(excerpt from the “Bewitching Samhain 2017 Guidebook” inspired by the Samhain Season of 2017)

Samhain is a time of divination - seeing beyond normal perception into the Great Mystery. There are many forms of divination: tarot, runes, pendulums, divining wands, crystals, bird flight and more. Dreaming is one of your most innate forms of divination on this journey of embodiment because they come through you and live in you. You’ll need nothing but your Whole Self.

“If you come into your soul-rhythm, then the final meeting with your physical death need not be threatening or destructive. That final meeting will be the encounter with your own deepest identity, namely, your soul…Your death can be a wonderfully creative event opening you up to embrace the divine that always lived secretly inside you.” (John O’Donohue, Anam Cara)

...In being fully here, we are fully human, fully divine. This way of living requires a bold strength and sweet surrender as it goes against conventional complacency. It asks us to show up even when we don’t want to. It takes us beneath the surface distractions that are running rampant. It can be quite radical in that it calls us to no longer deny our heart’s desires and to find a way forward even with a broken heart... 

Burn how you will burn.
Take what you will take.
Blow how you will blow.
Teach how you will teach.
And we will learn as you burn.
And we will grow as you blow.

For those who have been affected by the fires, floods, winds, quakes, shootings and wars, i pray that you are able to find solace in Home, wherever and however it may be for you. The white ash falling on my arm as i write - remnants of homes burned to the ground by the wildfires in northern California - remind me of what once was and is now nothing but a memory. May the memories of yesterday and hopes for tomorrow, however poignant, keep you going.

The balance has shifted. We are in the afterglow of the Mabon (Autumn Equinox) - the second harvest. The work is strong and requires much of us. And the rest is coming just beyond the ninth wave.

(inspired by the Virgo New Moon of 2017)

In a culture filled with images and videos, it’s easier now than ever to look outside and compare ourselves to who and what we see out there. Humans often feel lonely for other people, and we seek validation from "them" that we are doing okay. We forgo the simple, beautiful, lovely and magical things in favor of mindless scrolling. 

Stability is contrary to this entropic universe. There is no box of safety where everything remains steady, reliable, known. Nothing is concrete. Nature breaks up and through even the most solid structures.