Lunar Eclipse

While witnessing the lunar eclipse several nights ago, I couldn't help but gain some insight into the ascribed mystical properties which people have attributed to lunar events in the history of human cultures. There was a certain powerful, ominous quality to the changing light as darkness ever so slowly made its way across the moon, altering the reflected light from a bright white to a blackened orange. Even though I am aware of the actual science of the eclipse, there is still something to be said for the bizarrely mysterious air that is created when something as familiar and as seemingly immutable as the moon changes so drastically. Of course, much of emotional quality evoked by this experience is due to the reddish hue to which the moon changed, which offered a darkly foreboding presence in the sky. All in all, this was a pretty cool phenomenon to get a chance to look at, and in my opinion its a pretty good example of how a change in familiar lighting can give rise to interesting new emotions.