October 2017 -
Seek and ye shall find........
I had a wonderful dream the other
night. I dreamt I was flying around
outside. I could feel the cool night air flowing through my hair,
the leaves on the trees touching my skin gently as I zoomed past them. They were very brown, crispy oak leaves about
to fall from the trees and I felt so very powerful and liberated. How vivid dreams can be, and yet when we wake,
the concept of flying through the night
sky on a broomstick seems totally incongruous, in spite of having felt so
real. Why should it be deemed any less
of an experience just because we were asleep?
Our senses still felt it was really happening to us. This ties in with
how I feel about 'life on the other
side'. In my opinion there is a thin
veil between this world and the next.
Sometimes during dreams we will see our long gone loved ones and their
presence fills us with both sadness and deep joy, as on waking it seems that we
really have spent time with them once more.
Again, we do not have to dismiss these encounters as merely dreams. We can choose to believe they have really
happened, and why not if one gains comfort or an alternative way of looking at
a problem we are facing? . If it is true that the other side is
only a breath away then perhaps it is possible
that our unconscious can gain access to that which is hidden from us during our
waking hours. When we are asleep we do not
have that voice telling us that something is in our imagination, we just accept
the experiences of the alternative reality our brains have created. When I
think of what it must be like to be 'dead' or a 'spirit' I think it must be
like how we feel in our dreams. You have
no 'body' in your dream because you are dreaming clearly, and yet in dreams you
can run, jump, make love, think, smell , feel etc. I think it must be the same for spirits, they
can do all of these wonderful things, go where they please in the blink of an
eye, they just have no earthly body anymore.
It doesn't stop you from feeling as though you do have one though. How liberating that must be!
So this brings me on the Wiccan
Festival this month, Samhain, aka Halloween/All Souls night/feast of the dead: when the veil between this world and the next
is at its thinnest. 'Halloween' as it
is commonly known has become more about spooky happenings and kids going out
trick or treating, (an Americanism), yet its beginnings really lie in the fact
that at this time the dark half of the year commences. The harvests are over and the plants are
shrivelling up back into the earth, death is close, yet remember that out of
the darkness comes the light. Death is
always followed by rebirth, and endings always mark new beginnings. The dark allows us to reflect and rest and
remember the past, and to prepare ourselves for the future, for the new
beginnings which will emerge in the next few months.
Practical Magic
Part of the Samhain tradition is
to honour our ancestors who have passed on.
There are several ways you can do this; you can lay an extra place at
your dinner table on Halloween, or put out dog food or cat food for your
deceased pets. My favourite ritual
though is to invite family or friends over, enjoy some food together and then
sit in a circle in a darkened room with
lots of little tea lights ready to be lit.
Then each of you take it in turn to talk briefly about a deceased family
member or friend, saying something about them that you will always remember. As you do so, light a candle to symbolise
them. As each person talks about their
memory and lights a candle, so at the end of the meet you will have a whole
host of beautiful glowing tea lights each representing the spirit of a loved
one. What better way to honour your
ancestors than that.
Crystal of the Month : Blue Sodalite
This stone, with its beautiful
blue colour, is associated with the throat chakra and will help if you are
struggling to speak your truth. The
throat chakra is also linked to grief, so if you or someone you know is
suffering with sore throats maybe grief is the part of the problem, or maybe
they are unable to say what they really want to say. If you lie down quietly and place this stone
on your throat and try to relax it should help re- balance this chakra. (for more on re balancing chakras see my Chakra
stone kit available on Samantha's Spells Facebook Page). Sodalite will also bring your attention to
the qualities of idealism and truth, stimulating you to live up to your own
ideals and allowing you to be true to yourself.
Angel Card of the Month: Sense of Humour
As this card suggests, the
current situation could benefit from your sense of humour. You are invited to view your situation from a
distance, as if watching a movie, try to detach from the drama/ sadness and see
it from a different perspective. This is
a difficult card to put into practise because if you are going through hard times laughing about it is almost impossible
and being told to do so can feel insulting too.
I think what the essence of this
card is saying is, don't lose your sense of humour, in the darkest of times
there can be moments of comedy. Moreover
it suggests that perhaps what you need right now is laughter as it is supposed
to be the best medicine. Don't feel guilty about having a good old laugh, it
doesn't mean you don't care, it means you have given yourself a release of
emotion. Laughter is as important as
crying in terms of being cathartic and it releases feel good hormones which at
the very least will help you get through another day. Who knows you may even begin to see the light
at the end of the tunnel.
Moody Moon
This month's full moon is on the
5th October at 19.40 in the sign of Aries.
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac so expect this full moon to mark
some dramatic endings and glorious new beginnings. You may not understand why you are feeling
so raw and emotional, vulnerable even, but once the full moon has passed so
will these strange feelings.
The New moon is on 19th October
at 20.11 in Libra, the sign of balance and harmony. Libra is also the sign of beauty, so a great
time to go for a new image or hairstyle.
Any Legal matters being dealt
with on this date bode well too.
If you look closely at the moon
on these dates you will see the following planets showing up as next to them:
on 17 October you will see Mars next to the moon, on the 18th you will see
Venus next to the moon and on the 24th October you can see Saturn next to the
moon. Wow!
On the 21st October there will be
a Orionids Meteor shower. This can
produce up to 20 meteors per hour! The crescent
moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies, so your best viewing
position will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation
Orion in the south east of the sky, but you may see them anywhere in the sky,
although this is obviously a good starting point.
Finally don't forget to put the
clocks back one hour on Saturday the 28th October before you go to bed! Hurray an extra hour in bed!!
Eat:
Pheasant, pumpkin, Swede, beetroot, cabbage, wild duck, wild mushrooms, sea
bass, sloes, kale, celeriac, partridge, Swiss chard.
Play:
Trick or treating time on 31 October! Go
with the kids if you have them, if not and you want to participate leave a
pumpkin or something 'Halloweeny' outside your front door as a sign to the 'trick
or treaters' that they can knock on your door.
Love: Remember
those who have passed and that their love never dies but lives on in all those
whose lives they have touched.
