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?

Spider Weavings

SpiderWoman by Susan Seddon Boulet

Yesterday, I posted my reflections on the Spider bites I've recently acquired ~ and with no Spidey senses! Today, I focus on the Druidic-Celtic-Shamanic interpretations of Spider.

In the Druidic lineage, Spider represents the Bard through producing art, the Seer through finding the best hideout for the hunt and the Druid through being a teacher.

Because She is Guardian to ancient languages and alphabets, writers are considered to have Spider as a guide. The eight legs and spokes of Spider's web show the eightfold wheel of sacred festivals. She is associated with creativity and the energy of the spiral linking past, present and future and pulsating with movement of its own.

Much of the Shamanic view of Spider coincides with Indigenous Peoples views as that's where Shamanism draws its teachings. As with the Druids, She is a symbol of creation, weaving realities, infinity and balance. She awakens creativity, particularly writing creatively.  She teaches us that we are constantly weaving the fabric of our lives and we have choice in how we do it. She reminds us of our interconnectedness to all life.

For me, the salient points are creativity and writing ~ both of which are vital to the fabric of my life at this moment. I am actively pursuing the energy of the Weaver, the One who brings clarity to the purpose and design of the Web of Life. I am learning a more creative view of webs as networks of roads to travel rather than places to get entangled. Since the silk that creates the web of my life comes from within, I desire to awaken more of the intuitive side ~ the precious pieces within me that understand the intention of and for my life.

Are you aware of what you are weaving into reality? Are you feeling creative? or stuck? What are you ready to write or put into a creative form?

Wibbly Wobbly

Doctor Who fans will recognize this quote from an episode called "Blink." Written by Stephen Moffat, the series writer at the time, it was a simplified version of how time, and time travel, worked. Oh. It was also stated by the last of the Timelords.

I used to consider time as totally linear ~ it only moved in one direction as well. However, the more I read and study, the more I discover that it really isn't quite that simple a concept.

When I was in college, I recall long and heated discussions about time being the 4th dimension. I don't recall anything ever being clearly decided. The primary use for the discourse was the exercise of our deductive reasoning, our capacity to persuade and our imaginations.

Our language often refers to time as "standing still" or "flying" or other terms designating varying degrees of movement. Is that because the passage of time is truly related to our focus or desire? or is it an illusion created by how we focus our minds?

Lately, I've spent time with dreamers. People who re-enter their dreams to discover more of what the dream has to tell them. I've spent time with shamanic practitioners as well. People who slide into other realities for the purpose of healing. Practicing with these groups, I've discovered that time is fluid and you can go backwards and forwards and sideways. Time holds definition only as long as we hold the same definition.

My fascination with Doctor Who comes from that same place within me that seeks out the company of dreamers and shamans. The place where dreams, imagination, healing and time bump up against each other and help me to become more than what I thought I was.

How do you experience time? What teases your imagination? What helps you dream? What helps you heal?

Definition of a Shaman

Susan Seddon-Boulet

from Oriah Mountain Dreamer (https://www.facebook.com/Oriah.Mountain.Dreamer):

A shaman is often described as one who walks with a foot in both worlds ~ the realities of spirit & matter (that are inseparable in this lifetime only in our thinking). It can be tempting to use experiences of the essential unity of the underlying reality to move away from the very real losses of a human life. But what if our human experiences are just as important as our "spiritual" visions? What if the point of those glimpses of a bigger/deeper reality is to help us stay present & open-hearted? What if being human offers us the experience of being an ensouled body NOT as something to be endured, but something to be cherished, celebrated & savoured?

Shamanic practice brings together the worlds we often see or claim as separate. It's a way to join our spiritual sense and being with the physicality of the world around us. For some it's an easy flow. That's their life. But there aren't many who find it so.

For others, it's a constant slipping in and out of the ordinary and extraordinary times. It's a fluid space-time to be, to find a moment of our personal existence. Walking between the worlds, with a foot in each, demands our vigilance. We continue to slide and move as we determine which reality we are in moment by moment. Neither one is 'right' nor 'wrong', 'better' nor 'worse'. Both carry us forward.

How do you walk between the worlds? How do you define the 'shaman' within you?