2019 Samhain timing ~ 15° Scorpio

2019 Samhain timing 15° Scorpio

This from history.com, Samhain is celebrated in Glastonbury

The astronomical event from which Samhain arises is midway between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, which is 15° Scorpio in the Tropical Zodiac. Here is the timing for several time zones.

17:24:34 UTC, (UTC +0)
Thursday, November 7, 2019

London, United Kingdom (UTC +0)
05:24:34 pm GMT
Thursday, November 7, 2019

New York, NY, USA (UTC -5)
12:24:34 pm
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Chicago, IL, USA (UTC -6)
11:24:34 am
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Denver, CO, USA (UTC -7)
10:24:34 am
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Los Angeles, CA, USA (UTC -8)
09:24:34 am
Thursday, November 7, 2019

State of Hawai’i, USA (UTC -10)
07:24:34 am
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Samhain or "Summer's End,"(pronounced SOW-in) comes from the “eightfold year,” a division of the year into equal eighths based upon the four solstice and equinox points and the four points midway between those.

This beauty is via Glastonbury Dragons

You may have noticed how many holidays and holy days cluster about the equinoxes and solstices, and the halfway points between those. They make up the eight sensitive points of the season cycle. They are especially noticeable on those parts of the planet that express natural displays like springtime bloom and fall harvest, frozen winter, and hot summer. In the astronomical sense, every part of the planet gets seasons.

The midpoint between Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere (from which most of this information derives) is replete with harvest festivals, county fairs, and the granddaddy of the season, Halloween. The roots of that October 31st holiday are the cross-quarter points (the four midpoints between solstices and equinoxes) long celebrated in Europe by pagans, Celts, and agricultural communities, that bear the Celtic name, Samhain, that’s morphed into Halloween, All Hallows Eve. It is the Scorpio midpoint between Equinox and Solstice

What I am posting is the precise moment of the cross-quarter, not as a correction, a "you’re not doing it right," to those who celebrate Halloween or Samhain at a different time than the actual cross-quarter, but information for those who might like to explore the roots of the seasonal moment in real-time.

Celtic wheel via miro.medium

What follows is my leap to compare the eightfold Lunation Cycle with the eightfold Celtic and Pagan “Wheel of the Year.” The lunar cycle from New Moon to Full and back to New is also studied as an eight-fold cycle. There are names for the eighths of the Lunation Cycle: New, Crescent, First Quarter, Gibbous, Full, Disseminating (that astronomy also calls gibbous, a word meaning humpbacked), Last Quarter, and Balsamic.

I was flabbergasted to find this precise illustration of comparison between the Wheel of the Year and that of the Lunation Cycle. It might be from a book by Demetra Geoge, a book unfortunately not on my shelf to check. In any event whoever is on the same page with me and I love it. I got this via Pinterest - The Lunation Cycle - Claire Higham - Saved from The astrological lunation cycle with astrologer Demetra George.

At Balsamic degrees, 315° to 360°/0° we’ve reached the closing stage of the Moon-Sun cycle. Consider the New Moon not just as a beginning but at the end of a cycle too. The last eighth of the lunar cycle, includes a process of consolidation and of something like loss or failure (in a mechanical, not a moral sense), a kind of enough, what’s next? It’s something like what Tibetan Buddhists call a bardo. You might substitute the word bardo for balsamic, the bardo including the 45 degrees before a New Moon, the pulse of one of the major rhythms of Earth.

Via Zodiac Arts dot com This is a day in the life of the balsamic moon.

There may be something unsettled about this last eighth of the year (which count will be under dispute depending on the beginning of the year at Winter Solstice or at the Spring Equinox – discussion for another time). If we compare the Lunation Cycle with the Wheel of the Year, then this last eighth of the year might be a balsamic time, a time of releasing what is no longer viable and that might pose a hindrance to growth, and a time for reaching to what is new, fresh, and untried for the year to come.

It’s only been a few years that I’ve had the use of computer programs that let me easily and precisely calculate the moments of astronomical events. I like to recognize those moments, to explore them as I do many astrological factors. Those moments, solstice and equinox were first noted and calculated by astrologers as long as a few thousand years ago. They would be so jealous of how easy it is to calculate these things by computer.

(The first Tuesday in November, Election Day in the US, coincidentally falls near the Samhain cross-quarter.)

Rights to the images belong to their respective owners and I will quickly honor any removal requests. The rest is copyright © Tim Rubald 2019.