Many Torah keepers are using the equinox in combination with the lunar calendar to determine when the New Year begins. The Bible does not any say explicitly how to do this. Troy is a keen observer and experimenter. This year Troy Miller of Creation Calendar fame, was testing the claim of some that the astrologers equinox is different by four days from what we think of as the equinox.
The astronomical/astrologer equinox is defined as when the ecliptic (the path the sun traces across the sky) is directly above the earths equator. The normal equinox is defined as the time when day and night are of equal length. I do not see how the astronomical equinox and the normal equinox could be different, but official sources, such as the US Naval Observatory, are reporting a four day difference! Troy Miller decided to get to the bottom of this confusion, because it is effecting our Passover (Pesach) observance.
From: Troy Miller
To: Ted and undisclosed recipients
Subject: My shadow: How to determine equinox at home, in the key of FHello all,
Gary wrote:
Good morning everyone,
I looked at my East and West line, and the shadow was definitely on the North side of the line, how about yours?
For those not in the know, some of us are driving stakes in order to ascertain when is equinox (so we don't have to rely upon the powers that be to tell us when it is).
There were no shadows cast yesterday (3-17-07) here. Had a quarter inch of snow.
However, the shadow was still on the north side today, 3-18. I took Clare's advice and went to a local airport to find a compass row. They did not have one, but they let me in their helicopter to get a reading off their wet compass. The reason for this is if your compass is off, even two degrees, your shadow won't cross when it should. My compass was 1.5 degrees off true north, so gentlemen, if you did not correct for your compass, you will probably not get the reading you want, when you want it.
I do not regret going through this at all, even if the shadows cross to the south on a different day for each of us, which it will if no one corrected for their compass. But what I see us all learning is that this is not how Israel discovered the top of the year. The reason is in the pudding. Each of us wants to do this right. Each of us DOES NOT want to keep the feast at the wrong time, yet if our compasses are not perfectly accurate, the experiment we are doing is going to fail to produce the answers we want.
Why? Because we are leaning on the arm of flesh. We each trusted the manufacturer of our compass to sell us a perfect instrument. Mine wasn't, and I'm sure yours are not either, so we are going to get 5 different answers probably, or at least two different answers. One answer for a compass that is off to the east of north, the other for the compasses that are a little off to the west.
Gentlemen, this has not been a fruitless effort. We have not done this in vain. Now what we need to do is figure how to determine the seasons by the lights in the heavens alone because man has not determined how to foul that up (yet).
Joey, I know you are going to chaffe at this, but I'm going to say it anyway.
Barley and Pasach moon.
The barley is in Scripture regarding this feast and the new moons are as well (even if not specifically legislated). When YHWH said that THIS is the first month of the year to you (KJV) he said this is the first MOON of the year to you. He was probably pointing to it as He spoke. Now how is this moon different from all the other moons that would undoubtedly be seen all year long?
Gentlemen, Pasach moon.
Watch your western horizon tomorrow night (mon night). The moon will set directly over the sun if this is the first month of the year. Last month it was a little tipped (the moon set just to the south of the sun on the western horizon). In the spring of the year, it sets where the sun did, following the path of the sun, making a U shaped or bowl shaped first visible crescent. Josephus made mention of this phenomena. It is a perfectly level bowl as seen from the equator, but it will be tipped ever so slightly for us here. If next new moon (the one in April) is NOT the Pasach moon, it will be more noticeably tipped then.
Fellas, we have all figured that the new month begins after conjunction, not at the first visible crescent--all without a direct, Thus saith YHWH. We used logic, wisdom and other evidence to come to this conclusion. Why are we now trying to prove something that cannot be proved--why are we saying that the first new moon after the equinox is the beginning of the first month when Scripture does not say this? If fact is says nothing of the sort.
I can accept that the shadow crossing from the north side of the stick to the south would give a definite "turn" of the year--it would complete one revolution, come full circle. But we have no evidence that this was what Israel meant by Tequphah (H8622), and if we are going to get a few different answers even though we are all doing the same test, Why do we think Israel put sticks in the sand? How did they tell a perfect east and west line 4000 years ago when we can't do that (without correcting for our man made, leaning-on-the-arm-of-flesh devices) today?
How did they determine true east and west then? Did they have man-made devices? I thought that was what we were trying to get away from? The longer this experiment goes on the more I am dissatisfied. I have no agenda. I really don't care if Passover is in Apr or May. My schedule is in Yah's hands. But I'm afraid the more we try to prove the turn of the year with man-made tests and devices, the further we are getting from the truth.
I think we spend too much time looking down at our own calculations, at an almanac or computer program, and shadows in the sand and not enough time outside looking up at YHWH's clock. If we all did that, we could stop guessing and calculating and start KNOWING.
Even after correcting for my compass, I don't think the line will cross even on 3-20-07. Why, the compass on the helicotper was not accurate, and they had their "corrections" listed right there on a pad so they could make in flight adjustments. Their wet compass was a known two degrees off. I took that into consideration and added my 1.5 degrees that mine differed from theirs, did the math and drove my stakes. I am also making provision for true north vs. magnetic north. Unless we have all jumped through the same hoops and all have the identical compasses and identical compass inaccurasies to correct for, we are all going to have different answers.
Friends this is confusion. This is not how ancient Israel did it. You can't determine equinox (meaning when the center of the sun crosses the equator) without already having a perfect east west line. You cannot determine a perfect east-west line without already knowing when equinox is. So, which came first, the chicken or the egg. Obviously, someone figured out how to determine a true east west line, but it is not explained how it was done in Torah or the prophets, neither is equinox mentioned or legislated. So, how'd the ancients determine the turn of the year? I think they looked up.
Blessings,
Troy
When a man or woman is honestly mistaken and they hear the truth, they will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest.
Troy's observation of a Pesach Moon is exciting; it may be the final missing clue to correctly determing the New Year. We have all heard of the Harvest Moon; the harvest moon is at the opposite end of the year, at the beginning of Autumn. Pesach marks the beginning of Spring. May we come to know the Pesach Moon as well as the ancient Israelites did, so there can be no doubt when God's year starts.