ECLIPTIC is an online almanac. It is an investigation in to the seasonal variation we feel throughout the calendar year, as daylight waxes and wanes.

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The project takes as its starting point the assumption that the amount of daylight we experience on any given day affects our mood. In the Northern Hemisphere, summer days are long, with nightfall arriving late; during winter, light can begin to fade mid-afternoon. The way we experience days in the summer, therefore, differs from how we might experience days in winter.

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Taking this further, it could be assumed that this concept is less binary than just summer (good) and winter (bad). In fact, a whole range of different emotional places, incrementally different, might be experienced between the summer and winter solstice. Notwithstanding the other factors that contribute to daily mood – what we eat, for example, or the quality of our sleep – it is likely that each and every day of the year might feel in some sense slightly different.

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Building on this basic framework, it becomes interesting then to examine how ancient beliefs – those developed at a time when seasons had a huge impact on everyday lives – might apply to the contemporary world. Might pagan, druid, goddess or heathen celebrations have a relevance to us today? Might there be comparative places between alternate beliefs? Might wisdom, advice, insight or even customs formulated thousands of years ago still hold value to us at a specific point in the year? On a basic level, we do find a need to readjust as winter approaches; what can the ancient world tell us about this, and might it offer some comfort?

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The project is a mixture of almanac and liturgy. In the same way that Bach composed music for each week of the Christian calendar I have, in a less grand way, created weekly pieces of recorded music that fits with the mood or feel of each post. This is composed anew each time, to coincide with the theme. (It is not old music, re-purposed. It is specific, and is intended as a demonstration of the creative process, of how decisions made might be shaped by the time of year.)

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Each week has a short set of readings. These are intended to illuminate, demonstrate or suggest the meaning of each post. They are not conceived as dogmatic or prescriptive. On occasion, the theme of a week might be suggested strongly; at other times, it might be oblique.

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Each week also has a meditation and a number of contemplations. These might also be tangential, and while they may come together to form a unified purpose it is also possible that no overall direction is given, leaving the viewer to form a loose association of their own.

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This work is an experiment. It will run for one year (2017) then remain online for reference.

 

This work is not:

 

* to be used by nationalists, supremicists or other right-wing fringe group to justify the assertion of one culture over another. The frequent reference to old English beliefs and customs throughout this project is intended as a way of understanding humanity as a whole, not one part of humanity. The intention is fully inclusive.

 

* to be used as an excuse for harm towards another.

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* This work was developed and devised initially under the pseudonym P.J. Yeboah