The Deep woman; The Samhain woman.

On Leaf Litter. Necessary Decay. And what it really takes to sustain a life.

Samhain is the season of the Crone.  The aspect of the feminine who has grown wise, and deep, and powerful.

And for this, she is my favourite time of year.

She is the elder, the wise woman. And yes, if you’re that way inclined – the witch.

She is the aspect of myself who I am growing into: No longer growing up. But growing down, into the sacred depths of myself.

She is the one who knows. The one that the people come to.

She is my deep past. My limitless future.

The ancestors of me, and the ancestor in me.

And she is the one. Who I truly came here to be...

Before I write more on this – I want to stress that the primary focus of my work, has always been on direct communication with your own inner wisdom – through practise. 

**So, I’ll be guiding a meditation, live, online, this Tuesday evening,** to support you to connect with your own inner wise woman elder - who already lives within you. She is powerful.

I’m excited to share this practise with you as it is – without a doubt - one of the most profound meditations I know, and has fundamentally changed the orientation of my own life...

If you have a paid subscription with me on here you will receive a link to Join us online this Tuesday 29th October, to experience this journey.  (paid subscribers will also receive the replays afterwards) Otherwise you can sign up for a single Sangha, via my website for £19 here:

The Spirit of Samhain

The Celtic year is underpinned by 4 seasons, or quarters, each marked by it’s own transitional festival: Samhain (Winter), Imbolc (Spring), Beltane (Summer), and Lughnasadh (Autumn).

So when I speak of Samhain here, I am referring to both the last day of October, which traditionally marks the quarter day festival, but more expansively: the unfolding season of Samhain, which stretches from November-January, in the Northern Hemisphere.

My own understanding of these festivals and seasons has profoundly shifted and expanded, since I opened to a more shamanic relationship with the land. (And began an extensive training in Celtic shamanism, with some incredible British and Irish elders…)

Conversations with Elder: Elder can be a powerful tree to sit with at this time of year, as she connects us to the wise “elder” within.

Everything in nature sings. It is we who do not listen. When we open ourselves and our senses to a living, breathing, relationship with this great Earth - as teacher, grandmother and guide; she speaks to us in a new language: something ancient, intuitive, instinctive and vital.

It is, above all else, a language of the soul. The Earth’s songs and her metaphors, are essential to our own soul’s deep evolution and homecoming.

It is so easy, to look in books, and to rehash other people’s wisdom about “The Earth’s cycles,” to make it sound like our own. It is less easy, to go out into the wild woods, and to ask the Earth what she truly has to teach us, at this turn in her cycle.

For me. What each of these Celtic festivals is really asking of us. At the turning point of the year.  Is to stand still. To Listen. And to observe:

“What is the Earth Teaching me?” Right Now.

So I go outside, I put my roots down into the Earth.

And I bear witness. To the ancient, living wisdom, alive beneath my feet…

Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash

Lessons from Leaf litter: Digging deep into decay.

As we sit in the wild edges, between Autumn and Winter, the message you’re likely to hear a lot, is that this time of year is for “letting go.” And you will no doubt find a flurry of very lovely rituals to perform (as the leaves fall around you) encouraging you to let go of the old, outlived, stuff of your own that apparently “no longer serves you.”

However, as I sat on the forest floor of an ancient woodland this week, I performed a ritual of my own, which guided me to (quite literally) dig down into a much deeper layer of truth, that the Earth has to teach us at this time…