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The Hallows Veil
Hallows is the the time when the veil between the worlds is thin. How often have you heard that? As if there were hoards of people somewhere behind some veil separating --- what? Some will give history lessons to explain the holiday and talk about the meaning of Celtic language words but I want to talk about the spirituality behind the common practices of Hallows Eve. The Mystery behind and under the Hallow's traditions and practices which are their foundation.
Hallows Eve is the Last Harvest, the time when the easy living of the garden is done for good. All that generation/germination energy bursts forth one last time before beginning its earth energy journey of deterioration, transformation and regeneration.
Some say earth energy peaks at during the time of the Pollinator King from First Fruits and carries through the Autumnal Equinox and the rise of the Dark Queen to Hallows. Moving in the wind, changing, transforming fruit to seed, to color, to storage of energy within the seed, to the high energy of letting go at Hallows.
In the Celtic traditions, the day after Hallows Eve is celebrated as the Celtic New Year.
But most pagan Craft workers in other traditions in the USA celebrate the new year beginning at Yule. The reason the Irish British Scott Celts chose Hallows as their New Year rather than Yule, is because in their lands at Hallows the sun is at its lowest point on the horizon measured by the ancient standing stones of Britain and Ireland.
But in the US, the shortest day is around Dec 21. Everyone's New Year always begins with the day the Light returns.
It is the way of those in the Craft who work in harmony with the planet to honor a time between the end and the new beginning. The old must end cleanly and with honor before the New Begins. There should be a time of passage inward before rebirth, a time of evaluation, accountability and long goodbyes. A time of NOT forgetting. This is the Time between the exterior and interior worlds - hence the thin veil. This is the Hallowed Eve. It is the energy of that which lived and is dying. Singing it goes forth into eternal change and its imprint remains affecting the living who will absorb its energy to feed their own lives.
The idea that the dead or worse, that evil spirits walk the earth at Hallows is a literal misinterpretation of the mystery. Actually, because of the combination of water (emotion) and earth (DNA) energy of this time, the veil of consciousness which separates your consciousness from the collective consciousness and more dangerously from the collective sub-consciousness, is at its thinnest on this night.
This does not mean that hordes of evil cross this chasm. It means it is easy to be affected by the unconscious fears, dysfunction and hidden desires of the collective.
When we talk of between the worlds, the veil growing thin, it does mean it is easy to be affected by the unconscious fears, dysfunction and hidden desires of the collective sub-conscious.
But it is also an excellent time to contact your own subconscious and program it for the new cycle.
In nearly all the Western pagan traditions, deceased ancestors and other friendly spirits, saints, angels and gods are invited to join the festivities. Now we move to be reunited with loved ones who are otherwise separated by time and dimensions of existence. All are called to lend their energy and good wishes, to make peace with the living if there was love but also problems, and to share the love that never dies. This is a call to your DNA to manifest its memories. And a call to the DNA of other loved ones and things. Some ask for this in their dreams or do it consciously at a Last Supper, with a place setting for those who have passed and out loud speech to that person. The Mystery is that love never dies but does change and transform those who love. Love is the fundamental reality and love crosses ALL boundaries. It does not matter what you love, it only matters how you love and that love expands rather than contracts your spirit.
Though death and the dying light/warmth is the core of Hallow's symbolism, this cross quarter day actually celebrates the triumph of transformation. You live forever transformed, in the DNA of your body and in the bodies of your ancestors. You live forever everywhere you left your DNA and in the DNA of your relatives who live. Or you may choose to get off the wheel. It is at this time that you decide if you will transform, die in the fire or remain as you are now. You think, remember as you enter the downward passage to your subconscious and go deeper, you feel and you consult and merge with the power that walks your path with you.
"The pagan Samhain is not, and never was, associated with evil or negativity. It has always been a time to reaffirm our belief in the oneness of all spirits,... Some modern scholars claim that Samhain's traditional 'trick or treat' custom was derived from a ploy to scare away fairies and other mischievous spirits, but it has overtones of being a custom of a much later period, perhaps one which grew up around the Burning Times."
During the Burning Times, masking and dark clothing hid the identities of witches going to their covens so that they might escape detection. The mask also had the added benefit of frightening away any inquisitor who might happen upon a lone figure in the woods....more http://www.witchway.net/hallows/lore.html"
The jack-o-lanterns carried on sticks through the woods frightened away spies. The ancestors believed in demons so the candles in pumpkins set in the window frightened away their own fear.
One of the transforming Hallows traditions is to dress in a costume personifying what you wish to attract to yourself during the next cycle.
People dress as what they want to manifest in the next cycle. They dress as kings and queens to attract personal power or wealth or happiness or as Buddha to develop qualities such as compassion. Whatever in their personal symbols means what they want to attract or develop. They make a costume to represent those qualities.
For instance, pumpkins symbolize abundance, the bee makes fruit filled work that ends in rich honey. The animals, mythical and or real may have a trait the individual wishes to attract and manifest.
Individuals should feel as if the quality was already achieved and act out those feelings all night with laughter and passion. At the end of the night those costumes should be carefully preserved.
The night’s costumes can be a spell for liberation of the spirit. Some dress as guilt (ghosts) or dependency (vampires) or humiliation (sex objects) or dead inside (zombies) or anger (killers) to personify what has been haunting them. They should act out those feelings all night as they have experienced them with laughter and passion. At the end of Hallows such costumes should be burned and the person should be free.
Blessing on you for a Harvest that last all through the cold months bringing you safely through to Spring.
You are the weaver; you are the web.
http://chefchloe.com/sweets/haunted-halloween-layer-cake.html
Hallows Eve is the Last Harvest, the time when the easy living of the garden is done for good. All that generation/germination energy bursts forth one last time before beginning its earth energy journey of deterioration, transformation and regeneration. Some say earth energy peaks at during the time of the Pollinator King from First Fruits and carries through the Autumnal Equinox and the rise of the Dark Queen to Hallows. Moving in the wind, changing, transforming fruit to seed, to color, to storage of energy within the seed, to the high energy of letting go at Hallows.
In the Celtic traditions, the day after Hallows Eve is celebrated as the Celtic New Year.
But most pagan Craft workers in other traditions in the USA celebrate the new year beginning at Yule. The reason the Irish British Scott Celts chose Hallows as their New Year rather than Yule, is because in their lands at Hallows the sun is at its lowest point on the horizon measured by the ancient standing stones of Britain and Ireland.
But in the US, the shortest day is around Dec 21. Everyone's New Year always begins with the day the Light returns.
It is the way of those in the Craft who work in harmony with the planet to honor a time between the end and the new beginning. The old must end cleanly and with honor before the New Begins. There should be a time of passage inward before rebirth, a time of evaluation, accountability and long goodbyes. A time of NOT forgetting. This is the Time between the exterior and interior worlds - hence the thin veil. This is the Hallowed Eve. It is the energy of that which lived and is dying. Singing it goes forth into eternal change and its imprint remains affecting the living who will absorb its energy to feed their own lives.
The idea that the dead or worse, that evil spirits walk the earth at Hallows is a literal misinterpretation of the mystery. Actually, because of the combination of water (emotion) and earth (DNA) energy of this time, the veil of consciousness which separates your consciousness from the collective consciousness and more dangerously from the collective sub-consciousness, is at its thinnest on this night.
This does not mean that hordes of evil cross this chasm. It means it is easy to be affected by the unconscious fears, dysfunction and hidden desires of the collective.
But it is also an excellent time to contact your own subconscious and program it for the new cycle.
In nearly all the Western pagan traditions, deceased ancestors and other friendly spirits, saints, angels and gods are invited to join the festivities. Now we move to be reunited with loved ones who are otherwise separated by time and dimensions of existence. All are called to lend their energy and good wishes, to make peace with the living if there was love but also problems, and to share the love that never dies. This is a call to your DNA to manifest its memories. And a call to the DNA of other loved ones and things. Some ask for this in their dreams or do it consciously at a Last Supper, with a place setting for those who have passed and out loud speech to that person. The Mystery is that love never dies but does change and transform those who love. Love is the fundamental reality and love crosses ALL boundaries. It does not matter what you love, it only matters how you love and that love expands rather than contracts your spirit.
"The pagan Samhain is not, and never was, associated with evil or negativity. It has always been a time to reaffirm our belief in the oneness of all spirits,... Some modern scholars claim that Samhain's traditional 'trick or treat' custom was derived from a ploy to scare away fairies and other mischievous spirits, but it has overtones of being a custom of a much later period, perhaps one which grew up around the Burning Times."
During the Burning Times, masking and dark clothing hid the identities of witches going to their covens so that they might escape detection. The mask also had the added benefit of frightening away any inquisitor who might happen upon a lone figure in the woods....more http://www.witchway.net/hallows/lore.html"
The jack-o-lanterns carried on sticks through the woods frightened away spies. The ancestors believed in demons so the candles in pumpkins set in the window frightened away their own fear.
One of the transforming Hallows traditions is to dress in a costume personifying what you wish to attract to yourself during the next cycle.
People dress as what they want to manifest in the next cycle. They dress as kings and queens to attract personal power or wealth or happiness or as Buddha to develop qualities such as compassion. Whatever in their personal symbols means what they want to attract or develop. They make a costume to represent those qualities.
For instance, pumpkins symbolize abundance, the bee makes fruit filled work that ends in rich honey. The animals, mythical and or real may have a trait the individual wishes to attract and manifest.
Individuals should feel as if the quality was already achieved and act out those feelings all night with laughter and passion. At the end of the night those costumes should be carefully preserved.
The night’s costumes can be a spell for liberation of the spirit. Some dress as guilt (ghosts) or dependency (vampires) or humiliation (sex objects) or dead inside (zombies) or anger (killers) to personify what has been haunting them. They should act out those feelings all night as they have experienced them with laughter and passion. At the end of Hallows such costumes should be burned and the person should be free.
Blessing on you for a Harvest that last all through the cold months bringing you safely through to Spring.
You are the weaver; you are the web.
http://chefchloe.com/sweets/haunted-halloween-layer-cake.html
By pumpkins fat and witches lean… By coal black cats with eyes of green, By all the magic ever seen…... I wish you luck this Halloween...
posted by Greenconsciousness
at 12:50 PM - Link
2 Comments:
Lovely, insightful post, Green. Blessings on you and yours. And thank you for your continued support and teachings. My harvest is better because of you.
I am glad to be able to talk with you about these things. I was thinking about you when I wrote this. I want to move beyond the same old superstitions and trite phrases that people always use without understanding into the deeper truths. I do not write well but this is a start. Others will begin to do this also. Thank you for your friendship and understanding this cycle. Blessings on your growth this cycle. I will think of you when I light the fire tomorrow.
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