On Monday evening the 14th of April, a group of us climbed to the top of a hill at CCV church in Peoria to view and take pictures of the lunar eclipse.
We also met with God, read scripture, prayed and had communion. It was a truly blessed time.
You may or may not know the significance of this eclipse as it relates to current events, but I’d like to describe it briefly and let you in on what this has turned into for us. This year there will be two full lunar eclipses (also called blood moons because the only light hitting the moon is the light bending around the earth which is orange/red like ), and two next year as well. This sequence is called a Tetrad. While it’s not an unusual event in astronomy, what is unusual is that all four eclipses this time around occur on or within 24 hours of major Jewish holidays.
On average, just over 12,000 eclipses happen over a thousand years. Of these 12,000 eclipses, only 3,479 will be total lunar eclipses, the rest being only partial. There is an average of 2.5 eclipses per year of all eclipses. By these calculations, less than one total lunar eclipse will happen each year.
The chances of any lunar eclipse occurring on any particular day, whether total or partial, is less than 3/365. The chances of one occurring on particular days 4 times in a row would be 3/365 x 3/365 x 3/365 x 3/365 = or about one in 100 x 100 x 100 x 100 = one in 100 million days, or once in 273,000 years. Nevertheless they have occurred on the first day of Passover and Tabernacles 7 times since 1 AD, and are getting ready to occur again in 2014 and 2015. Statistically, they should NEVER HAPPEN.
In 2014, the first of 4 total lunar eclipses occurs on Passover (First Feast Day), April 15, 2014, followed by a solar eclipse on April 29, 2014 (the very day of the US sponsored deadline for Israel to give up half of Jerusalem and return to their pre 1967 borders or suffer sanctions from the US. Every time we twist the arm of Israel to give up land, the US experiences some sort of devastation. This one will be no different, so please PRAY! ), then the second total lunar eclipse occurs on the Feast of Succoth (Last Fall Feast Day), October 8, 2014, followed by another solar eclipse on October 23, 2014. In 2015, the Jewish religious year begins with the total solar eclipse March 20, 2015, then two weeks later the third total lunar eclipse occurs on Passover, April 4, 2015, and then the civil year beginning with the total solar eclipse on September 13, 2015 followed two weeks later by the fourth total blood red moon on the Feast of Succoth, September 28, 2015.
Since 1 AD, this tetrad has occurred on these holy days a total of 7 times. In 2014-2015, it will be the 8th time. It won’t occur again for another 500 years.
Upon most of the events, something major has happened with Israel. In 1967 it was the 6 day war in which Israel recaptured Jerusalem. In 1949, Israel became a state in modern times. In 1492, The jews fled from Spain Because of the outbreak of persecution that started the Spanish Inquisition.
Another thing this Tetrad brings is the ushering in of the 49 year of Jubilee for Israel. Last time, was in 1967 and Israel nearly doubled their land and recaptured Jerusalem. This year, with so much attention centered on the Middle East, something’s going to give. We’ve just got to wait and see.
I only got about three focused shots of the eclipse, but I’ve included some of the un-focused ones as well. I also have included a shot of a Blood Moon that I took a couple of years later from around 99th Av and Bell Rd, on top of a small hill looking out toward the Football stadium.
