Sometimes We Just Need to Slow Down and Be Quiet

Oct 15, 09:59 am

The full moon is waning, the days are getting shorter , and we are quickly approaching Samhain, the Celtic new year and beginning of the darkest quarter. It is the time of dying. The time of year where the plants sink back down into the earth, the birds fly south, the animals get ready for winter. It’s a time for us to slow down and begin to take stock of the year. What did we learn, what were our big mistakes, what can we do better next time, and what can we let go of to make room for the new? (I’ve been learning that we can actually let go of way more than we realize.) What can we keep to bring forward into 2020, or finish up before the new year. Can we die a little every day too with the season, or does that scare us? Making friends with death is practiced on the shamanic path, but really it’s just a part of life. Everything dies. Everything worldly dies. This makes room for rebirth. Can we get a little more comfortable with death this fall?

ON Samhain our Celtic ancestors would walk their land with candle lit gourds to scare off unwanted spirits. It was a way to cleanse the land before winter, so that everything could rest and be fresh in the spring. I love these old customs not just because they are enjoyable to do, but because they work. People feel good when they drive up our driveway and I feel good living here. John continually remarks on how safe the wild animals feel coming here, and we enjoy their company. Cleansing rituals are important and our fast paced world doesn’t have room for that anymore.

Autumn is a time of slowness, of death and decay, of rest, and release. How can we all participate in this seasonal cycle, so that we too are renewed and fresh in the spring? I’m not one for elaborate rituals, I like ones that I can do spontaneously when ever I feel moved to do so. A simple Samhain ritual is to just sit and be quiet everyday, to acknowledge our blessings and life, and to let die what can die on the exhale of our breath. Most times the greatest medicine is the simplest, and usually it’s because we are more likely to do it. And most often all we really need is to slow down and rest for a spell. That gives the healing forces in our bodies and psyche’s time to do their magic.

I wish you all rest this fall. Deep rest and release, so that we are more able to go into those deep scary places collectively and embrace our wholeness. There is always rebirth. Always.

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