Its a ways off from now, but lots of us in the states are going to be thrilled with being able to witness a total solar eclipse later this summer, its coming up fast!

Im real close to the path of totality and will be travelling a little south to camp out and watch it. You dont want to miss this if at all able, i was lucky enough to witness one many years ago...and IT IS COOL! I remember most seeing all these little crescents on the ground getting slimmer and slimmer, as sunlight passes through holes in leaves, acting like a pinhole camera and projecting solar images all over the place, and then the light polarizing at totality, making it very eerie indeed. And the silence as all the birds and animals just go quiet.


Im just wondering what folks plans are and wanted to start a thread where folks could post info on gatherings, places to camp, eclipse related events, etc.

What are your plans?

Was actually gonna be on a plane to the west coast around that time
We will see what happens my friend, thank you for this information

Thanks for the heads up null. I have a strip of some of the best L i have had in a while & plenty of paid vacation built up. This sounds like the perfect occasion.

Swings close to me too, maybe a 3hr drive to the best spot. How to safely view. https://umbra.nascom.nas...811/text/eye-safety.html

I'm actually quite upset about this. The path cuts right over this small town I used to live in on the southern edge of Nebraska, like right smack dab over the top of it.

I will be there!

Have my vacation put in for it, mushies will play a big roll on that day

Can't make it out to see it but Tipper is having a small festival in astral valley, a perfect place to get the full extent of the ecipse. The stuff they are planning is phenomenal.

Bunch of friends headed to Symbiosis -- I'd be there, but it's another damn dusty year for me. Hope you all have a blast! Should be good times. :-)

I'll be at eclipse.

I can't decide whether to settle for ~80 percent coverage here or hop on I-95 at 3 AM and hope I can make it to SC (7 hours with regular traffic but I'm guessing it will be waaay worse) and then back again in time to get enough sleep for the 22nd...

I really wanna see it.

I can't be the only person who is rofling at the symbolism of a literal shadow being cast across the entire USA right now, right?

Next Monday! So excited, but also a little scared, lol. The governor is bringing in the national guard,all the papers are screaming about traffic doomsday, cell tower overwhelming, and general chaos.

There is 99.4% totality here in PDX, but that .6% of Sun is 10,000 times brighter than totality, so I really really want to go a little further south into the valley, but...

The friends I had planned to do that with suddenly decided it was too much bother and a once in a lifetime cosmic event isn't as important as staying in bed, so I'm a little (lot) bummed (really f####ng disappointed in a friend) over it, but it will still be massively cool! Just no corona.

Abd yes, the astrology is not lost on me, nor the symbolic significance. Just listened to a podcast on the astrology of it, pretty interesting stuff, all portents of doom. But yeah;, country split in half, the president, imminent nuclear war...

Oh another thing, on watching the eclipse.

I saw an eclipse when I was younger,and we didn't have the mylar glasses they are selling now so we improvised other means to view it directly and indirectly.

To look at it, I exposed a roll of 35mm film (wiki it if you don't know what that is) and used several pieces laminated together as a sort of viewer. Probably not safe, not recommended, just an anecdote.

However, next time you are outside on a sunny day, look on the sidewalk under a tree. Small holes in leaves act like a pinhole camera lens. You'll notice that where the light passes through them that there are little circles of light on surfaces and the ground, these are images of the sun. We're always surrounded but don't notice them. As the sun becomes occulted, those disks will slowly become crescents. It's really neat and surreal.

Also at totality, it's not just dark; I'm surprised I haven't heard this on the news yet. The appearance is like looking through a pair of expensive shades, because the light polarizes I guess; something about curving around the gravity of the moon iirc.

It's really really cool stuff,once in a lifetime, of cosmic proportions,etc

So...the eclipse was amazing! The plans I had to watch from the path of totality...uhh...did not happen. It's kind of a long story that has a lot to do with friendship, individual spiritual paths, recovery and a whole lot of other topics that are worthwhile and relevant for discussion. After the party involved and myself talk it over,perhaps I'll share here as I do think it's a good topic.

BUT ANYWAY, yes, the cosmic union was more than I expected, even though it did not approach darkness where I was, at 99.4% totality. Still, the eerie stillness that fell over the earth ran shivers up my spine. The strange dimming of the light reminded me very much of how it looks prior to a hypoglycemic attack, and it caused a very strange cognitive dissonance. I was unsteady on my feet even, and even after I realized why, was still a little knock-kneed.

At the peak, strange waves were projected over everything, shadows of the streams of radiation in the solar corona. I'd never felt so close to the source of our life on this planet before, and I shed tears. It was beautiful. People were applauding, crying, sighing, and just standing in awe. Everything was still except those waves over everything. I felt cleansed, energized, refreshed, and giddy.

And such a great opportunity,and at such a personally synchronistic time, to do meditations on shadow. Watching the sun accept the moon, allowing the darkness of the lunar disk to consume it slowly and without resistance was a wonderful metaphor. Once the disk covered the sun entirely, it shone upon us with a different light for a time, revealing through the shadow it's true nature. And then once again, the sun let it go and the dark passed through it on the other side. Once it did, the sun shined just as it did before, but we were changed.