The ancestors are calling. Samhain blessings.
As soon as we cross the Fall Equinox the veils between worlds begin to thin. Our ancestors begin calling. They begin stirring from the depths of our soul and the earth. The cobwebs in the marrow of our bones begin to shake loose asking for attention. This is a time where the veils are the thinnest to connect with our ancestors and it’s a time when the potential of deep ancestral healing is at its height.
Many traditions around the world honor this time of year to connect with those who have walked before us. Whether that be our loved ones who have passed, the ancestors of the land we live on, the ancestors of our soul line, bloodline, or the collective. It’s a time to connect with the earth that has been watching generations pass from the beginning time. It’s a time to honor the wisdom that has been accumulated through this witnessing in the rivers, mountains, old-growth forests, and mycelium. It’s time to honor the wisdom that is humming in the deserts and oceans, the air we breathe, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the cosmos. This is a time to tap into our roots in the deepest sense.
When this time of year comes, if we truly listen we will know what has shown up for us. It’s not always about picking and choosing what or who we’d like to honor or release. There is a force greater than us, a gravitational, or ethereal pull already orchestrating the unraveling and weaving that is needed.
Sometimes our soul's evolution, dharma, and karma are going to tap us into our gifts that are brewing in our soul line aching to come to fruition. This window of time may show us the sticky spots holding us back, or the limiting beliefs or perspectives. This window of time can illuminate the old stories that are suffocating us, the habits, lack of boundaries, or our grasp to control. It may show us the gold that is at our fingertips we have been too blind to grasp and run with. Whatever it is, it will show us the imprints of the past that are alive within us today for better or worse.
Sometimes a particular person or family line will arise, whether that be through the women or men, from your mother's line, or father's lines. Sometimes a particular wound that has been snowballing through generations will offer itself to you in the hope you will have more courage than fear to face it, and break a long-lived cycle that does not serve you, or the generations to come.
Sometimes the wounds are emotional, and sometimes they’re embedded into our psyches or physical bodies. Sometimes they're heart wounds, safety wounds, trust wounds, wounds of abuse, wounds of addiction, fear, anger, manipulation, or control. Sometimes it is body pain. Sometimes it's stories that we are living by we didn’t even realize, and we come to realize our grandmother and great grandmothers were living this same story that is no longer true. Maybe our pain started way before we were born, and we’re subconsciously playing out a cycle waiting to broken.
When you look at your family and soul line and zoom out, what’s repeating itself? Where are the commonalities? What is screaming for attention? What struggles play on repeat in your life and your families? What pain arises over and over again in your life? What have you longed for as long as you can remember that you struggle to grasp? Ask for the roots to show themselves. It may be beyond you.
Know that you do not need to know how to “fix” anything, or what to do, all you need to do is listen.
You don’t need to know the literal stories, follow the felt sense thread that arises. When you ask, trust what you can’t see, and don’t understand, and let the work unravel within you as the vessel. Trust the names or faces that you feel present. Trust the emotional and mental patterns that are arising. Trust the insights you hear within that may not make sense and let them dance within and through you.
This time of year is symbolic of the luteal phase of a women’s menstrual cycle. Once she finishes ovulating (summer), her energy gradually begins to slow, and she begins to recluse within. She longs for more rest, stronger boundaries, and heartier, warmer, grounding foods, as her sensitivity rises. PMS - premenstrual syndrome, is the thinning veils between our conscious and subconscious selves before it’s time to release come winter.
In this phase, we often are more easily agitated and are more raw and emotional because the veils are thinning between the seen and unseen world. Between on our conscious and subconscious selves. But if we create the proper container, prioritize stillness, and listen, there is a vast amount of energy, and healing available to work with, and come our moon time, or winter, we can let it go.
This time is the most potent spiritual time in a woman’s cycle and the most potent spiritual time of the year. In the menstrual cycle, the potency builds from after she ovulates, illumination peaks the week before menstruation, and then there is a process that continues to unravel until she starts to bleed. Then the release happens. It’s the same from Fall Equinox to Winter Solstice with Samhain right in the middle. When the ancestors begin to call, it is our choice to participate in the healing and to know it’s in our best interest.
A Samhain Blessing Ritual
Create a sacred space whatever that looks like to you during this time. That can mean adorning an altar, lighting candles, and incense, using essential oils, writing down names, getting out old pictures, or nostalgic items. Or this can mean creating a sacred space within through something like meditation, breath, and solitude - simple, and clear without any material clutter or to-dos. Regardless of your choice, the heart of this practice is intention.
I invite you to create this space described above in a way that feels true to you, and say out loud to open seven generations back…
My name is (state your full name),
I am the daughter of (state the full names of your biological mother and father),
I am the granddaughter of (state the full names of your biological grandparents),
I am the great, granddaughter of (state the full names of your biological great grandparents),
I am the great, great, granddaughter of (state the full names of your biological great, great grandparents),
I am the great, great, great, granddaughter of (state the full names of your biological great, great, great grandparents),
I am the great, great, great, great, granddaughter of (state the full names of your biological great, great, great, great grandparents).
Preferably go back seven generations if you can, though you most likely don’t know the names of many. If you don’t know the names, instead say the first part, and when you get to the parenthesis pause and think of them even if you don’t know anything. Call upon them with your intention, with your heart, and with your bones. They will hear you, and they will arise.
After stating this you can ask for healing, speak your intention, your gratitude, your pain point, whatever it may be, and listen. Pause and listen. Make the space to listen. Have your journal nearby for when you are ready to let flow whatever flows. And know over the coming days and months energy will be moving and it may be hard to recognize or break down tangibly.
This is the benefit of having a physical altar, it reminds us. It keeps that awareness present. The most potent window to drop into this space is the 31st of October- the 1st of November, though I recommend you start tending this space in the weeks or days beforehand as well as after and know it will continue to unravel in the weeks to come. Know that when winter solstice comes, death begins. This is the time to let go, release, and simply be. Winter is the holy pause of death before the rebirth that spring brings.
We all have pain, and we all have beauty. Our pain gets loud when we don’t listen to it, acknowledge it, and witness it. Sometimes our ancestors need us to witness them and that’s it. That’s all it takes, just like sharing in a women’s circles when we go around and speak. The medicine is to witness one another in wholeness, and perfection with no need for pity, fixing, or solutions. The medicine is to speak in a safe and sacred space and let the energy go, move, and transform.
Our ancestors are just the same. They need to be seen, and heard, in a felt sense way regardless of the literal stories. They need us to see them as divine souls of perfection who lived very human imperfect lives as we are all meant to. We are meant to share the medicine (from both the dark and the light) that we’ve gained throughout our lives. It’s meant to be passed on to those who walk after us, so they don’t have to do the work again.
When we do the work, we are doing it for the seven generations who have come before us, and for the seven generations to come. We do the work, yes for ourselves, and also for the collective. We do the work for the web of beating hearts who are all bound.
We are a part of a web of beating hearts, whether in spirit or physical form, that are all bound.
Samhain Blessings,
Abby
