Twenty-Five

Courtesy of the NASA website

I think the Solar Storm I’ve been reading about lately has been affecting my brain. 

Or, at least my mood.

NASA says that there will be more storms headed our way from our favorite star.

And that some of them will possibly be even more spectacular than the one we’re experiencing right now.

Places that don’t normally get to see them, are having night skies filled with aurora borealis, green and blue swirls and ribbons dancing across their skies.

That’s the lovely part.

Not so lovely, however, is the possible disruptions to satellite feeds, which nearly everything runs through these days.  Radiation, plasma, protons, all streaming out from the Sun, bombarding everything in its way, sending signals askew, or disrupting them altogether.

And, being the science geek that I am, I’ve been reading everything I can find about the “Coronal Mass Ejection”.  (I just love the way that sounds!)

I know that tides pulled by the moon can affect people.  They always say to watch the ER at your local hospitals during the full moon.  It gets crazy.  Both my daughters have worked at the local hospital, and they’ve confirmed it.  People act strangely when things out in space start goofing off with the status quo. 

Hell, even comets get people freaking out, thinking that they’re some sort of intergalactic public transportation vehicle to heaven.

So I know that the radiation, the satellite disruptions, the flares of plasma and protons, are all going to affect how people interact for a while.

And NASA says there will be more storms to come.

All the way into 2013.

Wear plenty of sunscreen, my friends.

And maybe a tinfoil hat wouldn’t be remiss, either?

Thoughtful moment:  Solar storms can be beautiful to watch, can be dangerous to get too close to, and can have effects long after they’re over.  Rather like a relationship.  Oh, that’s so a different topic, I’m not going there.

 

Good Night Moon

The full moon occurred on Friday night, and was carried over through the weekend, into the Spring Equinox, or as we Pagans call it, Ostara.

I captured this picture from my driveway on Friday evening.

I love the moon.

When I was a kid, I was frightened of the dark.  Terribly, awfully afraid – almost to the point of phobia.

It wasn’t until after I finally started learning about Wicca, that I stopped fearing the dark, and learned that it could be a comfort, too.  The moon is now, to me, the Mother’s face, watching, protecting, empowering me.

She hangs up there, throughout the night, my favorite time, and even when her face is not full, there is a special magick that follows her, and makes me smile when I see her.  It’s always been said that there’s a “man in the moon”, but they lie. 

It’s the Goddess’ face I see there.

This second picture was sent to me via text, the same night, from someone very dear to me, who knows about my fascination with the moon.

I love the fact that the camera on this phone turned the moon blue.  Beautiful, absolutely stunning.

It was a thoughtful, sweet gesture, and it was the perfect gift.

The next night, EldestDaughter came into town, as she had agreed to go to prom with a friend here in our town.  She stopped by the house, just so I could take pictures of her in her dress, as I didn’t get any when she actually went to her senior prom (a tale for another day), and so I FINALLY got my prom pictures of her…. 2 years late.

I told her about the “supermoon”, and later that same evening, I received this:

EldestDaughter also knows about my absolute love of the moon – and that she was thinking about me while at a dance with friends?  Priceless.

Also, one of EldestDaughter’s favorite books is “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown.

It was one of my favorites to read to the kids when they were little, and I think we have 3 copies of this book floating around the house. 

My favorite part?  The ending.

Goodnight stars

Goodnight air

Goodnight noises, everywhere.

(Goodnight, Moon, I love you)