I’ve been looking for language for what I experienced during the eclipse, and so I decided to wait on my Wednesday post until the words arrived…. So here is my Wednesday post on Thursday :-)
This past Monday Bloomington Indiana was in the path of the total eclipse of the sun. Interestingly, Bloomington was also on the path of the eclipse in 2017. I’d experienced 97% eclipse that day and it was a very powerful event, but I did not expect how different it would be to experience the totality.
On the morning of the eclipse we drove out to a friend’s goat farm that had a wonderfully open view of the sky, surrounded by hills and farms. Another friend did a beautiful yoga session with the goats, gently encouraging us to breathe and let go of what might be weighting upon our minds. Yup, yoga with little goats…. who by the way were infinitely curious and would occasionally nuzzle someone while in downward dog or lean into someone who was sitting in meditation. We then had a vegan potluck while hawks circled and an occasional heron winged across the sky. My daughter, Amelia, and her husband, Ben, had traveled from Chicago and his parents had also come in from Pennsylvania. It was a joyous and trembling time as we waited for the hour and moment to arrive. Ben is a librarian and writer, but also a wonderful photographer and he’d set up a tripod with a camera equipped with a special lens. I’m posting several of his photos here.
When the eclipse started we all settled into chairs or stood out in the field. The light and air began to shift subtly, but as the eclipse proceeded the changes began to happen more quickly . The temperature dropped precipitously and several people needed to grab a jacket or sweater. Then the wind came up dramatically blowing across the new grasses in that springtime field. The colors began to glow and the birds began to quiet until finally there was only the barest sliver of the sun showing. Then in a moment —we were in full totality.
What hit me immediately was that I had no reference point for the light around me. We know in our minds and in our bodies what morning light is, how it feels, what time of year. We know when we walk outside that it is twilight or that the sun must be slipping below the horizon. Our hearts and minds have filed away so many kinds of light and something inside us says, ”Oh, this is evening in winter, or morning in summer”. But my mind or body had absolutely no reference point for this kind of light. As the cold increased and the winds came up further, we were surrounded by an impossibly unfamiliar light. The world had dimmed but this was neither twilight or dawn. This was something completely rarified. Some of the the nighttime creatures awoke, a few white night moths lifted from the grasses. A friend of mine told me later that at the moment the moon completely obscured the sun, the little spring peeper frogs began to sing in her nearby pond. Another friend told me that during totality, several Barred Owls began their nighttime calling.
In that field in South Central Indiana, all I could do was stand in wonder as that impossible light illuminated our uplifted faces. I hugged my daughter and we both held hands, with tears in our eyes. It felt like I was having a completely new experience with our closest star, our own life-giving sun. A window into how deeply humans, the winds, the oceans and all living things are affected by the the mysterious quality of light. I cannot help but hope that something about experiencing the wonder of this event was a reminder of our place in the cosmos, and that in moments of awe and wonder we are ever and always connected.
Question
Did you experience the totality in your part of the country or world? What was it like for you?
I have always been fascinated by light, and have many songs that the mystery of light plays an important part. One of my favorite older albums from my back catalogue is called “The Geography of Light”. Here’s a link to a video of a song called “Where The Light Comes Down.”
NASA Resources
Since monday, I’ve enjoyed looking at some of the NASA videos, showing how people experienced the totality in several parts of the United States. Here is a link for the main NASA video. If you start the video at 1:40 you can see totality starting in Texas all the way through Maine.
The Total Eclipse Of The Sub -20% April Discount for Supporting Subscriber Subscriptions.
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Great description of the event, Carrie!
I do believe that the eclipse was God's way of winking at us!