The 13th Moon
WHAT IS A BLUE MOON?
"Once in a Blue Moon" — we've heard the phrase and know its colloquial meaning implies something improbable, something rare, absurdly rare even — an event with the probability of occurring falling at slim to none, as likely as pigs taking wing or hell freezing over.
Yet a Blue Moon is more than just some improbable event. Officially — and yes there is an official Farmer's Almanac definition — a Blue Moon is the third Full Moon in a season that contains four. Seasons usually sport three Full Moons, one each month, but every couple of years or so we get a bonus Full Moon due to the roughly 11-day difference in the number of days between the lunar month (28 days) and the calendar month, which is, as we know, on average 30-31 days, excepting February of course.
But why is it the third Full Moon and not the last one designated as Blue? The answer is complicated and due to the Christian ecclesiastical calendar which relies on the identification of each month's Moon to set the date for Easter and other Christian holy days, the moveable feast observances calculated in reference to the Moon rather than a set calendar date. A year with an extra, 13th moon skewed the calendar, and so the solution was to call it "Blue" and not count it in order to keep their calendar on track.
Based on an Inaccurate Assumption
In researching the meaning of a Blue Moon — when I first decided to call my astrology business by this name — I discovered in an article published by Sky & Telescope magazine, that the most commonly held definition of a Blue Moon, a second Full Moon in one calendar month, is actually based on a misreading of a 1937 issue of the Maine Farmer's Almanac.
In his 1946 article, "Once in a Blue Moon," for Sky & Telescope magazine, amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett cited some of the comments from Laurence J. Lafleur's 1937 almanac article, but added the following: "Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon."
Turns out this is not what Lafleur meant at all and the mix up was due to which "year" Lafleur was referring to, and it wasn't that calendar year, but the tropical or seasonal year measured from one winter solstice to the next! Problem was Lafleur did not identify this detail and Pruett assumed wrong. Pruett's article, published in such a popular scientific magazine with a large circulation, was from then on cited enough over the following years that this mistaken definition became the accepted one.
An Astrological Definition
Astrology is primarily concerned with natural cycles and the cosmological, rather than man-made measurement of time. Astrological time is metered out in the perpetual motion of the cosmos, and the natural cycles of the seasons here on earth which are reflected in the 12 tropical zodiac signs. Therefore an astrological Blue Moon would be more meaningfully defined as a second consecutive New or Full Moon that falls in the same astrological sign, not necessarily falling in the same calendar month. These back-to-back, same-sign "lunations" increase the influence of a single zodiac archetype, its special qualities are magnified and intensified, doubly emphasized in our lives. These are Blue Moons relevant to astrologers.
These Astrological Blue Moons are important in another way too, for they shift the soli-lunar (Sun/Moon) pattern of New and Full Moons. The shift is significant from the astrological perspective in the sense that the Full Moon symbolizes the high lunar tide, or culmination of the cycle, the fruition of the astrological month; while the New Moon is the genesis or seed point of the cycle. A particular New-to-Full Moon pattern proceeds for roughly 18 months, then a Blue Moon occurs, and the pattern shifts. The two patterns are:
- The Full Moon either falls in the sign opposite the previous New Moon
- The Full Moon falls in the sign quincunx (150°) the previous New Moon, one sign off opposition
For example, a New Moon in early Libra will fall before a Full Moon in its polar opposite sign of Aries; but a late degree Libra New Moon falls after the Aries Full Moon and before the Full Moon in Taurus, the sign quincunx to Libra, or "one off" opposition. The significance is the fact that this "inconjunct" Full Moon is the culmination of the Libra lunar cycle, rather than a Full Moon in its oppositional pair, Arie. An inconjunct aspect indicates the need for conscious adjustment in order to integrate two energies that do not share common assets: the element (fire, earth, air, water) is not the same, nor the mode (cardinal, fixed, mutable), nor polarity (positive/negative).
Visible Blue Moons
When I was in college, my astronomy professor did a very simple, but super nifty little demonstration to show how light is scattered by particles, which in turn — this bending of the waves of light — affects how we perceive color. Placing a beaker filled with a solution of water and powdered milk on the overhead projector, he flipped on the light and the pale white solution in the beaker immediately glowed a luminous, sky blue. At the same time, projected on the overhead screen, appeared a perfect circle of yellow-orange — a crowd-pleasing demonstration that showed how particles scatter light, which in turn results in our perception of color.
Which explains why the Moon actually did turn blue in 1883, when the Indonesian volcano, Mt. Krakatoa exploded. Its dust turned sunsets green and the Moon blue all around the world for the better part of two years. Here's an interesting description excerpted from a Discovery Channel episode on Krakatoa:
On August 27, 1883 the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history took place on the Krakatoa Islands. Located between Java and Sumatra, the islands themselves owed their existence to a massive eruption early in the 5th century AD. In the wake of the 1883 eruption over 36,000 lay dead and the entire island detonated with a force unknown in the pre-atomic age. Krakatoa, which stood some 6000 feet above sea level on August 26th, had simply ceased to exist twenty-four hours later. Some three-quarters of the island had been blasted away or sank beneath the ocean into the crater where the volcano once stood. The eruption bundled together a catalogue of individual disasters: massive explosions, earthquakes, toxic clouds of superheated ash and gasses, and a tsunami whose 140 foot waves decimated 165 villages in the region. A ship in a nearby bay was lifted by the ensuing tidal wave and deposited two miles inland. A volcanic hail of stones rained from the sky while shrouds of ash turned the daytime sky pitch black.
According to a Wikipedia article, four enormous explosions took place on August 27, 1883, so strong they were heard 3,500 km away in Perth, Western Australia and on the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues, 4,800 km away. Each explosive eruption was accompanied by very large tsunamis, which are believed to have been over 30 meters high in places. Krakatoa's eruption propelled tons of ash into the sky and generated climactic changes as particles blocked sunlight and reduced temperatures. Created and then destroyed by the same geological forces, for a half-century the remnant of the island stood as sole testament to the volcano's explosive fury. That is until 1927, when a new volcanic peak began to rise out of the ocean where part of Rakata Island had once been. It now stands 2600 feet above sea level. Its name: Anak Krakatoa, the "child of Krakatoa." Last year, this child's "tantrums" displaced tens of thousands of residents in nearby South Lampang district, when explosions and eruptions necessitated evacuation.
The Number 13
13 is a number associated with Venus through the golden mean, that divinely perfect ratio, 1.618. Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras all considered it sacred, a divine proportion, and this ratio is present in objects that we perceive as beautiful and pleasing to the senses, such as a beautiful face, as well as the cycles of Venus herself, the planet we most associate with beauty, proportion, and harmony.
Venus completes five cycles in eight years. Eight divided by five happens to equal 1.6, and of course 8 plus 5 is 13. 5, 8 and 13 are all numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, a series of numbers derived from adding two consecutive numbers to arrive at the third: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on. By definition, the first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. The ratio between each of these subsequent numbers in the sequence equals the golden mean! The ratio is also present in spirals, from the patterns of growth spirals we see in pinecones, sunflower seed heads and spiraling mollusk shells to galaxies spinning in space.
So 13 is a lovely, lucky and auspicious number, associated with beauty, symmetry and fine proportions. Its association with witchcraft arose from attempts to make metaphysics an evil thing. Even the witch's most common familiar relates back to Venus as well in her Norse guise of Freyja, the Germanic Venus, who flew through the heavens in a chariot drawn by two cats. The ratios in a pentagram also reflect the golden mean as well. Medieval and Renaissance construction of sacred buildings such as cathedrals commonly employed this divine proportion. Here is a very interesting article on this geometric design by a builder who noted the golden ratios, including the pentagram, in the design of his parish church.
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Blue Moon Perfume #9, label art Illustration by Louise Max
Blue Moon, Pacific Packing Company orange crate art, c.1910
The cover of Sky & Telescope's January 1948 issue features a photo of the convoy delivering the "200-inch Big Eye," the lens for the brand new Palomar observatory's telescope. Ironically, weather conditions afforded zero visibility as they attempted to move the giant lens to its permanent home in the big dome. Writing in this same January 1948 issue, Nancy R. Bolton, staff writer for Sky & Telescope magazine, shared the following: "the way up the mountain road to Palomar a fine drizzle of rain was falling, at points a mixture of snow and rain. It was impossible to see beyond a few feet. George H. Hall, of the Caltech publicity department, who was driving our car, had to keep his head outside the car a good part of the time even to drive at a snail's pace." Cover art and information are from this informative blog, Palomar Skies.
Here's an interesting account of the Krakatoa explosion published in The Atlantic Monthly, September 1884 issue. The lithograph of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption is dated 1888 and posted here courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Here's another interesting website with information, maps and recent photographs of the region, Krakatoa and Anak Krakatoa.
© 2012 Elaine Kalantarian, all rights reserved