This upcoming Sunday we celebrate the halfway point between Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice, known as SAMHAIN, or Mid-Fall. Called Samhain by ancient Celtic people, it honors the final agricultural harvest of the season: the slaughter of the animals, so that people will have food and sustenance through the cold winter months when the grown lies fallow. The Samhain holiday is also a traditional time to celebrate deceased loved ones and to honor our ancestors--all who have lived before us and lived their lives so that we too could be born.
While traditionally celebrated around October 31st in the United States as Halloween, this seasonal time takes on many other meanings and names in various cultures, including Hallowmas, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, Dia De Los Muertos, and Sukkoth. While each of these holidays are culturally unique, they share many themes. Since fall equinox, we are at the halfway mark to the darkest night of the year.
This is a good time to take stock of what emotions, physical life burdens, or intellectual processes you are still carrying that are no longer of use to you, and to surrender the last of these hangers-on so that you can sail into the winter with new levels of peace and joy in your life.
I love to celebrate Halloween as Samhain, the Celtic Witch’s New Year. It took me over two decades to understand why this is such a poignant time, and why it should be considered a new year at all. But life begins in darkness— the darkness of our mothers’ wombs, or the dark void of our thoughts. Likewise, we move into the primordial unknown in the dark part of the year, so that we can birth new directions and new life on the spring. Our cycle of creation actually begins now, in the dark.
The wisdom of the dark is a medicine our entire human culture desperately needs right now. People are seeking truth and direction. Only in stillness and dark can we feel our way forward in healing the world from our hearts. This year, I invite you to connect to the wisdom of the witches for how to do this.
Historically, witches are the wise women and men who willingly walk into the shadows in order to heal the collective soul wounds of humanity.
Witches work in the base vibrations of the earth, bringing plant medicines from the forest or the garden to heal the sick in community. What natural earth medicines and new mindsets can we lean into, in order to clear and heal the super viruses of the past year?
Witches aren’t afraid of demons, ghosts, or other discarnate energies because they learn the language necessary to speak with them, communicating either healing, or reweaving these energies back into their earth plane where they truly belong… Returning them to source.
The witch understands that everything is connected and part of life. The witch understands that the earth, the wheel of the year, the passage of the sun, moon and stars, and the adventures of gods & goddesses are all alive within us in every moment.
Some witches are Christian.
Some are Buddhist.
Others don’t believe in human-forged religion. These witches recognize that the Earth IS our religion; our temple; the rhythms of our planet are the conscious God/goddess of our heart.
The witch is wise and knowing, because the witch listens to the whispers of the earth.
The witch is born through strife and comes as a blessing to communities and tribes that need to heal. When the healing is already high and the community is healthy, people realize that WE ARE ALL witches, that we all are connected to the source. We all Flow the energy from the spirit of love.
Society has feared witches because we wield power. At times when unfortunately religion has been used to suppress the masses, the power that witches held proved dangerous to the consolidated power of religious zealots and governing officials, and so witches have been burned, hung, and stoned. In various parts of the world today, that is still happening. Yes, really.
So at this time of year, as the land grows colder and darker, we celebrate the wisdom that the witches bring. We remember how to drop in to the earth, sitting by our fires. We celebrate the wisdom that the witches bring. We weave and dream up the healthy future. We enjoy warm apple cider to remind us of the summery orchards and sunshine. We willingly drop in to our deeper thoughts.
We take long hot baths to chase out the chill, and let the darkness hold us as we remember that we have fire in us. We rest & heal our human aspect so that, in the spring, we can rise and shine for all of our loved ones and our community around us.
On Samhain, We try our hand at prophecy, oracles, tarot, We call our Magickal Reiki-shaman-lightworker-angel-wise ones-loved ones on the phone, offer blessings, and remember that....
... no matter how dark things get, we are never, never, never alone.
Blessed Samhain!
Dailey
DAILEY LITTLE is a healing practitioner, transformational life coach, ordained Priestess, and teacher who founded Healing Heart Reiki to help others navigate life with joy. She offers private sessions, and teaches classes in healing and mindset from a magical peaceful corner of the world in Northern California. For more info see: www.SantaRosaReiki.com