Blood Moon Coming Tomorrow

(CNN) -- Prophecy loves signs from the heavens, and they will deliver Tuesday with a moonlight spectacle.

What will happen could sound sort of like this:

The moon will turn to blood as it aligns with Earth and sun
Then do so thrice more ere a year and a half is done,
'Tis not the herald of the apocalypses
Just the first of four total lunar eclipses.

In other words, get ready for an unusually beautiful moon to grace the night skies next week. There will be a total lunar eclipse Tuesday that will turn the moon a burnt reddish orange, NASA says.

It's called a blood moon, and this one is just the first in a series of four consecutive total eclipses.

Within a year and a half, North America will be able to see a blood moon a total of four times. The moon takes on this color during the eclipse as it passes through the Earth's shadow, which is the color of a desert sunset.

The four blood moons will occur in roughly six-month intervals on the following dates: April 15, 2014; October 8, 2014; April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015.

If you've never seen a blood moon, tomorrow's your chance.

Every time I think of strange eclipses and extraterrestrial events, I thank Jesus that I wasn't an Aztec or part of an ancient civilization that legitimately freaked the fuck out when this stuff happened. They probably interpreted the Blood Moon as a sign from the gods to sacrifice a bunch of virgins or that there was a flood coming. I'd probably hide in my hut, lying awake all night wondering if I was about to die a fiery death.

Nowadays, people look up and see a red moon, and go about their business. Crazy what a couple thousand years will do to society.

From Wikipedia:

Several cultures have myths related to lunar eclipses. The Egyptians saw the eclipse as a sow swallowing the moon for a short time; other cultures view the eclipse as the moon being swallowed by other animals, such as a jaguar in Mayan tradition, or a three legged toad in China. Some societies thought it was a demon swallowing the moon, and that they could chase it away by throwing stones and curses at it.

See what I mean? Egyptians though a pig was eating the moon...Mayans thought it was a jaguar...and the Chinese thought it was a three legged toad (Opium was popular back then).

I'm all in with throwing stones at the blood moon and swearing a bunch tomorrow night though.