Wheel of the Year

Happy Halloween!

FESTIVAL OF PEACE

Samhain is the mid point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice and corresponds to the ACE cards in the Tarot deck. It is also related to the Festival of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady which is the final resolution of the Magical planes immediately before the winter solstice.

This period is the end of the fruiting cycle in nature and the end of autumn. It also marks the beginning of winter in terms of snow and freezing weather.

The astral activity is still on the Magical planes as the astral layers merge together in an upward movement away from the earth. This is a symbolic joining of male and female energies as the old fruit of the past year is given to the earth in total sacrifice. It is the planting of a seed for the coming year.

This time period naturally marks the end of the crucifixion or enthronement period and the beginning of a new birth or resurrection. Some traditions consider this the beginning of the new year. In some occult traditions this marks the beginning of the initiation cycle of Earth as the probationer is granted entrance and awaits the first initiation.

The Earth cycle is also the last cycle of the initiate so this time also marks the natural last initiation of the advanced initiate into the final mysteries of the Earth. The probationer will experience a new birth and the advanced initiate will experience a resurrection and lifting up as the Magical levels resolve themselves during this period concerning the projected events of the coming year.

Said in plain and simple language the spirit is leaving the earth and entering the seed. What is left is the husk of what once was in the physical. This husk is the final harvest of earthly things as we turn inward toward spiritual things.

It is said that the veil between the seen and the unseen is the thinnest at this time of year. If we think of Beltaine in the spring as when the astral bursts forth into the physical world Samhain is the time when the physical bursts forth into the astral. We may at this time of year be more conscious of the unseen astral worlds and the entities and spirits that dwell in them. We might also travel or enter the unseen worlds more freely at this time of year.

This is tied to the full moon with the sun in Scorpio. This year it actually falls before the traditional observation of Halloween.