Time Today . Total Solar Eclipse, Who Eats Who? 04/08/24
You’d think that Surya himself was about to swoop down from the skies to spoon-feed the shiny secrets of divinity itself to us Earthlings on April 8, 2024. (Surya is the Hindu god of the sun. He has other names, too, but this particular name is pretty ancient.)
Everywhere I turn this week, the news is filled with facts & figures for every Yin & Yang combination and eclipse info overload possible. Are there any more details to report? Let’s take a closer look at both traditional & surprising notions…
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1. When & Where
Eons ago, humanity was terrified when the sun was blotted out from the sky suddenly, instead of sticking to its daily dusk and dawn habits.
How do I know this? Every ancient culture that bothered to leave records made it clear as can be that this was very scary, and fearing that it might be the end of life as they knew it, unless the gods were appeased, and appeased quickly. I’ll get to that in a minute (see item #2).
But for now, know that when humanity invented TIME as we know it, we got very good at tracking all kinds of skyward events, and this was one we definitely felt the need to measure and predict as precisely as possible.
Modern humanity reassures itself that survival will be possible even when disasters occur, using one of our greatest inventions — measuring TIME as we know it— and in this case, to tell us When & Where the next eclipse will strike. So here’s the data, courtesy of our much-maligned modern science:
When: Monday April 8, 2024 A.D. with totality starting at 11:07 A.M.Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Totality will last at most for about 4 minutes 28 seconds. Such a little bitty window! Lots of people (I know a few) have flown to be smack dab on the path, overwhelming some small towns for a mere glimpse. Never fear though: while a relative few people will be physically able to see totality in real time, many more can see the partial fore- and aft-shadows bracketing those 4+ minutes.
Where: This eclipse will pass across Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Click here for more detail about the following image.
NASA will stream it live on their website starting at about 10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Many TV networks will chase viewership by broadcasting or streaming the eclipse as well, hoping to outshine print media, which has been gobbling up eyeballs with a glut of stories for at least a week or two now. Info junkies, rejoice!
BTW, if you wonder about safe viewing, here’s NASA’s advice. Even though I live outside the totality, I’ve got my eclipse glasses, ready for any partial shadow should it visit our City of Angels!
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2. Who Eats Who?
This is my favorite Solar Eclipse conundrum. Think about it: if the power source for your world darkens and disappears with no warning, what can you do?
Animals tend to do one of two things in such moments (a) they run about or fly around and chatter up a storm, especially if they are herd or flock animals, or (2) they go to sleep because it’s dark. (It’s domesticated dogs and cats who get a bit frenzied or scared, probably from hanging out with humans too long!)
We humans tend to do both at the same time, our adrenaline careening between frenzy and stupor with peculiar results, since we tend to anthropomorphize just about every mystery we don’t feel we’ve yet conquered.
In the opening image of this piece, I show the sun being “eaten” by the moon, a big chunk of its shiny self surrounded by darkness and chomped right up in a greedy bite. The Hindu story is one of many which have the sun (Surya the sun god) being eaten, in this instance by the naughty moon in the persona of Rahu, who gobbles Surya right up. The love of Surya’s life, his wife Bhudevi, the personification of Earth, seems powerless, goddess though she be, to save him. Woe is humanity if their protector Surya can be gobbled up by the demonic Rahu! Maybe Rahu should be on a wanted poster or scroll since he’s always lurking, ready to chomp.
Yet help is on the way! Vishnu, another supremely powerful god (read about his amazing exploits in the Mahabharata) shows up in his persona as god of Preservation. He comes to the rescue, cutting off the head of Rahu! Of course it’s a messy solution, since Rahu is immortal. D-oh! But at least this way, Surya can escape out the back of the severed neck to shine once more in the sky, and humanity is happy again. Next time Rahu is tempted to gobble up Surya— and you know he will grab sun and moon— he may succeed, but oops, that severing remedy is at the ready, so Surya returns, and all is well again.
Many other cultures have snakes, bats, dragons, jaguars, wolves, and all kinds of animals or monsters chewing away on the sun or moon during eclipses. But somehow, there’s always an escape clause. I think it’s pretty helpful that eclipses don’t last very long. Imagine if they did? Whatever might humanity dream up to explain that?
Perhaps I might have an inkling if I watched more horror movies… where humanity’s imagination takes far more wild rides than I care to parse!
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3. Kairos & Chronos
Total Solar Eclipses are still considered harbingers of the unexpected, and yet, I think humanity has spent more than enough time as a species assuming that means gloom. Yes, we often can’t sleep deeply before a solar eclipse, because it involves a new moon… a noted thief of restful sleep.
But restless energy can also be a harbinger of wonderful, uplifting, enlightening surprises. I had one myself, on April 7th, on the eve of our solar eclipse.
A wonderful actor and dear friend (Ren Hanami) invited me to a new play she was in, debuting in Los Angeles at East West Players, celebrating their 59th year, since 1965— “the nation’s largest and longest running Asian American Theater”— wow! I decided to play a private Solar Eclipse game, and not read even a single word about the play in advance, nor even bother paying attention to its title.
The play is titled Kairos.
… It turns out to be a 4-character play about TIME!! I was in my element, my passions about time engaged! Everything about this play was perfect: the writing, the direction, the casting, the acting, the sets, the props, the pacing, the stagecraft, the dialog, the humor, the depth, and of course… the topic itself! And the audience loved it, too.
Why am I so entranced with this play Kairos?
Because the playwright (Lisa Sanaye Dring) began with the bold step of addressing ancient Greek ideas about time — for which they coined not one, but TWO names for time: Kairos and Chronos. These days most of us think about time from a “Chronos” perspective: as numbers on a digital screen, or roman numerals on an antique clock or watch counting off units of time and feeling deprived, having not enough. Such a confined view limits life itself. How remarkable that this play reacquaints us with the energy of “Kairos”. I won’t define this word here, lest I spoil your own surprise or connection should you see the play. I watched the audience spark to their own process of discovery during the play, and I want that for you, too.
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Here is the link to learn more about this theatrcal gem, Kairos. (onstage thru April 28th)
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4. Arrows & Rockets
Humanity is nothing if not ready to repel invaders or threats to our existence, real or imagined.
And we seem unafraid to go up against giants‚ witness David and Golaith, a story often told with great admiration for pluck and fight against impossible odds.
In my meanderings through history, I came across stories that combine both impulses. They perceived a fight among gods to be more powerful than mere human beings could experience, but at the same time, they were sure the gods needed human help, if only to prove a that person’s mettle and value, to hold in reserve for when that person had to petition the gods for help.
And so archers were deployed to shoot arrows into the sun to scare off the bad sun eaters, helping the sun return to its rightful glory.
Until recently, I noticed people assume we’ve licked most problems that plagued ancient people — including from actual plagues. We tend to think we can solve anything nowadays, our species congenitally confident, even if certain problems remain untamed or ignored. The Greeks might even call this hubris.
And so, on April 8th, right on cue, we’ll be shooting some fancy modern arrows into the skies. Three “sounding rockets” with technology designed to cause them to perform as robustly as 15 rockets, will be fired toward Earth’s upper atmosphere during the eclipse. NASA wants to see what’s so when even a portion of our planet loses sunlight quickly during the 4+ minute eclipse. We did the same thing in the 2023 eclipse, so we’re aiming to reach well into the ionosphere this time, anywhere from 55 to 320 miles above us.
Our tools may be different than those ancient bow benders, but our desire to poke the heavens above matches the ancients’ intensity when they shot arrows at the sun.
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5. Space & Time
Lest Chronos’ feelings be hurt while I heaped strong praise on Kairos earlier, I’d like to call Chronos back to center stage for a moment. While we’re at it, let’s get the moon out here too, as the sun’s been hogging the limelight, even though it cannot complete an eclipse without the moon.
News broke late last week that the U.S. wants to take the lead in establishing a Lunar Time Zone, to be called “Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).”
If you needed proof that the race to the moon is back on, this is it. The U.S. has lots of new space missions in the pipeline, and other countries (historically Russia, and now India and China) have the moon well in their sights, too. Suddenly mapping, navigation, and even the Interwebs have to be extended to accomplish something pretty precise on a moon that’s still mostly a mystery.
I hope we do a better job of this than we have with our earthly time zones. We’ve got 24, 27, or 38+ time zones here, depending on whose stats you prefer. We’ve got leap years, leap seconds (currently out of favor, but for how long?), and perplexing stalemates about Daylight Saving Time vs. Standard Time that have us stumbling into a future mined with sleep deprivation.
We already know these puzzles await us on the moon:
“ Lunar time gains about 58.7 microseconds per day compared to Earth’s time, though even this can vary, depending on the altitude and longitude where lunar clocks may be located.” — Smithsonian Magazine
“An atomic clock on the moon will tick at a different rate than a clock on Earth,” Kevin Coggins, manager of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation Program. — Smithsonian Magazine
“… the Moon is currently moving away from us at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters (1.5 inches) per year. This hasn’t always been the case. If we take the current rate of recession and project it backwards, the Moon collides with the Earth about 1.5 billion years ago, which is awkward given that the Moon is 3 billion years older than that.” — IFL Science
Perhaps we ought to call upon Diana, goddess of the Moon and the Hunt (she’s got arrows of her own!) to mediate in this weighty matter. I suspect she’d cut to the chase right quick in any debate, since rumor has it she was never subjugated by any other Roman or Greek god or goddess when those folk ruled the heavens!
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6. To Do or Not to Do... is that the question?
As I publish this, we’re mere hours away from the most publicized Total Solar Eclipse since … forever?
After all the hoopla, we’ll need to cool our jets and arrows and sound rockets for the next one, which will arrive August 23, 2044.
Cant wait that long? You’ll have to make do with the other types of solar eclipses: Partial, Annular and Hybrid, the nearly invisible Penumbral eclipse, plus assorted Lunar Eclipses.
What might you do today to celebrate this rare event?
I say “Plan You Own Adventure.” Here are three possibilities:
A. Take a cue from your dog or cat. Fit in an extra nap, if possible during the eclipse itself, you rebel! Let your unconscious do any heavy lifting and exploration while you give any thought or cares a temporary rest and enjoy some dreamtime.
B. Make an Eclipse Discovery List in an unconventional way: do a bit of automatic writing — just start writing with your non-dominant hand. Choose a simple timeframe, from 10 to 20 minutes, your whim, and let your mind go wherever it wants. You might surface something surprising and/or inspiring once you let yourself start to play. And don’t worry about how long it takes you to form letters writing this way, that’s part of what makes it work: you’re signaling your brain that something new is being welcomed to your usual party.
C. Take a blank sheet of paper and make a vertical line down the center, top to bottom. Label the column on the left “To Do” and the column on the right “Not to Do”. This is even better than “To Be or Not to Be”, since you don’t have to perform this adventure on a stage for a judgey audience. Write anything that comes to mind in one or the other column to begin. Next, switch columns and write something in the other column. It is OK that side-by-side items do not match topics or focus. Just keep going back and forth between the two columns. The more you get into it, the more open you’ll become to what wants to surface about your Post-Eclipse Preferences or Priorities that show up on your list. Fun or easy stuff can definitely be on this list, so invite your Inner Child to lend a voice to this game, too.
D. When you’re done with whichever To Do or Not To Do you chose: 1, 2, or 3, then it’s time to choose what you’ll put into action in the next 30 days. It can be easy or hard, fun or not. Your choice! Calendar something real to get you started. Put away the rest of what you wrote in a safe place so you can revisit it when the next season starts. (That will be Summer, since we’re in early Spring right now.)
Sweet Dreaming… and Happy Total Solar Eclipse!
❤ Diane
P.S. Los Angeles had a partial but clear eclipse, as bright orange as my featured image above. Looked just like Rahu had already taken a huge bite. It lasted about an hour, and helped me resonate with the amazing NASA livestreams traveling from West to East before the moon went its merry way.
