Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain

I want to wish you all a beautiful Halloween/Samhain. 

The photo is taken by M and she has also baked these delicious pumpkin cupcakes for us

Hugs!

Ghost of the Pumpkin Patch – Count your Blessings

Tonight is All Hallows Eve or Halloween, the evening before Samhain. My last two posts were about my intention to look into my fears and anxieties. So for today I've asked the question, what will help me to face my fears. And I pulled The Ghost of the Pumpkin Patch from the Oracle of Shadows and Light.

The Ghost of the Pumpkin Patch Speaks:

“Something that is a blessing is being overlooked. It appears cloaked and seems almost invisible to you. You must stand in your field – that is to say, your life – and look around you, and see all that has been given to you again, and give thanks for it. You are forgetting how much you truly have, and how much you will have again, and again. My time is the harvest: it is now your time to bring in, or harvest, the joy and love of what you have so much of, and share your abundance.”

When you want to face you fears it is wise to first count your blessings. This will give you lots of security and strength for your inner journey. Life is not always as bad and scary as it seems. Skeletons in the closet are a lot smaller than the sound of their rattling bones might suggest. Spiders in the attic? Humbug, Monsters in the cellar might be just brooms and boxes when you are supported by the joy of your blessings

I've written  a lot about the practice of gratitude and this card is a reminder to uphold this practice when dealing with the harder parts of life

Count your  blessings and don’t take anything for granted. Count until there is nothing left to count, not even the smallest little squash in the corner of  your patch.

Happy Halloween and Samhain!

The day after Halloween

Halloween/Samhain in Holland. Not so spectacular as in other part of the world..But we have managed to have our own little festivities at home

In the afternoon my youngest daughter and I have been making a hug pumpkin cake. We have used our own muffin recipe (With raisins cinnamon apples oatmeal and sunflower seeds) and filled  a large pumpkin mold with the dough. This was the first time we’ve tried this so it was a very exciting moment when we had to remove the mold……

Pumpkin cake

 It tasted beautiful as it looks in this picture. I am sure we’ll do this more often.

After the baking we sat down to carve a pumpkin. Well my daughter did the carving and I was watching her being crafty. (Notice the matching nailcolor J) 

Carving our pumpkin

When our jack-o-lantern was finished he got a beautiful spot in the windowsill:

Carved pumpkin

And last but not least to our great surprise, in the evening when it was all already dark outside, the doorbell rang and there were three children all dressed up for trick or treat. Luckily we had some candy to give them. This was was the first time in my life ever I had trick or treaters at my door J

So slow but surely  the spirit of Halloween is hovering over the Low Lands…..

Don't run away from grief

October 30: An angel on a tombstone, lovely flowers in a vase. A burning candle on a grave: there are all sort of ways and rituals to come to terms with death. What eases the pain of death for me?

Anna K Tarot

Death is not always about the  loss of a loved one. It can also be about the loss of something (project, relationship, job etc.)you hold very dear. I think whenever you feel grief, there has been death in whatever form. So how do you  ease grief? You don’t; please don’t. It is good to find pauses for you grief; to have some breathing space. Find distractions, go out in nature, be with family, but please never numb you grief. It’s a  natural way of releasing your emotions and sadness after someone/thing dear and loved has been taken away from you. When you try to suppress those feelings they will hunt you down even stronger than they were in the beginning.

And what has the tarot to say about this? I took out my Anna K Tarot, because I think this deck will keep the answer grounded. And it did: I've got the four of wands! Regular meanings for this card are celebration, showing gratitude, achievement but also moving forward into the five of wands. This card is all about moving forward in life, even after a major traumatic event as death. In my opinion grieving is also moving forward. It is very important to connect with other people and celebrate life, remember together and be grateful for these memories. The most intense pain can be eased by nature. Walking and spending time outside can be very healing. 

Lo Scarabeo Oracle

The three lennies I ‘v pulled to go with this card are coffin + tree + stork. 

At first glance I thought these cards were talking about the deceased but afterwards they made me thinkmore about the person who is left behind: the sadness, the lack of energy, the change.

Coffin +Tree :health problems, being extremely tired and worn out

Tree + stork : Something life changing has happened

This will be the last prompt for my blog, because the last one of this series will be to personal for me to write about. I will include it in my Samhain celebration tomorrow. I wish you all a very happy Samhain/Halloween J

Unexpected Samhain reading

October 25: In the autumn hedgehogs do need  lots of food to build reserves for hibernation. In late November they go find a place to sleep. Which cozy warm place  can I make for myself now winter is coming?

Druidcraft Tarot

First I've pulled Death from the Druidcraft Tarot. That didn't feel right at all. How can Death be symbolizing my warm cozy place. So I pulled another card as a clarifier: The wheel. Not so cozy either. Honestly I am lost for words at this moment. But these are my cards and I’m sure they can teach me something….

To be able to enjoy the warmth and coziness of winter I want to achieve a relaxed state of mind; not too much worries and difficult decisions on the lurk

Death can help me with that. This card is all about letting go what serves me no more. And I tend to cling on to old stagnating problems, patterns and worries. (eight of swords). Or perhaps I can confront some of them in a healing way and put them in my cauldron of rebirth so their energies can serve me in a more healthy way.

The wheel is also all about patterns and cycles, harvesting and letting go and then moving forward. This cards teaches us also about inevitability. Sometimes life is what it is and we just have to accept it. The woman in the card is drawing her circle and she is making a place for herself between the worlds. She’s putting up a boundary between her and the rest of the world. In her hand she’s holding  the symbol of the wheel of the year. 

Druidcraft Tarot

This wheel teaches me to find the patterns and cycles in nature as well as in my own life. And on a very basic level, the drawing of the circle tells me that I can set up my cozy place where ever I am as long as I'm happy and content and I belief in my own worth and strength

Writing about these two cards is helping me to find meaning for myself right now. If I want to enjoy the coziness in my home and with my family I have to set out time for myself to explore The wheel of the year’s cycles an patterns as well as my own. And while doing so I want to try finally to let go of some old pains and grief and limiting beliefs.

This reading feels for me like a Samhain reading. The time of year to start over from scratch; to dive deep in the dark caves of my soul in winter and find there the seeds for new live in spring.

These two cards will be on my altar until after Samhain that’s for sure.

It is funny In the beginning of this post I just hardly knew what to write and now I am so sure these were the right cards for me J