This one is short and sweet to commemorate this special holiday. Today, October 31st, goes by many names, but for my ancestry we’ll go with Samhain (pronounced “SAH-win” - even though I may have Scottish roots I sure as hell don’t understand Gaelic spelling lol but do appreciate the mystery). Overlapping with the three-day Christian holiday of Allhallowtide, which encompasses Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and All Soul’s Day, the focus is on the spirits of those who have left this earthly realm. Samhain also marks the Celtic new year. One of my dear friends is moving away today, which feels timely with the concept of one cycle drawing to a close so a new one can begin. The year’s harvest is complete and we are now at the exact midpoint of fall and darkness is taking over from light. The sun is getting in the back seat with the moon as our new driver. The moon, which will be entering Scorpio with a new moon tomorrow, says, “get in loser, we’re getting witchy”.
Guys, I love this time of year. It’s thrilling to me on a deep level. Blame it on my scorpio rising, but going for crisp morning walks before the sun is up and kicking up red, orange, and yellow leaves all the while is just what the doctor ordered. It feels like my roots are reawakening and starting to pull my head-in-the-clouds back down to centre. Last weekend I finally got around to harvesting marshmallow root, a task I’d meant to do for years prior. In general, now is the time to harvest our root medicines. Plants spend the spring and summer focusing their energy on growing ↑UP↑ and ←OUT→ to bloom and bud and grow. In the fall, they “die” back, but they’re very much still working! The energy focuses on the roots, coming back →IN← and ↓DOWN↓ to the core. What this means to a herbalist is that the medicinal constituents are at a higher level as they are more concentrated in the roots during this season. This part of the cycle gets less fan fare because it happens behind the scenes, but don’t get it twisted, these plants are busy. It’s their self development phase. Or maybe they’re doing deep dreamwork, who knows? They get to ground and store up energy to put the fantasy version of themselves out there come spring. And guess what? We get to do that too :~)
I've written before about the concept of “witch wounds”, and baby, they’re real. Last week, after a healing session with my new naturopath, I was prompted to dive deeper into my Icelandic heritage. Iceland’s witch history is really unique as almost all of the witches that were burned during their witch trials in the 17th century were men. To my surprise, you can find a list of names of those who were murdered and three of the men share the same last name as my Icelandic ancestors. I have to remind myself frequently that it really was not very long ago that the idea of magic was alive and well in the world. I take this season as a chance to (attempt) to come back to that. Another thing I’ve been doing to sink into the season is binging scary movies. Two standouts from this month were An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Cure (1997). Usually I am very picky with what I allow into my energy field and don’t like bringing in ~bad vibes~ but I push that aside each October in an effort to embrace the spook. I guess I love a thrill! Tonight, my plan is to double, double, toil and trouble in the kitchen by making some fire cider in my candle-lit apartment with Carrie on in the background. Not quite a witch standing over her cauldron, but close enough.
In honour of the spirit season, I want to end this newsie with an ode to my sweet cat Tibby who very recently passed through the veil to the other side. Damn, what a cat. She was featured in my catnip newsletter last year, as she really was the Catnip Queen. May everyone know a love like that of a girl and her childhood cat.
Say a prayer or light a candle for those you loved and lost or for your ancestors who paved the way for you. Or have a fire to ward off evil spirits if those happen to plague you. If there ever was a time to reach out to the spirits it would on this holy eve.