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The Blood Moon is a rare type of Lunar Eclipse that requires many celestial conditions to be just right. The Blood Moon has great magical, spiritual, and religious significance.

What Causes A Blood Moon?

In space, the Sun casts a large cone-shaped shadow behind the Earth. The outer part of the shadow is called the Penumbra. The inner part, which is directly behind the Earth, is called the Umbra.

A Blood Moon occurs when the Moon is completely shaded by the Earth’s Umbra during a Total Lunar Eclipse. During a Total Lunar Eclipse, the Earth is perfectly between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the Sun’s light from directly hitting the Moon.

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Most Lunar Eclipses do not result in a Blood Moon. This is because the Moon orbits the Earth on a tilted orbit. During most Lunar Eclipses, the Moon is behind the Earth but also next to it.

During these Lunar Eclipses, the Moon spends most of its time in the Earth’s Penumbra, the lighter shadow. This normal type of Lunar Eclipse is called a Partial Lunar Eclipse, or a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.

Oddly enough, the Moon appears to be completely dark during a Partial Lunar Eclipse, but not during a Total Lunar Eclipse. The Moon is visible and tinted red during a Total Lunar Eclipse or Blood Moon.

Why Is the Blood Moon Red?

You might be wondering “Why is the Moon red during a Total Lunar Eclipse if the Moon is in the Earth’s darkest shadow?” That is a very good question, and the answer is complicated.

Sunlight is made up of many wavelengths of light. Shorter wavelengths are responsible for colors like blue and purple. Longer wavelengths are responsible for colors like yellow, orange, and red.

Shorter wavelengths of light are very easy to scatter. The Earth’s surface and atmosphere scatter most short-wavelength light back into the darkness of space.

Long wavelengths of light have great penetrative power and are harder to scatter. So, they can travel a further distance through the Earth’s atmosphere than shorter wavelengths. This explains why sunsets are red.

During a sunset you are further from the Sun than you are during the day. This is because you get further from the Sun as the Earth rotates. During a sunset, sunlight must travel a further distance to get to your eyes. Most of the short wavelengths do not make it, so the sky is full of longer reddish wavelengths. Therefore, sunsets are red.

Blood Moons are red for a similar reason.

Blood Moons are red because of Refraction

If you were to stand on the Moon and look at the Earth during a Blood Moon, you would see a fiery halo of red light around a pitch-black Earth. This halo of light is caused by refraction, or the bending of light.

Refraction is responsible for making objects appear bent in water. Air causes refraction as well, and there is a lot of air in the Earth’s atmosphere. As sunlight travels through the Earth’s atmosphere, short wavelengths of light are scattered into space while longer wavelengths are refracted around the Earth.

Blood Moons are red because the Earth’s atmosphere refracts red wavelengths of light around it and onto the Moon. The fiery halo around the Earth is made up of refracted red light that is travelling towards the Moon.

Pretty neat, huh?

Religious Meaning and Symbolism of the Blood Moon

Some believe that the Blood Moon symbolizes the Apocalypse or the start of the End Times. This belief comes from a prophecy in the Bible’s Book of Joel:

[ . . . ] the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

In the Bible, the Blood Moon is associated many times with the Apocalypse, Rapture, or End Times. The next Blood Moon will occur on May 26 in 2021, so let’s see what happens! Maybe 2021 will be even more intense than 2020!

Spiritual Meaning and Symbolism of the Blood Moon

You could consider the Blood Moon to be the opposite of the Blue Moon. While the Blue Moon is said to bring good luck and strengthen connections with good spirits, many believe that the Blood Moon brings bad luck and empowers evil entities and demons.

If you haven’t read our post about the Blue Moon, click here to learn about it.

Left Hand Path practitioners may greatly benefit from the Blood Moon, as it is supposed to empower hexes, curses, and other Left Hand Path practices.

Given the intense energy of the Blood Moon, people new to witchcraft should be very careful performing spells or rituals during it. Extra steps should always be taken to make sure that things don’t get out of hand.

The Super Blood Moon

There is something even more powerful than the Blood Moon – the Super Blood Moon.

Do you remember that the Moon orbits the sun on an angled orbit? That orbit itself is an oval. So, the Moon varies in distance from the Earth based on where it is along its orbit.

A Super Blood Moon happens when the Moon is at the closest point to the Earth along its orbit during a Blood Moon. That’s a lot to keep in your head all at once, so let’s break down the requirements for the Super Blood Moon:

• It must be a Full Moon
• The Full Moon must be completely within the Earth's Umbra
• It must be a Total Lunar Eclipse
• The Full Moon must be as close to the Earth as possible

Given all these conditions, the Super Blood Moon is one of the rarest astronomical events that can be experienced in a single lifetime. These conditions happen independently all the time, but almost never all at once!

Because it is closer to the Earth than normal, the Super Blood Moon can appear up to 15% larger and 30% brighter than the normal Blood Moon. The Super Blood Moon is a sight to behold!

All the Blood Moon’s properties are greatly amplified during a Super Blood Moon. So, be careful if you are practicing magic under its blood-red light! And be very, very, very prepared...