Samhain - The Final Harvest
Three days it takes, to transition a year.
One to farewell; the death of the old year.
One to welcome; the birth of the new year.
One in between; belonging to no time, no place and no person.
An entire day between the veils of the here and now, between breath and shadow, between spirit and space. A day to transition from the warm half to the cold half of the year. This is the day and the time of the ancestors, the deceased and the departed.
The Final Harvest.
Welcome to Samhain.
The Celts did not fear the dead. It is said they held these days and this time in great reverence; reverence for the departed, healthy fear for the sidhe or the fae, reverence for prophecy and looking towards the new year, seen at the end of the cold dark cycle of winter. Reverence for the crone, the dark mothers, the underworld. From womb to tomb and tomb to womb, we greet and move through this ending and beginning. Welcome, dear ones, to summer’s death and winter's birth, welcome to Samhain.
The final episode of Season 2 offers three things:
The final episode of Season 2 offers three things:
1) A reflection on your own ancestral inheritance.
2) An honoring of the sacred trees and plants at Samhain: Elder, Blackthorn and Croneswort. These three are also known by other names; Tree of Witches, Dark Crone of the Woods and Wormwood.
3) A sharing of my recent pilgrimage to my maternal ancestral home - Scotland - where I visited magical islands, an ancient fairy flag in a remote castle and spent some time honoring the magnificent creatrix, winter crone and hag of the North - the Cailleach.
