Meán Geimhridh

The day of rest and pause, the day when the year is cloaked in potential and the dreaming of all that can be. Light is an ember being fed by the dreams of the dark, sparking upon the kindling of imagination. Today is the day the dreaming is made real.



Today the ember of direct light illumes the passage from inner to outer, showing the way to this year's rebirth. Those things I need to carry with me shine brightly in this light: sigils and glyphs that beckon from ceiling, walls, and floor of the mind-womb, carved there by my hand awaiting their time to shine. I will remember them and carry them with me, companions in spirit and tokens of hope.

Blessed is the day.

The Pause in the Breath of the Year

We are not quite to the day of standstill, yet we are firmly in the bracket days and the pall of dread is losing it's supremacy.

There has been much harvested this autumn season, in both inner and outer worlds. Yesterday and Thursday the worst of the pressures of fear and uncertainty were at work and I developed a wicked migraine. Today, we slide into the calm days, the waiting days, and a fine rain is falling to wash away the last of the clinging chaff so that the seeds carried within may be nourished and ready to sprout forth later in spring.



The spiralling downward descent has slowed, softly now we sink into the ease of healing dark, and reading the signs left by those who have walked this path before us, know that soon the upward growth will begin. We return with new wisdom, rested and unwearied now, once more to listen to the wisdom in the wind and the rain, and to leave our own marks upon the stones.

The third chamber inwards~

Shadow Side: The Moon's shadow side never faces the Earth. Like the moon, we all have mysterious aspects of our personalities and past experiences, aspects we choose not to share with others. Our shadow side might include vulnerabilities, fantasies, and eccentricities - for example, a secret ambition to be a writer, an unrequited love, a penchant for collecting rocks, a fear of heights, or a belief in astrology. As our trust in a friend grows, we may cautiously reveal our shadow side or keep this realm of ourselves private. Whatever we choose, these aspects continue to influence our relationships and our self-regard. Visit your shadow side this week, and - for your own benefit - chart the terrain: Walk through your private realm and describe what you encounter there.

I think that much of this will be done in the morning pages. What I wish to be public has been discussed in the Dark Moon questions so far, and what inner work is occurring this week will stay cocooned in my private journal for the time being.

Riding new currents

I am behind on everything everywhere, and I've decided to throw in the towel on deadlines. My lists have been burnt and I am just going to focus on being where I am when I am there.

Many pardons, I did not get much sleep last night.

After being wrung dry by one muse and getting an edited and re-edited Google doc posted up... it's your turn next time *evil eye*... I went to bed and was fully intending to get some good rest.

The universe had other ideas. As soon as I closed my eyes, my head fairly exploded with wild images and colours. Vast multi-coloured rainbow serpents wove in and out of my awareness as masques and white-chalk painted African and Polynesian faces would appear and fade away. I heard singing and chanting in languages I did not know, but could understand the celebration in the meaning behind the words. Water streamed in the images, and fish leaping, chased and chasing other rainbow-serpents through the waters, down falls, rapids, and waves. All in an amazing rush of exuberance.

I'm not at all sure what time I did finally drop off to sleep proper, but that 5:45 alarm clock sounded all too early this morning. The second question for Chapter three of the Dark Moon, I fear, will be pushed back to being answered tomorrow. My morning pages are having a skip and a rest today.

Thoughts from this morning

I got a new Tarot deck yesterday. I wasn't sure that I wanted it, but opened the package anyway and decided that it was a happy coincidence and message from the universe. The cards are inspired by the Visconti-Sforza deck and I love the imagery far better than the Rider-Waite deck. Interestingly enough, it also comes with a second blank set of cards that are meant to be coloured in by the owner as an esoteric exercise. This will be a long exercise but a fruitful one.

Switching gears a bit, I have started in on the second chamber of the Nautilus path.

Alone Time: Solitude is different from loneliness. When you choose to spend time alone, you are electing to focus your attention on your own process. You are paying attention to your self the way you would a best friend or cherished lover. Yet many of us fear solitude. When we find ourselves alone, we fill up the time and space with activities that pull our attention outward. Next time you start aimlessly flipping television channels or making idle phone calls, pause and check in with yourself, focusing your attention inward. What is it that you really want and need in this time? This week, make a date with yourself to spend an hour alone.

The rest left off, as most of you reading can guess where it is going and fill in the blanks. If you can't leave a comment and I'll fill it in. Part of my solitude is the practise of my morning pages. It is a free and unfiltered conversation with myself and I find that I get out of sorts and cranky when I miss this time for whateer reasons. The one time that I have been skimping on is my walks at lunchtime. I need to begin gifting myself with them again. Walking the trails through the woods at lunch time is very satisfying and an exercise in moving solitude. It is just me and nature, and I can let my mind wander, take in the beauty around me, and/or just walk with an empty mind and let the tension drain out of me. My gift to myself this new seasonal cycle is to begin taking this time again.

Another thought came to me this morning as I was writing in my pages about the tarot deck and the need for a new pouch for it. Tradition says that a deck should be stored in a black silk bag to ward it from energies that are not the readers own. Sage advice, and advice that I am going to ignore this time. Why? Because as I was meditating on this, it came to me that I want a pouch that is white linen, lined with green silk that I ave that has a small design of three chevrons stacked throughout it, red pomegranates that I will do in blackwork on the linen, and a black silk cord made from nine strands braided together. Goddess colours, numbers, and symbols galore. Yet, I also have the needed means and skills to keep the deck my own and attuned to me, so I am not worried about breaking tradition. The deck will still, for lack of a better word, 'work.' That is when I knew that tradition is there to act as a framework and allows for the 'tried and true' safe route through the mysteries for those learning them and beginning their esoteric path. It is a needed framework that helps the budding mystic whilst they are learning and absorbing the lessons. After a certain point, they have the tools and knowledge needed to break out and begin exploring their path outside of traditional bounds. It seems to me that many never do that, but remain hide-bound by tradition and stifled. Therein lies the danger of dogma and codified systems the world over, I suppose. So, it is a path of continued exploration for me. If worse comes to worse, I can make another black silk bag.