Samhain is the end of the old Celtic year and the beginning of the new. It is the dark time; the time of the Crone, the Cailleach, the wise woman or witch. Now as night draws her cowl closer and the cold starts to seep into our bones we feel the creeping of memory deep within. We are called inside, into the womb, the cauldron of our deep knowing and asked to listen to guidance from spirit and soul. Samhain is traditonally the Great Fire festival and we celebrate it with bonfires and candles. The fire symbolises the burning away of the old year, the release of its attachments and memories, a purification into the new. Now the veil between the worlds of our worldly reality and the realms of the ancestors is at its thinnest. It is a time to honour the past and our heritage. We light a candle for those we have lost and for whom we mourn;they are with us at this dark time:we carry their love and wisdom in our bones. This tradition of contacting the dead was probably adopted by Christians in the festival of All Souls Day on Nov 2 and has its echoes in Mexico's Day of the Dead.
This is a magical time when we can slip more easily between waking and dreams and where time literally and metaphorically stands still for a moment; the clocks go back giving us in the UK an extra hour of sleep and with the onset of cold we are really happy to go inwards, curl beside a fire or in the blankets and hibernate as winter's
winds rattle the panes and the silhouettes of trees loom like hags outside. Now we can rest and pause, gather our resources, strengthen our roots in the earth. Take time to remember where you have come from, your past and gain wisdom from what you have learnt; the happiness and the sorrow, joy and pain of the last year. Now is a chance to reflect and listen to your soul calling; whispering to you; reminding you of who you are and why you are here. Now is time to develop greater awareness and to gain an understanding of what has come to pass. It is also a time to dream dreams and divine visions of your future. Tarot cards, scrying, psychic mediumship all transport us into the other realm of spirit and soul..but stay grounded and protected as the danger here is that you are at more risk now at this dark time.Spirits walk abroad remember.
Take any guidance that comes at this potent and powerful time for it is a time for healing and rebirth; for preparation for the new opportunities ahead and the possibilities within you for growth and regeneration.
This month's full moon was in Taurus, sign of stability and fixed earth. Moon in Taurus offers calm stability and a feeling of being unhurried, sensuous, secure and earthed. It can also make you feel possessive, stubborn and overly concerned with material possessions and security. Again I watched the moon appear for a moment between grey, shadowy clouds over the harbour where I now live. She was watching over me and I waited in anticipation for her to bless me with her gaze as the stormy clouds and rain threatened her loss. I was given a moment or two with her and again felt fortunate to be here by the sea with the surge of the waves and the call of memory.
I have spent much of my month so far in contemplation of the past year; for me it has been full of lessons; much personal loss; home, relationship and health for a brief period. I have found it hard to put the pieces together and to see a wider picture. I feel I have been stripped bare again and asked to endure; I have returned to the past and refelt its pain and its love. I have tried to hold on to what is dear to me and in many cases my holding on has been too hard and it has slipped from my hands; with Venus in cancer in the 12th house of my chart conjunct with Mars, I feel things deeply at a soul level. I have returned to West Penwith partly out of necessity, partly out of a deep soul calling. Out of tears and heart ache have come soul. I have found the latter half of the year a truly creative time; I have paused and grown my roots, rediscovered my self expression and a sense of identity I was in danger of losing.I have found true sisterhood in fellow priestess trainees and a way of being in tune with teh rhythms of the year that I have enjoyed and followed with ritual and ceremony. I have started to find my true voice and mediums for self expression like this page where I can mediate between words, photography and literature with an aim toward personal growth and healing. I have now enrolled on a Creative Therapy and Playtherapy course of training in Devon which will take me on a new stage of my journey.I have brought greater healing into my job and into my life by taking time
to reflect and 'be'. I am able to wait and see what life offers and from the mute carcas of my old self I can feel a new, brighter and stronger self emerging. I know that this time in the dark will bear fruit if I am prepared to wait, be patient, listen to the call of my soul and give my heart time to heal.
Blessed Bexxx
Lunar Samhain takes place on teh New Moon which is the 16th November. The New Moon is in Scorpio adn at a T square with Mars and Jupiter.'Earth Pathways' says it all...
No matter how many controls you try and place on your feelings, your love, your being and thinking, in the face of the intensity, with the threat of pain, each one is suddenly stripped to its central spirital core and you could just let that happen for now.
Lucille Valentine
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