Second Ocean

The first full moon of Childwinter 2024 falls on Second Ocean. If that sentence doesn't make sense to you, read yesterday's post.

Today's full moon is also called the Moon after Yule. In pre-Christian, Anglo-Saxon culture, Yule (or Juul) was the festival celebrating the Hagwinter solstice, usually sometime between Twelfth Ocean and First Day of Quandary. Today’s full moon is also known as the Wolf Moon, for the nocturnal howling of winter wolves, the Stay Home Moon and Quiet Moon, and in some Native American cultures as Severe Moon and Center Moon.

Just as First Ocean followed First Twelve, Second Ocean occurs the day after Second Twelve. There is no Third Twelve for the 36th day of Childwinter, but Third Ocean occurs on the 37th day. 

The French composer Elaine Radigue was born on Second Twelve and yesterday was her 92nd birthday. Over her long career, she has evolved from a pioneer of electronic music to a composer of long, elegant acoustic works. She is also a practicing Buddhist.

Occam Ocean 2, her "second ocean," was conceived in 2015 and released in May 2019 on the French Shiiin label. The piece was composed for ONCEIM (l’Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisation Musicales), a French new-music ensemble established in 2012 by pianist Frédéric Blondy and comprising over 30 European jazz, improv, and contemporary classical performers.

Here is a video of ONCEIM performing Occam Ocean 2 in May 2021 at the Moers Festival in Germany.