Thursday 27 December 2012

Moon Disappearing Thoughts


Nearly a year ago I wrote a piece about the moon disappearing.  It was the end of January and at the time it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.  It was inspiring at the time and I will never forget the feelings it gave me.  In my time of stress, or anxiety, or if I feel low, I close my eyes and relive that experience trying to capture the emotional energy I felt as I watched in amazement, the joyous excitement and overwhelming childlike wonder that went through me.  It was a significant moment in my life and I will never forget it.

Since then I have noticed with interest how many others seem to have also noticed the moon disappearing, and to my astonishment some people have even left comments, not many but some have described their experiences of seeing the moon disappear.

In saying that, I have noticed a pattern to when people seem to experience the disappearance of the moon.  Every month between roughly the 17th to the 25th, I get a large spike in hits when someone is looking on the internet for the moon disappearing in the sky.  It happens as regular as a moon cycle, and perhaps it has something to do with the fact at this time of the month the moon is always at its new moon phase.  I have just looked it up; at a certain time of the month when the moon has gone through its cycle, it is nearly nothing, a tiny slither.  Obviously, when the moon is at this minute slither, it can seem to disappear.

This conclusion seems plausible.  However, this does not explain at least to me and to my experience, the way the light from the moon wax and waned, then moved around the circumference of the tiny slither.  It was as if a light was shining behind the moon moving up and down causing the main glow to move accordingly.  I have just realised, how stupid of me, of course there is a light behind the moon it is the sun.  Obviously, when in the new moon phase the sun hitting the back of the moon and only showing a tiny slither causes an optical illusion.  Then air pollution, and perhaps cloud cover or a myriad of things, add to the illusion.  Yet I remember as clearly, as if I was seeing it now, an amazing surge of energy through my body as I watched.  I remember seeing the star slightly above the moon, appear and disappear and I will never forget it.  Surely that was not because of the sun, and it was definitely not cloud cover.

Still it is strange how every month at around the same time as I witnessed my moon disappearing experience, many other witness roughly the same thing and I hope they get the same emotion sensations as I felt.  I love to watch the sky at night, unfortunately, I live in a built up area and it is not easy to see the stars.  There is no greater feeling than being in the middle of a totally dark place on a clear night and to look up and the amazing sight we get to see for nothing, and to gaze in awe at our incredible satellite the moon.

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