FIRE

SAMHAIN DATES

Greater Sabbat Fire Festival

Cross Quarter Festival ~ Cross Quarter between Autumn Equinox & Winter Solstice

All Hallows Eve 31st October

Souls Day 1st November

Solar Samhain 7th November (15 degrees Scorpio)

Lunar Samhain 13th November (Dark Moon Scorpio)

Polar opposite to Beltane ~ the fertility festival

ALTAR

Scorpio Season ~ flowing into darkness - this season initiates the darkest phase of the year. Ruled by Pluto - a totem of destruction and transformation. You may choose to have a simple altar with a candle illuminating the darkness, or to specifically create a spacious altar with only a couple of elements. Perhaps creating a simple circle and a void. Perhaps honouring ancestors. Perhaps the fruits of all of the harvests

ARCHETYPAL

Scorpio is the Queen of Death. She can pierce the darkness and reveal hidden depths of clarity and gnosis. She provides a shamanic death of self that unites the soul ever deeper. Scorpio is a passionate water sign that allows us to tap into our vulnerability and watery realms. This is the time of year to really lean into grief

Taurus is our fixed earth sign - asking us to strongly connect with our sense of steadiness in our earth bodies in order to hear what is being asked to move through. Allow the strength of this sign support you in whatever shift the Eclipse season has bought about. Rather than action this is about embodying

GLYPH

Scorpio

The flow and the sting ~ look at the glyph that belies an open parallel water doorway if you choose to enter past the fear of being annihilated. Death of the old is a doorway to rebirth

ALCHEMY

Fire of the full moon meets partial eclipse of the Water Scorpion - Fire + Water = Alchemical Change

SYMBOL

The Ouroboros dragon serpent that devours itself ~ an infinite cycle ~ the circle

GODDESSES

(A limited list of some goddesses that you may wish to connect to)

Black Madonna ~ Medieval Europe

Ereshkigal ~ Mesopotamian

Hecate ~ Greek

Hel ‘Hell’ ~ Norse (the uterine cave within the deep earth)

Inanna ~ Sumerian

Morrigan ~ Celtic

Persephone ~ Greek

Sedna ~ Intuit

Sheila Na Gig ~ Celtic

The Crone (Crowned One) whose wisdom blood had been contained within was corrupted into the Hag (hagard) ~ in the celtic understanding all souls return to the great cauldron of regeneration to be reborn - stirred into being by the wise Crone

PLANT CONSCIOUSNESS

The blackthorn gives us powerful medicine with its strong black thorns ~ piercing the poison. Lady Blackthorn will support your spirit if you ask her

Lean on the ally of Motherwort for courage and bravery to support you to create space around your inner sanctum. To ask and to give yourself what you need. To have lionspride and and open courageous heart

Fly Agaric ~ the veiled red priestess of the woods has arisen after many weeks whispering in the soil. Have you connected with her secrets? As you ponder Brooms and Witches. Consider the ‘flying ointments’ that were used by wise women to traverse the veils. To leave you with a fantastical Scorpionic (ruler of sex and death) vision - an ointment can be applied to the ‘shaft’ (masculine phallus) of the broom, and / or to ones root, and ridden for oracular ‘seering’ vision!

JOURNAL

Can you allow what you most fear to be transformed. Can you willingly walk down into the darkest place to meet yourself in wholeness to be transformed. Do you dare to be your own medicine? What seeds are being planted in the darkness and need to be incubated for some time until the earths signals create the perfect alignment for their birth. All of life is a slow unfolding of aligned actions - rather than a staccato of peak moments - how can you take steady action towards that which you seek? Turning and Returning

Pay attention to the dreamscape when the veils are thin - revelations and insights can particularly abound between layers of sleep and awake. Spend more time connecting to the dreamtime during the darkest phase until winter solstice

INCANTATION

“I can trust the journey into the unknown that beckons me forward”

EMBODIMENT RITUAL

Take a dark and comfortable space and drop into the womb tomb ~ drop out of thoughts and relinquish control down into the root of your being. Be here with no agenda. Notice what arises. Give gratitude for this connection. Continue to practice over the next 6 weeks in the darkest days

Release the impulse to push down what needs to be released. Choose where this vulnerability can be felt, heard and moved through. The greatest darkness holds the greatest light

Our blood power is deeply feared. Whether we meet this power subjugated in first blood or in childbirth - the Queen of death supports us to devour the old blood. The old stories and patterns are composted to create fertile ground for us to lay new ways of being. We can not banish what we fear to meet - we have to honour its wholeness and our wholeness. Cast your circle of self

MIRROR WORK

Using the reflective pool of the mirror to discern truth. Is the mirror clear and clean for reflection? As we ‘see’ in the darkness our inner consciousness expands along with our intuitive sense

OFFERINGS

Imbibing sacred sacrament with your ancestors

Offerings to the ancestors and spirits of place (the origins of trick or treat)

A plate of food at the table for the ancestors

All Souls Cakes

Jack O Lanterns (originates in candles lighting the way for souls)

Apples ~ the sacred five pointed star honouring all the elements of life can be found (bobbling for apples)

INVOCATION

‘I envelop my dream seeds in darkness to allow their bright lights to strengthen and renew in the continuation of life’

WELLSPRING

Build a well of compassion for yourself and others as you navigate the intensity of the Scorpio depths

BONUSES

Head to the Bonus section (last two in the list) to listen to me singing some sacred hearth songs (if you dare!)