Can a solar eclipse change human destiny again?

If a solar eclipse has the power to affect the world and perhaps allow hateful enemies to reach a ceasefire, then this opportunity will soon come to mankind on October 14th. If the skies in Ukraine or Gaza suddenly darken during this eclipse, Israelis and Palestinians, Ukrainians and Russians may decide to turn their swords into plowshares.

Please imagine this. A group of foragers and hunters move through the forest, moving steadily forward, careful not to disturb their prey. They are focused on finding their prey. Their survival depends on their ability to hunt prey. In that slow dance of death, they closed in on an unsuspecting deer. But suddenly, the world went dark. The deer was frightened by the sudden change in the sky and fled deep into the forest. The hunters raised their heads in horror, only to see that the place where the shining sun once stood had become an empty black spot. They were shocked and frightened, and realized that this was God's wrath. They immediately knelt on the ground and begged God for forgiveness.

Before Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryan Bhatta provided the first scientific explanation of solar eclipses, humans often found themselves on their knees before solar eclipses begging for mercy. If it weren’t for God’s wrath, how could noon turn into night in an instant? Who else but the gods could show their wrath to humans in this way? Therefore, throughout the ages, people have often heralded the coming of solar eclipse disasters and made various predictions and explanations.

In Indian culture, people have always regarded solar eclipses as an ominous omen and believed that they would bring bad luck. The Rig Veda, one of the oldest books mentioning solar eclipses, records a folk tale of how the asura (demon) Swarabhanu pierced the sun with darkness.

In another popular story, Swarabhanu was beheaded and the disembodied head of Rahu was said to cause a solar eclipse. The Chinese believe in a solar eclipse as a tengu trying to swallow the sun. And the ancient Cherokee believed a supernatural frog was trying to roll a giant fireball down its throat.

Since the advent of modern science, explanations of solar eclipses have been simplified. The general explanation by astronomers is that when a solar eclipse occurs, the new moon is located between the path of the sun and the earth, blocking the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface, thus forming a shadow on the earth's surface. Since the Moon is smaller, it cannot cover the entire Earth with sunlight, so part of the Earth's surface is affected.

But interestingly, Earth is the only place in the solar system where a solar eclipse can be observed. Furthermore, if the solar system was formed differently, the eclipse wouldn't have happened. The Sun is 400 times larger in diameter than the Moon and is also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both appear to be the same size in the sky. Could this be an interesting coincidence?

Mark Littmann revealed in his book "Totality" that if the diameter of the moon were 273 kilometers smaller or further away, people would never be able to see it in April next year. A total eclipse across America.

Maybe there is really a hand in the universe designing this great project? Place the moon between the sun and the earth. The ancients thought so too. If the ancients did not believe in the wisdom of the universe transmitting messages through solar eclipses, history would have developed very differently.

The Greek historian Herodotus recorded a war between the Lydians and the Medici (ancient Iranians). After six years of fighting, the two sides were in a stalemate, with each other winning or losing. According to Herodotus, "the day suddenly turned into night" and the world was plunged into darkness. After the conflicting parties saw the solar eclipse, they immediately stopped fighting and hurriedly made peace with each other.

Another account by Herodotus describes Xerxes, leader of the Persian army, seeing a solar eclipse before he invaded Greece. The Persian king panicked and went to consult his Zoroastrian priests. The priest told him that God was warning the Greeks that their city was about to be destroyed. The priests said: "The sun prophesied for them, and the moon prophesied for us.

It turned out to be a worst-case scenario. Xerxesian planned an attack on Athens, but his navy was destroyed and he retreated in panic. Upon his return, his army was attacked and routed. A few years later, in 465 BC, he was assassinated. If Xerxes had expected it, he might have planned his invasion of Greece differently or more carefully. Looking at it this way, certain historical events in the past are indeed related to solar eclipses.

Nearly a thousand years later, Christopher Columbus embarked on his final voyage to North America. When he landed in Jamaica in late 1503, his ship was destroyed and most of its anchors were lost. They were forced to stop sailing and the crew was in despair. Fearing starvation and conflict, Columbus prohibited his crew from leaving the base and tentatively traded Spanish trinkets and jewelry for food and water with the island's indigenous people.

In January 1504, some of the crew mutinied and invaded the island. They insulted and attacked the island's residents and stole food. Columbus wrote in his biography that "(the crew) committed every excess".

After weeks of chaos, locals lost patience and stopped trading food with the crew. Columbus and his crew faced impending starvation.

But just when he was hungry and cold, Columbus remembered an astronomical event: a lunar eclipse was coming. On March 1, he summoned the leaders of the local indigenous people, rebuked them for withdrawing from the food trade, and warned them: "The gods who protect me will punish you... Tonight, the moon will change color and lose its color." Light to prove that you will suffer punishment from heaven.”

Although the locals didn't think they had done anything wrong, they still felt the need to make peace with Columbus's crew after seeing the eclipse. So they resumed providing food to these Spanish explorers. If the eclipse hadn't happened, maybe things would have changed in other ways. Columbus and his crew would have starved to death on the island, never to be heard from again, let alone the subsequent civilization of the American continent.