will light up New Year's Eve
A blue moon will be upon us tonight.

Astronomers and astrologers disagree on a blue moon's significance, but they agree it's rare for one to rise on New Year's Eve.

Once in a blue moon, as the saying goes.

They happen every two to three years and aren't really blue. Blue moon is the term given to the second full moon in a month. According to NASA, the term originated in the time of Shakespeare to mean a rare occurrence, and the Farmer's Almanac of Maine defined it in the 1930s as the third full moon in a season that has four. But the 1946 definition as the second full moon of the month is the one that has stuck.

[...]

"Astrology aside, there is the system of understanding that this is the last day of the year," said Cynthia Killion, a Wichita psychic and astrologer.

Combined with a blue moon, "it is a very loaded, energetically intense and powerful time. It gives people extra power in making resolutions and change."

[...]

During the midst of the Great Depression in 1934, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote this song:

"Blue moon, you saw me standing alone,

Without a dream in my heart,

Without a love of my own.

Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for,

You heard me saying a prayer for

Someone I really could care for."

[...]

Tonight, look up in the sky and see the latest blue moon. And take from it what you will.

"This moon puts a lot of pressure on us to make change," Killion said. "It is a not-so-gentle push from the universe telling us to get off our butts and change.

"The blue moon is considered somewhat of a blessing, like a doorway might be opened for miracles."

Just like in the song:

"And when I looked the moon had turned to gold.

Blue moon, now I'm no longer alone,

Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own

Without a love of my own."

Blessings? Miracles? Sounds good to me, we could all use some. Make of it what you will.

     

No comments: