WITCHWATCH
Susan Aiu
speaks of
SAMHAIN 2005
SAMHAIN 2005
This High Day falls on Monday this year, and has a bright Sag Moon earlier in the day, but by the time it comes to do ritual, it will have entered Scorpio.
This will make it a very intense ritual when it is time to use all the magic you can to make it work as a dramatic evening. The day before, the Sun trines Uranus making for surprises when shopping, but also as you put the ceremony together.
Also Mercury, the mind will enter Sag and the combination of the quiet moon with the noisy Mercury will make for an interesting evening.
On the next day, the Moon enters it New Phase at 9Scorp43 giving an extra boost to the period under which the ritual falls. The New Moon is a time for starts of long lasting duration. The Full Moon follows on Nov 15 at 23Tau46, so you can finish up the cycle.
The next pair starts with the New Moon at 9Sag on 12/1 followed by the Full Moon at 23Gemini48 on Dec 15.
MERCURY will do its backing up or retrograde thing in Sag this time, turning on 11Sag, then backing up on 11/26 into Scorpio, turning direct on 24Scorp44 on Dec 13. This is a time when your mind goes out to lunch, you make wrong decisions, phone calls, and skeletons come out of the closet. Taureans will help you do this one. Do your Holiday shopping earlier or avoid this period for heavy decisions.
VENUS will also do a turn around at the end of the year in the sign of Capricorn/Aquarius. Venus enters Capricorn on 11/4, uppers for them, downers for the Cancers, and then goes on to Aquarius on 12/3. Then by 12/23 it turns on 1Aquarius and goes back and forth in 06. For 2005 it will be hard on the Cancers and Leos, the opposite signs here. again, do your shopping early and avoid disappointments.
MARS in Taurus went backwards on 10/1 on 23/22 and will turn direct on 12/9 on 9degrees. All you Taureans and Scorpios will have to cope with the urge to move faster than you like to. This is stressful, especially since this continues until Feb 17 of 06. Make sure you take time to eat, feed the car, and keep an eye on what it is doing. It slows you down when your transportation dies. Watch handing tools. Double your Bs and Cs to keep your energy up.
JUPITER is tooling along in Scorpio, giving that sign a run for their money. This is their best year in 12, so they need to make the most of it. Mars in Taurus will give them a push. Jupiter stays in Scorpio for 13 months, so they get a bit extra. They can expand their girth, mind, knowledge, teaching, traveling, pondering the impossible.
SATURN is taking on the Leos and urging them to take on more work, responsibilities. It will turn retrograde on 11/21 11Leo. And this period is for catching up, catching your breath, to see what to plan ahead. Should anxieties show up, since Saturn rules minerals, you can add a good dose of them to your diet at bedtime. This goes on for 2 1/2years.
URANUS is the planet of Chaos and we what it did to New Orleans when it hit that city's Pluto. And in Pisces, the Water sign, it was crazy, unpredictable water, transforming the city into a Venice. Uranus backs up to 6Pisces50 on 11/13 and then gets ready to take on the affairs of more Virgos and Pisces. It does pull the rug out from under you, it destroys, changes, moves you from house, city, country. without warning or asking. You can't even duck.
NEPTUNE turned direct on 14Aquarius49 and it is heading for new territory—to 16degrees by years end. It will take on the next 4 degrees in 06. It makes you want to retire, hide out. It makes you sensitive to the world around you, including the air you breathe and the food you eat. Just listen to your body and leave foods alone for a while if you have a negative reaction. It makes you a hermit.
PLUTO is the transformer is moving forward from 21Sag and by year's end reaches 24degrees. This small outer planet makes for powerful changes in your life as it goes through or opposes your sign. The person to watch is John Bolton as he will have Pluto crossing his Mars/Sun by year's end and we will see if he can get both feet in his mouth. We may very well wish he is not in the UN.
SAMHAIN 2005
The WitchWatch says that your ritual this year can be very intense this year. Be ready to use this energy toward transforming your year ahead.
"I whisper of the darkest hour,
followed by no dawn
I sigh of blindness, barren, bent,
the Undead and Unborn
I weave the great black spider's spell
in caverns underground
Clothed in loss and long-gone lives
I haunt the barrow-mound.
I am coal and I am bone,
grey drizzle on cold stone.
Come to me in your despair,
naked, broken and alone.
I cackle, mock and turn my back,
I jab you with my claw
Now clasp to your skin my hackles dire
I throw wide the bright door."
SA-WEEN
Samhain means summer's end and is usually pronounced 'sa-ween'. To the Celts there were only two seasons, winter Summer, and Samhain marked the start of winter.
This is the time of nostalgia, formerly literally a time of saying goodbye. Decisions had to be made about which livestock could survive winter and which should be eaten. More sadly, sickly children and the frail elderly would probably not live to see another summer.
NEW YEAR
Samhain, time of endings, death and retreat was also their New Year. To the Celtic mind it is clear that in darkness, quiet, emptiness lies the source of Life. In the trilogy of the Goddess (Maiden, Mother, & Crone), the Crone came first, and from Her black cloak emerged the bright Maiden. Their day began at sunset. From darkness comes forth light, from the bare and barren earth, new life quickens, in due course. This is an important message for us today.
SHADOW SELF
The Celts honored darkness and had more than a nodding acquaintance with the 'other side'. Our 'shadow', our darker self is also part of us, and fear and loss are experienced in each life. In spite of the fact that there is nothing wrong with being cheerful and optimistic. But when the shadow rips us apart, we get to grow up and out of it and be stronger. In time waste turns to compost and nourishes new plants.
FACES IN THE MIST
The spirit world is close at this time of year. There are Faces in the mist, voices call in the wind, and in the gathering gloom it often seems as if someone is watching us. Samhain is a very ancient festival that honors the ancestors, their spirits and wisdom and acknowledges that that there are worlds other than this one. It also celebrates life, as the jaws of darkness open.
TRICK OR TREAT
The Trickiness of the season was marked by a time when the usual boundaries were abandoned and jokes were played on people, cattle and buildings. The custom of 'trick or treat' had its origins in Europe, marked by children dressing up and demanding a 'treat' threatening some prank if one isn't forthcoming. Far from encouraging nightmares, it is in this way that children come to terms with their own darker side, and the general unreliability of life.
The pumpkin lantern has become the easiest to carve for the British used to use a large turnip. The eerie pumpkin face has several meanings. They were hollowed out and sus
pended on sticks, the light in them was supposed to frighten away evil spirits. One meaning is that the candle symbolizes the life still exists, hidden in the earth, in seeds and tubers.
If you carve your own pumpkin, be sure to save the seeds which can be dried to form a necklace, or you can eat them. And make a pumpkin pie out of the flesh.
FRUIT OF THE UNDERWORLD
The apple is considered an Underworld fruit, food of the gods and the dead. An apple cut crosswise reveals a five-point star, symbolic of Woman and goddess at the center. The apple is a fruit of transformation. Apples also mean fertility, and sometimes thirteen apples were buried after the harvest had been gathered to ensure next year's yield would be good.
SACRED TREE
Elder has an affinity to Samhain. It is also associated with the German goddess Hela, who is queen of the dead. This Elder tree has associations with the power of the Feminine, for it bleeds red sap when cut, like menstrual blood. Menstruation is a time of special significance, when another side to a woman's personality may emerge.
It can been seen as an 'underworld' time when a woman communes with her spirit-self and gives birth, in the blood flow, to a 'magical child' which is herself renewed. Flutes made from Elder were said to summon spirits.
There are many magickal spells for this time of year and one using a green twig of the Elder, is used to cure warts. rub the warts with the twig, and bury it, and as it rots, so the warts would dissolve with it. Pregnant women may kiss the Elder to bring good fortune to their baby.
Cerridwen is a Welsh goddess, brewed a cauldron, and the broth she simmered conferred inspiration and rebirth. She can help in any process of change that we undergo. Imagine her cackling and mumbling in her gloomy cave, as she stirs her foaming black cauldron. approach her meekly and with extreme respect, and if you are fortunate she will turn to you a face dazzling with beauty.
CERRIDWEN
Cerridwen is one personification of the Dark Mother, the maw of the tomb, the totem animal is the sow. She may 'eat' us, but she will give birth to us anew. Humility, respect and submission to what is far greater than our ego-consciousness is part of the alchemy of transformation.
When the wild, hidden and sometimes destructive side needed to have its place, and having trick or treat are part of the process. It's time to honor the Dark Mother. Death brings forth life, ugliness produces beauty and what we fear lies wisdom.
Samhain is a time for facing ourselves, and this often requires time alone. Light a back candle and sit quietly in front of it for a while, reflecting on the past, what it has brought us to the position where we now find ourselves, whether the ways we have traveled have been those we could have chosen and whether there are things and/or people that we would do better to let go.
Some things may be hard to face. They may not have to be let go of or changed immediately. Not so. You may work them out in the future. Jot down ideas for change and ask Cerredwen to make you a transformative "brew" watch and see what changes you make, check your list and let them just happen.
THE TELLING OF OLD TALES
This is the time for story telling, so gather a group and talk about relatives who have passed on to the spirit world. you can also ask your departed grandmother to join you for a meal. Visiting burial mounds, or cemeteries are things to do.
Try some scrying, in a dark bowl or mirror. See what the Tarot cards have to say. Make a mask to show a different side of yourself, or portray an animal or god or goddess.
SCORPIO
Samhain's Sun is in Scorpio, the sign of Fixed Water. Their still waters run deep. They are gutsy people who may walk where angels fear to tread. And they are brutally honest with themselves.
INCENSENCES
Incenses are frankincense, galangal and myrrh. Add wormwood, bay and sandalwood to increase psychism while scrying. Wormwood has an unpleasant smell, so be warned.
OILS
The oils are cypress and myrrh. Earthy patchouli is said to be ruled by Pluto. Eucalyptus oil is very healing. coriander is warm and fragrant, and peppermint is invigorating.
What does not destroy me makes me stronger.
Fredrich Nietzsche
**************************************
Contact Susan Aiu at susanaiu@pixi.com
You may also ask to recieve the free weekly
astro newsletter that goes out worldwide.
You may call (808) 948-0172 daily for a free
astro reading of what is happening in the sky.
Like a weather report it will keep you up to
date on the planetary patterns.
Susan holds a monthly Psychic Fair on the
3rd Sunday of each month at the Maunakea
Marketplace in Chinatown in Honolulu. You
can find our readers on the 2nd floor balcony
from 9am to 3pm. $10 for each 15 minutes.
Her website is http://www.susanaiuastro.com
is resting at present, until more
stable housing is found,
You can be put on her weekly newsletter list by
contacting her at susanaiu@pixi.com. It's free.
This High Day falls on Monday this year, and has a bright Sag Moon earlier in the day, but by the time it comes to do ritual, it will have entered Scorpio. This will make it a very intense ritual when it is time to use all the magic you can to make it work as a dramatic evening. The day before, the Sun trines Uranus making for surprises when shopping, but also as you put the ceremony together. Also Mercury, the mind will enter Sag and the combination of the quiet moon with the noisy Mercury will make for an interesting evening.
On the next day, the Moon enters it New Phase at 9Scorp43 giving an extra boost to the period under which the ritual falls. The New Moon is a time for starts of long lasting duration. The Full Moon follows on Nov 15 at 23Tau46, so you can finish up the cycle. The next pair starts with the New Moon at 9Sag on 12/1 followed by the Full Moon at 23Gemini48 on Dec 15.
MERCURY will do its backing up or retrograde thing in Sag this time, turning on 11Sag, then backing up on 11/26 into Scorpio, turning direct on 24Scorp44 on Dec 13. This is a time when your mind goes out to lunch, you make wrong decisions, phone calls, and skeletons come out of the closet. Taureans will help you do this one. Do your Holiday shopping earlier or avoid this period for heavy decisions.
VENUS will also do a turn around at the end of the year in the sign of Capricorn/Aquarius. Venus enters Capricorn on 11/4, uppers for them, downers for the Cancers, and then goes on to Aquarius on 12/3. Then by 12/23 it turns on 1Aquarius and goes back and forth in 06. For 2005 it will be hard on the Cancers and Leos, the opposite signs here. again, do your shopping early and avoid disappointments.
MARS in Taurus went backwards on 10/1 on 23/22 and will turn direct on 12/9 on 9degrees. All you Taureans and Scorpios will have to cope with the urge to move faster than you like to. This is stressful, especially since this continues until Feb 17 of 06. Make sure you take time to eat, feed the car, and keep an eye on what it is doing. It slows you down when your transportation dies. Watch handing tools. Double your Bs and Cs to keep your energy up.
WITCHWATCH
Susan Aiu speaks
of Samhain 2005
SAMHAIN 2005
This High Day falls on Monday this year, and has a bright Sag Moon earlier in the day, but by the time it comes to do ritual, it will have entered Scorpio. This will make it a very intense ritual when it is time to use all the magic you can to make it work as a dramatic evening.
The day before, the Sun trines Uranus making for surprises when shopping, but also as you put the ceremony together. Also Mercury, the mind will enter Sag and the combination of the quiet moon with the noisy Mercury will make for an interesting evening.
On the next day, the Moon enters it New Phase at 9Scorp43 giving an extra boost to the period under which the ritual falls. The New Moon is a time for starts of long lasting duration. The Full Moon follows on Nov 15 at 23Tau46, so you can finish up the cycle. The next pair starts with the New Moon at 9Sag on 12/1 followed by the Full Moon at 23Gemini48 on Dec 15.
SATURN is taking on the Leos and urging them to take on more work, responsibilities. It will turn retrograde on 11/21 11Leo. And this period is for catching up, catching your breath, to see what to plan ahead. Should anxieties show up, since Saturn rules minerals, you can add a good dose of them to your diet at bedtime. This goes on for 2 1/2years.
URANUS is the planet of Chaos and we what it did to New Orleans when it hit that city's Pluto. And in Pisces, the Water sign, it was crazy, unpredictable water, transforming the city into a Venice. Uranus backs up to 6Pisces50 on 11/13 and then gets ready to take on the affairs of more Virgos and Pisces. It does pull the rug out from under you, it destroys, changes, moves you from house, city, country. without warning or asking. You can't even duck.
NEPTUNE turned direct on 14Aquarius49 and it is heading for new territory—to 16degrees by years end. It will take on the next 4 degrees in 06. It makes you want to retire, hide out. It makes you sensitive to the world around you, including the air you breathe and the food you eat. Just listen to your body and leave foods alone for a while if you have a negative reaction. It makes you a hermit.
PLUTO is the transformer is moving forward from 21Sag and by year's end reaches 24degrees. This small outer planet makes for powerful changes in your life as it goes through or opposes your sign. The person to watch is John Bolton as he will have Pluto crossing his Mars/Sun by year's end and we will see if he can get both feet in his mouth. We may very well wish he is not in the UN.
SAMHAIN 2005
The WitchWatch says that your ritual this year can be very intense this year. Be ready to use this energy toward transforming your year ahead.
"I whisper of the darkest hour, followed by no dawn I sigh of blindness, barren, bent, the Undead and Unborn
I weave the great black spider's spell in caverns underground Clothed in loss and long-gone lives I haunt the barrow-mound.
I am coal and I am bone, grey drizzle on cold stone. Come to me in your despair, naked, broken and alone.
I cackle, mock and turn my back, I jab you with my claw Now clasp to your skin my hackles dire… I throw wide the bright door."
Samhain means summer's end and is usually pronounced 'sa-ween'.
SAYING GOODBYE
To the Celts there were only two seasons, winter Summer, and Samhain marked the start of winter. This is the time of nostalgia, formerly literally a time of saying goodbye.
Decisions had to be made about which livestock could survive winter and which should be eaten. More sadly, sickly children and the frail elderly would probably not live to see another summer.
NEW YEAR
Samhain, time of endings, death and retreat was also their New Year. To the Celtic mind it is clear that in darkness, quiet, emptiness lies the source of Life. In the trilogy of the Goddess (Maiden, Mother, & Crone), the Crone came first, and from Her black cloak emerged the bright Maiden. Their day began at sunset. From darkness comes forth light, from the bare and barren earth, new life quickens, in due course. This is an important message for us today.
SHADOW SELF
The Celts honored darkness and had more than a nodding acquaintance with the 'other side'. Our 'shadow', our darker self is also part of us, and fear and loss are experienced in each life. In spite of the fact that there is nothing wrong with being cheerful and optimistic. But when the shadow rips us apart, we get to grow up and out of it and be stronger. In time waste turns to compost and nourishes new plants.
FACES IN THE MIST
The spirit world is close at this time of year. There are Faces in the mist, voices call in the wind, and in the gathering gloom it often seems as if someone is watching us. Samhain is a very ancient festival that honors the ancestors, their spirits and wisdom and acknowledges that that there are worlds other than this one. It also celebrates life, as the jaws of darkness open.
The Trickiness of the season was marked by a time when the usual boundaries were abandoned and jokes were played on people, cattle and buildings. The custom of 'trick or treat' had its origins in Europe, marked by children dressing up and demanding a 'treat' threatening some prank if one isn't forthcoming. Far from encouraging nightmares, it is in this way that children come to terms with their own darker side, and the general unreliability of life.
PUMPKINS
The pumpkin lantern has become the easiest to carve for the British used to use a large turnip. The eerie pumpkin face has several meanings. They were hollowed out and suspended on sticks, the light in them was supposed to frighten away evil spirits. One meaning is that the candle symbolizes the life still exists, hidden in the earth, in seeds and tubers.
If you carve your own pumpkin, be sure to save the seeds which can be dried to form a necklace, or you can eat them. And make a pumpkin pie out of the flesh.
The apple is considered an Underworld fruit, food of the gods and the dead. An apple cut crosswise reveals a five-point star, symbolic of Woman and goddess at the center. The apple is a fruit of transformation. Apples also mean fertility, and sometimes thirteen apples were buried after the harvest had been gathered to ensure next year's yield would be good.
SAMHAIN TREE
Elder has an affinity to Samhain. It is also associated with the German goddess Hela, who is queen of the dead. This Elder tree has associations with the power of the Feminine, for it bleeds red sap when cut, like menstrual blood. Menstruation is a time of special significance, when another side to a woman's personality may emerge. It can been seen as an 'underworld' time when a woman communes with her spirit-self and gives birth, in the blood flow, to a 'magical child' which is herself renewed. Flutes made from Elder were said to summon spirits.
There are many magickal spells for this time of year and one using a green twig of the Elder, is used to cure warts. rub the warts with the twig, and bury it, and as it rots, so the warts would dissolve with it. Pregnant women may kiss the Elder to bring good fortune to their baby.
CERRIDWEN
Cerridwen is a Welsh goddess, brewed a cauldron, and the broth she simmered conferred inspiration and rebirth. She can help in any process of change that we undergo. Imagine her cackling and mumbling in her gloomy cave, as she stirs her foaming black cauldron. approach her meekly and with extreme respect, and if you are fortunate she will turn to you a face dazzling with beauty.
Cerridwen is one personification of the Dark Mother, the maw of the tomb, the totem animal is the sow. She may 'eat' us, but she will give birth to us anew. Humility, respect and submission to what is far greater than our ego-consciousness is part of the alchemy of transformation. When the wild, hidden and sometimes destructive side needed to have its place, and having trick or treat are part of the process. It's time to honor the Dark Mother. Death brings forth life, ugliness produces beauty and what we fear lies wisdom.
Samhain is a time for facing ourselves, and this often requires time alone. Light a back candle and sit quietly in front of it for a while, reflecting on the past, what it has brought us to the position where we now find ourselves, whether the ways we have traveled have been those we could have chosen and whether there are things and/or people that we would do better to let go. Some things may be hard to face. They may not have to be let go of or changed immediately. Not so. You may work them out in the future. Jot down ideas for change and ask Cerredwen to make you a transformative "brew" watch and see what changes you make, check your list and let them just happen.
This is the time for story telling, so gather a group and talk about relatives who have passed on to the spirit world. you can also ask your departed grandmother to join you for a meal. Visiting burial mounds, or cemeteries are things to do. Try some scrying, in a dark bowl or mirror. See what the Tarot cards have to say. Make a mask to show a different side of yourself, or portray an animal or god or goddess.
Samhain's Sun is in Scorpio, the sign of Fixed Water. Their still waters run deep. They are gutsy people who may walk where angels fear to tread. And they are brutally honest with themselves.
Incenses are frankincense, galangal and myrrh. Add wormwood, bay and sandalwood to increase psychism while scrying. Wormwood has an unpleasant smell, so be warned.
The oils are cypress and myrrh. Earthy patchouli is said to be ruled by Pluto. Eucalyptus oil is very healing. coriander is warm and fragrant, and peppermint is invigorating.
What does not destroy me makes me stronger. Fredrich Nietzsche
**************************************
Contact Susan Aiu at susanaiu@pixi.com
You may also ask to recieve the free weekly
astro newsletter that goes out worldwide.
You may call (808) 948-0172 daily for a free
astro reading of what is happening in the sky.
Like a weather report it will keep you up to
date on the planetary patterns.
Susan holds a monthly Psychic Fair on the
3rd Sunday of each month at the Maunakea
Marketplace in Chinatown in Honolulu. You
can find our readers on the 2nd floor balcony
from 9am to 3pm. $10 for each 15 minutes.
Her website is http://www.susanaiuastro.com
is resting at present, until more stable housing
is found,
You can be put on her weekly newsletter list by
contacting her at susanaiu@pixi.com. It's free.