Three Occultations, all today (with and without the magic)
This week we're set to witness one real celestial event while another is said to be beginning to "end the world as we know it." Of course one of these events is real, while the other is complete nonsense. The first event begins today, and it has to do with the position of our Moon and three other planets within our Solar System. This event is a triple-occultation.
The moon occults three planets
According to NASA, this is the most planet-heavy Lunar Occultation month of the year. It is not, however, the most star-heavy Lunar Occultation month of the year. That's December with 26 entries on the list (including planets), while September has 18. December has zero planet Lunar Occultations with our Earth in December, while September has four.
Above you'll see a photo by Paul Stewart posted back in 2014. Back then, a Moon Saturn Occultation was captured by Stewart with separate photos and exposures and such, laid over a single master image which made sure the whole final product was as true-to-life as possible.
The first Lunar Occultation with a planet in our Solar System this month was with Neptune. That event occurred on the 6th of this month. The most eventful day is today, with three planets and three stars in Lunar Occultation. September 18th's Lunar Occultations include: Venus, Regulus (star), Nephthys (star), Hertha (star), Mars, and Mercury.
Above you'll see three images in a gallery. These images come from NASA's Astronomical Almanac Online, and show the paths of each Lunar Occultation across our planet Earth. Bad news for the USA: most of these movements occur below our country or well to the side.
An occultation is not The Occult
An occultation is a blocking of the view of one object from another object by a third object. Its root word, occult is more commonly used to refer to magical practices or phenomena – also mystical or magical in both its noun and adjective form. Occult as a verb means to block the view of one object from another object by a third object.
The image above is from an album by thrash metal band Avaras. The album goes by the name "Into The Realm of The Occult" – and has little to do with the occultations of which we speak today.
The root of the word occult is celare (Latin), which means "to hide", which then became occulere (also Latin) which means "conceal". The most recent roots are occultare (Latin), which means "secrete", and occult (Latin), which means "covered over".
Astrological vs Astronomical
There are many ties between the practice of Astrology and the science in being an Astronomer. Astronomy is what an astronomer studies. Astronomy is the study of all the space in the universe outside our Earth's universe. Astrology is Astrological – using the positions and motions of planets and stars in the universe to explain Earthly events and the human condition.
While three planets are going to be blocked from the Earth's view over the 24 hours we're in now, no evil nor magic should come of it if you consider yourself a strict scientist. If you believe in astrology and/or The Occult, you may want to prepare for some significant energy coming from the universe today.
Above you'll see a map of our world and the Astrological universe around it. Atlas Coelestis. Harmonia Macrocosmica seu Atlas Universalis et novus, totius universi creati Cosmographiam generalem, et novam exhibens Studio et labore Andreae Cellarii, etc. – caption: 'The constellations, with astrological signs of the zodiac.'.