NobleSouls.Net

Welcome to the ancient festival of Samhain - the time when the barrier between the visible and invisible is at it’s weakest and those that have left this world on their timeless journey can draw closer to us.

This is the time when our Celtic ancestors celebrated their ancestors and the legacy of life and dreams, myths, magic and legends that they inspired - reflecting not only on those that have gone before us but on their own mortality.

In Celtic lands the passing of someone is always celebrated with a ‘wake’. This is not a sad time but a cause of celebration - a time to rejoice at the passing of the soul to a better place. This time, the time of Samhain was a perfect time to reflect and reconnect with those we have loved and cared for.

This is also a time of primeval energies when barriers fall and worlds merge. The tradition of ‘trick or treating’ came from these lands when on this - of all nights - but it was also done throughout the year - the earth spirits (the Sidhe or the faery) had to be placated - ‘treated’ or they would curse your lands (trick) and livestock.

Today our children take the role.  Playful, in the moment, spiteful when crossed - who better reflects the earth spirits? Hallow’en (All Hallow’s Eve - the Christian festival of the Holy Souls which is tomorrow) is not a time of terror - but of reflection, reconnection and joy.

Happy Hallow’en. I’m off to fill my bags and drink the health of the ancestors and earth spirits!

One of the lessons of life that I have been priviliged to learn is to let go of what I have been conditioned to believe is ‘right’ and discover the ‘rightness’ for me.

A classic example of this is that I was brought-up to believe in ‘duty’ - what one must do. Duty was bound up with honour - therefore if you did not do your duty then you were not an honourable man. Now I recognise that these are outmoded concepts for many today but they were important to me.

The extension of course of not being an ‘honourable’ man was guilt. Now there is a useless emotion - one than binds us and brings us down. It serves no purpose except to control and limit our passions, our purposes and true, adventurous selves. It is a ‘programmed’ emotion and one which is designed to create conformity and control. The pain I have seen in people eaten up with it - their inability to live the one life they now have, all ruled by guilt.

I don’t ‘do’ guilt’ anymore and I no longer act out of ‘duty’. Both of these I believe are driven by the threat of shame and exclusion and serve no purpose in a rebel soul. We choose to live out of passion and purpose. We don’t do ‘duty’ but we do ‘responsibility’. For, taking control and accountability for our actions and engaging with others in a responsible manner is something that is driven by love.  Love for oneself and love for others.

I had a fascinating dream the other night. I was seated at a meeting of beings - all gods (the ‘god within me perhaps?) . One of them was a gentleman who was dressed as a Chinese Emperor and appeared to be kneeling at the table with his imperial gown covering all of his body - the other was human sized Praying Mantis.

As we got up to leave the table I noticed a snake’s tail being slid in underneath the emperor’ clothes and the tail was definitely his. He and the Praying Mantis - which I judged to be female - were deep in what appeared to be telepathic communication.  Almost in equilibrium - the masculine and feminine.

When I came down to breakfast that morning I discovered that my young son (who had visited the Chester Beatty library in Dublin Castle the day before) had brought back a post card of an Oriental design on which were pictured nagas - serpents with legs and human heads. I thought that I had glimpsed this going to bed perhaps and this had been the cause of the dream but was assured that the card had only been taken out of his school bag just that morning.

Later with some Web research I learned that the emperor would be known as a naga - a divine human/serpent from whom the Chinese imperial lineage was derived from and that the Praying (Preying?) Mantis also had spiritual legends connected with it.

The dream made such an impression that I need to do some research on it but would be delighted if anybody could comment on the imagery.