"This post is dedicated to the ancient ones, the ones who came before us. May we remember what has been lost in time."
SAMHAINS GATE &
THE CELTIC NEW YEAR
Ask, and the ancestors can show us things, the veils are thin now and this is an absolutely beautiful time, to feel, to deepen to be with what is. Appreciating life, Appreciating those who have come before us, and on some level are guiding us always. Dare to dream and walk in the mystery once again. Space, time, distance all becomes illusion, I am there, and now I am here. I was her and she is me. forward backward, again and again circling in, we rediscover. Letting go, to begin a new.
I have been feeling some sorrow these past few days, as the skies have deepened, and the sun makes its slow, wise decent on the western Horizon earlier each day, casting a soft warm glow thru the yellow leaves, and bare branches. Some how the rivers song seems more soft, sad, and significant, as if even water has instructions for restructuring my soul.
I have been reflecting for a few days now, on the symbolic and historic significance of this time of year, "Halloween" or "All Hallows Eve". In the Celtic Wheel its the mid point between Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice, called "Samhain" and it is also considered the beginning of the Celtic New Year (Nov 1st). Part of the belief about this time of year is that it is a time when the doors between the worlds are thinnest. It is a time for magic, community, and transmutation of Energy and a deepening of our Perceptions.
I feel this time of year is a Gateway, between, what has been and what wants to emerge. But... first there is this letting go, this shedding and transmuting that happens, and often this process is accompanied by a deepening of our perceptions to a broader more complex dance with the unseen aspects of our lives. Weather its our deep beliefs, our unconscious behaviors, unmet needs, or the sorrows or losses we have been carrying. Embracing the fullness of what this time of year is showing us, is needed for transmutation. Then we can fully begin to clear the way for the deep inner spiral towards Winter Solstice. On a psychic level we are preparing for a time of dancing between worlds, of leaning into what we have lost and ultimately a deeper appreciation for who we are and what we have harvested, that will sustain us in the coming months of winter. What self understanding are we harvesting and integrating...
Some tools for energy transmuting and making this "Holy day" more meaningful...
Consciously choose your Halloween costume to match a theme in your life of something you want to embody or understand more deeply about yourself.
Collect things in nature, and set up an Ancestor alter. Where you are honoring both the harvest and the ones that have come before us. This can include honoring, family members and loved ones that have left this world.
Light a candle and just sit with loss for awhile, when you feel complete,then light some Sage, or Palo Santo.
Light Candles, and clarifying your intentions for this gateway. Asking to be shown clearly the areas in your own life that need healing, and clarity and transformation.
Be gentle with yourself if grief or internal tensions come up for you, when you first start to explore, what might be meaningful to look at at this time of year. Sometimes we have to grieve first before we can consciously integrate a loss.
The Planet is going thru a lot of rapid change, so you may find that we are grieving collectively at this time, if you are wondering why you don't feel festive, like you want to go out and party, get dressed up... etc… consider allowing yourself to just be with these feelings first, create your ancestor alter instead, sit with "what is" first... and then maybe in the sitting with the grief… an inner message or inspiration might come to you about how you want to honor the losses in your life personally and on the planet.
Allow this gateway between worlds, to be a time of personal divination, as you explore the stories of your ancestors, and your emotional realms. Allow yourself to hold a loving heart, for truth to Emerge. Stand strong in your personal commitment to alchemize your life, and see beyond what feels like a conflicted world… of light and dark, good and evil, black and white. Is there something in you... waiting to emerge with a more sustaining wisdom, a harvest you can share with your community and use as a chalice for giving back to your world?
Love and Blessings ~ Shelley Sage Heart 2017
"Your confusion is not pathology, it is path. It has something to show you that clarity could never reveal. The nature of chaos is wisdom, but you must provide sanctuary to receive its essence. For this revelation will only release into an environment of a fiery, attuned kindness.
Your feeling of disconnection is not neurotic, it is intelligent. It has something to show you that oneness could never reveal. Travel inside the felt sense and into the hidden passageways. And you will find the emissaries awaiting. You are neither “separate” nor “one,” but the erupting holding field in which the energies of “separate” and “one” interpenetrate and dance the relative into being. While you may have a bias for oneness over multiplicity, love does not share this bias, and is ready at all times to employ either equally as its envoy here. Your loneliness, your shakiness, and your fear are not mistakes. Your vulnerability is not pathology, it is path. Here, there are no “obstacles,” only endless invitations. The freedom you are longing for will never be found in the eradication of the unwanted, but only in the love and the information it carries. There are surges of somatic activity that contain very important information for your journey. If you will offer safe passage, you will receive the secret offering: Nothing is missing, nothing is out of place, and nothing need be sent away.
Yes, the burning can be unbearable. Such is the nature of the human heart. You may burn until you are translucent, but it is by way of this burning that wholeness is revealed" - Matt Licata
“Basic to the Celtic tradition is the acceptance of personal responsibility and realization that all of us constantly shape and affect the land on which we live. Intrinsic to this notion is the Celtic interrelationship with the Otherworld and it’s inhabitants. The Celtic worldview is a magical one, in which everything has a physical, mental and spiritual aspect and its own proper purpose, and where our every act affects both worlds.”