The Tree Letter ~
October 2009 - Harvest Moon - a few days past Full
In This Leaf:
A Glimpse of Samhains Past
The N/W Of The Year
In My Village
Jane's October Offering - Animal Magic
My Second Podcast: Interview With Ray Simkins on the 21st Century Bard
Streaming In Stone CD Update
Forest CD by harp duo Deb Knodel & Jane Valencia: perfect for a magical autumn
Blessings of the Harvest to you all! In this "Leaf" I reflect on the Celtic celebration of Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, known to most of us as Halloween, and offer a glimpse of how I've celebrated Samhain in past years. I also invite you into our magical reality via my online/distance October offering.
I want to thank those of you who shared with me the Abundance of your lives in response to Tree Letter - Leaf 1. Wow! If the emails from those who responded are any indication, some amazing and powerful - and even surprising - happenings are unfolding in all our lives right now. Blessings to you all! I'm in awe of your courageous, bold, and beautiful hearts! Our communities and this good earth all need us to be in our full, inventive, imaginative, rooted-leafy-branched-and-into-the-heavens selves!
A GLIMPSE OF SAMHAINS PAST
Samhain (pronounced roughly SOW-en) is an Irish Gaelic word that may (or may not) mean "Summer's end", designating the autumn feast that falls at that threshold time in the Celtic Wheel Of The Year when the summer half of the year dies completely and the winter half begins ... and when the Otherworld is especially near. Here in pockets of the 21st century, we consider the celebration of Samhain to be the true roots of Halloween, and that it includes an honoring of the Dead -- our ancestors, our loved ones who have passed on, and a recognition or imagining (depending on your perspective!) of spirits moving about at this threshold time.
For a scholar's perspective of Samhain, check out this article.
Certainly Samhain is a far more potent holiday than our American "tradition" of Halloween and its singular custom of "trick-or-treat", haunted houses, and scary or silly graveyard scenes currently suggests. Samhain offers us the opportunity to plunge into our mythic imagination, our connection with the ancestors, our grief, our sense of mischief, and tuning into the "crone" or elder nature of both the cycle of the seasons and our potential as fully alive human beings. Great wisdom and reflection is available to us here, if we dare to step along the forest path to sit by the fire! I am fascinated how in celebrations of Samhain that I have attended that we engage in both a deep honoring of our loved ones, vision for the coming year, and mischievous "shapeshifting" as we dress up and "trick-or-treat".
THE N/W OF THE YEAR.
In energetic terms we have arrived in the Northwest of the year. ("East" being the Spring Equinox - the time of awakening, welcome, and inspiration; "South" being the Summer Solstice - when we are full out in the year and in ourselves, and so on). The Northwest is the time of Heritage, Reflection, the Ancestors, and a decisive turning inwards, when the energy of the plants have funneled to the roots and away from producing seeds, fruits, nuts. We turn to the Roots too, to who we really are at heart, after all the activity of the year, and who we are in a deeper sense -- as a people. At this time we enter the realm of Dreams. Dreams for our next year, for the future, and dreams of time past.
The energy of the Northwest also involves grief, reconciliation, and honoring -- and we can experience these aspects of this time of year in the celebrations of All Saint's Day (Nov. 1), All Soul's Day (Nov. 2), and especially (in my experience) in El Dia De Los Muertos (Day Of The Dead), which ribbons the Catholic All Saint's and All Soul's Days honorings into its own lively, resonant, potent, ancient and indigenous rituals and celebrations.
I'll write more about El Dia De Los Muertos in the next Tree Letter, due to leaf on the New Moon. In my personal and family celebration I have felt a deep richness in honoring our departed loved ones during both the Samhain celebration and during El Dia De Los Muertos. Honorings at the Samhain celebration tend (in my experience) to be sweet and filled with story -- something like a greeting. In El Dia De Los Muertos, grief becomes more profoundly touched and honored, and that connection with the grandmothers and grandfathers, not to mention with los innocentes, las angelitas (the little ones who have passed on) more deeply felt.
IN THE VILLAGE
In Forest Halls you might find a firekeeper tending the bonfire, villagers speaking of a loved one who has passed on, or of an ancestor whose story they carry. They tell a tale, offer a poem or song, a favorite food, then light a candle and place it on an alter, perhaps by a photo of that person. The villagers themselves may be in costume, dressed as something that harkens to a quality they want to invoke in themselves in the coming year, or just in mischievous fun.
In a gathering place are small houses each individual or family has set up and decorated with things that are meaningful to each one, and which speak of their wishes and dreams for the next year. There, a basket of homemade healthfully sweet or daringly sweet or other treats rests by the door, served by the 'cottager' -- we all go trick-or-treating to each others' spirit homes, glimpse the dreams, receive a treat. We fill our own baskets with each others' dreams and wishes and stories, so we can carry them into the dark of the year and dream them too. When we share each others' dreams and visions, magic happens!
A lantern walk to the bonfire may follow, and then gathering around the fire for more stories, more songs, and then finally wandering away into the night to return to one's own home, nibbling on treats, and delighting in the sparkle and surprise of the night. The dark of the year has begun, but we carry within us the warm flame of community and belonging, and the tantalizing shine of the possible, moving like a friendly cat at our ankles, or a bird flitting oh so close to gaze into our eyes ....
The above is a mingling of several Samhains I have celebrated in community. You can create a small or large version of any of this -- or weave your own. Celebrating in the predictably rainy season of the Pacific Northwest (okay, so half the year is predictably rainy :-) ), we always planned to hold our celebrations indoors, and to have a lantern walk and/or bonfire weather permitting. One year we rented a hall and created a village within it, with actual "houses" depicting our dreams and wishes (made of large boxes, etc. and decorated), and to which we all went "door-to-door" trick-or-treating. An honoring of the ancestors took place on the shore, where we lit candles and howled at the moon. Naturally, feasting was involved!
On another year, our spirit homes were in miniature form, made of doll houses, or shoe boxes or blocks. Honoring of our departed ones took place first, then feasting and song, then "trick-or-treating" at each others' spirit houses. Simple and sweet. Other activities also took place: bobbing for apples, divination, and more. I enjoyed offering the Divination piece. Creating an area in a corner decorated with scarves and colorful fabric, I brought out several inspiration decks of cards, and folks draw three cards (representing the past, present, and possible future outcome) regarding something to which they wanted insight.
When I do this, I find it particularly sweet when the young children draw cards. I usually have them draw just one, usually from a deck of animal cards, to discover which animal might be a particular friend to them right now, or have a quality that they might enjoy playing with or imitating. Invariably, the animal is 'just the right' animal for them. I enjoy seeing how the animal represents some quality of spirit in the child, and in hearing the child's story (they always have one!) of that animal or bird. And, as a nature mentor (or 'magical naturalist', as I like to say), I always enjoy offering thoughts or ideas from my own perspective (or even a song or snippet of a tale), or just listening and being curious, inviting them to consider that animal, learn its secrets, and how they might become a more intimate friend of the forest.
JANE'S OCTOBER OFFERING: ANIMAL MAGIC
It's a lovely autumn evening in Forest Halls, with lanterns dangling in branches, and stars peeking in from above. Folks are wandering the paths, encountering magical beings and gently mischievous folk who offer a story or song, and a delicious treat, sparkly little gift, or lovely wise stone.
In my lantern-lit grove, colorful blankets spread around a tree round at the center. Atop that round are skulls and bones that I have collected in the forest: skulls of Raccoon, my totem animal Deer, and the skull of our family cat Puff. I can tell you the story of each skull, where the animal passed on, how we found it, and I can guide you to where the rest of the bones lie. I can tell you about the trees that shelter my grove: the Three Sisters behind me -- Red Cedar, Douglas-Fir, and Red Alder (decaying rapidly under the intense chiseling by Pileated Woodpecker and numerous insects) -- and Big Leaf Maple before me. I can tell you about my conversations with Black-Capped Chickadee, glimpses of Fawn, and about how Barred Owl taught me about being a Bard one dark and scary-in-my-soul night.
But those are tales for another time. Tonight I invite you to sit with me, and wrap yourself in the warm weave of the Grandmother shawls that layer one atop another at the north end of the grove. In the flickering firelight of wonder and imagination, I give you two possibilities for experiencing the magic of your true nature -- one is available right now, during October, and the other will be given in November. This month's offering is ....
ANIMAL MAGIC
Specifically for children or for the child in you, I choose an animal card from a divination/inspiration deck, or (if you prefer) I open a page 'at random' (in a universe where synchronicity rules, nothing is ever random!) in my Peterson's Field Guide To Mammals. The animal that reveals itself has a special teaching, tale, or poem for you! This animal will tell you some secrets about its life, and share some ways you and he/she may be able to get to know each other better, through nature awareness, story, and through getting to know the qualities of the animal in your own nature.
When you sign up your child, grandchild, yourself, or your family, I will send you a few questions that you all can choose to answer. In a few days I will email you the animal's response and tale. I always invite responses from the child (or you!) -- I love to hear your stories about the animals! -- and I will always write back.
My messages are written personally and specifically to your child/(grand)children/partner/you.
ANIMAL MAGIC - $25 for one child or adult
Offer for ANIMAL MAGIC readings is good through Oct. 31. Next month's divination offering: Hand Reading!
Okay! Just a couple more announcements, and then I'll wrap up here.
FOREST HALLS PODCAST NO. 2:
An interview with 21st century bard Ray Simpkin on Bardic natureThis podcast should be up on the website by the end of the week (Oct. 10 - my 22nd anniversary!). Please check the Podcast page at that time for a marvelous conversation!
STREAMING IN STONE CD
My first CD in eight years - recorded with sound healer Celestine Raye, is close to being uploaded to the duplication company. The mixing and mastering is done. Just a couple of little details to take care regarding the cover. Whoo hoo! Stay tuned!
AND FINALLY: Forest
Perfect for Autumn is my CD Forest, recorded with my harp duo partner Deb Knodel. FOREST is a musical journey through a magical forest, where we encounter the mythic Green Man, attend a village harvest celebration, a Scottish Ceilidh, and more! This album is great fun and filled with enchantment, and is a favorite with children of all ages. I've had teen and pre-teen girls tell me they've listened to FOREST over, and over, and over ....!
Find out more about Forest and listen to some music!
That's all for now!
Blessings & Beauty,
Jane Valencia
The Dragonsinger!
