What is the super blue blood moon’s spiritual meaning and what does astrology say about the lunar phenomenon?
EYES around the world will be looking skywards as a rare "super blue blood moon" appears above the Earth.
But what is the spiritual significance of the natural spectacle. Here is our guide.
What is a super blue blood moon?
This ultra-rare phenomenon occurs when a blue moon and a supermoon coincide with the blood moon of a lunar eclipse.
A blue moon is the name for the second full moon in a calendar month. It is relatively rare, hence the expression ";once in a blue moon".
The last one before now was in May 2016.
A supermoon is the name for a full moon when the satellite is at the closest point in its orbit around the Earth.
This makes it appear up to 14 per cent brighter and 30 per cent larger than normal.
Blood moon comes from the rusty red appearance during a total lunar eclipse, when the Moon is in the Earth's shadow.
The colour is caused by blue light scattering as the sun's rays pass are refracted through the Earth's atmosphere.
Extraordinary images tonight show the super blue blood moon around the world.
This is the first time in 36 years all three events have been visible at the same time in Europe, and it has not been seen in America for 152 years.
What is the spiritual meaning of a super blue blood moon?
Blood moons have long formed part of prophecies, originally serving as an omen in the Book of Joel, where it is written: "The sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes."
The blood moon also appears in the Book of Revelation where it says: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood".
A series of four of them - called a tetrdad - in just 18 months prompted some people draw apocalyptic conclusions relating to the Blood Moon Prophecy.
This states a tetrad coinciding on Jewish holidays with six full moons in between and no intervening partial lunar eclipses is a sign of the beginning of the end of times.
But that run of four eclipses finished in 2015 and the world has not ended yet.
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Pagan witchcraft, also wicca, is said to attribute special meaning to blue moons.
And astrologers believe full moons are when lunar energy is at its most powerful.
They claim the tidal effect of the moon’s gravity also has an effect on people.
Athena Perrakis, founder of sacred website Sage Goddess, told Refinery29.com: “A lunar eclipse reveals what’s hidden about you, kind of your internal landscape.”