"Dear ones in the house of the dead,
Can you forgive
An old woman who was your proud
Daughter, who now too late
Returns your love?"
___ Kathleen Raine, "The Oracle in the Heart"
We often do not understand those who are closest to us until it is too late. This is especially true of our parents, upon whom we heap the faults of our upbringing. Parents struggle to do the best thing for their children, but these efforts are seldom appreciated until the children themselves become parents and enter into the war of attrition that we call growing up. When we are adults, our activities take us far from our parents' domain. The death of parents is perhaps the last part of growing up, usually happening when we are raising our own children, so that we stand midway between youth and age. Those who now find themselves the eldest generation of a family discover new responsibilities: as they become grandparents, they look to the new generation to solve old, long-standing problems. This ancestral bequest tends to gather weight and momentum as it rolls from generation to generation, sometimes becoming too heavy for any one person to carry.
Making peace between ourselves and our ancestors requires two things: the ability to speak the truth lovingly, and the ability to forgive and let go of issues that have muddied the way between us and the dead. We need to offer a word of love, a sign of admiration or praise, a visit, a gift, even a phone call - some direct communication while there is opportunity, before the time for regret is all that is left.
"Make soul-flight to a place where you and a relative who is now dead used to meet together. Speak the words that you would have liked to say before death intervened. Listen to the words that your relative speaks to you. Thank and bless your relative."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
Samhain Quarter of the Year
The winter quarter of Samhain brings the gifts of restoration and renewal, as the cold weather closes in, so the soul is led to more reflective depths. It is traditionally associated with the remembrance of the ancestors, with the coming of death and the conception of new life. In the human growth cycle, Samhain corresponds to the period of old age when wisdom, freedom of spirit and clarity are experienced. Samhain is a good time to celebrate the lives of all wise elders, all those whose actions and ideas have brought resolution and peace, all holy ones whose sacrifice have brought new life and opened spiritual thresholds to all.
[From: "Celtic Devotional" by Caitlin Matthews]
Activities for the Winter Months
* Practice introspection, meditation contemplation, drawing upon the peaceful sanctuary of this season.
* Shift burdens by doing something about them (e.g. make your will) or by giving up unnecessary patterns.
* Remember your ancestors and celebrate their wisdom.
* In this deep season of darkness and introspection, seek the sun at midnight, the rich treasures that lie in the lap of Winter.
* Be aware of the ancestral teachers, the grandparents and elders of the spiritual traditions, whose footsteps have kept the pathways open.
* Cut back old growth in the garden and burn or compost it. Dig over the soil in preparation for the Spring.
* Walk and meditate outdoors for at least ten minutes daily.
* Identify the nature of the soil and rock-forms in your locality and how it affects the life-forms who lived upon the land.
* Be active, with like-minded others, in recording, preserving, living and learning about the ancient wisdom of indigenous people, especially those in your own land.
* As you travel through the land of Winter, relate your spiritual journey to the wisdom of this season.
[From: "Celtic Devotional" by Caitlin Matthews]
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