Super Blood Wolf Moon

As I have improved my connection with nature, I invest more energy in that connection. Looking to each sunrise, sunset or full moon for inspiration and beauty. So when a Super Blood Wolf Moon comes along, it’s time to celebrate. Time to slow down and experience the grand beauty of nature. A lunar eclipse in winter though is tough. It happens in the middle of the night. It is dark, it is cold. Real cold; in the twenties, with a fairly stiff breeze coming out of the north. A lunar eclipse is not an Instagram moment. It takes a few hours for the event to unfold, the shadow, slowly, agonizingly, crawling across the surface of the moon.

No big deal in the southern latitudes perhaps, but here on the High Plains, when it is in the 20’s, with a stiff breeze, most sane people don’t stand around in the dark. Outside, waiting for earth’s shadow to sashay across the surface of the moon. But there I was, in the back yard, shivering, setting up a tripod to try and get a few pictures. I am not sure how many lunar eclipses I have attempted to photograph over the years. I usually go off half-cocked, without the right gear and never quite get the image that I have in my head. Astro-photography is hard. It is dark and everything you are shooting is moving just enough to mess up all the pictures but not enough that you figure that out until afterwards.

Celebrate

My plan was to have a fire – a Super Blood Wolf Moon celebration. I could dance and chant around the fire to keep warm while I was waiting for the shadow to cover the moon and present the picture I had in my mind. I tried to get Vickie to come out and join me but she just smiled and politely declined, sane in her decision. She did bring a cup of coffee to the door and hand it out to me through a small crack. I realized that I had the wrong camera and lens setup, the same one I used last time and had made notes not to use for this purpose again.

I should have read the notes, damn. No worries, I threw a few more sticks on the fire, determined to use the tools at hand. It was more about the celebration for me. Since slowing down, I keep track of time a different way. A more natural way, using the seasons and cycles of nature. The Wolf moon is the moon after the Solstice. Right square in the middle of winter. A couple moons away from Spring. Season’s and moon’s are how I tell time now and wintertime is a season of renewal. A season of long nights and short days. A season to sleep more and eat less, rejuvenating the body for a spring rebirth.

Lunar Time

Lunar Time – When you slow down, you need a different way to tell time. I use my watch more to count paces, elevation gained and mileage than to tell time. The sun and the moon do that just fine. Life does not fly past the window at 75 MPH anymore. When someone asks what time it is, instead of replying, “it’s 3:21”. You say, “we are in the season of the Wolf Moon” and he responds with a smile, “it’s Cherry Blossom Moon somewhere”. Native Americans called the January Full Moon the Wolf because they noticed more hungry wolves howling around their villages this time of year. Next up, the Snow Moon, I guess you know why they called it that.