The Supermoon Illusion

 May 5, 2012 features the closest and largest full moon of this year. Calendars say May 6, by the way, for this same close full moon as seen from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. We astronomers call this sort of close full moon a perigee full moon. The word perigee describes the moon’s closest point to Earth for a given month. But last year, when the closest and largest full moon occurred on March 19, 2011, many used a term we’d never heard: supermoon. We’ve heard this term again at this 2012 close full moon. What does it mean exactly? And how special is the May 5, 2012 supermoon?

There are 4-6 supermoons a year on average.

That doesn’t sound very special, does it? In fact, tonight’s full moon lines up much more closely with perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth – than Nolle’s original definition. The 2012 May full moon falls within an hour of perigee, the moon’s closest point to Earth for this month. At perigee, the moon lies only 356,955 kilometers (221,802 miles) away. Later this month, on May 19, the moon will swing out to apogee – its farthest point for the month – at 406,448 kilometers (252,555 miles) distant. So you can see tonight’s moon really is at its closest.


By the way, according to U.S. clocks, the full moon falls this evening at precisely at 10:35 p.m. Central Daylight Time. This same full moon falls tomorrow (Sunday, May 6) at 3:35 Universal Time (UT) – the standard time at the prime meridian of 0^o longitude, or, for example, in Greenwich, England.
How often does the full moon coincide with perigee? Closest full moons recur in cycles of 14 lunar (synodic) months, because 14 lunar months almost exactly equal 15 returns to perigee. A lunar month refers to the time period between successive full moons, a mean period of 29.53059 days. An anomalistic month refers to successive returns to perigee, a period of 27.55455 days. Hence:
14 x 29.53059 days = 413.428 days
15 x 27.55455 days = 413.318 days
This time period is equal to about 1 year, 1 month, and 18 days. The full moon and perigee will realign again on June 23, 2013, because the 14th full moon after today’s full moon will fall on that date.

 The Super Moon is considered special in spiritual belief systems. Why? This Super Moon is happening in the constellation Virgo and together they speak to a need for healing by breaking through. It's the kind of dramatic healing where you feel like you had a breakdown as it was so much effort to get to that healing.

Spiritual circles talk about "mutable energy." Mutable means to break apart and then rearrange the broken pieces into a different whole, creating something wonderful and new. Think of those beautiful sand mandalas the Tibetan monks spend hours and days creating, then they brush them away and begin again.

A Super Moon is a healing presence in your life as you make the adaptations and adjustments. It can create a cosmic alignment to your path of life service, maybe even a few personal miracles! So, "go with the flow" of this moment. Allow the crust of old wounds to break away. Enjoy the new healing as it emerges to help you walk your spiritual path, a renewed and stronger person.

There is a legend that goes along with the Super Moon event where earthquakes, volcanoes erupting and general human mayhem happens

Once in a super moon...beLIEve