Wheel of the Year

SAMHAIN BLESSINGS 2023

On October 28, 2023 by

November 7, 2023 @ 8:36am PST
Sun at 15° Scorpio / Earth at 15° Taurus
As the mystic veil grows thin,
Let the hallows dance begin! 

ENERGIES
Axis: Scorpio / Taurus
Death / Life
Psychological / Physical
Depths (of earth) / Surface (of earth)

Trivinity: Circle
Contained and sustained energies
These signs concentrate (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius)

Sabbat: Major
The Major Sabbats come at the peak of concentrated energies

WHEEL OF THE YEAR
Samhain is the time to face the shadows and prepare the compost.  As with Beltaine, themes of attachment, release, and sex are prominent.  However, at Samhain the merging and ecstasy of orgasm facilitates ego-death – the release of Self as a path into the Soul. 

The God at Samhain
The Sun has reached the peak of Scorpio, the watery sign of depth, transition, and the occult.  After his sacrifice at Lughnasadh and his descent through Mabon, the God has now reached the Underworld and donned the mantle as Lord of the Dead, Pluto (guide of Scorpio); the power of his seed is held in the tomb awaiting rebirth. 

The Goddess at Samhain
The Goddess at Samhain is simultaneously Earth Mother, Demeter, and Queen of the Underworld, Persephone. 

With the Earth reaching the peak of Taurus, the Goddess fully embodies the grieving mother; experiencing the pain of loss and death.  Life on Earth withers with Her grief, as the Goddess mourns the loss of her daughter, Persephone (who has left her mother for Her Underworld realm.) 

However, at the same time, Persephone has become the Queen of the Underworld, fully embodying the energies of the Dark Goddess. 

So, even as one part of the Goddess experiences death as pain and loss, another part embraces it as a gateway to new life, and the Underworld as the seat of the Shadow and the Soul. 

GIRDLE OF THE GODDESS
In the language of Theodomy, the 12 signs of the zodiac are further divided into 36 primordial energies of the divine feminine, called the Girdle of the Goddess. 

At the time of Samhain, the sun is in the 23rd primordial energy activating Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Dead and Goddess of the Underworld.
See my post ERESHKIGAL for more details.

SAMHAIN & THE BALSAMIC MOON
Moon semisquares Sun   45°
Rises pre-dawn  Sets pre-dusk
24½ – 28 days after New Moon

Compost
Depth of Dark
Release, Death, Transform, Distill, Seeds of Rebirth, Envision, Integrate, Dissolve

The life impulse distils and concentrates the wisdom of the entire cycle into a capsule of seed ideas for future visions.  During the dark of the moon, the life force transforms the past into the potential of the future and makes a commitment to seeding new concepts within old structures.  The symbolic seed has completely withered and decomposes turning once again back into itself.
 Now is not the time to fight, rather gather strength for future acts.  The night is cold and very dark while the seed lies dormant, but safe, in the womb of the earth.  The process of change is a long and often difficult journey.  Those who empty the ashes from their hearths have the warmest fires.  Since night turns to day, and weakness to strength, what is worthless may transform into gold.  Let go of the old and allow life to be rejuvenated in the new cycle.  The past provides the nutrients for the new seed of the future. 

THE WITCH’S NEW YEAR
While Samhain is often referred to as the “Witch’s New Year”, it is important to remember that actual rebirth happens at Yule.  Samhain honours the death that becomes the compost – the six dark weeks between Samhain and Yule – that holds the seed and the promise of renewal.

Week 52 & The Dark Moon
Moon conjunct Sun   0°
Rises pre-dawn  Sets pre-dusk
29 (or30) days after New Moon
The very last day of the Balsamic Moon phase
…just before the New Moon phase begins.

Hole/Void
Both the end and the beginning
Stillness, Quiet, Peace, Inner Solitude, Pause
Consider the past and what has been released.  There is a future ahead to which the old ideals and beliefs are sacrificed.  However, this moment is the present.  Focus completely on this moment.  Turn the focus inward and just be.  There is emptiness and potential in the stillness that prepares the seed. 
 This is the pause – the stillness – between one exhale and the next inhale.  A cycle has ended.  Sit in the present stillness…awaiting the new cycle.