Imbolc

For those of us going through Winter, take a peek outside and get some inspiration from nature, you will see signs of New Life popping up everywhere.    Next week we celebrate Imbolc which is the mid-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  Astrologically the mid-way point this year is August 7th.  As this date changes each year it is often observed on August 1^st.

At Imbolc we begin to see the first signs of Spring, flowers are starting to bloom and the days are getting longer.  Imbolc is the Celebration of the Mother Goddess with the young Sun God that was born at Yule.  This is Sacred day for the Divine Feminine.  On this day our Ancestors would initiate any of the young girls who had begun their Moontime into the Sisterhood and the Feminine Mysteries. 

This is a perfect time to revisit the Manifestations you set in place at the start of the Year.  Tick off what you have already achieved.  Make any adjustments needed with any changes you have experienced through the year so far.  Set any New Manifestations that you want to achieve.  Start working on your new Manifestations and any you haven’t started on.  Just as we are seeing the first signs of Spring appear, we can also see how the seeds we planted at the start of the year are growing and beginning to bloom.

This is a wonderful time to Celebrate the Goddess and our Earth Mother.  Spend some time outside if you can (rug up though it’s still cold out there).  Create a special night with the Goddess and Honour the Divine Feminie within you.  Put yourself at the top of that pesky To-Do-List and do something that makes your Soul Sing.  Create a special place in your home to display signs of the Wheel beginning turn towards Spring.

Many Blessings to you all and may all your Manifestations come to reality.



©Ange Foster

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Samhain - April 30th 2017 - Southern Hemisphere

This is the big one! 

Samhain (pronounced; Sow-win) is also known as All Hallows Eve, Halloween, and Festival of the Death just to name a few.

Samhain is regarded as a major Sabbath.  Samhain is the time when the God returns to the Underworld until he is reborn at Yule.  It is not quite winter but the days are getting shorter and cooler, since Mabon (Autumn Equinox). Most of the leaves have changed colour and have fallen from the trees.  This was the time that our Ancestors would finish any harvests left and store their food for the winter months.  Samhain is also the time of the Crone, the keeper of the secrets and wisdom of life and death.  During now and Yule the Goddess returns to the Underworld with the God returning the earth to Winter.

Samhain is also the time we remember and honour our loved ones that have passed over.  This is the time when the veils between the worlds are at their thinnest.  It is said that the veil is made thin as the God crosses over to the Underworld.  This is the when our ancestors would invite loved ones to cross over and join in the celebrations.  It was also believed that this was the time to reaffirm karmic ties with loved ones you wish to join in the next life.  The Celts have a beautiful belief of an Anam-cara, which basically means soul friend.  It is believed that we each have one true love that in each life we seek out the spirit of our Anam-cara.

It is not certain exactly where the name Samhain originated from; it has been traced back to a couple of possibilities.  One of these comes from the Celtic Tradition.  There is an Irish Gaelic word Samhridreadh that means Summers end.  Samhain was celebrated by the Celts as the end of summer and the following day was the beginning of winter.  This was because in the UK the sun was at its lowest point on the horizon.  Many sacred stones still mark the journey of the sun scattered across the UK.  This is when the Celts celebrated their New Year, unlike many other cultures that celebrate it at Yule.

Many of the myths associated with Samhain have the similar theme, that is the time when the Sun/God dies and returns to the Underworld.  The Goddess who is in her Crone phase mourns his passing by traveling to the Underworld with him. 

The Goddess in her Crone form is the image taken and distorted into the evil witch in the fairy tales told to our children for many generations to help further help in the effort to abolish the Old Religion.  It is sad that the once revered Crone Goddess has been turned into such an ugly and feared image for many.  This image has been carried over to the modern celebration of Halloween. 

Our ancestors used to cherish the Crones of their community for they were women of great knowledge and wisdom accumulated through her many great years from the Crones before her.  The Crone was well practiced at many of the skills needed for the community's survival.  Her knowledge of herbs used for healing and the precious gift of delivering the children to continue the next generation were just some of the wonderful roles the Crone played in the Old World.

Unfortunately, because of these gifts the Crone possessed led to the persecution of many of our ancestors by the patriarchal crusades of the Church.  Samhain was such an important time for our ancestors the church found it hard to wipe out the celebrations of the Sabbath.  One of the ways the church tried to convert the "pagans" (originally pagan meant town folk rather than the corrupted definition of devil worshiper) was to re-name the Old Religions Sabbaths in the hope that the people would begin worshiping their God and Saints of these days rather than the old deities.  The Church first called Samhain, Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael.  Although the ancient traditions of Samhain were so sacred to the people one Saint was not enough to convert the masses.  So, the Church re-named it again calling Eve of All Saints or All Hallows Eve, the day before one of the churches most popular days, All Saints Day.  Despite the churches efforts to abolish Samhain the people continued to celebrate the traditions of the Old Ways.

The Church then decided that the only way to convert the people was to create evil stories about Samhain.  Samhain became a night where evil spirits would appear and create havoc through the villages with the aid of witches.  The Church warned people not leave the safety of their homes on this night for if they did they would fall prey to the evil spirits.  The Church proclaimed that it was not until the dawn of All Saints Day when the Church bells would chime and drive the evil spirits back to hell, that it was safe to leave their homes.  The fear of these so-called evil spirits eventually took hold of converted Christian's minds that the Old Ways were replaced.  Also, the fear of death took over anyone who wished to maintain the Old Ways.  In the Churches efforts to take over anyone who did not take up the ways of the church were tortured and killed.

These evil stories were the beginnings of the modern day Halloween, which is so far removed from the original celebrations of Samhain.  One thing that we must remember though is that there can be evil present on this evening, with the veil at its thinnest there is the possibility of something undesirable crossing over.  Our ancestors were well aware of this and would protect themselves and their loved ones from these entities.  One of the ways this was done was to carve faces into vegetables to place in windows, pace around their circle or carry with them.  This is where the concept of Jack-o-lanterns from modern Halloween celebrations originated. 

Many of our Ancestors left candles in windows and offerings of food for the spirits for their journey back to the Underworld.  Simple gestures like these are quite appropriate ways for us today to honour this wonderful time of year.  Also, as with New Years Celebrations, this is a time take time to look at what you have achieved over the last year and decide what you can do to improve the year to come.

 It is the time for our New Year’s Manifestations!

Which is wonderful timing with last night’s New Moon in Taurus.

I also feel it is worth mentioning that in Australia and New Zealand we have ANZAC Day (Australian New Zealand Army Corp.) on April 25th which is the day we honour and remember those who died defending the freedoms we enjoy today.

You can honour and celebrate Samhain in many ways.  If you have like-minded friends, this is a great time to get together and

celebrate.  If not you can write your own special ritual to honour this Sacred Day.  I have experienced many different Samhain celebrations and rituals now and each one has been unique and wonderful, this is my favorite Sabbath.

I have focused on the Celtic Traditions for this Sabbath, as this is what I believe this day represents.  There are many Myths from all over the world, which has similarities, have some fun looking into the different ways cultures around the world honour this time of year.

Learning about and gaining an understanding of other cultures and ways of life helps in understanding ourselves.

Symbols for Samhain:

- Apples or Pomegranates (Pomegranates are said to be the fruit of the

underworld) when cut to expose the seeds in their star formation.

- As the Goddess is in her Crone Aspect you can either call on all the

Goddess in general or choose a Goddess whom you feel drawn too.  Some

Crone Goddess's include; Morrigian, Cerridwen or my personal favorite

for Samhain Hecate.

- There are also many Gods to choose from, I tend to call on Hades at

this time but there are many others.

- This is a good time of the year to pull out the cauldron.  The

cauldron is said to represent the belly of the Goddess, which holds

the wisdom of birth, life, death and rebirth.  It is also believed,

that it is the belly of the Universe where souls go to wait for

Reincarnation.

- This is also a good time for Divination.  So think about including a

read of some sort in your ritual, whether it is Tarot, Runes, I-Ching

whatever you feel most comfortable with.  If you haven't tried

Divination, this could be a good time to have a go.

- Red and Black Candles

- Red Flowers, Torch Lilies are said to represent rebirth.

- Black Altar Cloth

- Black Pen and Paper, to write down your "New Years Manifestations!"

- Balefires (Bonfires) were traditionally lit to help the departed souls on their

journey.  If you are able to have a fire circle is a wonderful way to celebrate this Sabbath.

With the list above, you should be able to come up with a ritual that is appropriate for you.  With everything we do remember that the Magick comes from within and it is your intention that will create your desired outcome.

Samhain is a great time to get together with like-minded others and celebrate, even if you do have a ritual remember to have fun too.  Your imagination is limitless so use it to create a memorable evening for all.

©Ange Foster

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Mabon - Autumn Equinox

Southern Hemisphere - March 21st

Northern Hemisphere – September 21^st

Traditionally Mabon is celebrated on March 21st. Astrologically, this year Mabon falls on March 20th at  8.29pm. At Mabon (March), the God has died. The Earth has received His body and given up the last of the harvest. Leaves are falling from the trees and the Earth is preparing for the long, cold winter without the light of the Sun.

Mabon is the 2nd of the 3 harvest festivals.  It is also the Autumn Equinox, which means that day and night are equal.  This is because the earth is tilted at a right angle to the sun, and the sun is directly over the equator. In Latin, the word equinox translates to "equal night."   After the equinox the days begin to get shorter and the nights longer as the earth moves into winter.

Harvest festivals are celebrated by many cultures around the world since the beginning of time.

Symbols of the Season:

The harvest is a time of thanks, and also a time of balance, after all, there are equal hours of daylight and darkness.  While we celebrate the gifts of the earth, we also accept that the soil is dying. We have food to eat, but the crops are brown and going dormant.  Warmth is behind us, cold lies ahead.

Some symbols of Mabon include:

Mid-autumn vegetables, like Pumpkins and Zucchini’s

Apples and anything made from them, such as cider or pies

Seeds and seedpods

Baskets, symbolising the gathering of crops

Sickles and scythes

Grapes, vines, wine

You can use any of these to decorate your home or your altar at Mabon.

Feasting and Friends:

Early agricultural societies understood the importance of hospitality, it was crucial to develop a relationship with your neighbours, because they might be the ones to help you when your family ran out of food.  Many people, particularly in rural villages, celebrated the harvest with great deals of feasting, drinking, and eating.  After all, the grain had been made into bread, beer and wine had been made, and the cattle were brought down from the summer pastures for the coming winter.  Celebrate Mabon yourself with a feast and the bigger, the better!

Magic and Mythology:

Nearly all of the myths and legends popular at this time of the year focus on the themes of life, death, and rebirth.  Not much of a surprise, when you consider that this is the time at which the earth begins to die before winter sets in!

Demeter and Her Daughter

Perhaps the best known of all the harvest mythologies is the story of Demeter and Persephone.  Demeter was a goddess of grain and of the harvest in ancient Greece.  Her daughter, Persephone, caught the eye of Hades, god of the underworld.  When Hades abducted Persephone and took her back to the underworld, Demeter's grief caused the crops on earth to die and go dormant.  By the time she finally recovered her daughter, Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds, and so was doomed to spend six months of the year in the underworld.  These six months are the time when the earth dies, beginning at the time of the autumn equinox.

Inanna Takes on the Underworld

The Sumerian Goddess Inanna is the incarnation of fertility and abundance.  Inanna descended into the underworld where her sister, Ereshkigal, ruled. Erishkigal decreed that Inanna could only enter her world in the traditional ways, stripping herself of her clothing and earthly possessions.  By the time Inanna got there, Erishkigal had unleashed a series of plagues upon her sister, killing Inanna.  While Inanna was visiting the underworld, the earth ceased to grow and produce.   A vizier restored Inanna to life, and sent her back to earth.  As she journeyed home, the earth was restored to its former glory.

Shamanic and Native American Celebrations and Traditions

Shamanism has always embraced and understood the true nature of darkness.  Shamans work with the darkness.  Journeys are usually done with a blindfold. In some cultures shamans were even deliberately blinded, to help them develop their other senses.  Some of our earliest evidence for people practicing shamanism comes from cave paintings, some of which are over 35,000 years old.  These paintings are deep inside caves, where people have deliberately sought out places of total and utter darkness.  In many tribal societies, shamanic rituals and ceremonies are always performed after sunset, and throughout the night.  For shamans, the darkness, by shutting off our outer visual sense, actually allows us to 'see' the reality that lies

beneath surface perception. 

The physicist David Bohm said that there are two levels of reality.

The surface reality we live in most of the time he called 'explicate' reality. Behind the explicate Bohn says lies a deeper reality which he called the 'implicate', where all things are connected together.  Shamans have known this for tens of thousands of years. Shamans the world over have similar terms; it is a central concept of shamanism.  Light, and external sight, tends to keep us focused in this, surface reality.  Letting go of light and external sight helps us to let go into the deeper, implicate, reality. 

Potentially the darkness is a place of great richness and riches.  Entering it draws us into introspection and contemplation.  If we work with it, it brings us a stillness of mind and an opening up of our other senses.  We can open up to what we would otherwise have overlooked and not noticed, and we can 'see' the truth below the surface of things.  

Famously of course, the psychologist Carl Jung said: 'Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness.  One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.'  So shamanism has always embraced and worked with the darkness.

This is not to say at all that shamanism values the dark more than the light.  In fact shamanism (unlike the western religions) stays clear of making any such judgments, and sees all as having its place and part in the wheel. 

On a psychological level, embracing the darkness means embracing our shadow; the bits of our self that we deny or have locked away, and which lie unresolved and un-integrated.  Most people think they can ignore the shadow side.  Many religions and new age beliefs support this, and encourage people to focus only on the light.  In fact, we can never be whole by doing that.  Instead, the shadow becomes stronger the more we deny it.  At worst, we even project it out onto other people (hence the sky religions' willingness to judge and persecute others).  To quote Jung again: 'Projections change the world into the replica of one's own unknown face' (Aion, 1955). And so many people are uneasy with the dark, as in it lies their own un-owned issues, and so they find the decent into the winter darkness hard as it brings them into closer contact with their own unresolved issues and emotions.

In fact, the next six months of darker energy can be a time of great richness, growth and inner exploration. Whereas the spring equinox is a great time to launch plans and projects that involve outer work, the autumn equinox is a great time to set new goals that involve inner work and exploration.  It is also a great time to renew ones commitment to one's shamanic path (or even to start one in the first place!).So you may want to spend some time setting some new goals for 'inner' work.  It is also a good time to study and learn – an inward process (it makes sense that

the new academic year starts around this time).

Shamanically if you want to explore the darkness, then, along with your usual power animals and/or guides, working with animals that are comfortable with the darkness, such as Mole, Bat, Black Panther, Owl and Moth can be of great help. Crow and Raven too, although they are not active in the night as animals, know much about the hidden side of things.  You can work with them through shamanic journeying of course, and/or by taking the relevant Power Animal Essences.

Of course, the dark nights are not on us yet. The equinox just signifies a tipping point.  What it also signals is a time to get ready. If the year were a day, then we are only yet at early evening.

Traditionally it is a time of taking stock.  What do we need to let go of or resolve, in terms of getting ready for winter?  Traditionally this was a time of making amends; of sorting out any unresolved disputes; of getting things in order; and of putting finances in order.

If you choose to celebrate Mabon, give thanks for the things you have, and take time to reflect on the balance within your own life, honouring both the darkness and the light.  Invite your friends and family over for a feast, and count the blessings that you have among kin and community.

©Ange Foster

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