A.M. is short for ante-meridiem and P.M. is short for post-meridiem. But what does that mean?
From Latin, ante means before or prior to and post means after.
Merdiem is referring to the North-South Meridian line and in these commonly used abbreviations, A.M. and P.M. for designating the time, it is The Sun that is being “clocked”, so to speak.
Putting it altogether, it means we are looking at whether The Sun on it’s journey in the sky before it reaches the special cross of the North-South Meridian line and the arc of the ecliptic, or past that special cross of the North-South Meridian line and the arc of the ecliptic.
Let’s look at this in a way almost no one else shows you, so you can really make sense of why it is we use A.M. and P.M. in telling the time of day.
If you’ve been following along in these free lessons where we are learning Alternative Astronomy, you will recognize this image as we quickly orient you here.
The reason we focus on this special area in the sky we’ve nicknamed “The Real Oracle” or “The Real All-Seeing Eye” is because it is the one place in the sky you will find The Sun, The Moon, planets and all the twelve zodiac star constellations traveling.
The Real Oracle in the sky is found by turning your body until you are facing due South. You know you are facing South when your left side is nearest the direction where The Sun rose in your area this morning and your right side is nearest where The Sun sets in your location.
So we’re going to look at The Real Oracle in the light of day to get a good look at the ante-merdiem or A.M. time of day first.
This is an image of how the sky appears at sunrise of a mid-November morning in the Northern Hemisphere. Notice The Sun, like it always does when facing South, appears to rise up from the Eastern horizon of the Earth.
It is found to the East side of the special cross of the North-South Meridian line and the arc of the ecliptic, or is ante-merdiem or A.M. time.
Compare that to this image of how the sky appears later on that same mid-November day in the Northern Hemisphere, nearing sunset.
Notice The Sun, as it always does when we are facing South, appears to be falling or setting into the Western horizon of the Earth.
The Sun is now found to be West of the special cross of the North-South Meridian line and the arc of the ecliptic or is post-meridiem, or P.M. time.
If you would like, the video version of this Alternative Astronomy lesson is found below.
Thanks for spending a few minutes of your time here to learn more about Alternative Astronomy where we are looking at time and space in a whole new way.
Until next time…stay lit and be well,
shannon