Baring the Aegis: Bless Selene in all Her glory!

Yesterday night a supermoon. In fact, t was a special supermoon. The moon, yesterday, was the closest it’s been to the Earth since January 26, 1948—the next similarly large supermoon won’t occur until November 25, 2034. On the night of the supermoon, the diameter of the moon appeared up to 14 percent larger and the total area of the moon looked up to 30 percent larger and brighter. The moon appears so large due to its positioning on its orbit.

The moon’s orbit is not a circle, but rather an ellipse, just as with the planets. On average, the moon is about 239,000 miles away from the Earth. When it is at perigee, or its closest point to Earth, it can be about 225,000 miles away. When this happens during full moon, the apparent size of the moon, as seen from Earth, appears to increase.

In he Hellenic religion, the prime lunar deity is the Titan Selene (Σελήνη), who is the personification of the moon. She is linked to everything the moon can be connected to, including the night, ocean tides, magic, childbirth, dew, lunacy, nursing and the months. As such, last night was especially saced to Her. I hope you have all enjoyed Her in all Her glory. Else a similar experience can be had tonight. I'll share a few Google-found images of previous supermoons to at least give you the feeling of last night's special event--and of course they are all linked to ancient Hellenic monuments.