Silver Chalice Wicca 'Zine #47: Samhain: Season of the Witch, Blood SuperMoon, Opening Third Eye
October 01, 2015
Silver Chalice Wicca 'Zine #47
Samhain: Season of the Witch
and
SuperMoon, Blood Moon, Harvest Moon, Total Lunar Eclipse
and
Opening The Third Eye
October / November 2015
Editor's Note
Welcome to a full-on, what's happening issue of the Silver Chalice Wicca 'Zine!
There's SO MUCH going on in the Energy Field right now, I thought I should devote a whole lot more space to that column. Check it out... it's probably affecting you already, even if you don't know it.
Plus it explains a lot of confusing Moon terms, and what they mean
on an Energetic or magickal level.
Also, you’ll discover why Samhain (Hallowe'en) is such a big day for Wiccans, in an excerpt from the Wicca School lesson on Samhain.
And in Ask the Priestess, you’ll find out how to open your third eye chakra, which is linked with increased psychic abilities. And a warning to go with it.
Hope you enjoy it! And may I wish you, a little early, a very Happy Samhain!!
With Bright Blessings,
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Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals
Samhain: Season of the Witch
Excerpt from Wicca Course In Progress
(Please Note: This material is protected by legal copyright)
Samhain is the biggest festival in Wicca, our greatest holy day.
Why is Samhain virtually ignored if not shunned by other religions so pivotal in Wicca? What makes it so important to Wiccans?
This is something you probably won't find anywhere I know I've looked for years for a good answer.
When I asked the Goddess to tell me what was the most important thing about Samhain,as I did for every lesson in this course, this is what She said:
Samhain is when Witches bridge the gap between the world of the living (material reality) and the realm of the dead (spirit reality), and that bridging is what sets Wicca apart.
You see, at Samhain, we don't merely honour the ancestors or speak with discarnate souls.
We experience for ourselves a taste of life beyond life, dipping our toes into eternity.
Tasting Life Beyond Life
Wiccans are fully participating (as much as a mortal can) in the entire cycle of life, which includes death.
At Samhain, we're honouring this first and “final” part of the process, demystifying it, and taking it from the fearful unknown to the comfortable and welcoming known.
If you've read up on the origins of North American Hallowe'en, you'll know that it was based in Celtic observances of Samhain. You may also have read that the origin of costuming for trick or treat was that the Celts believed spirits roamed freely this night and may be harmful or mischievous as well as helpful and friendly.
So to protect
themselves, supposedly, they wore disguises to fool the spirits into thinking they were dead too and no use trying to mess with.
I don't know about you, but it's always seemed highly doubtful to me that a spirit would be misled by a bedsheet thrown over our heads!
I doubt our more-spiritually-attuned ancestors were really so simple.
I've always thought it far more likely that they dressed as skeletons and ghosts in the same way aboriginal peoples would dress up as deer: to honour and invite them, but more than that to experience a bit of what other beings know and experience.
Maybe they dressed as the dead to participate for one night in this most mysterious part of the Cycle of Life, to help them cross the boundary between life
and afterlife.
If this is the case, it makes sense why Witches are associated with Hallowe'en we are the only mortals (in the Western world) flying between the worlds this night, bold and unafraid, seeking wisdom, a full participant in life.
At least, that's our goal as modern, spiritual Wiccans.
Sacred Mystery
Samhain is a spiritual reset button, where we celebrate the other half of life death in a way fairly unique in the world.
When we lose a loved one, we might know or believe that they still live, freed from physical constraints and suffering, but we really can't celebrate their freedom because our own feelings of loss get in the way (understandably).
If that's all we ever had loss and grief we'd end up fearing and resisting death.
Instead, every year at this time, we
remember and celebrate the profound joy of the truth...
There is no death,
only a change of worlds.
Chief Seattle
Wiccans remember to celebrate the Mystery that takes us to our true Home, the Mystery that reminds us more than anything that there is far more to existence than what our eyes can perceive!
Most people prefer mysteries explained, solved. They want facts, not mysticism.
Wiccans know there's a lot more to existence than the Materialist philosophy allows, and we revel in Mystery as a peak into that "something more."
Death Worship?
Now, some misguided folks might think that a celebration of passing from worldly to eternal life means that we serve death... and offer living
sacrifices to the gods.
It's ludicrous, of course. It's like seeing Christians worshipping a tortured and dying man on a cross and thinking they must love and serve death with torture and murder.
It's the mystery BEYOND death that we're seeking to remember.
But our death-phobic culture equates any death as a sort of failure or intentional murder (as when terminally ill patients beg to be released from pointless suffering).
Wiccans understand that there's infinite difference between the natural processes of life and the intention harm of another being. (Besides, from a spiritual perspective, we are ALL living sacrifices which the Divine will receive, when Her time is right.)
Season of the Wise
Samhain is a time of deep magick. It's a time of subtle beauty, that people of shallow perception miss noticing.
It takes a
Wise-Woman, or -Man (the ancient title for a Witch) to perceive that there is more to this season than death and cold and scary darkness.
And it takes a person of Power to ride this season and utilize its potential rather than be run over or chased away by it.
In short, Samhain is a time that focuses Energy on and enhances the special Powers of Wiccans.
Well... I couldn't imagine a better answer to the question of why Samhain is so important to Wiccans. Thank you, Goddess!
Ask The Priestess:
Opening The Third Eye
Dear Priestess,
I am a healer and want to progress on my road. I do practice yoga too. I will appreciate to get your input how to gain psychic abilities and open my Third Eye.
What kind of meditations and exercises are recommended to be more open to cosmic signals so i could be more helpful to the needy people?
love and light,
H., Australia
Dear H.,
The chakras open naturally and safely as you grow spiritually, physically, and psychologically.
Please note:
It's not recommended to force open, or even strongly encourage, any one chakra.
That can throw your whole system out of balance physical, emotional, and mental. The chakras must be in balance... if you seek to open one, seek to open all.
So working on ALL levels of the chakras is vital.
(More info on this: Sacred Chalice.)
That being said, there are hundreds if not thousands of different methods. But any good basic meditation will go a long way.
All you really need to do, to open a chakra, is to clear the ego-gunk that's in the way. (That's what meditation does, and why it helps.)
A wonderful, easy practice is the Divine Light Invocation. It's also extremely potent. Like any spiritual practice, you must keep it up though. The more you do, the faster the results. (Find out how
here: Divine Light Invocation.
I also highly recommend Mantra. It's easy for beginners and powerful for those with experience. Mantra is one of the most powerful meditation tools, because you physically set the vibrations in your body to Divine Energy. You can send the Mantra into each chakra, one by one, to clear and charge them as well. (Read about Mantra here: Mantra Meditation.
Whatever meditation practice works for you, though, will be useful.
One caveat: Sometimes the easiest meditations are the least helpful. It's the ones that really challenge us that hold the most power.
Seek to find a balance between a meditation that is challenging, but easy and satisfying enough that you keep doing it.
That's the key!!
If you
don't keep doing it, it doesn't matter how good it may be! Find one that you want to keep doing.
Developing Psychic Perception
Opening the third eye is a bit different from developing psychic abilities. But the third eye does help psychic perception.
You can develop psychic abilities mainly by practicing them. Like everything else, skill comes from practice!
I particularly recommend divination tools as a great way to learn and develop psychic abilities. (If you're not familiar with divination, these articles offer an introduction: Divination)
Meditation helps with this too, because the main reason psychic abilities don’t seem to work is the same reason the chakras seem "closed"... because the ego-gunk gets in the way. It makes it very hard for us to hear the
psychic messages.
And it makes it even harder to determine what's a Divine message and what's mental jabber. It confuses things.
Everyone thinks they want psychic abilities and open chakras, but it is possible to get those things too soon!
If you aren't ready for it, it can make your life a lot more difficult.
So if you start to find yourself getting too "floaty" or spacey, uncomfortable, even "addicted" to the sensations, back off and work on developing the other aspects of your Sacred Chalice. In the Sacred Chalice article (see first link.), these are
called Strength, Flexibility, Wholeness, and Purity.
Upgrade the weak level before continuing with your practices!
Another warning sign is imbalances in the body, that is, some sort of discomfort, illness, or injury.
Those are clues that you are getting in over your head, that some level of you is not on par with the work you are doing.
There's so much that could be written on this, and really the best thing if you're really insistent on pushing open a chakra is to get experienced, knowledgeable one-on-one guidance. For your own protection.
Meanwhile, though, this should give you a place to start!
With Blessings,
erin
* * *
Do you have a question you'd like answered? Email the
Priestess and your question could be answered in a future issue.
(Note: questions may be edited for brevity or clarity. No real names will be disclosed. For reasons of legality, all questions become the property of Wicca-Spirituality.com.)
Energy-Field Barometer
Full Moon, SuperMoon, Blood Moon, Harvest Moon, Total Lunar Eclipse in Aries an incredibly powerful opportunity to shake off old fear-patterns and start fresh!
Something is ready to change. Use your
Intention and magick to make the breakthrough you've been waiting for!
This opportunity peaked on Sept 27th, but the effects will continue to settle out and integrate for weeks. So even if you didn't see or tap into the Energy on the night of the eclipse, you can still do so now.
The Astronomy Of It All
Let's start by defining our terms so we're all talking about the same things, and consider the Energetic effect of each.
(Note: These definitions are excerpts from the lesson on Moon Magick, from the upcoming 2nd-Degree Wiccan training course.)
A Full Moon well, you know what that is. It brings about connection with and revelations from deep levels of ourselves.
At the Full Moon, the soul speaks, and if we won't listen, sometimes it'll shout with very dramatic effects on our moods, health, words, even actions that we don't take on purpose but somehow can't resist.
It also brings out the parts of ourselves we want to hide or ignore our fears, our negative aspects, the doubts about our worthiness, and everything we don't want to notice as we go through our lives.
A Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to Autumn Equinox. It signals great change, endings, and new beginnings. In particular, when it's an orangey or yellowy colour, as its rising, it's considered a Harvest Moon.
A Supermoon is a Full Moon that comes closest to Earth in its orbit around us. This intensifies the ordinary Full Moon Energy. The Supermoon this month is the closest one this year.
A Total Lunar Eclipse projects the Energy of the Full Moon on steroids! The eclipse happens
when the Moon passes through Earth's shadow, which blocks the Sun's light on the Moon completely. At a lunar eclipse, everything becomes more extreme, and we find it impossible to dodge or deny any longer. And if we won't go willingly into this process, it will break through as forcefully as we need it to.
A Blood Moon is a Full Moon Eclipse that looks particularly red. Blood Moons signal, again, potent change, breaking patterns, endings, and new beginnings... in particular when there are 4 in a series. This current series is the first since 1967 a time of great shifts in philosophy and awareness.
This eclipse is the final one in a series of four, starting in 2014. This is called a Lunar Tetrad a series of 4 total lunar eclipses in a row. Sept 27th was the 4th of the tetrad the most potent. The others were on April 15 and Oct 8 2014, and April 4, 2015. (Sometimes the lunar tetrad Moons are all called
"Blood Moons," regardless of their actual colour.)
What this tetrad seems to be working on is accessing deeper forms of love... LOVE at a higher frequency than how the word is generally used. This includes self-love, thank goodness.
How This Will Affect You
You may have noticed changes, or even upheavals, going on in your life, building up to this over several months. These will be related to the changes that this Blood Moon Eclipse is focused on.
The good news a new opportunity for accessing higher consciousness is presented to you. This means, upgrading your Energy vibration body and mind so that you can function with more ease, more joy, more peace, more well-
being, etc.
The bad news is actually more good news, though it doesn’t feel so good. It's that the ego must be removed from its dominance, and old patterns released.
The Shift in this Event
This Energy is powerfully helping us to release the ways that the ego blocks us from moving onward and upward.
And while we want that, the ego itself doesn’t want to let go, so it resists. So we get caught in a back-and-forth game between the ego and our higher self, as we sometimes align with one and sometimes with the other.
This can seem a little schizophrenic, because one minute we're operating at a level of deep awareness and compassion and empowerment, and the next minute
we're reacting in the old patterns of fear, blindness, desperation, and victimhood.
The thing to keep in mind is that the more we align with our ego-self the more we cling to our old beliefs, habits, fears, self-identity, etc the more painful the inevitable transition will be.
Imagine if when you were being born, you resisted and held onto the womb with all your might! All you'd really accomplish was a more prolonged, intense, and painful birth.
Instead, if you give yourself to it fully, you'll just slide on through!
On the plus side, if you allow this Energy to open you, you could find it easy to access psychic abilities, Energy sensing, and generally more spiritual insights.
Healing
to the Root
With all this happening in Aries, and a few other influences (like Moon in trine to Saturn, and Mars in Virgo, the conjunction with Vesta, the remnants of the Uranus/Pluto in square...), it's clear that we have to do our own work if we want the changes to endure.
We can't sit on our butts, drinking brews and saying, "Ehh, the Moon's taking care of it all."
No, we must consciously decide to break our old mental habits and emotional patterns! Particularly the beliefs and judgements we have about ourselves.
This signals core work, people! We're talking deep levels of healing… those lingering, insidious, deeply subconscious feelings about ourselves that we were programmed for in childhood.
And the most important part is we must put something else in their place! If we just remove them (or try to), we create a space that must fill up with something. If we
don't choose something better to replace them with, we'll end up reverting to them out of habit.
One of the best ways to do this is to give the old patterns/emotions/beliefs/whatever to the Goddess, asking Her to take them away and fill you with Divine Light and Divine Love in return.
Spend as much time as possible, basking in the Divine Light and Love. You couldn't refill with anything better!
You're Part of the Healing of the Earth
One more piece of this puzzle bear in mind that the work you are doing is not only for yourself.
This is part of the planetary transition that we are all helping to create.
We do the work in ourselves, but the ripples go out and affect the entire planet. (Or we don't do the work, and we hold back the whole planet.)
Everything is being cleansed, and sometimes cleaning out old wounds is
painful.
If you're sensitive, you're almost certainly feeling the pain of this planetary cleansing. As you clear away your own piece of it, though, and replace that with Divine Light and Love, you will feel it less, I promise you.
Since it's not just your work, but the Earth's, you can be reassured that there is infinite support and help available for this transition. Tap into it, ask the Divine or angels for help.
And reclaim your Power to co-Create the world. "Karma" is almost instant now whatever thoughts, emotions, words you use, reality immediately moves to reflect that.
It's never been easier to get miracles.
So use your Powers for good!
How To Make It Work For You
Keep focused on this change, whatever you want to change, if you want it to manifest. The Energy was hottest at the eclipse, but it's still going and will continue for months before it fades out completely.
By now, it might be feeling logy dense, heavy, thick, unpleasant... more "stuck."
That's resistance in action. The ego is probably getting scared. Remember to calm it as you would a frightened child holding it safe and reassuring it that everything's okay and you'll take good care of it.
Most of all, don't let it stop you!
Keep doing the work, keep positive, keep shucking off fear and ego-talk of worries and disasters, and the Energy of this Blood Moon/Eclipse will carry you through to a whole new level!
* * *
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