Atonement

On the longest day of the year, a town revives an ancient solstice ritual and discovers its unexpected power. The media saturation around the eclipse was total. The news warned of driving during the eclipse. Local residents looking to make some extra cash were renting out their houses to strangers as people were traveling to see the eclipse that featured the diamond ring during totality. Billed as a once in a lifetime event, t-shirts commemorating the event were everywhere. Towns and villages had arranged for mass viewings in their town square, and the news proclaimed that in years gone by, viewers could get very emotional, even spiritual during an eclipse.

Emma was anticipating the eclipse with trepidation, unusure of what to expect. She was teaching her students about ancient cultures and what how they had interpreted the eclipse. It was fascinating to her the accuracy with which these cultures could predict the eclipse with no technology, as we know it, to assist. Early cultures had many superstitious ideas and various rituals for the eclipse. Emma had read that West African cultures had used the day as a day of atonement. They asked for forgiveness for anyone they had wronged. She thought this was a fantastic idea that she wanted to implement in her own life. This was now going to be a day of Atonement for her. Her recent arguments with friends and family made her feel like she had much to atone for.

But now that the day was here, the media saturation was on her last nerve. The eclipse was occurring in late afternoon, and time had slowed to a crawl. The predictions about being emotional or spiritual she felt were probably just hype. Newly single, she didn’t even have anyone to watch it with. She was not in a good head space for the eclipse, plus it was cloudy. All this pomp and circumstance and they might not be able to see it? They couldn’t even use the old adage in Cleveland, there’s always next year; the eclipse won’t be happening again until another generation or two comes of age.

It was a stark reminder that the only aspect of her existence that she had any control over was herself - and on some days, even that responsibility seemed like too big a burden to bear. She has no control over this eclipse, the weather, or spaceship Earth, our little blue, wet, marble hurtling through space, seemingly untethered to anything, yet the whole solar system is held together by the gravity of the black hole at the center of the galaxy. This tethered enough stars, planets, and moons together that the galaxy’s diameter surpassed 100,000 light years. This galaxy will only grow in size as the black hole gobbles up anything in its path.Constellations rise and fall throughout the year, assisting early people with their farming schedule. When to plant, when to till, when to harvest. On this day, everything is coming to a standstill due to the eclipse. No control over anything but herself, and even that is too much sometimes.

As the eclipse grew closer, birds began flying erratically in the neighborhood. She donned her eclipse glasses and a chair and went outside to her driveway, alone. She turned on the iPad to see the media coverage from other parts of the country that were already viewing the eclipse. It was a unifying respite to the chaos normally found on the news.

Some residents complained about the traffic, the relentless onslaught of people trying to profit off of the eclipse from the t-shirts to the local tv. She was nonplussed, neither looking forward to it, or resenting it.

Then it started. She donned her eclipse glasses as the universe’s greatest show humans can witness was about to begin. Emma began to think of things that were swirling through her mind. She is meant for something greater than this. Social media was convinced that aliens were landing during the eclipse. Will the aliens come for her during the eclipse as the Amish are predicting?

The diamond ring of the eclipse was appearing. Coronal flares, hundreds of kilometers long could be seen being ejected from the sun, until one got too large. Is it..is it coming toward Earth? Like a talon that can a mouse from a field, the coronal flare extended across the universe to Emma, not to abduct her, no that would be giving her what she wanted, but to shock her senses. The Universe wanted to her to atone for her misdeeds. The broken hearts, the broken promises, even the things that left her broken it seemed she needed to apologize for.

Her life began flashing before her eyes. Emma's memories began flying through her consciousness, watching the eclipse with her dad in the eighties, marrying her husband in the nineties, the horror of 9/11, the good, the bad, and the ugly laid out in her mind inside of sixty seconds. While there was much to atone for, she had so much to be grateful for. The friends that stuck around during a rough patch. Her grown children were loving, affectionate, and successful. Her middle class life did seem picture perfect from the street. But her life was prone to such conflict. She wanted peace and simplicity, not money, not fame, peace and simplicity.

She prayed to the sun that when the eclipse was over, and she atoned for her wrongs, that a new chapter of her life would begin. One of abundance and expansion. One that allowed her to reach her highest timeline. One that allowed her heart to heal. She had come very far in recent years and she hadn't even thanked the universe for it. In fact, she had neglected her relationship with the universe and now it was reminding her who was in charge.

The diamond ring of the eclipse was shrinking. The coronal flare had disappeared. She was a changed person. Emma felt a sense of peace that she had never had before. Gratitude, forgiveness, and atonement had left her at peace. This surely did feel better than fame or fortune she thought. The eclipse seemed to clear negative energy, heal her broken heart, and make her appreciate her few close loved and friends. She often forgot how blessed she was.

With renewed vigor for the life ahead of her, she began to get ready to meet a man she had been talking to on a dating app. Why I am even meeting him? I think my highest timeline will take me to earn a PhD, she thinks to herself. What a transformative day, with just a shift in perspective. That West African village knew what is was doing she thought. Still perplexed by how an ancient culture could know so much, she was nonetheless appreciative. She went from restless, irritable, and discontent to peaceful and satisfied with a new direction for something higher just by taking stock of her life in rapid fashion.

As she began to cancel the date, she thanked the universe for it's guidance. Emma is awed by it's power. She can only control herself. And even that is too much to bear at times.