Birth, Growth, Decay, Death + Rebirth

Live from a Graveyard on the Beaches of Costa Rica….

We know Earth's dance of life/growth/decay/death/rebirth as the seasons. But did you know there are mini-seasons between spring, summer, fall and winter?

The mini- season of Samhain (pronounced Sow-in or sow - hain), sometimes called Witches New Year, is my absolute favorite moment in Gaia's yearly circle.

Each day is darker, richer and shorter than the last.  The year is spiraling to a close. 

If the universal life cycle of birth/growth/death/rebirth were mapped onto our planet’s yearly cycle, we’d find ourselves at her deathbed.

In those sacred and ethereal moments after the final exhale when the soul has left the body but not yet returned to the Great Mystery, the Otherworld is close enough to touch.

Transition is thick and moist in the air. Trees siphon precious life-force into their roots for safekeeping, abandoning leaves to their last wild ride. Soon branches will be exoskeletons, frozen in time, patiently waiting for the unstoppable surge of regeneration, bubbling up like lava, to burst forth yet again in Spring. 

Winter Solstice fast approaches, the darkest and shortest day of the year. It is then that the miracle of conception occurs as next year's seed is planted. Each passing day will grow taller and broader, longer and brighter.

But for now, the Otherworld is close. Mystery, intuition and the dreamworld speak more clearly if we create space to listen.

The Veil Between the Worlds Is Thin

Listen into your body, take a quiet moment each day to listen to the wind, notice your dreams. You can directly experience the universal mantra for this time: the veil between the worlds is thin. But what does that mean exactly? Tess White Hurst puts it well:

“At Samhain, that relentless, all-pervasive Mystery is as close as it ever gets. You might say the veil between the worlds is the place where the everyday illusion of separation brushes up against the divine truth of eternity and universal interconnection. The place where form meets spirit, seen meets unseen, known meets unknown.

When we meditate or perform ritual, or when we have a mystical experience of any variety, this curtain parts and we are able to gaze into the place of power, the place between the worlds.

Why does the veil thin throughout October, and particularly at Samhain? Because the days are getting shorter and the natural world is preparing to temporarily withdraw from the realm of life and growth. The harvest cycle is waning, but it’s not gone. This means Samhain is a transition: a doorway between the season of life and the season of death. Beneath this realm of constant change, there is a wide open space of eternity. A place of stillness in which the appearance of change arises. A serene openness to which we will always return, and with which we are one, even at this very moment.

This, my friends, is why we love fall. It’s also the meaning of “the veil is thin.”

You Are the Success story of your Ancestors.

Your body is the body of your ancestors.

Cheering for us from the great beyond, they are the members of our team sitting this round out on the bench.

They hold prayers for our lives, that we might remember who we are, that we not make the same mistakes they did, that we might remain fiercely committed to the integrity of our unique path of service in this lifetime before it's too late for us. 

Tonight, on a late evening walk, a cryptic gust of wind liberates a rain of sunset colored leaves. That might just be your blood lineage or the ancestors of the land you occupy. Listen closely with the inner ears of intuition for wise and generous guidance freely offered.

During Samhain, we are welcome to sink into letting go, turning inward and reclaiming our shadow selves to bring them back into the loving wholeness of the complex mystery that we are. 

While humans experience this life cycle only once (in our conscious memory) on a physical level, we are always in the process of birth/growth/death/regeneration on an emotional and energetic level.  

You are the tree

You are the leaf blooming then falling

You are the roots harnessing power

You are the soil to which the roots cling

You, Dear One, are the process of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth

As the cycle of the year spirals to a close we can honor our last year of experience by reflecting on what we've learned and how we've grown. 

Something within you is dying and needs to be let go of so something new can be born. Lighten your load and surrender to this process as a cleanse, a detoxification, as natural as peeing or sweating.

What is dead and asking to be released?

How can you make your load lighter?

What self care practices bring you into deeper bliss and help you enter a restorative state?

Which creative projects feel nourishing and can become your priority as you slow your expectations of doing? 

How can you renew your commitment to the Great Mystery?

We know Gaia’s dance of death and rebirth as the seasons. Our wholeness is nurtured when we are brave enough to say yes to this dance within ourselves. 

You’re welcome to share ways you’re surrendering to Fall by lightening your load below.

*Thank you to Marisa Miernowska for inspiring these reflection questions