Samhain 2021 & October 20th’s Aries Full Moon
What needs to die so we can create something new?
Samhain/Halloween 2021
Although most of the leaves here in southern Rhode Island are still green and the temperatures have been in the 70s until today, Autumn is definitely here in New England. And believe it or not, in two weeks we once again turn the Wheel of the Year to Samhain – the days of the Dead.
While
we celebrate Samhain on October 31st
– November 1st,
astrologically it has moved to November
7th,
when the Sun is at 15* Scorpio, the power gate of Scorpio. So the
whole week is a celebration of the Day of the Dead, All Saint’s
Day, All Souls Day and Samhain. The
Sabian symbol for 15* Scorpio is about developing the higher
mental ability to
imagine future-oriented growth. That includes beyond death!
As the light grows dimmer here in the North, the days of springtime are arriving down South. And they’re celebrating Beltane instead of Samhain and letting the Faerie Folk come visit through the veil to bring fertility back to the land.
Here in the North, the veil thins and Herne the Hunter with his pack of belling hounds will give chase across the sky as the souls of this year’s departed are gathered so they can cross through the veil of Death.
As we face the death of the year, and all the deaths after the last two years, death is very much on our minds. This is the seat of people's deepest fears. The truth is most people are afraid of death. Even if you don’t subscribe to a religious belief anymore, those beliefs are rooted in the DNA we inherited from our ancestors. And they were told to be afraid of Death!
Since Covid, death has become a conscious companion, one most people want to ignore until the last moment. Sort of how we are ignoring the environmental crisis until the very last minute. But don Juan’s advise to Carlos Castaneda, ‘Take death as your advisor’ is an idea that helps us make the right decisions for our lives.
Samhain is a great time to reflect on our beliefs about death as we enter the season of death. Astrologically, we are approaching the end of a 20-month cycle of lunar nodes in Gemini/Sagittarius which has pointed us in the direction of examining our beliefs, shedding those limiting beliefs that no longer serve life. This leaves us open to new ideas and new beliefs.
During these last few month of this lunar node cycle, we are challenged to face our beliefs about death, during the time of greatest darkness here in the North. The other astrological indicator forcing us to face our fears is the big aspect of 2021 – the Saturn square to Uranus. This is a challenge of old vs new. Saturn is the archetype of 3D reality while Uranus opens us to unseen alternative realities. Saturn represents fear while Uranus symbolize freedom and awakening.
So what do we have to awaken to that will diminish the fear everyone is feeling?
We can begin by examining our relationship to death and to change. For our fear is not only about our physical death but also about the death of old societal structures that no longer serve the common good.
What are our beliefs about Death? Lets quickly explore what the majority of people in the world believe about death. While this certainly doesn’t represent everyone’s beliefs, these beliefs form a collective cellular memory that is lodged in the Collective Unconscious/World Soul and our individual DNA.
Christianity has affected so much of the world. And its teaching about death is cruel. (And so opposed to what Jesus’ death proclaimed – that death is nothing to fear because the soul lives on.) Christianity has taught that we are sinners and so most probably we’ll go to either Hell or Purgatory when we die. Which basically means, we are bound to burn in a fiery place – either for a while or for eternity. Not many people make it to Heaven, so can you blame people for not wanting to die? Death is pain and suffering, and we get enough of that here in this world.
So we could say, the fear of death comes from an old belief that sits in our unconscious and rules our emotions around death. It’s so telling that our patriarchal religions teach this fear of death and yet patriarchy has killed millions of people through the last 5000 years of its power. Patriarchy has caught us up in a paradox: with its fear of death it creates more death through domination and control. It seems that patriarchy has become a death culture since it’s killing a lot of people, animals and plants as its’ poisons – ideas, chemicals, wars – kill Mother Earth and her children.
Judaism is much kinder. It believes in an afterlife where you re-connect with loved ones. But you don’t necessarily stay in ‘heaven’ – you come back in a body again when the Messiah comes and reigns on Earth. So you might have to wait awhile to come back.
In Islam, people are commanded to follow Allah’s laws and will be judged after death on their behavior during a life of trials. Then they will be sent to either paradise or hell depending on their good or bad behavior during life. Another fiery ending depending on what kind of life you’ve lived.
Reincarnation
I don’t know a lot about individual Eastern beliefs, but many eastern religions believe in Reincarnation, giving people the responsibility to do good, so their future lives are good. Many Native American tribes believed in Reincarnation and so were not afraid of death. A Lakota Sioux prayer ended with the phrase, ‘It is a good day to die’ showing a warrior’s determination to give his life for a good cause.
And the Celtic people were not afraid of death, believing in the transmigration of souls or reincarnation. There are hints of the idea of reincarnation in early Christianity (the Gnostics) and the New Testament, but once the Roman empire became entangled with the Church, it denied this belief so the authorities/ patriarchs could better control people who thought this life was their only lifetime to achieve salvation. (btw, what kind of god creates bad children?)
The Wheel of the Year
As we see from the Wheel of the Year, Mother Earth has lessons about life to teach us. She teaches us that both life and death are a natural part of the life cycle, and so death is not to be feared. When people die, their souls survive and move through other worlds, choosing to reincarnate here or perhaps in another world. Just as the trees lose their leaves in Autumn and grow them again in Spring, so does each soul incarnate to live out its own unique experience. When our life is over, our souls reflect on lessons learned and purposes fulfilled. We meet with our fellow souls, reuniting with loved ones.
This belief that death is just another aspect of life implies that we need to give Death the respect it is due. We honor our dead by remembering and celebrating their lives.
The Gemini/Sagittarius lunar nodes invited us to let go of old beliefs, so we could find some new ones to base our lives on. Have you done that these past few years?
A new belief could be that death is a birth into a new life of greater consciousness, one in which our Soul remembers who it is and why it came to Earth. A place of peace and rest and learning. A paradise? Maybe.
Ancestral Healing Spirits
This Samhain we have many, many souls to mourn and celebrate and send on their way through the veils. Beloved family and friends – my older brother Brad, who died of complications from Covid, was a warm, kind, charismatic man who died before we wanted to let him go. A beautiful, sweet troubled young woman who was too sensitive for this world. And so many others.
There are also millions of souls who have died from Covid, war, famine and other cruelties of our capitalistic, militaristic world that we don’t know personally. There are also the billions of species – plants and animals – who have died because of human caused climate change in fires, floods, heat, cold and extreme weather.
We are all connected, and as so many humans and other species die, we are left with holes in our web of connection. When we create rituals to honor Earth’s seasons, we can consciously repair those holes. So this Samhain, let your light shine out into the growing darkness and let’s begin to repair those broken connections with others who have suffered loss.
Ancestor Spirits
Samhain is also a great time to connect with the Ancestors – both our personal ones and those parts of our soul which have knowledge from other lifetimes. This wisdom can help patch those holes and make us stronger.
Use this next season, from Samhain to Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the Light, to think about what beliefs and ideals no longer serve you. And then let them go with gratitude for what they gave you in the past. It’s time to make some changes.
Women are better at releasing and changing because our bodies do it every month during our fertile years. So we women are especially being called to help people and souls release themselves from energies that no longer serve us.
The Divine Feminine always emerges to birth new life, a new epoch, a new world.
Aries/Libra Full Moon: October 20, 2021
'Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.'
Carl G. Jung
With the arrival of Samhain, the dying of the light before its rebirth, we begin to shed our old skins. To go into the darkness and wait for the mystery to manifest.
But this week’s Aries Full Moon is a call to begin to put ourselves out into the world in new ways. A new beginning and an ending. A paradox.
What makes this Aries/Libra Full Moon so potent is its connection to Pluto in Capricorn and Eris in Aries. Both these dwarf planets stand for transformation – Pluto, the transformation of society and Eris, the more intimate transformation that calls us to stand up and follow our hearts.
The Aries Moon is conjunct Eris, the warrioress who causes discord if we refuse to follow our hearts. This Aries Full Moon demands action, since Aries, as the initial impulsive fire of life, wants to move and shake things up. Aries is the energy of new beginnings (once again the paradox of endings and beginnings). It can push us to make necessary changes in our lives, or it can make us impulsive and angry. If you make conscious choices now about what you want the future to look like, this Full Moon can help you begin to bring your intentions into reality. (Although be patient! The new world isn't here for a few more years. This is the time to test and hone your skills.)
With the Sun in Libra opposite this Aries Full Moon, we reach a culmination and fulfillment of those seeds we planted at the October 6th New Moon at 13*25’ Libra. That same day, Pluto turned direct and is now heading to its own American Pluto return on February 20, 2022. (2.20.2022) This Full Moon squares Pluto in Capricorn, ensuring that we take into consideration the big cultural changes that Pluto in Capricorn has engendered since 2008.
The Balance of Feminine & Masculine Energies
The Libra Sun concerns the Other, how we relate to other people in a fair and balanced way. We often say Libra is about our relationships -- and it is. But it's about more than romantic relationships. Libra is the lesson that teaches us how to treat another person or the world in a respectful way. With Aries Moon concerned with our own self-identity, this Full Moon each year always has us readjusting our relationships - I/Thou relationship. This year is especially intense since Mars joins the Libra Sun while Eris joins the Aries Moon. Our instinctual response (the Moon) is shaped by the intensity of Eris to do the right thing for our hearts, while Mars is challenged to act on that inner knowing.
Mars joined the Libra Sun a few days after the Libra New Moon and while the Sun is moving away from Mars, it is still energetically connected to the planet of action, desire, will and courage. And Mars ‘rules’ the Aries Moon, so our need to make things happen is tempered by a more balanced Mars. Hopefully, it's energy can make us more aware of other people’s needs, and give us the ability to balance our needs with those of the Other.
Both Mercury and Jupiter turned direct on October 18th, so their energy is strong as they slow down and change direction. Jupiter forms good aspects to this Full Moon, encouraging visions and possibilities of future connections (Aquarius).
Mercury in Libra is opened to opportunities to see our heart’s truth by Venus, the ruler of Libra, who is in Sagittarius now. These two planets form a YOD with Uranus in Taurus, another Venus-ruled sign. Yods are called ‘the finger of God’ or ‘the sword in the stone’. It is an aspect of powerful adjustments. I read this YOD as a commitment to listen to the Earth and our body (Uranus in Taurus) to find our truth (Venus in Sagittarius) and to communicate (Mercury in Libra) it to the people we are in relationship with.
Another way to say this is: Are we willing to make the necessary 'adjustments' to change our value systems? Taurus is the sign where we determine what we find valuable as well as what our VALUES are. Uranus in Taurus wakes us up to the truth that if we want to heal the planet and heal ourselves, we have to re-connect to Mother Earth's biosphere and live by her values. The plants and animals are our teachers for these lessons. Our body transmits our electromagnetic field to the rest of nature. Uranus says 'your body is your tuning fork'.
So this Aries Full Moon is a new beginning, an opening for us to change our ways and do things differently. Then we can spend the Samhain season figuring out what needs to be shed, laying the dead to rest so that new life can emerge for ourselves and our society.
I just listened to an interesting talk by the German astrologer, Alexander von Schlieffen, on the astrology of the next few years until 2026. We’re definitely not out of the woods yet, but in these coming years, the outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – will be revising and reworking our society. Hopefully we’ll each have a part to play, if only to bring down the corporate control of our world by turning away from conspicuous consumption for a simpler, peaceful, more creative life. When people have time to be creative, they do not turn to useless entertainment to fill their time.
“The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes.” Friedrich Nietzsche.
So, let us release what no longer serves a fuller, deeper, more creative life.
Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet Again!
Cathy
The Peace of Wild Things
When
despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the
least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may
be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his
beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the
peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with
forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still
water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for
their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am
free.
~ Wendell Berry ~
(The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry)
