Nancy Lankston
We have arrived at Imbolc – the halfway point between winter solstice and spring equinox.
Days are lengthening, seeds are stirring, animals are birthing. Mama Earth is beginning to awaken from her long winter slumber.
Celebrate that spring is on its way.
#Imbolc
#cycles
#seasons
#WheeloftheYear
Image: Imbolc – The Maiden Awakens
by Annie Louvaine
Originally published November 1, 2017
Certain times in our lives are filled with potency and magic. Twilight is such a time, as is dawn. These are magical moments when it is neither day nor night. Birth is another potent in-between time, along with death. These special times mark borders and transition zones. The in-between is a sacred time when magic is afoot.
Here in the northern hemisphere, we find ourselves on the boundary between autumn and winter. The light is slowly fading away as our Sun drops lower and lower in the sky and our nights grow longer. This is another potent in-between time. The ancient Celtic people would celebrate Samhain (Sow-in) at this time. Some tribes chose to celebrate at the 1st new moon after late harvest (November 4th, 2021). Other tribes celebrated at the 1st full moon after harvest. The celebration of Samhain was a beautiful way to honor the seasonal transition out of the light and into the dark.
The veils between the worlds grow very thin during this sacred in-between time. Loved ones who have departed this Earth are believed to be nearby. Many people in Mexico honor this by celebrating Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at this time.
Samhain is the perfect time to acknowledge and celebrate the sacred cycles of birth – growth – death – rebirth that are an integral part of Nature.
🍁
Some suggestions for acknowledging and honoring the magical in-between time of Samhain:
Take a few moments to honor everything you have “harvested” this year.
Bow to your ancestors and thank them for giving you this life.
Offer love and prayers to loved ones who have transitioned.
Thank the brilliant light of summer and embrace the deep dark of winter.
Listen for spiritual guidance to help you in the coming year.
I am dawn’s flame
Arching through treetops
I am a whisper of wind
Playing in the weeds
I am dark loamy ground
Supporting roots and shoots
I am cool mountain waters
Tumbling toward the sea
I am holy Mother
Creating and holding you.
~Nancy L
“Shakti is the primal energy of the Universe. She is the embodiment of power and strength coursing through creation, animating and enlivening all that is.
All forms are manifestations of Shakti. She is the Great Mother. She is the source from which all the other goddesses spring. She is also the fiery solvent that sometimes, either spontaneously or in response to certain spiritual practices, flows into the soul and dissolves the boundaries of the separate self, restoring our essential unity with the Supreme Being..”
~Mirabai Starr, Wild Mercy
🌙
#RootEnergy
#PrimalForce
#SacredFeminine
Dancing Shakti Image by Tatiana Konstaninov
New moon in nurturing, watery Cancer. Time to slow down and love up yourself.
You may be feeling confused, emotional, exhausted. After all, you’re only human. The past year has been filled with so much stormy change and chaos. How could you not be affected by wave after wave of change?
Try not to think so much. Rest and regroup. Get watery. Relax in water, drink water, move like water. Remember, you ARE mostly water. Reconnect with watery, flowing ways of being.
Go with the flow of how you’re feeling. Give yourself time and space to emotionally process everything that has happened to you in the past year. Clear the decks before the next wave hits.
🌙
#yin
#watery
#moontime
Wave image by Nancy L
“Shamans live in a world where the Creator is not separate from the Creation, Heaven is not separate from Earth, and Spirit and matter infuse each other. There is no division between the body and the spirit, nor between the visible world of form and the invisible world of energy.”
~Alberto Villoldo
🌙
Image: Healer
by Susan Seddon Boulet