So today is the big day. The Solar Eclipse. Personally I can’t wait. Even though I’ll only be seeing 93 percent of it here in Seattle, it will still be exciting. I’ve got my certified viewing glasses at the ready. (Incidentally, what does it say about your level of greed and your total lack of moral compass if you’re willing to make fake glasses that will potentially blind people, just to make a buck? Please be careful, everyone.)
So we will all be experiencing a moment of syzygy. (Now, doesn’t that sound sexy as hell?) A friend of mine (waving at Mor) taught me that word, and it’s now one of my favorite sounding words, right up there with ensorceled.
According to Merriam-Webster’s podcast about this word, syzygy means the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system. We’re also told in fascinating detail that the word is related to the zygomatic bone, or cheek bone, and also (much less obviously) to the word “yoke”.
I don’t know about you, but as I gaze up at the eclipse with my legitimate glasses, I plan to touch my cheek bone and harness myself to my dog (closest thing I have to a yoke). I’ll do this just so I can experience the ultimate syzygy. (It was either that or sacrifice a virgin, but that’s soooooo 1724.)
One does not get the opportunity to be plunged into darkness at mid morning very often, so one should take full advantage of it! Have fun!
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