It’s almost Halloween, darlings – the greatest time of the year! (…Arguably, I guess.) And as much as I love the many aspects of our modern spin on Halloween in all its festivities and trappings, I love the deep, provocative, and pivotal energies of Samhain and what it represents even more – honoring the passing of the old, celebrating the past year’s harvest, honoring the ancestors, dancing within the liminal spaces that lay wide open for profound transformation and empowerment, as bittersweet as they can be.
It’s because of that love, and my passion for sacred ceremony and living life aligned with the cycles of the seasons, that I decided it was time for some astrological real talk.
It’s because of that love, and my passion for sacred ceremony and living life aligned with the cycles of the seasons, that I decided it was time for some astrological real talk.
If you’re like me and a) love the Halloween/Samhain time of year and b) want to take your ritual practice deeper, bringing even more powerful energies for spiritual connection, healing, and whole-self transformation into that sacred space, having a more comprehensive understanding of the seasonal shifts and dance of the Sun-Moon cycle is a crucial part of experiencing these heightened states of awareness. It’s here that we raise energy and weave more conscious magick into being, feeling our communion with the All – an experience that brings a greater sense of wholeness and empowerment no matter the deviations in our belief systems.
The Halloween/Samhain Mashup, and the Cognitive Dissonance of the Gregorian Calendar
As a Hygge-loving ski fanatic of a Winter Solstice baby who's forever enamored with the hushed stillness and sparkling sweetness of winter, it’s taken me nearly thirty-seven years to realize and admit that in some ways, I love what I’ve taken to calling “Falloween” even more.
But a tried and true Scorpio Rising, I am and will always be – not so much in having a fascination with “scary things” and horror, but in seeking and reveling in all things…mysterious. Numinous. Intense. The night in all its soothing darkness, while the majority of the world lies sleeping and my thoughts are free to roam as they will without the constant distraction of messy energies and the goings-on of the “Muggle World”. Ah, the wondrous “Thin Veil” half of the day - where anything and everything between the worlds (and within ourselves) is more accessible and easy to understand for beings like me.
But a tried and true Scorpio Rising, I am and will always be – not so much in having a fascination with “scary things” and horror, but in seeking and reveling in all things…mysterious. Numinous. Intense. The night in all its soothing darkness, while the majority of the world lies sleeping and my thoughts are free to roam as they will without the constant distraction of messy energies and the goings-on of the “Muggle World”. Ah, the wondrous “Thin Veil” half of the day - where anything and everything between the worlds (and within ourselves) is more accessible and easy to understand for beings like me.
Photo by Jennifer Elen Brid 2020 The Scorpio archetype: that which must be felt rather than seen outright, unraveling the layers of any given thing to discover what lies hidden beneath illusions wrapped up in the physical world. And when channeled maturely, these forays bring incredible insights, empowerment, and transfiguration.
This lens through which I experience life gives me the predisposition to dig deeply to uncover what lies below so it can be faced, transmuted, and released; and then, I rise, transformed as physical and spiritual being while I set off on the spiral dance quest to assist others in doing the same in one-on-one energetic healing work and intuitive/psychic issue clearing sessions.
A part of that cosmological orientation towards life, then, includes being completely enraptured by all things Halloween, and this liminal time that puts us in touch with its energies. This time of year that holds such intrigue for so many, and serves to bring us deep within to commune with Mystery in all its forms – the glow of pumpkins and scary stories, and costumed fun and trickery followed by treats on an autumn eve. The night seems to wrap around us like a starry blanket, carrying us across the threshold of the Dark Half of the year.
This lens through which I experience life gives me the predisposition to dig deeply to uncover what lies below so it can be faced, transmuted, and released; and then, I rise, transformed as physical and spiritual being while I set off on the spiral dance quest to assist others in doing the same in one-on-one energetic healing work and intuitive/psychic issue clearing sessions.
A part of that cosmological orientation towards life, then, includes being completely enraptured by all things Halloween, and this liminal time that puts us in touch with its energies. This time of year that holds such intrigue for so many, and serves to bring us deep within to commune with Mystery in all its forms – the glow of pumpkins and scary stories, and costumed fun and trickery followed by treats on an autumn eve. The night seems to wrap around us like a starry blanket, carrying us across the threshold of the Dark Half of the year.
But for as much as I love deep autumn and Scorpio season – and I will keep celebrating Halloween as a holiday at least somewhat separate from the cross-quarter holiday of Samhain for the fun of it – there’s something that’s become increasingly sad and uncomfortable for me since I began studying astrology. And that is the fact that our collective celebration of Halloween in the Northern Hemisphere on October 31 doesn’t line up with true seasonal Samhain.
As an empath with a big love for the cycles of time and seasonal shifting/alignments, and someone who takes "getting it right" very seriously, not only do I see the cyclic mismatch “on paper,” but I feel the off-ness of the dates not being aligned. It’s…uncomfortable at best, creating quite the cognitive dissonance and making me want to shout my astrological nerdings from the rooftops.
I find myself asking who threw off our scent from the natural cyclic unfolding of things, these precise moments of alignment that so powerfully connect us to Life unfolding around us, the Earth, ourselves, and why? What would be the purpose for such a thing? How can being so disconnected and out of touch with the cycles of life around us have taken over, when our ancestors lived in deeper alignment with the Earth, her seasons, and the energies/needs/drives and desires arising therein?
Technological advances. Perhaps ulterior motives from those in positions of power who sought to control the people by throwing off their sense of time and demonizing anything more consciously Earth-connected, like Pagan rituals, as “not being of God”, when it was never really about God anyway – it was about control.
I have deeper thoughts on this, but I digress. The point is, we can reclaim the power of these cycles by doing a little research, tuning back in to the cycles of the season on this beautiful planet, and using our intuition to guide us in what feels most "on" for us.
As an empath with a big love for the cycles of time and seasonal shifting/alignments, and someone who takes "getting it right" very seriously, not only do I see the cyclic mismatch “on paper,” but I feel the off-ness of the dates not being aligned. It’s…uncomfortable at best, creating quite the cognitive dissonance and making me want to shout my astrological nerdings from the rooftops.
I find myself asking who threw off our scent from the natural cyclic unfolding of things, these precise moments of alignment that so powerfully connect us to Life unfolding around us, the Earth, ourselves, and why? What would be the purpose for such a thing? How can being so disconnected and out of touch with the cycles of life around us have taken over, when our ancestors lived in deeper alignment with the Earth, her seasons, and the energies/needs/drives and desires arising therein?
Technological advances. Perhaps ulterior motives from those in positions of power who sought to control the people by throwing off their sense of time and demonizing anything more consciously Earth-connected, like Pagan rituals, as “not being of God”, when it was never really about God anyway – it was about control.
I have deeper thoughts on this, but I digress. The point is, we can reclaim the power of these cycles by doing a little research, tuning back in to the cycles of the season on this beautiful planet, and using our intuition to guide us in what feels most "on" for us.
Astrology and Time Cycles
Cosmic Tree of Life by Keri Phillips Art on DeviantArt If you’ve read this far, great, and congrats! I’d be lying if I said the academically heavier stuff wasn’t next, but hang in there – it’ll be worth it (I promise), and I’ll do my best to speak it in English.
Though astrology seems to be something abstract and “out there,” it’s actually quite terrestrial. The energetic frequencies we receive on Earth might originate from the cosmos, but astrology is the art and science of understanding how those frequencies affect the ever-changing circumstances on the planet now.
Astrology is Earth-based, perspective-based. We find ourselves in alignment with celestial frequencies emitted by the planets, and as those planetary frequencies converge (harmonics, music!...just music that we can’t hear with our physical ears unless you find a sweet NASA recording that’s converted them to within the range of human hearing, like this one), we move through the issues that come up annually, plus the changes happening daily. The continuous ticking of the planetary clocks, seemingly driven by some mind-blowingly precise spiritual source is so “to the minute” and spooky-uncanny when it comes to anything and everything that it makes even the most experienced astrologers' heads spin when the data on the page aligns just so with what’s happening around them.
As Above, So Below; As Below, So Above.
There’s no way, then, that there wouldn’t be great power in cultivating an awareness of the moments of true seasonal shift and aligning our awareness with it as opposed to taking the easy route and simply “going with the flow” of societally-decided holidays like Samhain/Halloween only.
Though astrology seems to be something abstract and “out there,” it’s actually quite terrestrial. The energetic frequencies we receive on Earth might originate from the cosmos, but astrology is the art and science of understanding how those frequencies affect the ever-changing circumstances on the planet now.
Astrology is Earth-based, perspective-based. We find ourselves in alignment with celestial frequencies emitted by the planets, and as those planetary frequencies converge (harmonics, music!...just music that we can’t hear with our physical ears unless you find a sweet NASA recording that’s converted them to within the range of human hearing, like this one), we move through the issues that come up annually, plus the changes happening daily. The continuous ticking of the planetary clocks, seemingly driven by some mind-blowingly precise spiritual source is so “to the minute” and spooky-uncanny when it comes to anything and everything that it makes even the most experienced astrologers' heads spin when the data on the page aligns just so with what’s happening around them.
As Above, So Below; As Below, So Above.
There’s no way, then, that there wouldn’t be great power in cultivating an awareness of the moments of true seasonal shift and aligning our awareness with it as opposed to taking the easy route and simply “going with the flow” of societally-decided holidays like Samhain/Halloween only.
The Seasons
The twelve signs of the Western astrological Zodiac are born of the seasons. The Mesopotamian founders of what has evolved into Western astrology devised the sign designations and divisions that we use today. This system of equal division gives us a balanced framework within which to mark time, putting us in touch with the changing energies of life around us and within us for those who choose to seek and integrate this knowledge consciously. We begin with the Sun’s ingress into Aries at the Spring Equinox, traveling through the cycle of waxing and waning energies to the Sun’s ingress into Pisces as the twelfth and final sign, then back to the fiery “Big Bang” energy of Aries once more.
An interesting point to make is that, though the Western astrological system places the “new year” at the Spring Equinox, other systems do not. The Celts viewed Samhain as the new year – born out of the death of the old and subsequent darkness while the year is still waning – while others see the Winter Solstice/Yule as the true point of annual new beginnings. Yet another way to divide time for those who go by the Celtic Lunar Calendar – celebrating only the four Celtic Fire Festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh, and Imbolc – is to observe the new year at Imbolc, the festival out of the four that’s most aligned with the new moon's energies.
An interesting point to make is that, though the Western astrological system places the “new year” at the Spring Equinox, other systems do not. The Celts viewed Samhain as the new year – born out of the death of the old and subsequent darkness while the year is still waning – while others see the Winter Solstice/Yule as the true point of annual new beginnings. Yet another way to divide time for those who go by the Celtic Lunar Calendar – celebrating only the four Celtic Fire Festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh, and Imbolc – is to observe the new year at Imbolc, the festival out of the four that’s most aligned with the new moon's energies.
The Wheel of the Year
Celtic Wheel of the Year, via Glastonbury Dragons The Wheel of the Year can be perceived as revolving solely around the apparent motion of the Sun. There are those who view both the quarter and cross-quarter holidays this way, and those who do not.
Before diving into that, I’ll say that I’ve spent time exploring the energetic resonance of various possibilities within different seasonal calendar systems. From both an intellectual and spiritual point view, I feel each has their own qualities and merits depending on each person’s paradigms. This exploration of marking time continues to be an ever-evolving exploration for me, just recently having gained even more knowledge of ways to observe the cross-quarter points in this excellent presentation by Serena Roney Dougal, an expert on the Celtic Lunar Calendar.
Cutting the Cross-Quarter Pie – Solar, Solar-Lunar, and Everything In Between
If we take the purely Solar approach, the exact date and time for Samhain this year is late afternoon on November 6 (U.S. time) through November 7. This is when the Sun arrives at 15 degrees Scorpio, the moment of cross-quarter exactitude.
However, we do not exist in a space where the Sun alone holds the power keys to influence our lives. In addition to the movement of all planets and other heavenly bodies, energies emitted from stars, etc., the Sun and Moon are perpetually linked with one another. And though it’s true that the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, it is her light and influence - her perpetual waxing, waning, birth and death and rebirth - that holds most powerful sway over our emotions, daily points of focus, and the ticking of the linear time clock in all its manifestations down to the minute on her travels through the Zodiac each month.
Though other influences certainly play a role, the Moon continuously unconsciously influences our choices and the outcomes of everything.
She who swells and pulls the tides back from their love affair with the shore; She who is the outward heavenly embodiment of the sacred feminine mysteries as we experience them in these raw and precious bodies. She whose light brings lunacy, illumination, culmination, yet luminous soothing healing when we moonbathe, basking in her glow at the full moon phase to heal, balance, and ward off our crazies.
It is for this reason that I align my celebrations of Samhain and each of the cross-quarter points with the cycles of the moon.
However, we do not exist in a space where the Sun alone holds the power keys to influence our lives. In addition to the movement of all planets and other heavenly bodies, energies emitted from stars, etc., the Sun and Moon are perpetually linked with one another. And though it’s true that the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, it is her light and influence - her perpetual waxing, waning, birth and death and rebirth - that holds most powerful sway over our emotions, daily points of focus, and the ticking of the linear time clock in all its manifestations down to the minute on her travels through the Zodiac each month.
Though other influences certainly play a role, the Moon continuously unconsciously influences our choices and the outcomes of everything.
She who swells and pulls the tides back from their love affair with the shore; She who is the outward heavenly embodiment of the sacred feminine mysteries as we experience them in these raw and precious bodies. She whose light brings lunacy, illumination, culmination, yet luminous soothing healing when we moonbathe, basking in her glow at the full moon phase to heal, balance, and ward off our crazies.
It is for this reason that I align my celebrations of Samhain and each of the cross-quarter points with the cycles of the moon.
Solar-Lunar Samhain and the Celtic Lunar Calendar
If we view time within the framework of the Celtic Lunar Calendar and observe the Celtic Fire Festivals either on their own or in tandem with the quarter points of the solstices and equinoxes, then aligning our observances with key moments in the lunar cycle is of the utmost importance. The Celts were a lunar society that worshipped the Goddess, understanding the interconnectedness of all life and the sacred role of the Divine Feminine – and the land and her sovereignty, too – in all ways.
Through this lens, we would align our Samhain celebrations in at least one of two ways (dates vary year to year):
The first, to the best of my current understanding, is in alignment with Goddess traditions of celebrating ritual in alignment with the new and full moons, depending on the holy day. The second is a method of aligning even more fully with the waning energies of the year – the last quarter moon, as the sun sets, during Scorpio season.
Through this lens, we would align our Samhain celebrations in at least one of two ways (dates vary year to year):
- The annual Scorpio New Moon (lunar Samhain, akin to Lunar Beltaine, which sits opposite it on the Wheel of the Year), happening November 15, 2020, at 12:07 AM EST (23 degrees)
- The annual 4th Quarter Moon in Leo each November, at nightfall, happening November 8, 2020 at 8:45 AM EST (16 degrees)
The first, to the best of my current understanding, is in alignment with Goddess traditions of celebrating ritual in alignment with the new and full moons, depending on the holy day. The second is a method of aligning even more fully with the waning energies of the year – the last quarter moon, as the sun sets, during Scorpio season.
One of the more fascinating and beautiful things about astrology and divisions of time within it – as well as different methods for analyzing time cycles and personal evolution within the birth chart in working with clients – is having the chance to explore different divisions of time to see what is revealed therein. Just as there are different ways to divide the sections of the birth chart where different parts of inner and outer life experiences unfold, we can, and should, do the same with other methods of analysis.
It matters not if we choose to use astrological systems such as Vedic or Chinese astrology, Tropical or Sidereal astrology, or ways to mark time within the changing of the seasons – there are infinite ways to explore time, like a kaleidoscope of perspectives that each shine their own constellations of Light and insights for those who seek them. Different systems will resonate with each person differently, and that's as it should be - hence the existence of so many!
We each need to follow what feels right for us, for we are each as infinite as the myriad of astrological influences that express themselves through us. Like snowflakes, no two birth charts are alike. By honoring our uniqueness and individual energetic blueprints, we honor the whole, stewarding what we came here to steward for fulfilling our purpose on Earth.
It matters not if we choose to use astrological systems such as Vedic or Chinese astrology, Tropical or Sidereal astrology, or ways to mark time within the changing of the seasons – there are infinite ways to explore time, like a kaleidoscope of perspectives that each shine their own constellations of Light and insights for those who seek them. Different systems will resonate with each person differently, and that's as it should be - hence the existence of so many!
We each need to follow what feels right for us, for we are each as infinite as the myriad of astrological influences that express themselves through us. Like snowflakes, no two birth charts are alike. By honoring our uniqueness and individual energetic blueprints, we honor the whole, stewarding what we came here to steward for fulfilling our purpose on Earth.
That Said, There’s One More Still…!
There’s yet another possible way I intend to explore when it comes to Samhain (and conversely, Beltaine on the opposite end of the spectrum). If we look at the Wheel of the Year as representative of the Sun-Moon cycle, Samhain would then be observed at the Balsamic Moon on November 11 (6:26 PM EST, 4 degrees Libra). In theory, this system works if we view the Winter Solstice as the new year, but it is theory – one that I plan to explore the energies of this November.
Though I’ve gone on about “right alignment” when it comes to celebrating Samhain, as you can see, when you get down to it, within the timeframe of “rightness,” there actually isn’t just one “right” day and time for celebration. That’s the riddle of it, and the profound beauty of it, too - another piece of The Cosmic Joke in action, perhaps. “Right” is a ballpark, and a critically important one. But within that, we get to explore, play, and uncover the mysteries of the Multiverse for ourselves, and perhaps most importantly, within ourselves, as we are God/Goddess ever-evolving on these journeys through the Cosmos.
That is my humble offering, and perhaps for some of you, will bring a new beginning in your perceptions of the unfolding story of Earth and your own life story – a miraculous cocreative tapestry in which you play an inextricable part.
Play on, Dear Hearts, and let me know what you find along the way!
That is my humble offering, and perhaps for some of you, will bring a new beginning in your perceptions of the unfolding story of Earth and your own life story – a miraculous cocreative tapestry in which you play an inextricable part.
Play on, Dear Hearts, and let me know what you find along the way!
© Jennifer Elen Brid, 2020. Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to this writer with appropriate and specific direction to the document containing the original content.
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If you feel called to receive more support and guidance through one-on-one healing modalities to experience greater healing, peace, clarity, and joy via holistic and spiritual modalities - energetic healing, intuitive/psychic issue clearing, astrological consultations, card readings, and more - it's an honor and a joy to hold space for personal healing in this way.
Please email jhowell1221@gmail.com or call (906) 399-6326 to schedule.
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Jennifer Elen Bríd
(Jennifer Howell)
Wayshower~Healer~Astrological Intuitive~Ceremonialist~Soundweaver
On the Druid's Path
jhowell1221@gmail.com ~ (906) 399-6326
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Jennifer Elen Bríd
(Jennifer Howell)
Wayshower~Healer~Astrological Intuitive~Ceremonialist~Soundweaver
On the Druid's Path
jhowell1221@gmail.com ~ (906) 399-6326
On Facebook @ Jennifer Elen Bríd
On Instagram @ Jennifer_Elen_Bríd
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