Dear you,
How are you. I hope you had a blessed Samhain or a night of Halloween full of fun and mischief. I celebrated and commemorated these days in a calm and mostly silent fashion. Yesterday, All Soul’s Day was quite an intense and heightened day, full of ancestral healing and insights.
I could feel the magic going on around me and there was lots of static in the air. These days when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest is great for ancestral magick, banishing earthbound spirits, and connecting with loved ones who have gone before us. It’s a night that offers an opportunity to do some soul searching and to ask our ancestors for guidance to help us heal and grow. I am using the tarot for ancestral healing, helping me make visual all the patterns of behavior that have been past on generation to generation. Drawing a family tree with tarot cards and exploring the stories of my ancestors and their values that have been past on to me. It is so interesting and clarifying to see the dynamics at play. Now it is up to me to say no to the patterns I don’t want to continue and commit to changing them.
On Halloween I had a quiet night in with a friend, I made a pumpkin dinner. We set an extra plate for our ancestors and everyone we love who went to the other side before us. We invited them to sit down with us and showed them they are not forgotten and never will be… and we listened to them.
Now I have also been busy doing the Tarot Reading orders and if you have ordered you will have received it by now. I hope the reading is of comfort, guidance and inspiration to you, may it bring you clarity. I am so grateful for being of service in this way and I am grateful for your trust and your support.
Now for me it is still Samhain as traditionally this festival celebrates the Celtic New Year, the end of the harvest. The day is now celebrated on October 31st to align with the Christian All Saint’s Day. In Celtic times this festival probably lasted more than one day and it is said that it started on the night of the Full Moon at the end of October and ended on the following New Moon. Observing Halloween/Samhain as a Pagan festival period, it becomes detached from Christian interference. The rebirth of the New Moon at the end of cycle reminds us that death and dying are merely transitory states and that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed.
This time of year has always been my favorite as I have always had a pull to and connection with the other world. I have always been drawn to the darker times and to magick and silence. I feel at home in this energy, it makes sense to me. These darker days of dying somehow feel comforting and peaceful. Knowing that we are all part of this rich dance of life, whether dead or alive.
In our modern world, it is said that one of the biggest fears we carry is our own death. That is why we fear so much in our lives, deep down we fear living, because we know we will die. This is why we fear change, speaking our truth, challenging the status quo. We fear being ourselves, because we have a deep rooted fear of being punished by death for truly living. So we keep silent, our head down and hidden. Hiding from our greatest power, our will to live, to truly live. Our mortality often stifles us. And yet when we are asked the questions what we would do if we only had a few days left, we are suddenly filled with inspiration and a zest for adventure.
Also we fear death because we are afraid we will be forgotten, we will not be immortal (unless you are a vampire ;-)) and this is for a large part because we often don’t have any rituals around death anymore in this day and age (well in our/my part of the (modern) world). So those of us left behind often feel lost and have no place to find solace with our grief and memories of those we have had to part with.
Halloween, Samhain, Day of the Dead, All Souls, any of these days can be part of this ritual of remembrance. Death is part of life and should not be feared as it is part of the cycle of life and is not the end. Now this time of year Death is all around us as Mother Earth is withdrawing her abundance and animals begin their hibernation in order to be reborn in Springtime. Nature is always a great source of inspiration when it comes to the ebbs and flows of life.
Now Death brings with it grief, a letting go, a sense of deep missing and longing for a time that has passed. Ever since my parents and many other people I have loved passed away, grief has etched it’s mark in my heart. It has changed me. It has been one of my greatest teachers as it has opened me up to even more love and a deeper acceptance of life. It has taught me compassion and patience. It has taught me to let emotions wash through me and not hold so tight. It has helped me accept what is and it has made me stronger. It has made my heart stronger. And it has made me embrace death as an integral part of life.
We are now moving into the darker days A good practice is to keep a candle burning during the dark hours between then Full Moon and the New Moon (Samhain). Meditate upon the flame each night and leave quartz and jars of water outside during the entire period.
And these darker days are very beneficial time for Shadow work. I have always felt a connection with darkness, as in the dark our senses are heightened and we can see more clearly.
Shadow work is about healing, bringing to awareness what is hurting us, forgiving, letting go and freeing ourselves and consciously making other choices and reframing that what has passed. Accepting who we are and where we come from instead of stuffing it away. Making choices that reflect our highest good instead of reflecting socialization. We as adults are responsible on how we move forward. We can’t blame our lineage, our upbringing forever. Look those demons in the eye and break the spell. Break the cycle and move on. You are living, now make the best of it. You can’t fully embrace who you are until you embrace your darkness and accept it. Give yourself permission to let things go. Honor your light, and your dark.
This time we are living in there are many reasons to be upset and grieving. Now let this be your fuel to transform this energy into something much better. Channel your pain in a healthy way such as creative writing, intuitive painting, dancing, singing, whatever makes you come alive. Be bold and brave and don’t let your shadow keep you small. Rise and move forward. Heal.
LIVE.
I am leaving you with this Kundalini Yoga meditation
Kirtan Kriya (Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation) – a meditation to balance the individual psyche
This meditation brings a total mental balance to the individual psyche. It helps to reorient the mind and prepare it for transformational change. Using the meditation is also believed to bring profound physical, mental and spiritual benefits.Vibrating on each fingertip alternates the electrical polarities. The index and ring fingers are electrically negative, relative to the other fingers. This causes a balance in the electromagnetic projection of the aura. Practicing this meditation is both a science and an art. It is an art in the way it molds consciousness and in the refinement of sensation and insight it produces. It is a science in the tested certainty of the results each technique produces.
Meditations have coded actions to their reactions in the psyche. But because Kirtan Kriya is effective and exact, it can also lead to problems if not done properly.
Yogi Bhajan said at Winter Solstice 1972 that a person who wears pure white and meditates on this sound current for 2-1/2 hours a day for one year, will know the unknowable and see the unsee-able. Through this constant practice, the mind awakens to the infinite capacity of the soul for sacrifice, service, and creation.
Posture: Sit straight in Easy Pose.
Eyes: Meditate at the Brow Point.
Mantra: Produce the five primal sounds (panj shabd): S, T, N, M, A, in the original word form:
SAA: Infinity, cosmos, beginning
TAA: Life, existence
NAA: Death, change, transformation
MAA: Rebirth
Each repetition of the entire mantra takes 3 to 4 seconds. This is the cycle of Creation. From the Infinite comes life and individual existence. From life comes death or change. From death comes the rebirth of consciousnes to the joy of the Infinite through which compassion leads back to life.
Mudra: This mantra can be done in many different mudras. Most common is to begin in Gyan Mudra. The elbows are straight while chanting, and the mudra changes as each fingertip touches in turn the tip of the thumb with firm pressure. Each time the mudra is closed by joining the thumb with a finger, the ego “seals” the effect of that mudra in the consciousness.
On SAA, touch the first (Jupiter) finger. Knowledge
On TAA, touch the second (Saturn) finger. Wisdom, intelligence, patience
On NAA, touch the third (Sun) finger. Vitality, energy of life
On MAA, touch the fourth (Mercury) finger. Ability to communicate
Chant in three languages of consicousness:
Human: normal or loud voice- singing (the world) – action
Lovers: strong whisper (longing to belong) – the inner mind or romantic nature of the self
Divine: mentally; silent (Infinity) – the spiritual voice
Time: Begin the kriya in a normal voice for 5 minutes; then whisper for 5 minutes; then go deep into the sound, vibrating silently for 10 minutes. Then come back to a whisper for 5 minutes, then aloud for 5 minutes. The duration of the meditation may vary, as long as the proportion of loud, whisper, silent, whisper, loud is maintained.
To End: This sequence will take 30 minutes. Follow with one 1 minute of stretching the arms over your head and spreading the fingers wide, shaking them out, circulating the energy, inhaling and exhaling 3 times. Relax.
Benefits of sa ta na ma include that it is believed to activate the higher chakras and reset the pineal and pituitary glands.
©The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan
