Witch Clock

Tool for computing dates around solstices and equinoxes, answering questions like, "How many days until the Summer Solstice?"

witch-clock concerns itself with solstices and equinoxes. For more witchy star shit, check out astronomia.

Install

As a library: npm install witch-clock

As a CLI: npm install -g witch-clock; access via witch-clock

Usage, library

var witch = require('witch-clock')
var date = new Date(...)
var event = witch.solar.soonest(date)
console.log(event)
> { code:"VE-78", date: 2017-03-20T10:28:52.704Z, name: "vernal equinox"}

witch-clock exposes more methods than that but I haven't documented them yet. Kick up node, require('witch-clock') into some throwaway variable, and poke around!

Usage, CLI

$ witch-clock
VE-80, WS+9, FIRST-6, NEW+1

$ witch-clock -v
VE-79 | vernal equinox @ 2017-03-20T10:28:52.704Z
WS+10 | winter solstice @ 2016-12-21T10:44:19.494Z
FIRST-5 | first @ 2017-01-05T19:46:59.933Z
NEW+2 | new @ 2016-12-29T06:53:18.964Z

$ witch-clock -j
{"solar":{"soonest":{"code":"VE-79","name":"vernal equinox","date":"2017-03-20T10:28:52.704Z"},"recent":{"code":"WS+10","name":"winter solstice","date":"2016-12-21T10:44:19.494Z"}},"lunar":{"soonest":{"code":"FIRST-5","name":"first","date":"2017-01-05T19:46:59.933Z"},"recent":{"code":"NEW+2","name":"new","date":"2016-12-29T06:53:18.964Z"}}}

$ witch-clock -j | python -m json.tool
{
    "lunar": {
        "recent": {
            "code": "NEW+2",
            "date": "2016-12-29T06:53:18.964Z",
            "name": "new"
        },
        "soonest": {
            "code": "FIRST-5",
            "date": "2017-01-05T19:46:59.933Z",
            "name": "first"
        }
    },
    "solar": {
        "recent": {
            "code": "WS+10",
            "date": "2016-12-21T10:44:19.494Z",
            "name": "winter solstice"
        },
        "soonest": {
            "code": "VE-79",
            "date": "2017-03-20T10:28:52.704Z",
            "name": "vernal equinox"
        }
    }
}

In the default and verbose results, the order of events goes: [soonest solar], [recent solar], [soonest lunar], [recent lunar].

The -v option prints the shortcode, name, and date of each event. the -j option presents verbose info as JSON.

Or, I mean, you could type witch-clock -h to see what's up.

Usage, interpersonal

witch-clock expresses dates like "VE-80" or "SS+12" but telling your friend "it's vee-ee eighty" can be hard to say and easily misheard. So instead try:

• VE: "vern", SS: "sum", AE: "auto", WS: "win"
• "-": "sub", "+": "plus"

So "VE-80" becomes "vern sub eighty". Of course, that won't make sense either to someone who doesn't understand the format. "Oh, I mean, eighty days til the vernal equinox."

N.B.: If an event is "-0" as in "VE-0" or "FIRST-0" then that event is happening today. If an event is "+0" then it happened less than a day ago.

License

GPLv3