A blood moon will appear in the night sky around much of the world tonight as the moon moves into the shadow of the earth for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st Century. The total eclipse will last 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse precedes and follows, meaning the moon will spend a total of 3 hours and 54 minutes in the earth's umbral shadow, according to NASA.
However, for many years in the country, Indians have responded to the lunar eclipse in eccentric ways. The most fascinating myth is to avoid having sex during the lunar eclipse.
According to a previous report, astrologer Soniyaa Bhagiyaa explains why you should not have sex during this period:
Aeons ago, when gods and demons fought to establish control over mortals, Lord Vishnu, in the form of the sultry and sensuous Mohini descended to earth to resolve the conflict.
The churning of the ocean produced the amrit or sweet nectar that guaranteed immortality to all those who consumed it, thus triggering a tug of war between both the parties. Mohini, with her fatal charm, persuaded them to let her distribute the sweet nectar to the gods first and the malevolent demons next.
In the meanwhile, Rahu, a demon, not wanting to miss out on the chance to immortality, disguised himself and stealthily sat next to the seven planets in the gods’ row. This trick did not go unnoticed as the Sun and the Moon gods exposed him before everybody.
But it was too late, as Rahu had already had a sip of the nectar by then. He was soon beheaded, his torso immortalised as Rahu and the lower part of his body as Ketu. Ever since, he has been troubling the Sun and the Moon to avenge the humiliation they subjected him to. So, the solar and lunar eclipses occur when Rahu positions himself between the Sun/Moon and the earth.
“In the Hindu shastras, this event is considered to be an extremely inauspicious one, and consequently, the eclipses or grahas are believed to be a sign of bad omen,” says Mumbai-based astrologer and tarot card reader Dr Soniyaa Bhagiyaa.
