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
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 8th Sabbat & corresponds to
the 8th 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 8th 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 8th 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
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