Within the next three days (or more precisely, nights) between 2:26 a.m. – 3:31 a.m. Eastern DST on Friday, March 14. 1:26-2:31 a.m., the moon may turn bright–or perhaps more ominously–dark red.  This is what is known as a blood moon and it is caused by the moon passing into the Earth’s shadow and therefore, with the Earth between the moon and the sun, the moon will have very little light to reflect.  The spectacle actually begins Thursday night at 11:57 p.m. and lasts until 6:00 a.m. Friday.  It will be more impressive from 2:26 a.m. until 3:31 a.m.

Eclipses of the moon, the sun, visiting comets and so on have always commanded attention, with people equally in fear and awe. Halley’s comet is embroidered into the fabric of the Bayeux Tapestry because it appeared in April of 1066, five months before William of Normandy launched his invasion of Britain.  Therefore, because it was interpreted as a favorable omen of change apart from any mysterious power to control events, the Normans were encouraged by the comet’s appearance while King Harold’s men across the Channel were seized with anxiety and a sense of dread and doom. The Normans sealed their victory at the Battle of Hastings the following month (October) and their victory (as well as the comet) can be found in the famous Tapestry.

SAGE IS THE NEW GARLIC

It is in this way that events in the sky and oarfish on the shore differ from superstition, though there can be a very fine line between the effect of the separate events.  Superstition includes chants and spells, sympathetic magic involving Voodoo dolls and other effigies, a belief that our destinies are controlled by the positions of the planets, necromancy and so on.  People once hung iron horseshoes on their doors or garlic to ward off evil spirits, but today the rage is to use sage. There were numerous, often thunderous natural events present in the life of Jesus, whether the Star of Bethlehem which announced his birth or the darkness on the day Jesus died. 

Tertullian (circa 155-240 AD), an early Christian writer, theologian and Roman attorney with access to the official state achieves notes that the darkness on the day Jesus was crucified was so far-reaching and profound that the Senate in Rome had to shut down and send everyone home because they could not work:

“And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner’s work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.”

In his History of the World, Sextus Julius Africanus (160 AD-240 AD) ruled out an eclipse that day based on the presence of an earthquake, asking “…what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake…?”  Nor was there a new moon when Jesus was crucified which is required for a solar eclipse.

And, observing these signs in the heavens is what Jesus, Himself, counsels us to do when he speaks of the end times (Luke, Chapter 21.)  This is not superstition.

Here are some famous historical events that occurred around the time of a blood moon.

• 331 B.C. Before a battle between Alexander the Great and Emperor Darius III of Persia. began, a lunar eclipse occurred. The color of the moon made people believe that the battle (at Gaugamela) would be bloody, though with blood from the Persians rarther than Alexander’s forces.  This boosted the morale of the Macedonians under Alexander and they won the day.
• There was a blood moon on January 10, 70 A.D. Vespasian who fought in the early days of the Roman assault on the Jews had been installed as Caesar the year before, leaving his son Titus to put down the rebellion once and for all. Two Roman legions, the V Legio Macedonica and the X Legio Fretensis named for the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, were setting up siege equipment around Jerusalem. Seven months to the day following the Blood Moon, the Temple in Jerusalem was sacked and Jerusalem shortly fell. The last of the rebels (960 including their families) escaped to Masada in the Judean desert where they committed suicide rather than be captured by Roman soldiers.
• Two blood moons a year apart (January 1, 1916 and January 31, 1917) occurred in Europe during the bloodiest days of World War I. The major powers were bogged down in trench warfare at the time.
• Allied forces during World War II had clawed their way into France for six weeks after D-Day when a blood moon lit up the sky on July 26, 1944, just before the liberation of Paris on August 19th. The next blood moon occurred the following January, only three months before Hitler took his life.
• In December 26, 2004 the famous Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami occurred, killing a quarter of a million people in Asia. Two months earlier, there was a blood moon visible over the soon-to-be stricken area.

Almost certainly these were all coincidental, though if an army believes that the wind is on their backs, they can fight with greater confidence of victory, and sometimes that is all that is needed. As far as what Friday’s blood moon might portend, we will just have to wait and see.

THE MECHANICS OF A LUNAR ECLIPSE

Technically, there can be anywhere from two to seven lunar eclipses in a calendar year, but only three of them (four at the very most) are total eclipses, and these are very rare. The rest are partial eclipses where the moon only grazes the shadow of the earth. The moon does not give off any light on it’s own. The light we see when we gaze at the moon is reflected sunlight, and occasionally a faint light reflected from the moon to the Earth and back to the moon. This is called Earthshine.

What sort of eclipse occurs if any at all is determined by the relative inclination of the orbits of the Earth and the moon. Part of the shading of the moon while being eclipsed is determined by dust or debris in the Earths atmosphere. Whenever, for example, there is a major volcanic erruption such as Krakatoa, the moon in eclipse tends to be darker. The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, which was heard almost three thousand miles away (roughly the distance of Washington DC to Sacramento, CA) caused dark lunar eclipses the following year (1884) because of the ash in the atmosphere.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS

About 863 million people will be able to see this week’s blood moon with another 3.2 billion seeing at least part of the eclipse (that is, if they watch for it.). Also, the size of the moon during this eclipse will be relatively small when compared to an eclipse involving a “supermoon.” In North America, the medias name for the event is “worm moon” rather than blood moon. This term comes out of the Farmer’s Almanac and has nothing to do with an eclipse. This is because any full moon that occurs in March (eclipsed or not) occurs in a month where the ground has thawed enough for earthworms to reappear, hence Native Americans referred to March as the worm month.