Pope's Funeral and an Eclipse

[freemanc]

Solar eclipses (I learn from the radio) are not terribly unusual; there are 5 to 7 per year.

Still, a solar eclipse on the day of the Pope's funeral makes a Yijing maven thoughtful.

It is, in the Yijing, a sign of a passage of great power. Note that the eclipse in the Yijing passed over the Zhou capital near the time of Wen's funeral.

A hybrid eclipse is one which is not a total eclipse everywhere on its path of totality.

The path of totality today passes over the upper part of South America about 19:48 UT, which is 1348 my time. A bit of shade will be visible here in the Southern US.

This shows the path of totality:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2005Apr08H.GIF

[lightangel]

I didn't know there was going to be an eclipse today. In my dreams last night I kept seeing
"55->53"
This morning, when I heard there was an eclipse today I thought of that 55... I still don't know what it means but it's interesting. And in any case hopeful?

[freemanc]

Wow.

That's eerie as hell, actually. I feel as though I couldn't have possibly dialed in a more appropriate cast.

55 is famous among Zhouyistas as the appearance of the solar eclipse. In itself, that's eerie.

Furthermore *as narrative* the juncture in the Zhou story lines up almost too prettily with today's news.

Calling attention to 1,4,5,6. Hm.

The meeting with a minister and the forced interval of 10 days. Very relevant to the situation in Rome.

4 again underscores the eclipse.

5, in TCB's words: In the coming rule,/ there will be rejoicing and honor. / Auspicious.

Nuff said!

6, This is the hard one.

The idea of 55.6 is that the *new* king is preoccupied with a vast task of mourning, and fails to rise to the requirements of the historical juncture at hand.

I see it as basically counterfactual: a warning how things could go wrong at this juncture, or simply *that* things could go wrong.

But I guess there could be scarier readings.

What do you think?

[lightangel]

It's eerie, I know.
But there could definitely be scarier readings...
Let's hope that line six is a warning.
Did a plum blossom with the word 'eclipse' and just todays date (4+8+5=17) and I get 1.5->14
Not bad.
I just read an entry by Lise suggesting i ching diviners can call themselves 'zhouyistas'... in reference to your thread.