Ring of Fire: Eclipse 2010

The longest annular solar Eclipse of the millennium was visible to residents of Africa and China. The rest of us can only see pictures, but here is a round-up of some the striking images from around the web, with links to galleries and slideshows.

Kansas City Star


Washington Post


The Hindu


The Huffington Post

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Shadows and Light

Solar Eclipse

July 22, between 2:35 am Universal Time,
July 21 10:35pm Eastern, 7:35pm Pacific,
4:35pm Hawaii

We are beginning a sequence of intense astronomical events, that many are hailing as a gateway. Together with the new moon, today, there is a solar eclipse in the last degree of cancer. There is also a lunar eclipse coming up on August 6. Estaryia Venus describes the significance in an email newsletter.

Cancer is the ancient past, our soul origins. The last degree is the most ancient of all the degrees. This fusion of energy of the Sun and the Moon create a gateway of union that opens a portal for us to receive the divine light of our soul origins.

This means we recognize who we truly are. This will be more than a concept or an idea but a literal internal knowing on a cellular level.

The global shift in consciousness is upon us. As we truly awaken to who we are and our soul origins and can embody this consciousness on a cellular level there is a huge planetary wake up. It's as if humanity has been in a fog not knowing who we are and where we came from. This eclipse is the fog buster! Soon as the collective wakes up to their truth and really knows where they came from it's like a revolution on a global level. It's like getting to know your real family. It's a cleansing of the past and awakening to the truth at the same time.

Just hours after the eclipse in the last degree of cancer - accessing the portal of union and our soul - the Sun and Moon move into the sign of Leo. Leo is the sign that rules drama and playing our divine role. During the eclipse in Cancer we get the download of who we really are and then it's time to start playing the role that we are meant to be playing. I know many of you are feeling it - it's as if everything is accelerating and the breakthrough is about to happen. It's about to happen!

We are getting ready to live the role we are designed for - our divine service and role in this collective journey is about to be powerfully activated and actualized.

The sense of something major, but indefinable, "about to happen" is something I've been hearing a lot of lately, from many people.

There will be lots of group meditation, prayer, and ritual events occurring around the globe, so it's a good time to add your voice, your thoughts, and your focus to this shared experience. I know I will be doing a day of ritual here, with a friend.

For more information on the astronomical event, see here and here.

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Happy Summer Solstice

There are several places in Chaco Canyon that mark the movement of the sun throughout the year. Casa Rinconada, one of the larger kivas in the Chacoan system, is open to the public just before sunrise during the few days of the summer solstice. During these days, the longest of the year, the sun shines through a window and into a niche.

The Summer Solstice Dawn at Stonehenge

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The Summer Solstice is also known as: Alban Heflin, Alben Heruin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day, Johannistag, Litha, Midsummer, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, Vestalia, etc.

. . .

People around the world have observed spiritual and religious seasonal days of celebration during the month of June. Most have been religious holy days which are linked in some way to the summer solstice. On this day, typically JUN-21, the daytime hours are at a maximum in the Northern hemisphere, and night time is at a minimum. It is officially the first day of summer. It is also referred to as Midsummer because it is roughly the middle of the growing season throughout much of Europe.

"Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. This is because, as the summer solstice approaches, the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky on each successive day. On the day of the solstice, it rises an imperceptible amount, compared to the day before. In this sense, it "stands still." [more here]

Temple of the Sun, Circular Window Marks
June Solstice, Machu Picchu, Peru

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Eclipses Make Me Sleepy

Yesterday was a double whammy of new moon and solar eclipse energy. We will also be having a lunar eclipse in a couple of weeks, and a total of six eclipses this year. We're also currently enjoying the first of 4 Mercury Retrogrades. What fun. You may feeling "change" energy and feeling it intensely. In fact, it may feel like some great, unseen hand just played 52 pickup with your life. My advice: Take a deep breath and wait to see where all the cards land before you jump. It's all a little tumultuous right now.

Ramifications aside, it sure was beautiful. Check out the video for images from various locations. The best view seems to have been Indonesia, where they experienced a full eclipse and an actual ring around the sun.

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Sun Caught Live on Camera

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Splendid You rise in the lightland of the sky,
O living Aten, creator of life!
You have dawned in the eastern lightland.
You fill every land with your beauty.

from Great Hymn to the Aten

Hat tip to the The Huffington Post, a NASA pictorial, of the sun in active periods, with solar flares and winds. The sun is currently experiencing an unusually quite phase.

The Sun is now in the quietest phase of its 11-year activity cycle, the solar minimum - in fact, it has been unusually quiet this year - with over 200 days so far with no observed sunspots. The solar wind has also dropped to its lowest levels in 50 years. Scientists are unsure of the significance of this unusual calm, but are continually monitoring our closest star with an array of telescopes and satellites.

I can't speak to the significance either, but these pics are stunning. (One note of caution. If you want to look at the whole, magnificent pictorial in The Boston Globe, it may take some time to load the giant, bandwidth intensive images. It's worth it.)

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