Ethics and Ethical Behavior
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Eclipses Jeffrey B. Pettis
Pliny the Elder (23 CE–79 CE) in his Natural History refers to the eclipse (Greek, ekleipsis, ‘‘abandonment, failing of power’’) of the moon and the sun as ‘‘the most marvelous and indeed portentous occurrence in the whole of our observation of nature’’ (1944, II.VI.46). He notes how the sun and moon ‘‘retaliate on one another’’ as they cross paths, the rays of the sun being taken away by moon and earth (1944, II.VI.47). Pliny says that for a long time people in the ancient world have dreaded an eclipse as a portent of crime or death, and how the dying of the moon meant that ‘‘she was poisoned’’ (1944, II.viii.54). In his Tetrabiblos, the Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca. 100 CE–ca. 178 CE) refers to the eclipse as the first and most potent cause of the general conditions of countries or cities (Ptolmey, 1940: ii, 75). He interprets the meanings of the colors of eclipses or formations such as light rays (rabdo¯n) and halos. Black colors ‘‘signify the effects’’ (phanenta se¯mantika) of the cooling, drying influences of
Saturn. White colors indicate the temperate powers of Jupiter, and red colors have a hot, burning influence. Color and illumination are predictive of events and earth-conditions to occur in particular geographical locations (1940: II, 90), and the position of the eclipse on the horizon tell when and with kind of intensity an event will occur (1940: II, 77). In the Hindu myth of the primordial battle between the Titians and the gods the eclipse represents Rahu’s inability to drink the elixir. Although he is able to steal a sip of the substance, the cup passes easily through his mouth and out again through his throat. The eclipse is also seen to represent apocalyptic events. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus predicts that the sun will be darkened (skotisthe¯setai) and moon will not give its radiance (pheggos) as a sign of the time of world tribulation (Mark 13.24; cf. Matt. 24.29–31; Luke 21.25–28; Isa. 13.10; Joel 2.10; 3.4; 4.15). In the Gospel of Luke the sun ‘‘dies out’’ (eklipontos) at the death of Jesus on the cross (Luke 23.45), in this way marking the death of Jesus as someone who is significant and important. In his sermon at Pentecost Peter speaks of the sun which will be changed into darkness (metasraphe¯setai eis skotos) and the moon into blood on the day of the Lord (Acts 2.20). The sixteenth century alchemical text ‘‘Consilium coniugii’’ speaks of the changing and thus corruptive nature of the moon and its pernicious relation to the sun. The text refers to the poisonous quality of the moisture of the moon in its eclipse of the sun ‘‘when she [moon] receives his light and slays the sun’’ (Jung, 1963: 28). At death the two parents [sun and moon] ‘‘yield their souls to the son, and die and pass away.’’ Symbolically this means that the moon as the feminine aspect receives the sun-masculine aspect through which dying and re-birth occur. Penetration into the unconscious world is both exhaustive
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