GOOD SAMHAIN, ALL!
The Lair" mistress is not at home (house, room, whatever) this night...we're visiting family and are having a modified Sabbat this night once the children are in bed and the house we're staying in is "ours." We've the barest of essentials, a quiet spot, and a derth of trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood, so the night will be ours.
Today, we had intermittent showers...rather an ambiance-creator here. The leaves have blazened to their top Autumnal glory here in the upstate of SC--golds, canary yellows, russets, and the deepest of burgundies were all battling for prominence during the numerous leaf-storms the breezes created in between rainfalls. The air was chill today--a damp cold pervaded clothes, jackets, and skin. Tonight, all is quiet...the streets are sparkling in wetness, the fallen leaves are deadening footfalls without, and the soft glow of the lamps within have warmed the attitudes of wet, cold children and adults alike.
The worlds are in harmony--the "here" is open and the "beyond" is pleased. It's a good night.
I read a fellow blogger's experience while beginning this one--Albiana's post on "Flying off the Broom Handle" and it made me smile. Seems she had a "connection" which was completely random and surprisingly nice. How many of us who are mostly "broom-closeted" have had such a smile--a moment of understanding from someone we'd never expect because, either planned or not, we had some "emblem" of our belief on us--a pent', triskele, etc? And, how deeply and pleasantly does it affect us when that randomness happens--when someone "gets" us...not just "judges" or "stereotypes" us??
For me, that recognition of understanding...of connection...of respect for difference IS what Samhain is about--to an extend. It's a melding of the old and the new...a letting go of and an opening to that place in yourself that harbours doubt and fear and pain--and making room for the beauty and wonderment all around us. She releases us from our human frailties and welcomes us to deeper connection with Her tonight. The Old Ones are here, this very night, to help us to that embrace.
SO, good evening, my dear, dear Lair "regulars"....and, for those of you who've happened here unexpectedly, may the softness of the Moonlight, this night of all the others, embrace you with Her love and welcome! Good Samhain, all.....!
31 October 2009
27 October 2009
Samhain Preparations...sort of...
Samhain at the Lair will be altered this year. Our altar is packed away 'til the house sells, our library is likewise boxed up and safely stowed in the storage unit, and our faerie circle (that they kindly let us use in the old backyard) is 15 hours away by car. Additionally, we're traveling to visit family on Friday, so we'll completely be out of even our new environment on Saturday night.
Facing the unfamiliar or the unknown, though, is what this particular Sabbat is all about. It is the one day in the Wheel that She asks us to face our fears, make peace with the past, and open to the possibilities that She offers to us. Doing so is, sometimes, much more frightening than any haunted house or slasher flick. It's facing the reality of "what is" rather than "how I wish it might have been"--it's quitting the second-guessing, self-doubt,and "what ifs" and opening to "just 'cause" being a viable answer. It's death and reconciliation and renewal. It's the reality of what our Path--regardless of focus--means.
There's been SO much change in our life this past Turning--a job change (and for my husband, a job stagnation as no one is currently hiring for full-time here in his area), a relocation, houselessness (though not "homelessness" as we have dear friends who've taken us in without hesitation)... Facing all of that and realizing that all was for a purpose...that, as one of my dearest friends keeps reminding me, "everything happens for a reason"...is a hard lesson. And, it's an ongoing lesson. On the day after Samhain,things are not going to magickally change or drastically improve. If I were to "encourage" such a change, goodness knows what harm I'd ultimately do!
Samhain is a powerful,relentless, and deeply personal Sabbat. It forces us to look within. It makes us acknowledge the darkness inside us and which surrounds us through the negativity of self-doubt and disappointment that is not seen for the educational opportunity offered. It's tough. And, it's exciting.
As the waxing Moonlight wraps us in Her embrace...
Facing the unfamiliar or the unknown, though, is what this particular Sabbat is all about. It is the one day in the Wheel that She asks us to face our fears, make peace with the past, and open to the possibilities that She offers to us. Doing so is, sometimes, much more frightening than any haunted house or slasher flick. It's facing the reality of "what is" rather than "how I wish it might have been"--it's quitting the second-guessing, self-doubt,and "what ifs" and opening to "just 'cause" being a viable answer. It's death and reconciliation and renewal. It's the reality of what our Path--regardless of focus--means.
There's been SO much change in our life this past Turning--a job change (and for my husband, a job stagnation as no one is currently hiring for full-time here in his area), a relocation, houselessness (though not "homelessness" as we have dear friends who've taken us in without hesitation)... Facing all of that and realizing that all was for a purpose...that, as one of my dearest friends keeps reminding me, "everything happens for a reason"...is a hard lesson. And, it's an ongoing lesson. On the day after Samhain,things are not going to magickally change or drastically improve. If I were to "encourage" such a change, goodness knows what harm I'd ultimately do!
Samhain is a powerful,relentless, and deeply personal Sabbat. It forces us to look within. It makes us acknowledge the darkness inside us and which surrounds us through the negativity of self-doubt and disappointment that is not seen for the educational opportunity offered. It's tough. And, it's exciting.
As the waxing Moonlight wraps us in Her embrace...
25 October 2009
Lifting the Veil...
Tonight, the Moon is half lit. I know this not because She is visible in Her maidenhood, but because the widget at the base of my blog tells me this. I cannot see Her soft beauty because there is yet another thunderstorm approaching. The growl of the thunder and the purply-blue lightning is approaching from the southwest. Earlier, the skies were enshrouded in a steely-grey.
It is apt that this is the weather for part of this week, for this is the week which leads to the thinning of the veil between the worlds for those on our Path. It is the week of Samhain--or Calan Gaeaf in the Welsh language--the festival of endings and beginnings. This is the day (Halloween and it's associated days for those of you unfamiliar with the other two terms) when our year ends and begins--it's not a day of time, but separate from time because of this. The veil between those who have passed over to the Summerlands...to that island of light and peace and healing...is thinnest and we can communicate.
Our world is resetting itself. The rains--the storms--are cleansing it tonight. They're making it ready for Her sleep and rebirth into the precious Maiden of spring. Perhaps they are preparing the world for our cleansing to our new concentrations given us through the wisdom of our elders on Samhain. We shall see.
As the storms come relentlessly closer, stay secure...
...in the Softness of Moonlight.
It is apt that this is the weather for part of this week, for this is the week which leads to the thinning of the veil between the worlds for those on our Path. It is the week of Samhain--or Calan Gaeaf in the Welsh language--the festival of endings and beginnings. This is the day (Halloween and it's associated days for those of you unfamiliar with the other two terms) when our year ends and begins--it's not a day of time, but separate from time because of this. The veil between those who have passed over to the Summerlands...to that island of light and peace and healing...is thinnest and we can communicate.
Our world is resetting itself. The rains--the storms--are cleansing it tonight. They're making it ready for Her sleep and rebirth into the precious Maiden of spring. Perhaps they are preparing the world for our cleansing to our new concentrations given us through the wisdom of our elders on Samhain. We shall see.
As the storms come relentlessly closer, stay secure...
...in the Softness of Moonlight.
15 October 2009
Blog Action Day 2009
"Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance" (http://blogactionday.org/). This year's topic is "Climate Change"...a topic one would think is singularly important for someone of my Path.
Guess what--it's not really that much in the forefront of my mind. I do hold that reducing greenhouse gasses is valuable to maintaining our planet and that recycling assists us in reducing our carbon footprint.
My dear friend's blog--"Heartsong's Hymnal"--states this apathy or antipathy best. "Scientists and environmentalists argue; politicians rail about emminent doom or scream that it's all for progress and for the best. Both the science and politics confound me. Since scientists haven't nailed it down completley yet, I don't feel too bad. " (http://heartsongshymnal.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-action-day-what-can-i-do-from.html)
I downsized my car...I reduced the mileage I rack up going to and from the campus...I live somewhat simply...BUT I don't walk as much as I could...I don't "buy local"...and I use needless electricity. I live, as we all do, as a contradition to myself.
Just a little thought...my "contribution" to today's cause.
Now back to the Lair's business...
Guess what--it's not really that much in the forefront of my mind. I do hold that reducing greenhouse gasses is valuable to maintaining our planet and that recycling assists us in reducing our carbon footprint.
My dear friend's blog--"Heartsong's Hymnal"--states this apathy or antipathy best. "Scientists and environmentalists argue; politicians rail about emminent doom or scream that it's all for progress and for the best. Both the science and politics confound me. Since scientists haven't nailed it down completley yet, I don't feel too bad. " (http://heartsongshymnal.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-action-day-what-can-i-do-from.html)
I downsized my car...I reduced the mileage I rack up going to and from the campus...I live somewhat simply...BUT I don't walk as much as I could...I don't "buy local"...and I use needless electricity. I live, as we all do, as a contradition to myself.
Just a little thought...my "contribution" to today's cause.
Now back to the Lair's business...
11 October 2009
Geese
The skies have been overcast and "threatening" for days, though since the rains of my last posting, there have been no storms. There's a chill breeze coming from the north that's convinced the leaves to start their final, glorious transformation. The quiet hush of Autumn is upon us finally.
Late this afternoon, as I was coming out of a local shop, I glanced skyward. Above me, in perfect formation, there was a "V" of geese flying south. Silhouetted against the varigated-grey sky, they were a black arrow pointing the way of the departing season. There was no sound (they were too high and too focused on their flight from the cold to the promise of warmth to call out) and no other bird in the air. Just the silent progression of this group on their annual pilgrimmage to their nesting grounds.
The silence of this season--the quiet preparations for the upcoming new year, the introspection as we take account of where we "were" and where we are wanting to go, the very season which is both beginning and ending--is sometimes deafening. We're encouraged to "reflect on the deeds of the past and prepare for the year to come" in hushed meditation.
If we quietly go about our preparations, we open to the sounds of the season...the hushed whisper of wing-flaps, the dry rustle of leaves as neighborhood children jump and giggle, the embracing crackle of a log fire on a chill evening. She grants us Her wisdom through these fleeting moments of peaceful reflection. All we have to be is silent and open to Her teachings.
All we have to do is follow the geese in the grey sky while a bracing breeze blows around us...
In the calm of the waning Moonlight...
Late this afternoon, as I was coming out of a local shop, I glanced skyward. Above me, in perfect formation, there was a "V" of geese flying south. Silhouetted against the varigated-grey sky, they were a black arrow pointing the way of the departing season. There was no sound (they were too high and too focused on their flight from the cold to the promise of warmth to call out) and no other bird in the air. Just the silent progression of this group on their annual pilgrimmage to their nesting grounds.
The silence of this season--the quiet preparations for the upcoming new year, the introspection as we take account of where we "were" and where we are wanting to go, the very season which is both beginning and ending--is sometimes deafening. We're encouraged to "reflect on the deeds of the past and prepare for the year to come" in hushed meditation.
If we quietly go about our preparations, we open to the sounds of the season...the hushed whisper of wing-flaps, the dry rustle of leaves as neighborhood children jump and giggle, the embracing crackle of a log fire on a chill evening. She grants us Her wisdom through these fleeting moments of peaceful reflection. All we have to be is silent and open to Her teachings.
All we have to do is follow the geese in the grey sky while a bracing breeze blows around us...
In the calm of the waning Moonlight...
06 October 2009
Thunderstorms
I always used to be fascinated--though frightened--by thunderstorms. Where I formerly lived in Kentucky as a teen and young adult, I could literally watch the storms roll in across the hills. Those were the big, angry, black clouds with sheet lightning embedded in them...with growling thunder shaking the very windows of my parents' house...with the curtains of rain shielding all from view. THOSE were thunderstorms!
Tonight, there's a thunderstorm brewing just off to the west. Though the growl of the thunder is a distant purr--which is, somehow, deeply comforting--the skies are illuminated with the most brilliant purply-blue flashes I've seen in a while. The winds, unlike my years in Kentucky, are not the threatening roar of an oncoming tornado; rather, they are the soft howl of the Banshee or the cry of the Lost Ones. It's a haunting sound, but one which, tonight, soothes my very depths.
It intrigues me how, tonight, Nature herself is tormented through this storm. It was a bad day at the Lair--some strikingly bad news (not the family or the pets, thankfully) came to us and threw us off-kilter. I sank into myself...this "threatening" storm has brought me back.
I'm reminded tonight, after all that's transpired today and with the storm literally "just around the corner", of a poem by Robert Frost. It seems fitting for tonight...
"Acquainted with the Night"
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
From New Hampshire (1923)
In the storm-shielded moonlight...
Tonight, there's a thunderstorm brewing just off to the west. Though the growl of the thunder is a distant purr--which is, somehow, deeply comforting--the skies are illuminated with the most brilliant purply-blue flashes I've seen in a while. The winds, unlike my years in Kentucky, are not the threatening roar of an oncoming tornado; rather, they are the soft howl of the Banshee or the cry of the Lost Ones. It's a haunting sound, but one which, tonight, soothes my very depths.
It intrigues me how, tonight, Nature herself is tormented through this storm. It was a bad day at the Lair--some strikingly bad news (not the family or the pets, thankfully) came to us and threw us off-kilter. I sank into myself...this "threatening" storm has brought me back.
I'm reminded tonight, after all that's transpired today and with the storm literally "just around the corner", of a poem by Robert Frost. It seems fitting for tonight...
"Acquainted with the Night"
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
From New Hampshire (1923)
In the storm-shielded moonlight...
05 October 2009
Full Moon Energies
I don't normally take this blog into a discussion of anything singularly "outside" the natural realm. This one is different--this one deals with the Moon energies. I've no idea if anyone else has felt Her fluctuations this past waxing cycle, but my energies have been decidedly "off."
A truly autumnal chill is in the air here in north Texas. The skies have turned a steely grey and there's a faintly discernable mist which bites at one's skin throughout the waking hours. The roads are sparkly-slick with the night showers. The clouds look "threatening" and angry. And, last night, the night of the Full Moon, all was overcast and darkened.
The "Blood Moon" it was--the moon associated with the late harvest and the livestock slaughter (in past times). According to my trusty "Witch's Datebook 2009" (Llewellen Publications), this is the moon when "the veil between the worlds is thin" (107) which, in my mind, explains some of the odd-to-"off" energies.
This has been a month of reversals. Events that were drawn close in the Waxing cycle actually retreated and in the "dormant" time of the Waning cycle, events are happening. Like I said, "off" energies. Reversals.
There are magickal explanations for this cyclical reversal...some will say it's due to Mercury being in retrograde, some that it's the "nesting" season of the year, some that the Wise One is slowing our earthly increase in Her late age for She is neither the eager Maiden or the abundant Mother now.
Whatever your personal explanation, the energies surrounding us in this season are awkward and discomforting. And, in that, it's reassuring to note that EVERY Blood Moon "pulls" this on we temporal dwellers.
In the chill moonlight...
A truly autumnal chill is in the air here in north Texas. The skies have turned a steely grey and there's a faintly discernable mist which bites at one's skin throughout the waking hours. The roads are sparkly-slick with the night showers. The clouds look "threatening" and angry. And, last night, the night of the Full Moon, all was overcast and darkened.
The "Blood Moon" it was--the moon associated with the late harvest and the livestock slaughter (in past times). According to my trusty "Witch's Datebook 2009" (Llewellen Publications), this is the moon when "the veil between the worlds is thin" (107) which, in my mind, explains some of the odd-to-"off" energies.
This has been a month of reversals. Events that were drawn close in the Waxing cycle actually retreated and in the "dormant" time of the Waning cycle, events are happening. Like I said, "off" energies. Reversals.
There are magickal explanations for this cyclical reversal...some will say it's due to Mercury being in retrograde, some that it's the "nesting" season of the year, some that the Wise One is slowing our earthly increase in Her late age for She is neither the eager Maiden or the abundant Mother now.
Whatever your personal explanation, the energies surrounding us in this season are awkward and discomforting. And, in that, it's reassuring to note that EVERY Blood Moon "pulls" this on we temporal dwellers.
In the chill moonlight...
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