Blog 180--What of Solar Eclipse?

The other day, on my way back from my weekly visit to the chiropractor in downtown Vancouver, BC, every sunny intersection had crowds of people on the sidewalks, all excitedly peering at the sun’s eclipse. Robson Square in downtown was host to hundreds of people, all equally peering—which is, as you probably realize, is not the same as “equal peers!” Now, in Vancouver we only saw it partly, but more than enough to get a good look at this interesting phenomenon. I had not prepared for it and so found myself without the required glasses. One little kid, perhaps eight or so, saw me standing there empty handed and generously offered me the use of his glasses. How generous and thoughtful—without even being asked!—and how mature.

Of course, a lot of people went to a lot of trouble to see it at its very centre. They didn’t just walk down the block to the nearest intersection; they traveled from afar to the very centre where the sun could be seen totally covered by the moon, somewhere in rural Oregon. Friends of ours from Seattle drove four hours to that epicenter to see it. They found themselves in the midst of such a large crowd camping on some farm way out in the country that the four-hour journey home stretched out to ten hours!  But they had seen it and gladly suffered the inconvenience of a ten-hour traffic jam. Well, each to his own.

But leave it to the enterprising Americans. The owners of that farm charged $170 for a camping spot of which there were 5000! If my math has not totally gone rusty, that amounts to $750,000!  Not a bad intake for a no-effort project that took only a couple of minutes.  Whether that money went to an individual owner or to the local community or some other cause, I have no idea, but enterprising it was for sure! Much more than mere curiosity. 

For still others, an eclipse can be much more than either curiosity or money: it can and has caused wide-spread social panic. Astronomer Derek Kief of the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre here in Vancouver, tells of the first recorded eclipse in China some 4,000 years ago.  “They actually thought it was a dragon eating the sun. It was a terrifying moment—apocalyptic.”  He continued, “Five minutes later the sun came back and everything was OK.”

There is this ancient Chinese story of an emperor who consulted his astrologists, but when they proved helpless, he had them all executed.

The above story was published in the Vancouver Courier of August 17, 2017.  Its rival, Metro, even has its own astrologer, Kelly Benson, She warns in her article “Electrifying time of change,” that the “eclipse may affect the course of our own lives.”  “Astrologically, the sun symbolizes conscious action while the moon reflects our moods and our emotional outlook.” The event “marks an electrifying time of change in leadership, power and influence.” “It invites us to review the ways in which we govern ourselves and communicate.” You are urged “to regain your personal strength and realign your purpose.”  Of all the world’s leaders, President Trump, Benson predicts, is the one who will feel the strength of this eclipse more than any other. Unfortunately, she leaves us in the dark as to how this will affect him in practice. “How it manifests is anyone’s guess.”

Benson is an astrologist and an astrologist practices the “art” of astrology, which comes from two Greek words that indicate “star” and “meaning.” One definition is “the study of the professed effect of heavenly bodies on human personalities and affairs.” Notice the doubt in this definition: “professed.”  In both the Bible and in Christian tradition astrology is basically seen as negative. In the book of Daniel, Daniel is able to make predictions at the request of the king, but he emphasizes very strongly that God alone is the source of the revelation and interpretation. This is in sharp contrast to the wisemen, probably astrologists, who could not make heads or tails of the king’s dreams. When Pharaoh asked Joseph for an interpretation of his dream, Joseph specifically insists that the answer will come from God alone.

The creation story in Genesis 1, specifically assigns the functions of the heavenly bodies to be that of giving light, nothing else. That, too, was in sharp contrast to the pagan nations around Israel who tended to attribute divine power and influence to the sun and stars.  Whether the stars and other heavenly bodies have any influence on our lives, I dare not answer, but the Bible expects us to put our trust in God, not in princes or kings, let alone stars.  We pray only to Him.

So, watching an eclipse just out of curiosity or for interest sake, no problem. Enjoy and perhaps learn some astronomy.  But astrology? That’s a different kettle of fish we should have no truck with.