All Souls Day of the Dead

All Souls Night by Loreena McKennitt

All Souls Day. The Day of the Dead. Another day to remember and honor our dead. Another day to recognize the thin veils between the worlds. An electrifying time of year as people feel the energy and pressure of those on the other side of that incorporeal veil.

Loreena McKennitt's song All Souls Night describes today in haunting terms:

Standing on the bridge that crosses
the river that goes out to the sea.
The wind is full of a thousand voices.
They pass by the bridge and me.

We find comfort in our search to know what's happened to our loved ones after death. We long to know they are safe, holding space for us. This day we honor our ancestors ~ as well as reiterate they are on the other side of the veil. It's a time to visit, to acknowledge our continued connection, to express our gratitude, to heal.

After spending most of our year in the solid reality of our daily lives, having a day or two where we feel or hear or see those who have gone before us can strike us as eerie, scary, unnerving. Many of our workaday worlds teach us that death means our loved ones, our ancestors are gone. So when we feel the breeze of their presence or hear a long lost voice or catch a glimpse of someone clothed with familiar clothing, we are shaken and assume we are crazed.

Not today. Not in this brief season from All Hallows Eve to All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead. Now we allow ourselves to be comforted by the watchfulness of our ancestors. We have them momentarily near us again. Watch for them. Thank them and let them go. Today is the perfect day for that.

Which of your ancestors do you most miss? To whom do you feel connected? How does this season show up in your life? How do you sense the passing of the souls on the bridge between the worlds? What rituals do you use to honor them? to let them go?

New Moon in Scorpio and Halloween

The season of Halloween, or Samhain, opened with the New Moon in Scorpio. New Moons bring with them a new wave of energy, the turning of the dark time as it heads toward fullness. As New Moons are literal dark times filled with potential, it is perfect for this one to be in Scorpio, the sign of secrets and shadows. This is a time of deep dreaming and intuition, a time for looking inside. A Scorpio New Moon is receptive and quiet ~~ hidden.

Scorpio is considered by many as the most powerful sign with those who are born under this sign being very powerful souls. Scorpio is all about dying and being reborn again, going into the deep slumber within the greater Self, the ultimate Consciousness.

Scorpio is ruled by Pluto and Mars: Pluto exposing the dead and decaying to throw in the transforming cauldron; Mars lasering in on the will, desire and achievement. Together they create the energy for dancing closely with our personal Shadows, to interact with the mysteries hidden within us.

This is the time to let go and shed the old skin as well as plant the seed of power to transform death into new growth. The strong Scorpio archetypes for doing this are The Healer, The Shaman, The Alchemist. This is a time to reclaim lost or hidden power and when the Divine Feminine and Warrior will be empowered to integrate more fully into world.

As the Scorpio New Moon leads into Halloween, it is evident that only those who believe in magic will find it. Halloween ~ All Hallows Eve ~ and the two days following ~ All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day ~ are days when the veils between the concrete, physical world and the ethereal, spiritual world are at their thinnest. Also, the veils between the living and the dead. Many people burn candles or dance for ancestors no longer with us. It is the time we not only acknowledge the passage into darkness and death, we ritualize and celebrate it.

How do you celebrate this time of year? What connection does it suggest to you about your ancestors? Do you light a candle to remember them during this time? How do you experience the thinning of the veils? What do you wish to reclaim during this New Moon? What will be reborn in you?