Until yesterday, astronomical events didn’t fuck with me any more or any less that any other person on this planet. Eclipses were a time of detached observation and an excuse to indulge in terrible puns while teasing the local doomsayer.
I knew there would be a solar eclipse yesterday, that the only area affected by it was Antarctica, and even then it’s just a partial eclipse. So going by all my years of personal precedent, it was a non-event and I had more important shenanigans to get into, like earning a paycheck.
However, to be short, the morning went to shit.
Even taking into account my matching 5-piece set of personal baggage, there was no trigger for the increasing darkness over my mood. I just felt… shadowed… smothered… buried in a darkness I could not see, but feel.
Realizing the “normal” methods of coping with random bursts of despondency wasn’t going to work, during lunch I let my instinct lead me to the privacy of the single use bathroom. There, behind the locked door, my unbidden hands went through the motions of establishing a boundary that precedes a working, clearing the marked space, then drawing a six-pointed star in the air before “pulling” that star over and around me.
“Sunlight may flash but for a moment, it is felt long into the night.”
I felt a burst of sunlight come from within me, expanding out to fill in and illuminate the six-pointed star. In the blink of that burst, my mind’s eye was flooded with the memory of each time I had made those motions before, of each time [Patient Caller] demonstrated the effectiveness of the amulet, of the moment of last year’s eclipse when I made the symbol a personal tool, and eventually reliving the dream where Lord Vishnu had used the six-pointed star as an apotropaic device against the darkness that was using me.
I instantly felt better and my mind was cleared of all shadows and confusion. Well, except for one thing. I had no surface awareness of why my instinct led me to perform that action in the first place. Oh well, random is as random does and I still have a report to complete. I washed my face and hands and left the bathroom.
I went back to my desk.
I sat down and looked at the clock.
The time made my mind itch. Wasn’t there something special about today and this very hour? My astronomy themed wall calendar reminded me about the solar eclipse. The internet reminded me about the time of maximum coverage.
Oh.
Surely, that’s just coincidence, right? However, the more I thought about what I did to empower the Solomon’s Seal amulet into more than just stamped pewter, the idea came that I may have entangled myself into the act as well. The personal empowerment of the amulet and the symbol happened at the peak minute of the solar eclipse. (I never did publish what I did during last year’s eclipse, but let’s just say it worked for me.) So now each solar eclipse is going to be a stage for a personal Mystery Play as I repeat the initial empowering moment.
Well, then. Okay.
For the rest of the day, my head space was the opposite of the morose and almost mournful morning. I had to struggle to keep my enthusiasm in check. The report was written and other shenanigans happened that allowed me to burn off the excess fuel my lunch-time ritual had poured in me.
On the drive home, I reflected on what I did during last month’s lunar eclipse. (Also not published.) I have homework to do if I’m going to be prepared for the next one if it slams me the way the solar eclipse did.