Samhain Greetings to my friends,
October 31st is Samhain, meaning "summer’s end" in Celtic. The period between Oct. 31st and Nov. 2nd is one of the most widely celebrated ancient traditions honoring death and renewal. It is believed to be the time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is most transparent and we can converse with our ancestors and guides, gaining valuable advice for the coming year. Our celebrations for Halloween originate from a much older and kinder understanding of the spirits and ancestor guides.
Our present culture tends to fear the dark and attributes many negative associations with dark places, psychic experiences, and altered states of consciousness. Many of you know I have been exploring Shamanic practices for the last eight years. This exploration has brought me to a welcome healing of my own fears about these phenomena.
Women have traditionally been more tuned into their psychic senses (often dismissed as "women’s intuition") and have suffered for it. The five hundred year campaign against women who were often herbal healers and psychics, led to our modern day images of witches. These portrayals make me cringe at the ugly and outlandish costumes that appear on Halloween. With the return of the conscious recognition of the Divine Feminine that has been gathering momentum since before 2000, and is now surging strongly since 2012, it is time to cleanse ourselves of the negative images and reclaim women’s natural gifts which help and heal others.
I have designed and led a new weekend Women’s Intensive entitled Energy, Power and Sexuality which allows women to heal the wounds of a culture which has not always nurtured women to express themselves fully and has not supported women to be powerful in their own right. Please email me for a flyer if you are interested. The weekend also fosters the weaving of community as does the many other gatherings now held across the country. The Red Tent movement is but one example. (http://redtenttemplemovement.com/) Women all over are gathering in meaningful support groups to heal and nurture the powerful life force energy we carry in our bodies. It is also an opportunity for our psychic senses to emerge and strengthen as we move deeper into our inner wisdom.
Samhain is an excellent time to release unwanted attitudes and beliefs: anything which holds you back from creating your vision for the future. You can choose to write what you want to release and cast it into a fire. Please enjoy this coming Halloween with perhaps a bit different understanding of its meaning and allow your right brain, intuitive senses to guide you in visioning your life. I will close with a prayer I wrote as part of a Samhain event two years ago.
Our sexuality is the energy that empowers and ignites all beings. May we reclaim this power to be the sacred and erotic feminine here on Earth.
Blessings of Samhain, Linda
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