Post Samhain 2013: Mapping the Underworld

OK, the title alone is misleading because technically Samhain doesn’t hit until the Sun is 15 degrees in Scorpio, which is Thursday, November 7^th, 2013. But for all intents & purposes, we’re already in it. It is also misleading because Samhain is a whole season, not just a day. Sure, we mark the beginning, but it doesn’t truly end its month and a half cycle till Yule / Winter Solstice or its 3 month run at Imbolc, February 2^nd.

But since we are already knee deep in the energy of the season I have some things I want to share. Yes, I have been in & out of the Underworld a handful of times since Mabon / Autumnal Equinox. Hell, I’ve been in & out of the Underworld more times than I care to count in this life. We all have. So I want to share my Underworld Survival Guide in this post because, like any good tour guide, I have lived in, survived & served in the terrain.

Mapping the Underworld is only a so-so deal because it is so unique to each of us. The scenery changes so quickly when you are in it that it’s tricky to relate the landscape to one whom hasn’t consciously been there. But there are some features that are universal.

Spiritual Madness by Caroline Myss

Madness for example, is a common point of interest for the night tripper or for those who linger longer. I’m going to draw a fine line between Spiritual Madness & common insanity here, though insanity seems uncommon, it’s not really. We all have our moments, don’t we? 

But Spiritual Madness is one I see occasionally in myself & more often in the energies of those new to the spiritual path. Spiritual or Divine Madness is typified by a change in perception that destroys previously conceived ideas we thought were truth, but never were.

Imagine someone who has always felt victimized having a lightning bolt of “I create my own reality” whack them in the 3^rd Eye. That changes everything. Or consider someone all of a sudden feeling the life force of a tree & experiencing the pain of watching one cut down. If they try to explain what they are experiencing to someone who isn’t so aware, they appear mad. 

So it goes with Spiritual Truth. It destroys our illusions & we often go through period where we feel crazy, but really, it is spiritual madness as your system integrates higher & higher truths.

Another big hallmark of the Underworld is facing the Shadow. Whether you address the subject spiritually, psychologically or both, it has never been an easy task to face & embrace our individual, let along collective shadows. But if we don’t, we get possessed by them. They rule us like a virus in a computer. You can tell this after the fact when you say, “I don’t know what came over me.” Which really means something buried in the unconscious came up via the subconscious & up into the conscious mind. Not pretty at all, but necessary for healing.

 

I refer you to the work of Caroline Myss, especially her book Defy Gravity. In this, she defines 7 Shadow Passions that are actually updated forms of the 7 deadly sins. Thankfully she also relates the 7 corresponding Graces, which act as powers of healing for each shadow. Here is the list & yes, they correspond to the Chakras as well:

Chakra	Shadow	Grace	Sabbat
Root	Hubris/Pride	Reverence	Yule
Sacrum	Greed	Piety	Imbolc
Solar Plexus	Entitlement	Understanding	Ostara
Heart	Wrath	Fortitude	Beltane
Throat	Gluttony	Counsel	Litha
3rd Eye	Envy	Knowledge	Lughnasadh
Crown	Sloth	Wisdom	Mabon.

By tracking our shadow via the Chakras we can embrace ourselves a bit more compassionately & invoke the healing Graces. But you know, I also layer into this the 8 Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year; 1 Chakra/Shadow/Grace per Sabbat.  But, what about Samhain?

 The Wheel of the Year

At Samhain we get the opportunity to review it all & do the interior healing & maintenance needed to start fresh at Yule. This makes a lot of sense, as we die to the old we are reborn to the new, especially as the old self dies & the new self is reborn. Traversing the Underworld is tricky, but necessary for the Witch who wants to deliberately create their lives as works of art.

There are many road signs, mysteries & landmarks in the Underworld. As I said, mapping it is very personal & I could spend days illuminating the many I have found. But all of that aside I only know 1 way of healing it as you go & being elevated back into the Upper-world, as it were. That task / alchemical element is Forgiveness.

In my experience the whole process of letting go of the past isn't possible without forgiveness & the version we have been sold is faulty. Nor do I find much of a context for forgiveness in Witchcraft. No, you find more black candles & rusty nail spells than the spiritual practice of forgiveness.

That said, we can expand as magickal people into the depths of True Forgiveness, based on the quantum model of all thing being part of a unified field. This is why I turn to A course in Miracles, which presents the truth that not only are we all connected, we are all ONE in truth. In this, no matter who we appear to forgive, "All Forgiveness is Self Forgiveness."

So as I prepare myself for Yule via Samhain I will certainly withdraw my focus from this world a bit. Better that than to keep repeatedly being trap-doored into the Underworld. But should I find myself Underworld-ed, I will utilize the wisdom I have gained from previous forays there. Above all else though, I will use my alchemical power of Forgiveness to transform my interior lead to Golden Wisdom, gain the insight necessary & be reborn at Yule with my new intention for a new Wheel of the Year.

And... I will play with our new kitty.

Blessed Be & Blessed Samhain

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President
Drawing the Circle Productions INC.
DrawingtheCircle@aol.com
631-968-8307 @ProfWitch on Twitter

 www.drawingthecircle.com

Samhain 2013 Via Mabon: Mystic Man

This is sort of a part two about Samhain. Check out my last post, Pre-Samhain 2013, it explains a bit about my journey to where I am now. So before I get to Samhain, I need to pop back to Mabon.

I tried blogging for Mabon/Autumnal Equinox. I had stuff outlined & written. But I just couldn’t go there. Autumnal Equinox is usually a fun time for me. It’s one of my favorite sabbats & I enjoy doing the whole Spiritual Thanksgiving thing. I have learned that Mabon is Spiritual Thanksgiving & have taught that for over a decade. So, yeah, let’s do Mabon, I thought…

BAM,  a trap door to the Underworld opened underneath me. I fell & I fell fast. It happens. As Witches we seek to align ourselves with the cycles of nature… Well, I’ve been in synch with the season for a long, long time. Like it or not, Mabon is ‘The Dying” that leads to Samhain, “The Dead.” Persephone makes her descent & I went with her for about a week. 

 

Hades & Persephone

Mind you, I’m a mystic. Mystical shit has happened through my whole life. I didn’t want to be a mystic. I remember looking it up when I was a kid & I didn’t like what I saw. It was all about suffering for God. PASS! But repulsion is an indication of an archetype in play, or at that age, dormant. I had it, but at 9, it wasn’t essential. It is now.

Mystic/mystical are odd words. The original meaning is practically forgotten. It points to mystery; a mystic is one who endures & lives in mystery. But ask most people what the word means & you end up in Stevie Nicks terrain, which is fine. I love Stevie Nicks. But it illuminates a meaning of something mysterious, hidden. Ultimately a mystic is someone who cultivates an intimate relationship with the Divine. As nice as that sounds, its shadow is Divine Madness & not the Bette Midler kind.

The descent into the Underworld, or the Shamanic Descent, is a part of the Craft we don’t discuss much. So, I’m not going to go into it here either. It’s a long psychological & spiritual story that is told through many spiritual traditions spanning geography & history. It is essentially symbolic death & rebirth. The death is of the old self so the new one can rise, very Phoenix… the Firebird not the city.

While in the underworld I know a few things that can make my stay productive & brief. Ask for help of the Divine, forgive everything, pray, meditate & most of all, lay low. The trick is not to solve the mystery I'm in, but to endure it with grace, which I pray for throughout. In other words, you drop down & have to heal your way back up.

So, I did that & got through it. It took me a week & looking back, it was time. I harvested the wisdom of the experience. Mabon’s symbolic coordinates are the Crown Chakra. It’s sacred Truth, “Live in present time.” Which I find cannot be done without forgiveness, mostly of self. That said, I saw that I was humming along at 100 mph & clipped a tree symbolically speaking. What I learned from it upon my return to the upper world is now golden wisdom alchemized from some real sucky lead.

Now at Samhain I stand at the doorway of next season, the Season of Death & feel somewhat prepared.

Samhain is the 8^th Sabbat & corresponds to the 8^th Chakra, which hovers above the head. It’s been called the Star Center, The Upper Room, The Astral World. Call it what you will, it corresponds rather well with Samhain. The 8^th Chakra is the home of the Archetypes as it manages Symbolic Power. All of our lives are stories & the archetypes are the powers of the soul we can alchemize through life. 

Buff Hades

Halloween is a very archetypal holiday. We wear masks. That’s just ancient shamanic symbolic stuff there, if we do it well. The Slut, a popular costume in a variety of forms, is the Prostitute Archetype. Nurse is the Healer Archetype. The Slutty Nurse is the Healer Prostitute Archetype. How about the Vampire? Yep the Vampire Archetype is very deep in our culture. If you look with Archetypal Vision you’ll see it in what people wear for Halloween & guide you to a more interesting choice.

But that’s Samhain, the veil is thin, we have the ability to see things from a higher perspective, a symbolic perspective. We get to see the roles we play & the stories we are in & of course, change the story. We can do this all year long, but it is easier now. This is why divination & communing with spirits is so much easier. The 8^th Chakra is our power center of the pure non physical.  

Best of all, surpassing the rest, we have the choice to rise up & see the whole of the last year starting at Yule. What did you cast for at Yule? How did it go? Did your intention change & morph as you went as you grew? It usually does, but it depends on what you cast for.

I cast for 4 things: Happy, Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. If you read my Yule Blog from last year, the spell I did & shared with my community is on there. We made like 80 pouches & gave them all away.

Yule Pouches

 

The final harvest is looking back, seeing what you wanted then, seeing how it changed, seeing where you are now & harvesting the wisdom from the story. If you do that, boil it down, you will find your seeds to begin at Yule. You have all of Samhain-tide to do this, until the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn in December. Now is the time to start pulling back, get a little mystical, in the sense of looking at the mysteries of the past year. From there we are in the perfect position to ask the Gods for grace.

So, most Witches know Halloween isn't really Samhain. Halloween is chaos day, full of tricks & treats etc. Samhain is much more solemn & about honoring the Dead & the Ancestors. All of which I will write about after the fact at some point next week & how this all ties together.

But for now, I wish you all the very best of the day. Have fun, stay safe & enjoy the sugar rush. for me, I'll be dressing up & going to our annual Silver Broom Ministries Halloween Party. I'm sure pictures will be included.

Happy Halloween & Blessed Samhain

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President
Drawing the Circle Productions INC.
DrawingtheCircle@aol.com
631-968-8307 @ProfWitch on Twitter

 www.drawingthecircle.com