Embracing Samhain

Samhain in ancient times, the first of November, was a significant festival. Because it's our halfway point, it's halfway between the equinox, the time when night and day are of equal length, and the Solstice, which is when night and day of there are at their most unequal.

Of course, if you're in the northern hemisphere, it means that we're coming up for the winter solstice when the nights are long and the days are very short. And if you're in the southern hemisphere, then it's vice versa.

Samhain was this halfway point, this boundary point, where you started to notice the difference moving out from out of the equinox into this phase, where the days were shorter. At the moment, in the UK, we get about nine and a half hours of daylight, which means that we got about 14 and a half hours of the night. You start to notice when the differences like that.

It's a very special point. From a Celtic perspective, this was when the boundary of the veil between the living world and the spirit world was at its thinnest. It was the point when you could have communication with the spirit world.

It was also when it was a recognition that this was now winter. It's the official start to winter if you like in the Celtic system. It was a time when they brought the cattle down from the pastures. They'd slaughter the cattle. They'd smoke the meat. They pickle the meat. They did what they could to preserve the meat to keep them through the winter. At the same time, they'd make offerings to the gods, to the ancients, to give them good health and food through the winter. Because obviously, this was a time when things would not be growing.

In modern times, now, I don't know about you, but I have no cattle, but I do have a little garden. This is a time when I start to look in the garden; there may be plants that I bring into the house because they won't survive the winter outside, I don't have a greenhouse. If I did, that might be things I put in the greenhouse. And there are plants that I'll gather together and wrap them around because they're going to stay outside, but I want them to stay; I want them to survive through winter. It's a time of making sure that everything is safe for this season, for the cold that's coming in the northern hemisphere.

It's also a time of offering. It's a time of planting as well. We plant our bulbs. We plant our trees. They're not going to do much growing over the winter phase. But this is the time now that we do the planting. So it's a boundary. It's a time of finishing the harvest, preparing for the winter months, or preparing for the summer months if you're in the southern hemisphere. But it's a time of preparation.

In the northern hemisphere, it's a time of turning inward. We go indoors. We sit around the fire. Whereas in the southern hemisphere, it's a time of expansion. Because you're coming into summer, you're more likely to be starting to go outdoors. If all of those things, then metaphorically, how can we in the modern world use this boundary time, this point when we start to notice the change in the seasons from either from summer to winter or from winter to summer, depending on where you are, how can we use this boundary time? And what might we be? How can we think about it metaphorically?

One of the things that you might want to be thinking about, given that it is a time of planting, but it's time planting particular things, and they're not going to grow through the winter. What do you want to plant at this point that you'll start to see the growth of sometime probably February, March later on next year? So what are your Bowlby, what are your trees? What projects do you want to lay the foundations for, knowing that they may not see results until the spring? What do you want to do in the way of offerings?

In ancient times, they would make offerings of food of, they'd slaughter animals, they'd make offerings of food to the gods, but what do you want your offerings to be? So if you're poor, what do you what your prayers are? That's the plant and the planting as well? What are you praying for during this season? But what do you want to offer in the way of offerings? What are you going to do with your time, money, and energy so that those seeds, bulbs, trees, projects that you're planting at this point can come into some sort of fruition in the spring? So where's your energy going to go, where's your time going to go? Where's your focus going to go? What's your energetic offering?

If you like, it may be that you have rituals. It may be that you go out and make an offering into nature. So one of the things I do this time is I go around the garden, and I'll look at the different look at my other plants and see what I need to do with them.

Well, there's a bit of vinyl pruning that needs to happen or a bit of fleecing up or, actually, in some cases, just digging them up. If so, especially if they've had blight, what do I need to do to prepare the garden for next season? If you are making offerings in nature, please make them organic or local standing stones, a sacred and ancient sacred site.

I go up there, and there are people, and they put little strands from plastic bags, they've put things sprayed with guilt plate paint, they've put artificial bows made from plastic or not pure cotton. So organic is essential. But what offerings Do you want to make? What ritual offerings Do you want to make, to celebrate this point, this point where you're, you're, you're planting the seeds of your projects, and also offerings to the gods, as it were offerings to the universe, that this to signify, this is what I want to do. These are the projects, and I want to be planting to port for the spring.

Another thing to be thinking about is this is a time, as I said earlier, it's the inward focus in the Northern Hemisphere, we start to turn in on ourselves. So what reflection can you make what's? What are you reflecting on? From the year that's gone? Or from the season that's gone, that is the time between the equinox, and now what are you reflecting on? What do you notice? What are you if you like, what are you putting to bed? What are you bringing to an end now so that you can free up the energy and for the new season? For the wintertime? And what do you want to see happening in your life between even between now and Solstice? So this the short at that shorter timeframe? What things do you want to happen between now and Solstice? What new rituals Do you want to put into place to sustain you through these winter months?

That's my invitation to you to look at this as a sacred time. It's also a time, whereas I said earlier, we're more in touch, we have the opportunity to be more in touch with the ancestors. From an ancestral point of view, is there anything you want to do from that perspective? Is honoring the people who've passed on, or projects that have passed on things that are now history for you that you want to honor at this point?

We light a candle. And if you go into a Catholic church, people are awake. You'll often see people at any time lighting candles for the souls of the departed to honor the departed, but it's not just about honoring dead people. What about your dead projects, the things that you wish to leave behind you so that you can move on.

Candle meditation is such a great thing. That's what we did this morning in the group in the Facebook group. So candle meditation is a really powerful meditation. You can do it you take a candle. I have one here, you take a little candlelight, and you can focus on it, meditate it, and become one with the candle. And you can use it for release work as well. You can dissolve old projects into the candle and connect with and allow yourself to dissolve as well.

Those are some ideas that you might use this time. But you are having that sacred time allowing yourself that sacred space, as we noticeably pass from the old season, into the new season, as I say from from from autumn from summer into winter, or from winter, in spring into the summer.

If you have any questions, please do get in touch and book a call in my diary, secretartofhuna.com/diary. We can talk about it and see if I'm the right person to help you. 

I look forward to connecting with you at some point down the line. Take care! Happy winter and see you very soon.

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The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. Jane P. Lewis disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article. 

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