Growing Yourself in Darkness

“The woman who takes the time to grow herself in darkness becomes familiar — perhaps for the first time — with the real source and containment of her psychic strength. No longer is her strength dissipated in obeying an idealized father figure, in pleasing a lover, in trying to satisfy a perpetually unsatisfied mother figure, in accommodating to a patriarchal organization or culture, in appeasing the inner witch who tells her she is worthless. No longer is her strength lost to obeying compulsions, drives, and obsessions that can slip in during the dark night of the soul and substitute for the real thing.

“And what is the real thing, the thing for which she longs? The love affair with her own spirit, the inner marriage that commits her to her destiny, the rituals of soul that feed her deepest hunger, and the sense of being pregnant with her Self, her creative essence.”

~Jill Mellick

Finding Your Way Home

To the North within you, 
may you express the wisdom of your true self.

To the West within you, 
may you be reborn with every season.

To the South within you, 
may you hear the counsel of your heart.

To the East within you, 
may you be blessed with illumination.

To all Above that is within you, 
may you be guided be angels and divinity.

To all Below that is within you, 
may you discover the blessing of your shadow. 

To the Spirit within you, 
may you find your way home. 

~ Tanya Markul, Thug Unicorn ~

Blessings of the Dark

Today I am grateful for:
1. The dark half of the year. Time to slow down, dream, reflect, contemplate. #Darkness

2. Welsh Goddess Arianrhod. She lives in a wheel of stars at the center of the night sky. Arianrhod keeps the dead safe until it is time for them to be reborn.  #RestingPlace

3. Celtic Goddess Elen of the Ways. She is a whisper, a gentle wind in the wilderness. Elen shows us our true path.  #WayShower

4. The bone collector, a Celtic Crone Goddess who collects the bones of the dead animals all winter and sings them across the void to be reborn.  #BoneSong

5. Hindu Goddess Kali. She dances a power dance and demands we embrace our shadow.  #LookInTheDark

6. Babylonian Goddess Tiamat, the primordial power and chaos of the depths. She both creates and destroys. The early patriarchal kings claimed to have destroyed Tiamat, but we all know better.  #Primordial

7. Ancient feminine energies / archetypes of darkness. These dark goddesses hold so much wisdom and power.  #DarkWisdom

🌙

Originally posted on Facebook, 11/28/19
Image: Paris Catacombs by Nancy L

Late Winter Moon Message

There is confusion,
So much confusion
But try to breathe and trust
The green, the sprouting time
Is almost here.

This moment, this sacred moment
Is the dark just before dawn
Pregnant dark, promising dark
Luscious dark
That soon turns to light.

Breathe.
Breathe and Trust.

☾☽

Aries new moon

Dark Fire Moon

Fiery Sagittarius new moon, Mercury now direct, and Venus rising in the morning sky —> a massive influx of passionate transformational energy bombarding us now.

You can use this energy of change to explore where you want to go in the next year.  What do you truly desire going forward?

Light up your intentions now.

☾☽

#DarkFireMoon

The Dark Season

“Life’s waters flow from the darkness.
Search the darkness, don’t run from it.”

~Rumi

❤️

Now is the season of tricks and treats
When the veils between the worlds grow thin
And the ancestors walk among us.

We descend into the dark season in the north
A time to reflect, take stock,
Clear the old, make space for the new.

What do you hope for and dream of?
What do you wish to leave behind?
What will you honor with your love and care?

As within, so without
To change your world
Start with you.

❤️

Tarot Card Guidance for Halloween and The Day of the Dead:
Two of Stones (pentacles) – Challenges face you. hold your ground, honor your own needs, guard your integrity.

❤️

Traditional Ritual / Celebration Days in early November include:

November 1:  Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead –  a holiday celebrated throughout Mexico that focuses on praying for and remembering friends and family members who have died. Rituals are also done to help support the spiritual journey of the departed beyond this reality.

Nov 6:  Tiamat’s birth. Tiamat is the primordial creative force of the Cosmos, the ancient Mesopotamian mother of all the Gods. Tiamat is depicted as a Dragon Goddess who emerges from the Sea and gives birth to all the other deities. She is the  Sacred Feminine itself – fierce,  protective, loving and nurturing. Tiamat is “Ummu-Hubur, who formed all things”.

Nov 7:  Celtic Samhain Cross-Quarter Day falls on the boundary between autumn and winter halfway between autumn equinox and winter solstice (November 7th this year). The light is slowly fading away as our Sun drops lower and lower in the sky and our nights grow longer. This is a potent in-between time. 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. Samhain is  a time to acknowledge and celebrate the sacred cycles of birth – growth – death – rebirth that are an integral part of Nature.

The Goddess Hekate was also celebrated and honored in ancient Greece at this time of year. Hekate is the guardian of the gateways between the worlds. She is a wisewoman crone Goddess of the Moon and Magick who stands at the crossroads and assists with all kinds of transitions, including birth and death.

Hindu Diwali  or Festival of the Lights is also celebrated at this time of year (November 5-9 this year). This popular festival celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil. In some traditions, the Diwali night’s lights and firecrackers represent a celebratory and symbolic farewell to the departed ancestral souls.