I will now attempt to write in words what I experienced 2 days ago, observing the Total Solar Eclipse through Oregon. The experience is something difficult to put into words, even for a seasoned journal writer like myself, because it was in many way indescribable and profound. Totality was the most incredible moment of my life, and I felt all that has happened to me in the years since I moved out west was all worth it to have been able to experience that 2 minutes of witnessing this event. I can forgive everyone who harmed or wronged me, who betrayed or didn’t support me, I can forgive it all because it allowed me to find my way to the perfect place to see the eclipse. All the things that happened to me allowed me to experience this event, with my beloved TriadFox, and we are so grateful that we were able to see this in the most perfect of circumstances.

Triad had flown out on Friday and we got to explore some of Coastal Oregon in the days leading up to the eclipse including seeing a waterfall and the Pacific Ocean. Then on Sunday we got to go to an amazing Pink Floyd coverband, Pigs on the Wing: http://www.pig-wing.com/

I had been invited to watch the eclipse on a beautiful piece of land just outside of the town I live in, on a hill overlooking the eastern Cascades mountains. It was perfect weather, and because we were further east, we didn't have a lot of the smoke and visibility issues they experienced in Eastern Oregon. We camped out the night before and got to look up at the night sky, and see the Pleiades and Venus rise. I also got to see the sun rise in the morning, and I got pictures so I could compared the twlight to what occurred during the eclipse.

I had borrowed a thermometer from my lab to take measurements of the temperature for the time before the eclipse and post that data on Globe Observer for NASA to use. I started taking measurements, as well as taking photos as the eclipse started. Dubois and his boyfriend Kiba drove down from Salem and made it to where we were just in time for the half way point, so he could set up his photography equipment. We spread a blanket down, and after taking lots of pictures to observe the light and the effects on nature, we settled in as things got close to totality.

As we approached totality, I could feel a very strange sense of anxiety and dread, but at the same time elation and excitement. My whole body tingled and I felt very strange. The light surrounding me was very strange, casting hues and shadows that gave the world a very surreal effect. I had gotten everyone tons of extra eclipse glasses at the NASA presentation on the Eclipse at OSU, and also had made a shadow box for people who did not want to observe the eclipse directly. Everyone was able to actually watch as the moon obscured more and more of the sun through all the glasses, which was something I was very happy to have provided.

Triad was narrating much of the moments going into totality, explaining to us when the diamond ring formed and when to see the Bailey’s beads. Then the moment of totality was upon us, which Triad managed to get a video of when it occurred.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGT4Y5qrKuA

The moment of totality was something I was completely unprepared for. Up until it reached totality, I had a feeling of anxious excitement and tingling that washed over my whole body, but at totality, I was just completely floored and unable to move. Triad cried out and sank to his knees. Everyone around me was crying or completely silent. The sight of the totality is something that will be burned into my memory and be something I will remember my whole life. I can’t really describe how beautiful it is to someone who has never seen it. The photos give a sense of what it looks like, but not what it feels like. I managed to snap some photos of my own with my phone, but by the 2nd minute of totality, I had to just put down all my modern devices and just experience the sublime moment of seeing a total eclipse. It was as though I was looking into the face of God. During the totality you can see the sun without eclipse glasses, and to look upon the sun without protection was so surreal. The landscape was a color similar to twilight, but it was only late morning. I witnessed the strange wave effect to the light, and saw the flowers close up. The birds went silent, and all I could hear was the breathing and muffled sounds of awe from the people surrounding me. At the moment of totality we suddenly all grasped hands and I cried out [b]“We are all organisms, we are all living organisms on this planet” [b] and it felt like it was not my own voice.

After the moment of totality passed, we all were still in this heightened state of consciousness. We all hugged and embraced each other. Dubois showed us his photography, which was incredible and captured it so much better than my crappy phone photos. We made a pact at that moment that we would all make it priority to experience this all again together. That we would go to great expense and effort to witness this again.

Also in the moments after the eclipse, I felt this sincere feeling of complete acceptance and gratitude. All that had happened in my life had lead me to this moment. I could not be upset or angry, or hold malice to anyone who wrong or harmed me because it had all lead to me to having this experience. It was a sublime feeling of divinity that was shared by all around me.

While the eclipse was finishing, I felt this strange empowered ability to only speak words of import, as though I could speak prophecy. I declared I would help save New Orleans and help it to become a city in the next century though technology and money I would make in the cannabis industry. And I said I know that my work with microbes will play an important role in helping humans achieve the ability to be an exo-planet species. I felt the reverence in my words and towards the end of the eclipse my only words were very sacred and powerful.

It took several hours before I was ready to drive us back to the apartment. Puppy and Sean had seen the eclipse at the parking lot next to our house, and while their experience wasn’t as heightened as ours, it was still incredible and they both felt the power of the totality. Everyone was reveling in this shared experience of seeing the face of divinity, and we were all feeling this tremendous gratitude for what we had experienced. It took us several hours to take down our camp, as we had to take breaks from the mundane to sit and experience the moment we were in. We watched bald eagles soar overhead of us a few hours after, riding on the thermals and thrilling in the experience of being alive. We ate perfectly ripe black berries straight off the vine, and talked excitedly about all the synchronicities that had been surrounding us leading us to this perfect moment.

We finally made it back to the apartment sometime around 5pm, and ended up crashing out by 8 pm, as we had not slept the night before. Every time I closed my eyes, I could still see the corona of the sun and the immensity of the totality all the way into my dreams.

Pics of the eclipse:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AnjelC.....ts/2PwAk3447GR

The next day I had to take my beloved fox back to the airport. The drive going to the airport was horrible as it took us over 3 hours to get there, and he ended up missing his first flight. Luckily they were able to get him on a later flight, which gave us time to spend, and eat one more time at Burgerville, and check out Powell Mesa. Turns out, had he been on the earlier flight he'd have been stuck on the tarmac for over an hour as Air force one flew in for the now infamous rally that took place last night in Phoenix. I was happy that Triad had not flown back earlier because he could have been trapped in some of that chaos. I stayed up and waited to hear that he had made it back to Phoenix and his house ok, then finally crashed out, allowing myself the moment of relief that I had managed to orchestrate a very successful trip for us to see the total solar eclipse.

So now I sit here in my apartment, needing to work on some of the stuff for my job, but also still just completely in awe of what I got to experience and feeling compelled to write about it. I have already started talking to my Uncle about the next total eclipse in 2024 that will pass over Dallas, TX. I want to rent a ranch or somewhere my entire family can see the total solar eclipse. I want everyone I love to experience this incredible sincere expression of celestial power. No matter what your beliefs, or lack thereof, this is an experience that will change you, as it most certainly has done to me. I now am totally an umbraphile of strongest degree. I will seek these events, and go to great expense and effort to see them for the rest of my life. And I will try to do what I can to help others experience this as well.

So now the eclipse is behind me, I turn to the next big events to follow, with Fairie Worlds this weekend and the Cannabis Science Convention next week. Till next time FA.