Samhain, the element of Metal, and the Wheel of the Year
Embracing My Identity and The Winter Descent
An energetic shift will soon be upon us as we enter ‘summer’s end’ – Samhain from the Celtic Wheel of the Year, (pronounced SAH win/SOW in), otherwise known as Hallowe’en or ‘All Hallows Eve’.
Being born on October 31st, this has naturally always been a significant way marker in the year for me. Over time, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with my birth date. Initially, it was fun and exciting (I had the best fancy dress parties!)
As I grew older and the schoolgirls became crueller to anyone who dared to be different, my birthday was prime fodder for bullying. I was called a witch whose eyes glowed red when I was angry. Rapidly I began to hate everything about Hallowe’en and all it represented.
In more recent years, in my own unravelling and working with Emily Tuck, I’ve come to better understand and embrace the day and my apparent witchiness. I find that I now look forward to this time of year as we descend into winter and into ourselves, planting the seeds of what we hope to become next spring.
Internal Reflection and Celebrating Wisdom
Samhain marks the turning of the wheel into the element of metal (Chinese Five Elements) which is where we’ll reside until Yule (Winter Solstice). The harvest of August and September (Earth element) has passed and now we reap the fruits of our labour over the year.
It’s a time of turning inwards, gathering and feasting yet also a time of preparation. Farmers will plant their winter wheat and historically villagers would have prepared to survive the long, cold winter ahead.
In modern times, this translates to an emotional winter descent where we can draw inwards and consider what we need to let go of in order to grow. It is the time of year believed to be when the veil between this life and the afterlife is at its thinnest so in ancient times, people looked to owls and falling autumn leaves as messengers from between the worlds.
The dead were, and still are honoured at this time in cultures around the world. We can celebrate their legacy and wisdom and invite them to bless and protect us. There is an opportunity as we reflect on those who have left this earthly realm to review the subconscious frameworks that we have inherited on an ancestral level, a familial level, a soul level, and a cultural or societal level. It is when we can truly ‘see’ who we are and decide who we want to become.
Do we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us and accept the genetic imperative to do them the great honour of completing and furthering their work?
Do we stand and make the choices that those who have gone before us could not or did not have permission to make?
Do we step into our power and cheer along with the other women succeeding in the World who are stepping into theirs so that together we rise?
Do we let go of the limiting beliefs, attitudes and remnants of who we no longer wish to be in the world and work to transform them over this inner winter?
On Yielding and Letting Go
This time of year can be challenging as we struggle against the innate urge to turn inwards yet are asked to keep being outwards (think of those upcoming December parties that are asking to be planned!)
It can feel like a stagnant time as the world around us slows but that doesn’t mean change isn’t occurring on an unconscious, unseen level ready to burst into action with the spring. Let the slower pace be an opportunity to be discerning about your life and tasks – what do you really want to shine a light on in the limited hours of sunlight?
Some of the questions I like to reflect on at this time of year are:
What lights me up? What do I need more of in my life?
What can I let of? What is no longer serving me?
How can I support myself at this time?
What will help me feel energised and motivated?
Am I communicating my needs and boundaries effectively?
Am I opening my heart to my inner richness?
Using the wisdom of the Metal element at this time of year is using the energy from 31st Oct until 21st December to enable us to gracefully release the past, and gently reveal the breath of inspiration for new ideas and beliefs enabling personal growth and societal evolution.
Welcome each crisp breath and each change in your life by looking toward a new experience and the growth it may bring over the coming months or into spring. The leaves may fall from the trees but they are making room for new growth. I find it important and comforting to remember the cyclical nature of life at this time of year.
In my upcoming poetry book Soul Threads (due 2024), I wrote a poem about feeling like I’m stuck in the longest summer of my life. Towards the end of the poem, I wrote:
I dream about the coming days, when the morning
feels crisp in my lungs
and my shoes, damp.
When leaves crunch
and the rain comes
to wash away
this longest summer.
I never doubt those days are coming.
Autumn has promised me a carnival
of red, orange and gold.
I’ll stand in my wellies, atop the golden leaves
in that crisp air,
with no gloves, to remember what cold feels like.
I’ll feel the world turn on its axis. I’ll remember how
even this longest summer
gave way to autumn,
and I’ll trust a little deeper in the things
that are meant to be.
And I believe that encapsulates this time of year. Trust in the motion even if it seems slow. Trust in yourself. Trust in who you are, what you want and what you know.
As the world fades to grey, the leaves fall and the world sleeps, sow those winter seeds of who you wish to be now so they are ready to bloom come spring.
