Samhain Blessings for my ancestors and the turning of the seasons
Tonight I have chosen to pay homage to my ancient Gaelic ancestors and begin celebrating Samhain.
Samhain is an ancient Gaelic festival traditionally celebrated from sunset on October 31st to sunset on November 1st. It is considered a liminal time, which is when the veil between the living and the spirit world is at its thinnest.
The Druidic name for this festival is Oiche Shamnhna. In Scots Gaelic, Samhain is known as Ban-Druidh. It is celebrated approximately halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
It is the time when we celebrate the end of the harvest season, honor ancestors, and prepare ourselves spiritually and psychologically for the long nights of winter ahead.
Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest, honoring (and connecting with) our loved ones who have passed into the spirit realm in a reverent way and acknowledging the changing of the sacred seasonal rhythms of nature.
This year I give thanks for the abundant harvests that Mother Earth provided, the beauty and poetry for the senses that she shared in her jubilantly colored autumn leaves which signify the rhythmic transition of the sacred lifecycles and seasons.
Today I also honor my late grandparents (Isobel and Don MacLaurin as well as Ken and Sylvia Mounsey) which shared ancestral heritage rooted in Albion and Eire (aka the British Isles/Ireland). They no longer reside on the Earth but the mark their presence left here is a legacy of ecological restoration, kindness, community building, creativity, scientific inquiry, courage, love and integrity.
My Grandpa Don was instrumental in creating trails and parks that are enjoyed by thousands of people in and around Whistler BC. His efforts have served to protect mature ecosystems and preserve them for future generations to be able to enjoy and connect with. He was a teacher and a responsible forester.
He always encouraged me to look closely at nature, to look into the boundless depths of space and look to science as a means to understand the universe and world we inhabit with greater clarity. When I was young he bought me posters of stellar phenomenon captured by the hubble, gave me a telescope and gave me my first microscope. I used these tools to expand my perception beyond the limitations of my innate senses, enriching my mind, sparking my imagination and provoking me to ask questions which led me to know what I do today. For that, I am forever grateful. I have been able to keep his science books on geology, trees, fungi and space in tact thanks to my mom. These cherished artifacts are the equivalent of my ‘Samhain alter’ that honors all that he shared with me to enrich my life.
Isobel Maclaurin was an exuberant, creative and forthright person. She was a talented artist and enriched the community of Whistler, BC by capturing the beauty of the more than human world in her paintings and drawings.
For a peak into her art studio:
I did not always see eye to eye with my grandmother growing up but as an adult I came to respect that she was a person that was not afraid to speak her mind (in a world full of pretenders and people pleasers that is something I value even if I do not share someone’s views).
When I was young I remember spending time picking huckleberries with her in her garden and appreciating her vast collection of unique and eccentric bird houses which stimulated my imagination and appreciation for the more than human world.
Here are pics of a few of them below:
I remember sneaking down into her art studio and standing in awe amongst all the paintings of vibrant tropical fish, exotic flowers, interesting looking people from far away lands, rocks, bears, birds and mountain tops. Those paintings gifted me nourishment for the mind in a way that the ubiquitous digital stimulation of today’s world never could, opening up my mind to see I lived in a world of beautiful diversity worth exploring and cherishing.
My Granny and Grandad (Ken and Sylvia) were kind, humble, generous, adventurous and creative people that gave you a feeling that you were safe and loved just by being in their presence.
Sylvia was a playful and creative woman that shared many delicacies (created with ingredients grown in her own gardens) at her and Ken’s Bed and Breakfast (The Pink Geranium).
She would take the time to make the grandkids homemade chocolate eggs for easter and make us feel useful by getting us to go catch Cod for her from the ocean or collect morel mushrooms from the woods (that she would lovingly cook up for everyone afterwards).
Below shows the cabin by the ocean that I used to climb down the cliff beside to catch Cod for my Granny to cook up.
“The water front home was weighted down with over 500 pounds of Gourmet magazines. My mom would go through them looking for ideas for the restaurant back in the day. Mostly though recipes were brought back from their trekking around the planet.” - Ian Mounsey (my dad)
Some old news footage of their Bed and Breakfast:
Here is a link to one of their famous recipes they used to often serve at their restaurant/B&B: https://books.google.ca/books?id=PWsg0LVm6ZwC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=Pink+Geranium+galiano+island+lamb&source=bl&ots=VCWFhQ2fNB&sig=ACfU3U3vEM76VXToAPYK6WuSjv5rqCBaAQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnieGC8fXzAhWPkmoFHaf-Cn0Q6AF6BAgYEAM#v=onepage&q=Pink%20Geranium%20galiano%20island%20lamb&f=false
Ken was a kind, humble and patient man... a protector of the forest... a cultivator and artist... an adventurer and a romantic. I will always be grateful for his nurturing, loving and light-hearted presence in my life. He showed me what true love, selflessness and devotion looks like and taught me the value of truly listening to others (through his patient listening and acceptance of others). In a modern world where men all too often lose their way to distraction, ego, fear, greed and selfishness.. he showed me what a real man isn’t afraid to embody... chivalry, kindness, bravery of the heart and working hard in order to care for your loved ones and make your dreams come true. My Granny and Grandad love to travel on their bicycles and one of the last things my grandad gave me was a collapsible metal “cycling cup” (circa in 1897) which I will enjoy a stout beverage from tonight and raise my glass to all three of them (Isobel and Don MacLaurin as well as Ken and Sylvia Mounsey).
For more info on my ancestors, both recent and ancient, their traditions and life ways, read post linked below:
And in my honoring of the sacred cycles of nature and the transition from one season to the next I will share the following:
All that we are and all that we own, cherish and hold sacred on this world is a gift from the Earth and from the stars. All that made our bodies comes from the Earth and all that made the Earth came from the stars. Death is not the end, it is but one segment of a perpetual flow of transformations and metamorphoses’.
Our bodies (and even the Earth herself) are made of stardust. Ancient stellar matter that was cast out from the core of a dying star in a blinding flash of cosmic light. This cosmic event is memorialized in each of our eyes.
Thus, on this Samhain I do not only celebrate the passing of my loved ones here on Earth, but also the passing of the ancient stars that gave life to our world and substance to our bodies by sending their essence out in one final radiant celebration of their cosmic splendor in a supernova explosion. The enriched stellar dust (which came from the heart of an ancient dying star) was (over time) guided to come together to become a young solar system of spinning spheres of rock and gas. Cooling down over countless centuries, one of these spheres became what we now call the Earth.
Eons of time passed as various processes unfolded in order to make way for the beings that would one day call this living planet home. Many beings lived and died so that we could call this place home. The brave pioneering kingdom of bacteria and wise alchemists of the queendom of fungi were the first to be invited to call this Earth home. These noble beings strove to weave a fabric which would cradle all life that would come after them. This matrix and fabric which would serve as a nexus for all complex lifeforms is called Soil. It allowed for the unfolding of photosynthetic organisms and creatures of endless diversity to begin the sacred work of building complex eco-systems. The atmosphere, the rains, and even the ancient stones which made up the bones of the earth were changed.
Everything that it took to make your body, this life, this Earth... this confluence of events from millions and billions of years ago that led you to be who and what you are now... has never happened before and will never happen again. Each time you look through your eyes at this world and those you share it with you are experiencing this world through your own unique ‘kaleidoscope of consciousness’ (which is the result of the blending of your eternal Self and your earthly host). Looking through this unique lens means that you are experiencing and creating things that will only only happen once in exactly the way they are happening now.
Therefore each moment (as seen through your eyes) is an unrepeatable Ephemeral work of art.. a mandala woven of spirit, energy, matter and perception.. it is the birth (and death) of something that will never occur again. The essence of each moment can be cherished and aligned with life affirming, regenerating and enriching forces through our conscious choice to feel gratitude and strive to use our moments to enrich the collective we are a part of.
Reconnecting to your ancestral knowledge and awakening ancient re-membering is a path that aligns you with the powerful magic that is unlocked when one takes the time to learn the names and forgotten languages of the rivers, ancient trees and mountain peaks again. It is the magic that the ancient ones wielded when they studied the stars, the sky, the mountain spring and learned to listen to their secrets, connecting in communion, giving thanks, receiving their gifts of wisdom. We to can embark on such a path if we awaken the dormant seeds deep within and nurture them to set down roots in our day to day routines, habits, perspectives and traditions.
Thus, this Samhain I celebrate the life and death of my loved ones, ancient ancestors (both human and non-human) and the life and death of the stars themselves.
Each time you look up at the radiant sun or the twinkling stars at night know that just as we came from the stars we will one day return to them, to be one with all that has lived (and will ever live) on the Earth. In our returning to the stardust from once we all came, we will become the light that shines from new stars giving live to worlds yet unborn into eternity.
Death need not be a sad thing, we can choose to glean wisdom and soul enriching memories from the moments shares with our loves ones that have now passed on. We can also do this with each moment from this instant and onward because within each moment dwells an entire universe of possibility.
Darkness (whether literal or metaphorical/experiential) need not be something we fear or run away from, for literal darkness is the protective nourishing living womb that invites seeds to germinate called soil and through facing the forces aligned with metaphorical darkness those experiences too can serve to germinate seeds of potential within us as we remember we have the light within us to make the darkness flee.
An increasing amount of people are now being forced to take a long honest look at what inherently immoral governments, most financially influential human beings and transnational institutions/NGOs are really up to behind the scenes. They are being forced to do so in the wake of devastation left by this 5th generation war (a combination of a chemical war, biological war, ecocidal war, psychological war and spiritual war) that is being waged by the oligarchs, their statist puppets and corporations on small businesses and everyday people. this is a time when dangerous untested products have been forced on the general population via coercion (for profit), violent totalitarian police abuse/oppression of peaceful protestors is becoming normalized and intentional hyper-inflationary and food system crippling policies which are being consciously engaged in by governments all over the world.
This increasing awareness of systemic corruption seems to be attached to another trend where I am hearing more and more people point out things that they are describing as “evil” all around them in dominant institutions and in today’s modern culture in general.
I can understand why after living on Earth for a few decades and closely observing the modus operendi of those that are self interested and obscenely rich one might begin to see the various manifestations (and ripple effects) of such behavior everywhere (especially after the last 5 plus years of especially intense, overt and vicious economic/psychological/spiritual warfare).
When one utilizes and develops their pattern recognition capabilities to see what the self interested (and sometimes nefarious/parasitic) choices of the few operating in darkness are doing to the many, the patterns one can begin to see all around them are myriad (and the detrimental impacts of said behavior patterns are ubiquitous). Given all of this, I can totally understand how people can internalize states of ‘learned helplessness’, defeatism and/or seeing “evil” lurking around every corner (in the context of today’s hyper-centralized, anthropocentric, statist, materialistic, reductionist dominant culture guided by a transnational corporatocracy).
On the other hand, I believe there is also truth in the saying ‘if you gaze into the abyss long enough the abyss gazes also into you.’ and the saying “what you fear you empower, and what you love you empower, and what you empower, you attract”.
Thus, I feel that while it is wise to take an honest look at the darkness of humanity, analyzing how it’s most deranged members are actively seeking to murder, poison and/or enslave their fellow humans (so that one can avoid such pitfalls, withdraw our support from their systems of oppression and help others do the same) I also feel it is even more important to apply one’s pattern recognition capabilities to seeing (and acting upon) that which is beautiful, creative, hopeful and empowering on this world. That includes the behaviors of human beings that serve to uplift, nurture, heal, inspire, unify and illuminate and it includes perceiving the beauty, geometry and wisdom present in the more than human world as well.
For just as if we gaze into the abyss long enough, the abyss will gaze back, so too if we gaze long enough into the radiant light emanating from the spiritual spark that exists within all beings and so too if we gaze into the workings and mind of the living planet Earth the source of that light and conscious spirit gazes back at us as well.
Recognizing the conscious spark of spirit in our kin (human and non-human) creates a mirroring and fanning of the flame effect, where a spark becomes an ember and then a radiant beacon of light. This potential exists within all of us, and it can make the darkness flee.
Therefore we are now called to realize that in, is the only way out, for it is within that we may re-kindle the spark that we were born with to become a flame and illuminate a safe path forward, through both shedding light onto a path that others have walked before us and letting it teach us how to trail blaze a new and ancient path forward.
Whether you are celebrating Samhain, Dia De Los Muertos, or Hallows Eve (aka Halloween) I wish you an evening that enriches your spirit, makes you feel closer to your loved ones (both here on the Earth and those that have left this plane) and a time in which you embrace and honor the inevitable transition of the cycles of life and death, autumn to winter, unconsciousness to wakefulness and darkness to the break of the great dawn. In doing so we can align ourselves with the regenerative and trophic cascading proclivity of these perpetual cycles.
This is a path that moves with the strong creative currents that flow when one lives in a state of acceptance of the ephemeral nature of life/matter and embraces the courage to surrender to the moment and be fully present. This is a path that allows us engage in the sacred process of alchemy in taking that which was and transmuting it’s essence to enrich that which shall be. Just as our wise elders in the Fungi queendom can take death and turn it into the potential for new life, we too can transmute death into the enriching essence that helps new life to thrive and grow. Whether this be in our own personal lives, in our gardens or in our society as a whole.
Do not allow the fleeting shadows in our midst distract you from the sacred tasks you came here to accomplish. You are the story tellers and the dreamers of the dreams, weaving threads together to become the fabric of reality. Where you focus your attention, thoughts, emotions and actions are paint brush strokes across the fabric of the canvas that becomes our shared experience... so let us choose our thoughts, emotions and actions with the knowing we shape the pathways we now find before our feet. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
We can sow the seeds of hope, remembrance, reverence, courage, humility and love on the cold winter winds and trust these seeds will feel the warm touch of the sunlight when spring arrives allowing them to grow and create something beautiful.
This article found me at the perfect time...whirling in my head with all the physical things unfolding here in the USA.. feeling fear one moment love the next, like running one moment and standing up with all I am the next. Your words put me at ease and remind me to always go back into my source, my Divine connection to all. You invite me to zoom out and take stock. Tears came to my eyes and my heart was re-awakened. Thank you. I Honor You.
wonderful post! Thank You for so interesting personal family history! The picture of yours by your grandma features some characteristics of your face even today;) What an amazing artist!
Clearly you continue 100% of the work of your ancestors.