inspiration and stimulation for our current projects
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| 188 Galerie Halloween 2015 window display |
At its heart, Halloween is an astronomy holiday. It’s a day rooted in Earth’s orbit around the sun. It’s a cross-quarter day and a testament to our ancestors’ deep understanding of the sky.
October 31 marks the approximate midway point between the September equinox and the December solstice. This means Halloween also an astronomy holiday, and one of the year’s four cross-quarter days.
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| Learn about the four seasonal Quarter Days in the ancient Celtic calendar. |
Some historians are divided as to whether the ancient Celts observed the solstices and equinoxes (quarter days). Some believe that the Celts divided the year into just four major sections: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh (cross-quarter days).
The triduum of Allhallowtide - All Saints’ Eve (Halloween, Oct 31), All Saints’ Day (Nov 1), and All Souls’ Day (Nov 2) brings much to the fore. Death. Transformation. Letting go.
The state of bardo is magnified and multiplied. Stumbling in the mystical mists that are intermediate, transitional, liminal - suspended in a state between death and rebirth.
Dia de los Muertes - Day od the Dead
Autumn is the ideal season here in the east coast - lifting Spirit with its gorgeous and vibrant palette. Vivid reds, golden oranges, bright yellows, verdant greens. Chakra colors - root red, sacral orange, solar plexus yellow, heart green. Universal, centered - core colors within as all around.
Typical of how 2020 is unfolding, we are being treated to two full moons this October. Do you know when they will appear and which one is the blue moon? wonder | wander | world love fall season in the East Coast and this is just the type of geekery we enjoy fully.
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| Chani Nicholas horoscopes |
On Thursday, the first of the month at 5:05 p.m. EDT (21:05 UTC) October's first full moon - known as the Harvest Moon, will light up the northern night sky. It has many other nicknames by different cultures. The moon will appear full the night before and after its peak to the casual stargazer.
The Harvest Moon in Aries is a fiery full moon - a rallying cry for courage, a cautionary call against despair, and a strong stirring of our soul. It is a sounding of the alarm, warning us to take none of our individual freedoms for granted - a plea to take all threats to justice seriously.
Time of illumination & revelation.
October starts and finishes with a full moon - the blue moon in Taurus in October 31 will gift us with the beautiful energy of expansion and focus. The Sun at 8º of Scorpio and the Moon at 8º of Taurus create opposing energies that we can bring together and harness in our favor.
Taurus energy is sensual and sensuous - there’s a great potential in taking care of oneself and our life with love and time. By doing so we give space for ideas, insights, and fresh solutions.
a time of ripening, completion, and release
The Harvest Moon is the full Moon which occurs nearest to the date of the autumnal equinox - this year it was on September 22, which means that the October 1 full moon is the harvest moon and the Hunter’s Moon is on October 31, on Halloween. This moon has not been fool on this holiday since 1944.
On this day in 1944, British mosquito planes successfully targeted the Gestapo headquarters at Aarhus University in Denmark; German vessels in the port were also scuttled, removing the last Kriegsmarine presence in the Aegean Sea; and French serial killer Marcel Petiot was apprehended at a Paris Métro station.
Let's hope we fare as well or better this October 2020!
As we in the northern hemisphere cross the threshold of autumn into winter, I am reminded of what a powerful time of year this is. As the ancient Celts referred to it, Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced "sow-win") or what's now called Halloween - was a time of honouring the dead. Not just ancestors who've crossed over, but the parts of our lives that are readying to die.
Painted Wheel of the Year at the Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle, Cornwall
We are smack in the seismic shock window of November 8 - blood moon total lunar eclipse at 16* Taurus, conjunct volatile unpredictable Uranus, overshadowed by Saturn, Lord of Time and Karma - this wild card eclipse acts as an influx on steroids, deleting the past as it sweeps our slate clean.
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| transforming human consciousness |
This is the grand lead in for the coming attractions of 2023. As the evolutionary burn intensifies - a period and process predicted to induce extraordinary transformations in human consciousness - everything feels different.
Still reeling from the triduum of Allhallowtide - All Saints’ Eve (Halloween, Oct 31), All Saints’ Day (Nov 1), and All Souls’ Day (Nov 2) - our state of bardo is magnified and multiplied. Stumbling in the mystical mists that are intermediate, transitional, liminal - suspended in a state between death and rebirth.
Halloween is creeping in on us with autumn chill reminding us to make hay as winter is coming. Samhain is a celebration that acknowledges and deepens the occasion.
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| Yuko Shimizu, harpy - DC comic art |
