These Great Old Ones were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape—for did not this star-fashioned image prove it?—but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R’lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die.”

Welcome to the Great Solstice Conjunction! If you have clear skies on this Longest Night, you can see Jupiter and Saturn together in the sky just after sunset, merged into a single bright point. Together they make up probably the second brightest thing in the night sky, after the moon.

This is the closest the two planets have appeared together since 1623, and the telescope photos are getting ridiculous: I saw one yesterday that showed both planets, three Galileian Moons, and Titan (moon of Saturn, we went there once). You can probably get a decent view even through binoculars, any time for the next couple of nights.

Luckily for the world's little remaining sanity, the stars aren't quite right for the Great Old Ones to emerge from their cursed tombs: the eclipse came a week and two hours early. So hopefully They are sticklers for precise timing! Not that that stopped me from referencing IT in the advent calendar today.

Iä! Iä! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

hS