The next Full Moon is a Partial Lunar Eclipse that happens on Friday 19 November at 8.56 am UTC in Taurus, Krittika Nakshatra. Technically, it is a Partial Lunar Eclipse but it is close to a Total Eclipse and will be seen in many parts of the world.

 

Human memory is such a short-lived thing. Because I hadn’t been travelling overseas for the past 21 months, I had forgotten how it feels to be jet-lagged. As I am wide awake now in my hotel room I experience a strange feeling, as though the Sun will never rise again. But of course, it does.

 

This fleeting thought is just an illusion but I am sure that from time immemorial, people would have had similar thoughts with eclipses. As the light of the Sun or the Moon disappears, people might have thought that the light would never come back again. But it always does. So we need not worry. But we do. This is human nature.

 

This Full Moon is called Kartik Purnima and is very auspicious. Also, the Shashtiamsha deity of the eclipse chart is interesting – the Sun and Moon are both connected with Nirmala. In Sanskrit, Nirmala means spotless, shining, bright. (Nir = without, mala = dirt, impurity). Even though the light of the Moon will temporarily disappear with this Lunar Eclipse, we need to connect to the source of the Light.

 

The photos I have taken the other day are interesting – they were taken within a few hours difference. There was thick fog early morning, which cleared quickly. When our mind is foggy, we cannot see the beautiful scenery that is behind it. And we can feel lost. So we need to keep on cleansing and purifying our mind. Only then, we will be able to see the light that shines within us. Om Shanti.