Samhain 2022

This time of year so much comes into focus for me. While I find summer overwhelming to my senses, the fall is a welcome environment of crispness, leaves floating to the ground, and trees shedding leaves to don their winter coats. 

This shedding is resonant in me this year. I find myself wanting to clean things up, let go of drains on my capacity, and to rest in the simple. Paradoxically, life often doesn’t provide us with simple. Complexity is rooted in our biology. The dance of life is embracement of ease and complexity. 

During fall, the outside world becomes more quiet and simple to the eye, allowing nuance and subtlety to take centerstage. The leaves settle and the veil lifts to another layer of life which may be challenging to tap into at other times. This dance never ends…and pushing against it, well that just feels futile. 

Next week with the arrival of Halloween, Samhain, All Saint's Day, Dia de Los Muertos, the season of Spirit has arrived. To me, this time of year feels like returning home, with my friends and companions waiting for me in fullness. Yes spirit is available anytime of year, but the larger energy of the season lessens the drag between the worlds. The outside world is quieter and therefore it is easier to perceive the glimmers of the spirit world. 

I invite you into this world. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or effortful. Have an ancestor (which includes non-family members and pets) you care to honor? Light a candle for them and play their favorite song or lay out an offering of their favorite food. Feel a connection to a great Spiritual energy - Christ, Buddha, Kwan Yin, the Burning Bush, the Wailing Wall, the prophets, the Archangels, the Great Spirit, Source, Creator, the Stars, Curiosity, Inspiration - call in the energy to surround you and support you as you go about your day. Thank a tree, say hello to a squirrel, light a fire, soak in some water - and perceive the spirit of these beings. And all the while, notice how you feel, how your mind responds, what arises for you…and then welcome what arises. Simple and deeply complex. 

Being a person that carries Spirit we long to connect with Spirit. We are forces that gravitate to each other. This can feel so lonely in a world that limits the definition of Spirit and expects being spiritual to look and be a certain way. 

But there is no one way. For every being on the planet inhabits a unique expression of Spirit in our world. We are each unique. And we are each so similar.  Not one way. Many ways. And my hope and wish for you this season is for you to find those Spirits  you gravitate towards and that they nourish you and companion you, deeply reminding you, you are never alone. 

Blessings, 

Valerie