Here in the Southern hemisphere today marks the Sabbat of Samhain (pronounced Sah win), which means Summer’s end.
It is known as the Witches’ New Year and revered as a powerful spiritual time. During this Sabbat the veils between the earth plane and the etheric realms are at their thinnest affording us the opportunity to communicate with deceased relatives, ancestors and loved ones.
While the festival of Samhain begins today, it culminates (is exactly occuring) on Saturday, May 6 when the Samhain midway point is exact between the Solstices and Equinoxes, measured in degrees along the ecliptic.
The timing of this Sabbat honours the point in the Wheel of the Year where the days become noticeably shorter and the light lessons. This is the time to fully acknowledge our bountiful harvest and celebrate the gift the Sun (God) has blessed us with. It is a transition from the Masculine, Sun energy to the Feminine, Lunar/Moon energies. It is a time to honour the contrast of light and dark.
The winter months are seen as Lunar months. A time for hibernation. Here in the modern world we see this as a time to turn inward. To become quieter, stiller. This is NOT the season of doing.
It is actually celebrated as the true beginning of the year. Akin to the beginning of life that we experience within the darkness of the womb.
The Sabbat is celebrated over three days, beginning Hallows Eve, a period of time recognised as a major threshold, a liminal space of supernatural intensity.
The Ancient Celts saw this time as an important gateway. It was said that on the night of Samhain, time seemed to stand still, while two worlds merged.
Ghosts of spirits, gods and fairies were able to collide with the living. In order to honour and ensure a safe passageway for the dearly departed, the ancient celts would gather on fairy mounds (or portals, known as ‘sidhe’) to engage in bonfires and dances. It was said that these mounds functioned as powerful gateways for occupants of the “Otherworld”.
It is extremely important to note that this year (2023) Samhain falls at the weekend between 2 powerful eclipse. The first eclipse being a hybrid eclipse which signals a retrograde or re doing energy or perhaps re visiting of past ancestors, relatives, loved ones. It is also widely noted that we are entering a period of higher consciousness, a move to 5D or Christ Consciousness that affords us an opportunity to move between timelines and see time as different to the linear model we have previously accepted.
Your Personal Samhain Rituals
The next 7 days are a powerful time to observe all synchronicities, occult happenings, psychic downloads, dreams. The messages and the opportunity to experience powerful shifts in your own spiritual evolution are not to be taken for granted.
Meditate.
BE still.
BE the observer.
Listen deeply to the voice of your soul and higher consciousness.
Trust what you hear.
Traditionally this is a time to create an ancestral alter.
Keeping a candle lit on the alter over this time.
Place photos or items belonging to past over ancestors, loved ones, relatives, friends and our furry friends.
You leave food and drink out for the them and the Fae.
We are both releasing them of any Karma that keeps them bound to the earthly plains and also inviting them to impart to us knowledge that only they can see.
A Samhain Prayer for our Ancestors.
This is the night when the gateway between our world and the spirit world is thinnest. Tonight is a night to call out those who came before. Tonight I honour my ancestors. Spirits of my fathers and mothers, I call to you, and welcome you to join me for this night. You watch over me always, protecting and guiding me, and tonight I thank you. Your blood runs in my veins, your spirit is in my heart, your memories are in my soul. [If you wish, you may want to recite your genealogy here. This can include both your blood family, and your spiritual one.] With the gift of remembrance. I remember all of you. You are dead but never forgotten, and you live on within me, and within those who are yet to come.
As I will, So it shall be.
Join us this Friday night for our Lunar Eclipse Samhain online Moon Circle. Just $11 and you'll receive the next New Moon Circle as well! We gather online via zoom at 7.45pm - 9pm. Find out more here