Happy Hallowe'en! A Spooktacular Display at My Neighbours' House

This is the amazing Hallowe'en display at my neighbours' house this year. Yes, this is all from one house! Muah-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa. 

Demented Dixie, you have outdone yourself! What a fabulously spooky job you did with a bit of help from your assistant, Vile and Vulgar Victor! Dixie makes most of this stuff herself and has been building this display for a few years now. She deserves a prize for Best Hallowe'en Spirit in this town!

Happy Hallowe'en to all you witches, wizards, and weirdlings out there, and keep the spooktacular spirit alive!

   

The headless man - the whole display started a few years ago with this guy. She and a little boy she takes care of in her daycare made this headless man together. 

 

Ghostly Ring around the Rosie - a strangely fitting display considering this song is supposedly about people with the plague.

 

 Creepy bodies in spiderweb cocoon pods hanging from her tree - I mean, who thinks of this? Amazing.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en to all you spooks and sprites, witches and ghouls! Here is a little pictorial of some of the truly inspired displays of Hallowe'en spirit in my neighbourhood. I hope you all have a marvelously mischievous time tonight!

 

Happy Hallowe'en: Let Your Pagan Soul Run Freeeeeeee!

Merry Samhain and Happy Hallowe'en from your anarchist astro-reporter, Willow!

The Moon is in expressive and party-loving Leo this Hallowe'en, forming a square to the Scorpio Sun and marking Last Quarter Moon, so go bold with your costumes and revelry!

Venus Rx in Scorpio formed an exact opposition to Uranus Rx in Taurus at zero degrees of the signs in the wee hours this morning. Both Venus and Uranus are forming exact squares to the Nodes of the Moon, as well, and this creates a powerful but somewhat heavy and constricting fixed Grand Cross effect on the potent zero degrees of the fixed signs. 

Progress is difficult under this configuration and energy is at a premium, but any movement we do manage can catalyze powerful and long-lasting change. Just dig in and slowly power your way through...

Venus will retrograde back into its home-sweet-home sign of Libra at 11:42 a.m. PDT today, indicating the possibility for some nice social (or at least energetic) relief as the Hallowe'en festivities get underway.

Venus will now travel through the latest degrees of Libra, turning direct again on November 16 at 25 degrees Libra and re-entering Scorpio on December 2. 

Venus back in Libra indicates a nice (albeit temporary) breather during the month of November to re-balance and re-gain our equilibrium after the intensity of the Venus retrograde through Via Combusta Scorpio. 

So let's celebrate the planet of love and socializing moving back into its own sign of Libra this Samhain. The spirits and pixies and fairie-sprites are ready to mingle!

An All Hallow's Eve Re-Post: The Most Terrifying Ghouls and Goblins on Planet Earth Wear Suits and Ties

 One of thousands of oil flares releasing poisonous gases in rural Saskatchewan

Photos: Willow

The Sun entered deep, dark Scorpio this morning, and we are now entering the dark half of the year for the final time with wounded healer Chiron transiting Pisces (oil and gas). This All Hallow's Eve will be the last one with Chiron in the sign of ghosts and spirits for 50 years, and this certainly adds some extra spook factor. 

With the wounded healer in the highly-karmic late Pisces zone, representing the end of the zodiac cycle, we must now understand in no uncertain terms how we are being haunted and psychically disturbed on this planet in ways that connect the personal with the collective situation.

We see the symptoms all around us: depression, anxiety, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependence, other addictions, isolation, emotional disturbance, relationship breakdown. These symptoms and dysfunction seem so disparate and disconnected, like many, many individual cases with no common threads.

But at the root of this pain and dysfunction are the same violent and inhumane systems, the same fascist, top-down structures of power, that are being forcefully superimposed over our natural lives all over this planet.

The emotional and psychic disturbances, these haunted existences, are common and natural reactions to a highly-artificial and detrimental way of living.

With Chiron transiting the extra-potent final degrees of Pisces until re-entering Aries on February 17, 2019, we are coming into contact with some big collective karma and big collective lessons - the Grand Finale of the entire Chiron in Pisces transit.

As ugly and scary and horrifying as it may be to look at, I don't think I can sum up the (often-invisible) connections between the personal and collective situations any better than I did in this article from October 27, 2017 (with updated photographs):  

The Most Terrifying Ghouls and Goblins on Planet Earth Wear Suits and Ties

 At my neighbours' house. Should I call someone???

As Jupiter sets up shop in Scorpio and we enter the dark half of the year in the northern hemisphere, we're under some fairly intense astrology. The ugly truth is being exposed under a Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio combined with a Venus in Libra square to Pluto in Capricorn - or at least, it's starting to make the overall emotional climate a little uneasy, a little anxious, a little agitated.

As the veil between this world and the spirit world thins, we have a particular challenge related to the truth (Sagittarius) about our material circumstances (Saturn) on this planet.

Sagittarius relates to freedom, and Saturn relates to constriction and limitation. As Saturn in Sagittarius closes in on its final exact square to Chiron in Pisces (November 2) at 24 degrees of the signs, we are uncomfortably aware of the ways in which our freedom is being inhibited or hindered and the effects this has on our psychic and spiritual health (Chiron/Pisces).

We are now nearing the end of the Chiron in Pisces transit. The wounded healer has been transiting the sign of spirituality and collective psychic space since February 2011. Chiron will enter Aries in April 2018, retrograding back into late Pisces September 2018 to February 2019, before entering Aries again for the duration of its transit, until April 2027. 

So the truth we are being confronted with as Saturn in Sagittarius forms this final square to Chiron in Pisces (under an 11-degree Taurus Full Moon opposite Sun-Jupiter in Scorpio November 3) is something we've been chewing on for a while now. It's those big issues, those big problems, that seem to have no answers - certainly no easy answers. It's the causes of difficulty or pain we can't quite put our fingers on. It's the bouts of despair or overwhelm or hopelessness that often can't be linked back to a single, specific source. 

Scorping Season

The Sun and Mercury form their exterior conjunction in underbelly-exposing Scorpio on October 27 (9:16 a.m. PDT at 4 degrees), and we are officially immersed in the witching season.

For a brief time, our thoughts are fused with the current moment. No ruminating on the past or stressing about future challenges. We're right here, focused right into the Scorpy-quiet current moment.

As the Sun and Mercury come together in regeneration-oriented Scorpio, our brains receive some much needed healing.

Our synapses are being purged and cleansed of the million little worries and zillion little details we had on our minds during the extended transit of Mercury through precision-driven Virgo. That transit lasted from July 30 to October 7, including a retrograde period that required some intense mental focus on our parts in order to stay on top of the proceedings.

This Sun-Mercury conjunction marks a completion point related to the themes of that Mercury retrograde process. We've made, re-established, or reinforced some important connections, coming into new understanding and perspective about things, and this allows us to shed some mental dead weight.

Allow that dead weight to fall away, layer-by-layer.

We can finally let go of some things that have been eating at us and infringing on our peace of mind since the summer.

We are also moving to a very interesting New Moon at 7 degrees Scorpio on October 30 (10:38 a.m.), just in time for All Hallow's Eve.

As we move into the dark half of the year in the northern hemisphere, ceding the reins to dark Goddess Cailleach, the focus turns inward. At the surface, things appear to go dormant as we enter the dark half. But this is not entirely true. The real action, the real alchemy, and the real catalyzing effects are going on beneath the surface appearance of things, simmering, simmering like the bubbling witch's brew.

As we move through Scorpio season and the potent Scorpio New Moon at Samhain, we're moving into a period of energetic fusion and merging in areas where we can no longer go it alone.

There is a fierce protectiveness to the sign of Scorpio, and using its energy well means coming together with the right people in the right situations that will buffer and support us - rather than drain and destabilize us - through the trials, tribulations, and traumas of human life. Using this energy well means sussing out deep-down allegiances, alliances, and motivations and making our choices as far as who we'd like to join forces with (if anyone at all...) and who we'd like included in our dark-half bunker.

Happy All Hallow's Eve, All You Ghouls and Goblins, Witches and Gypsies!

SCORP!

I love, love, love this day of the year!

I really just use Hallowe'en as an excuse to wear temporary tattoos, fishnet stockings, and glamourous make-up looks.

Happy Hallowe'en, Merry Samhain, and Enjoy the Entrance into the Dark Half of the Year from your anarchist astro-reporter (and "slightly slutty witch" for my shift at the redneck bar tonight), Willow.

We are under the influence of a lovely and ethereal Grand Water Trine today with the Moon at home in Cancer, the Sun in Scorpio, and Neptune in Pisces. This makes for a very strong spirit component. The spooky/otherworldly vibe we know and love on Hallowe'en is emphasized even further under this Grand Water Trine. The veil between worlds is even thinner. Interesting things can happen with this much water in the skies.

Have a safe and enjoyably spooky night, all!

Entering the Dark Half...

Spoooooooky photos: Willow

Well, spooky spooks and witchy witches, the dark half is upon us in the northern hemisphere.

We have much to celebrate this All Hallow's Eve, as beastly Saturn in deep, dark Scorpio has now officially moved into new territory in the zodiac, relieving us of many constricting and oppressive layers of psychic and emotional sludge. We've fought our way through clinging cobwebs of fear and depression. We've confronted many of our deepest fears and worst nightmares on both personal and collective levels. And now, at All Hallow's Eve, we're making some serious progress as we move out of reach of some old emotional, psychological, and psychic yuck.

We are currently coming out of a Via Combusta Scorpio New Moon eclipse at zero degrees (conjunct Venus), which occurred October 23, and the themes of the burning path are with us for the following 28-day lunar cycle. The Via Combusta Scorpio New Moon eclipse busted things loose, giving us the velocity and power of a shooting star as we burn through old, unsatisfying scenarios, subjects, and relationships that have been taking us under. 

Things have lightened as we head to the dark half of the year in the northern hemisphere - perhaps almost imperceptibly in some cases - but they have lightened, indeed.

The planet of challenges, limitations, depression, and maturation, Saturn, now moves in one pass through 23 to 27 degrees Scorpio, putting another big chunk of the transit under our belts by December 8. Saturn will enter its next retrograde shadow (the degrees to which it will return during the next retrograde period) on December 8 before surfacing in lighter territory in Sagittarius on December 24. There's a light at the end of this tunnel, and we catch a glimpse of it as Saturn moves through tail-end Scorpio toward more buoyant Sagittarius by the end of the year.

We have the possibility of making big strides between now and the first part of December - but only if we accept our emotional, psychological, and energetic constraints and move through them one step at a time.

With Saturn moving in one pass through a meaty section of often-uncomfortable Scorpio, there is a tendency to want to push, to rush through into lighter and happier centaur territory in Sagittarius.

But the only way to truly lasting progress now is to accept the emotional and psychological weight of the times without shrugging off our responsibilities.

We are aware. We see. We feel. We sense. We understand.

And we know, in no uncertain terms, that things are not right on this planet. Things are not right here at all.

As Saturn relieves us of some of the old weight, we move into the later stages of Scorpio and a more mature outlook on the tough aspects of life on Planet Earth at this time.

We have been emotionally and psychologically challenged - intensely - during Saturn's transit of Scorpio by the bottom-line realities on this planet. We have been challenged by some of the darkest and most repugnant realities possible related to corrupt, violent, and vicious power structures on this planet and the miseries they create.

(If the New Agers want to talk about "creating reality," why don't we start with the miserable realities being created for billions of people by the violent power-holders and social engineers?)

There has been a lot of talk about depression since Saturn entered Scorpio in October 2012. This is a topic that has been worked up to the surface in media and social media, particularly after some high-profile celebrity suicides.

There has also been a lot of talk about how to alleviate or cure depression.

But here's where it gets a bit more tricky, complicated, Scorpionic.

We can't sever ourselves or our emotional realities from the reality of the whole. We can't sever our personal psyches from the collective situation on Planet Earth. We can't sever ourselves from the misery intentionally being brought down on people as the powers-that-be steamroll their way to continued "success."

There is no pill or drug or psychiatrist that can make all that go away.

The Blood Moon Opposite Sun-Saturn in Scorpio: Every Nook and Corner is Lit. Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide.

Photo: Willow

 

The Moon grows full this weekend as we come out of the first conjunction of the Sun and Saturn in Scorpio for 28 years. The full change of season cannot be denied, nor can the full change in tone indicated by the Sun and Saturn coming together in this deep, dark sign.

We slip into the dark half this All Hallow's Eve and, in effect, don't fully emerge until Saturn surfaces in Sagittarius almost three years hence.

The Taurus Full Moon falls at 6 degrees and is fullest on the nights of October 28 and 29. This Full Moon, the second after autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere, is referred to as the Hunter's Moon or more dramatically as the Blood Moon. The moniker is apropos as the Moon pushes to its fullest point opposite the Sun in Scorpio - the sign associated with childbirth, midwifery, and surgery.

From bloody birth to bloody death and everything in between.

The Hunter's Moon follows the Harvest Moon (the first Full Moon after autumnal equinox) and precedes the Beaver or Mourning Moon. These Full Moons are special in that the Moon rises earlier and sets later than usual. The Moon is visible in the sky longer, and we are, therefore, under the moonbeams longer.

These Moons correspond with the Full Moons after March equinox in the southern hemisphere.

The extra light from these Full Moons was said to have helped farmers get their harvests in and hunters track their prey in the effort to stockpile food for the winter. Hence the names.

The Hunter's Moon is a spooky Moon for more reasons than one. It ushers in Hallowe'en this year, the day the veil between living and dead is said to be at its thinnest. But that isn't exactly it, is it?

Traditionally, blood runs at this Moon. Teeth are bared. There are few places to run and few places to hide for the animals that find themselves hunted prey under this Moon.

This is a fitting metaphor as the calm and collected Taurus Full Moon shines down in a maximized duration of light opposite the Sun and, this year, Saturn in Scorpio - the sign that exposes secrets, hiding places, and dark underbellies.

Scorpio and its co-ruling planet Pluto both confront with the knowledge that there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the underlying realities and dynamics of life on this planet. They dog our asses like a hunter dogs his or her prey, ensuring there is, ultimately, no escape from the things we must sense, see, and address.

For some, this is terrifying. For some, liberating. For most, it's a mixture of both.

Hunting requires patience, a calm demeanour, a steady hand. It takes a quiet endurance to expose things that don't want to be exposed. The exalted Taurus Moon has these qualities in spades.

This Taurus Full Moon, this Hunter's Moon, this Blood Moon, has senses heightened, including the sixth. Goosebumps. Hair standing on end. Electricity in the air. It lights up the nighttime hours seamlessly, and there is truly no reprieve from the consciousness it bathes us in under the moonbeams.

Underlying loyalties shake out under this Moon, and we start to get a clearer picture of where people stand as we head deeper into Saturn in Scorpio. Incompatibilities glossed over during Saturn in Libra are pushed to the surface, like it or not. Crossed motivations send up sparks. Lips will curl, unconsciously, showing our fangs if we come too near those with whom we lack inherent common ground. The ties that bound friendly allies during Saturn in Libra snap like dry, autumn twigs under Saturn in Scorpio. Soul compatibility is something altogether different.

The Blood Moon is followed by a New Moon total solar eclipse at 21 degrees Scorpio on November 13, conjunct fixed star Alpha Serpentis (Unukalhai). The Alpha Snake. This fixed star is considered by most to be an unfortunate influence. In sidereal astrology, it has been associated with suicide, insanity, accidents, love problems, loss, and earthquakes. This one has it all!

But awareness of this potentially sinister layer of things does a lot to disarm it.

An eclipse is a sort of super-charged New or Full Moon, a generally unstable "backdrop change" indicator. This one will be visible in parts of Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, South America, and Antarctica. As you can imagine, in Scorpio conjunct the big, bad Alpha Snake as well as the Scorpio North Node, things really shake out at this New Moon. Soul-deep incompatibilities go from cracks, to divisions, to chasms. There can be no doubt where we stand on the other side of this New Moon portal.

If there is any doubt, it can kick up all kinds of problems.

The wacky, dominance-hungry occultists will be drawing all sorts of nasty energy onto the planet through this New Moon, all hot and bothered over the serpent imagery. The myths talk about a period of snake-worship secretly brought to Earth. Under worship of the God of the snakes, this period brings evil, crime, unhappiness, bad weather, and death. Stirring up hell for the people.

Detrimental trajectories will be set by some coming out of this New Moon, and with a Mercury-Neptune square strongly colouring the proceedings, there is a tendency to be unknowingly drawn in.

Mercury in Sagittarius will be exactly square Neptune in Pisces on the day of the Taurus Full Moon (October 29), and it will retrograde into this exact square again on the day of the Scorpio New Moon (November 13). This one is working us over a bit. You can read more here.

The Mercury-Neptune squares have "glamourous, media-driven mindfuck" written all over them. But it's more than that. It's psychic media. It's messages sent through those channels. Manipulation of mass psychic energy and impressions. The power of suggestion, particularly from those considered glamourous, star-like, special, heroic, truth-telling - but also in our day-to-day interactions. Communication that attempts to slip things by us. Chatty deception.

Watch the stories and narratives being furthered at this time. The mass media drones on in new frequency, as does the pseudo-alternative media. Diversionary "exo-political" stories supposedly telling us what's really going on on this planet open into new chapters. New Age gurus shape shift into something more hip to the now. Snake oil alchemically transforms into something delicious, tantalizing, and **NEW**.

That's what people are always searching for, isn't it? Something **NEW**?

**NEW** and improved versions of fascist spiritualism, including in the political realms, will be "trending," to use the vernacular. "Swallow this very old product with the exciting new flavouring down whole."

Neptune is stationing to go direct November 11 at zero Pisces, permeating the atmosphere with its wool-over-eyes themes and ensuring the Kool-Aid is especially potent. People can be very impressionable over the next few weeks, very easily led and misled. Ideas can be planted en masse. Things can be slipped by. Consensus reality is particularly malleable and can be manufactured and shaped to benefit certain factions.

The United States presidential election falls between Blood Moon and Scorpio New Moon, between the two Mercury-Neptune squares.

Know where you stand, where your loyalties fall, and don't let anything slip through your own New Moon portal. Run a Neptunian sobriety test or two. Let intuition guide, moulting anything (and anyone) that could keep you from the right Scorpionic trajectory coming out of this New Moon.

Photo: Willow

Happy All Hallow's Eve from Willow!

I hope everyone's Hallowe'en has been adequately ghoulish. 

Venus and Mercury are in the last gasp of Scorpio, adding some very potent spook to the atmosphere. This is the one day of the year I feel I can truly be myself... 

All the best this All Hallow's Eve from Willow!

Last Day of the Light Half and Last Day for the Reading Sale

Today marks Samhain, Hallowe'en, All Hallow's Eve as we cross into the dark half of the year. (Do we ever really leave during this Pluto in Capricorn/fin de Piscean Age?)

The dark Goddess Cailleach, Plutonic/Scorpionic Wise One of death, destruction, purification and regeneration, takes the reins from Brigid, Goddess of the lighter half of the year, just in time for a November 5 13th degree Scorpio New Moon.

Never fear. As per usual, Brigid will reclaim the reins next spring as we are birthed, for good, into Jupiter and Uranus in Aries.

But this winter is going to be a deep, dark one with Jupiter and Uranus in late Pisces, stirring up the dregs of the tail-end Piscean era.

Today is the last day of the October Reading Sale, so please book a reading if you are hoping to get in on the special rates. That door closes tonight at midnight! ;-)

Fixed T-Square and a Taurus Full Moon - Things Are Getting Real With Some Samhain Online Activism

We're experiencing a squaring-off of planets in the fixed signs right now, continuing into the Taurus Full Moon, exact at 12:14 p.m. MST tomorrow.

This isn't a long-lasting t-square, as it involves the faster-moving planets, but it is a potent one.

We have Mars in early Leo (fully into its retrograde shadow) squaring Mercury in early Scorpio at 5:50 p.m. today, just five minutes after the Moon enters Taurus.

Also involved in that Mars-Mercury square is Ceres and the Sun in Scorpio. So in effect, we have a triple conjunction (if you include the asteroid Ceres) in Scorpio being squared by Mars in Leo and opposed by the Moon in Taurus, which is forming an ever-tightening fixed t-square as it moves to fullness. There are some definite fixed sign issues coming to culmination here.

This is a clash of the fixed titans. People will be digging their heels in. Any progress made now will be gritty and very hard-won, yet long-lasting and meaningful. Fixed sign issues are issues that stay with us and stick to us. The themes can be almost constants in our lives, and gaining movement with them takes a tremendous amount of effort for seemingly little progress. However, the progress that is made is also fixed - as in, it's not going anywhere.

Mars in Leo square Mercury in Scorpio can bring some passionate verbal sparring and a general feistiness to communications. Our words trigger deeper, multi-layered and complex issues now, often related to what has remained unsaid, unintegrated, taboo through generational lines.

Our Scorpionic realizations now can also fuel the huge new directions we're undertaking related to our personal creative processes, in focus over the next seven months as Mars retrogrades in Leo (December 19, 2009 to March 9, 2010).

Part of the tension here will be between us raring to go with our new creative goals (Mars in Leo) versus the slow, grounded timing related to bringing those creative directions into physical reality (Moon in Taurus). The impatience of Mars in Leo being tempered by the demands for patience and the wait for emotional readiness of the Moon in Taurus.

Mars square Mercury relates to the application of our will through our words. With Mars and Scorpio involved, things can get incendiary, and there can be a real attraction to getting down and dirty. Throwing some verbal punches. But there is a necessity with the square formation to stay in check - using the Taurean groundedness and boundaries and the Leonine playfulness and fun to temper the concentration in super-driven Scorpio.

We have to be careful not to cross those lines because there are things that must be accomplished with this square tension. As always with Scorpio energy, there are some very neglected truths that need to come to the surface. And in order to bring them to the surface, we have to stay in touch with our intuitive understanding of how to go about doing that while not letting the Scorpionic tendency to extremes push us to the point of meltdown, ruining our chances for that fixed sign movement.

Scorpionic insights are not comfortable for status-quo, steady-as-you-go Taurus or for expressive, fun-loving Leo. Scorpio has a "let's get it all out there in the open" drive that threatens to blow things wide open, shaking the Taurean foundations and the Leonine joie-de-vivre.

It's not all tension and harshness, though.

Luckily, we have a nice Venus in Libra trine to Neptune, stationing direct in Aquarius, in the late afternoon tomorrow (4:21 p.m. MST) to soften the T-Square edges. This Venus-Neptune trine will support us in keeping the peace by providing us with a broader, birds-eye understanding of these very important times we're living through. Our spiritual faith and guidance will be very accessible here to get us through any rough spots.

Appreciating what we find beautiful on this planet (with Venus in its own sign Libra and the Moon in Taurus) can also provide some uplifting and buoyance as we grind out the fixed squares/oppositions.

I experienced one of the square-induced rough spots online last night (Hallowe'en night) with a woman in an online forum I just joined (and subsequently left) who was claiming that Hallowe'en is an evil, Satan-worshipping occult ritual and that anyone who takes part in it is an unknowing pawn. She also grouped pagans and astrology into that category.

I was actually shocked to hear this type of thinking (I'm not exposed to it often).

The woman had no knowledge of the traditional roots of Hallowe'en/All Hallow's Eve/Samhain and was making blanket statements about it based solely on the commercialized form of Hallowe'en we experience today, as well as extreme examples of immoral and criminal behaviour committed on this day. IE. the Satan-worshipping stuff

While I respect the right of people to make their own judgements about things like Hallowe'en, I begged to differ with her blanket statements and attempted to explain the traditional roots of the day, pointing out that certain aspects of modern-day Hallowe'en being corrupted and misused by a small segment of the population did not mean that all people who participate in the day are unknowing pawns in that corrupted version.

For anyone who doesn't know, modern-day Hallowe'en stems from a thousands-of-years-old pagan festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-in) which was a day to celebrate the transition between the end of summer/harvest and the beginning of colder temperatures/the darker days of winter.

Outside the religious connotations (which don't relate to my use of the term), pagan means, very simply, country-dweller. So it refers to people who live connected to the land and the seasonal cycles, the harvests, etc.

I'm really not sure where this all-pervasive attitude that pagan is synonymous with "evil" comes from, but I must say that this ignorance (the same ignorance that would have led to my ancestors being burned at the stake) is certainly alive and well in 2009 North America.

Corresponding to the division between the lighter half of the year and the darker half, people traditionally thought Samhain/Hallowe'en was a day when the veil between the living and the dead was particularly thin. It has an association with ancestors and the sign Scorpio, corresponding to the modern-day focus on ghosts and haunted houses and such. Because this day and celebration relate to heading to the darker half of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), there is a corresponding focus on the darker, more taboo elements of human existence. As well, it gives people a few delicious frights as we dress up and let loose from the constraints of daily workaday life - which forces most people to live according to the homogenous corporate time clock, not natural timing.

To me, the day has a sacred feel to it. Hallowe'en means "holy evening," and it's a day when you can feel close to your ancestors and honour all they went through to get you where you are today, including the dark, brutal aspects of human life.

Now, here lies a major distinction:

There is also an idea associated with this day that, because of the thinner veil and the potency of the day, you could draw on darker spirits, as well, if you so chose.

So of course, this means that a small segment of people will choose to use the energy of the day for irresponsible ends. Misuses of energy go on all the time. (The Secret, anyone?) But taking it to the dark, ritualistic extreme is done only by certain types of people. It's not a pre-requisite by any means, and celebrating Hallowe'en doesn't mean condoning murder, Satanism or immorality. To apply that corrupted version to everyone celebrating the day is just false.

But try explaining that to a person who thinks that the words pagan and astrology are synonyms for "evil."

This woman was using perversions of those terms, making them something sinister, and applying these perversions in a blanket sort of way to everyone involved. Sorry, but that's horseshit.

People who are connected to the seasonal cycles/nature have celebrated this day for thousands of years, alongside all the corruption and BS. To claim that we're all unknowing pawns in some sort of Satan-worshipping plot is just ridiculous to me.

Anyway, this was quite an interesting Hallowe'en, if irritating and neck-stiffening. But I'm sure my ancestors were gathered round as we did our little part.

Again, Happy Hallowe'en and let's never forget the real, strong, true roots of the day and what it really means to those of us who stay connected to beautiful Earth.

Happy Hallowe'en from Willow!!

I hope everyone is having a delightful All Hallow's Eve! Not too much contacting of ancestral spirits on this day when the veil between the living and the dead is so thin, or you'll wake up with a nasty hangover! And maybe some nasty spirits you have to boot back into the otherworld...

(Just being facetious.)

Happy Hallowe'en/Samhain to all!

Happy All Hallow's Eve!!! (It's a ten-day affair, don'tcha know?)

I'm so excited. We're coming upon my favourite day of the year - October 31. Hallowe'en!!! This is the one day of the year when I feel that I can truly be myself...witchy ho that I am. hahahaha

Pagan New Year or Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The day that marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the long, cold winter. The day in which the division between the living and the dead was paper-thin...or non-existent, depending who you ask.

Is it just me or was this Mercury Retrograde in Libra (ruled by Venus in Scorpio) some heavy stuff? We're only just into full-on Mercury Direct (at full speed). Ugh. And we won't get into new intellectual territory until October 30. Regurgitating what has come before. Sweet Lord. Just in time for All Hallow's Eve. The dark creepy crawlies are ready and waiting.

We've also got a couple of other astro events going on between now and then:

The Sun enters Scorpio tomorrow evening. Retracing and bringing to our conscious awareness what Venus and then Mars have been up to in the sign. Digging up shizzle de dizzle in our relations with others and with our soul selves.

Chiron goes direct in Aquarius October 25.

New Moon in Scorpio October 28.

And Juno (soul mate asteroid) conjoins Pluto at the 29th degree of Sagittarius on October 30.

These are some interesting times, all right.

The Juno-Pluto connection at the 29th degree of Sagittarius is especially interesting to me. If you were going to die...if death were palpable...you could smell the breath of the reaper...what would you do? WHAT...WOULD...YOU...DO??!?!

The connections being made around that time have very much to do with what you wanted to do with this lifetime - what you wanted to do before you died. The weight of cultural detritus you wanted to shed, the crystallized belief systems you wanted to be reborn from, the raw, ultimate truth for which you wanted to stand.

Your soul mates could be helping you to get to a ground zero point related to that stuff...or you could be helping them...probably a combination of the two. We are helping each other to complete what needed to be completed during Pluto in Sagittarius - the purging and regeneration of our cultural/religious/educational belief systems...our concepts of "truth."

Stripping down to only the soul-level imperatives, nothing more. Stripping the excesses of the entire Pluto in Sagittarius regime. And beyond.

Scorpio is all about purging those things that reek of death, those things that will hold us back and kill us on a soul level, drawing us into the mesmerizing black. It does this to get to vitality, to the energy and evolutionary imperatives propelling us forward.

With Chiron going direct, we are purging that which has wounded us in the past, on our way to the future. When we KNEW what was going to happen but couldn't get anyone to believe us. When we were vilified as crazy oddballs and had to see the downfall that could have been avoided, if only...

We're breaking the dynamics that hold us to that past.

With Juno involved, our current soul mates and past soul mates (ancestors) are helping us. We're the living. We're bringing about what generation after generation have desired to bring about. A world that works for everyone, in which every living thing is honoured.

Aren't we special? And honoured. We're the living, breathing ones who are releasing the horrors of the past, healing it, by bringing about a present and future we've ALL wanted to live.

A lot of responsibility, but also a lot of satisfaction if we manage it. We release generation after generation from the burden of suffering.

Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, which is related to the concept of luck.

But let me ask you: is it luck that brings us to this point? Or is it the vision and faith of generations? Is it the bone-wearying work of those who have come before us? Whose work we now take up and continue as our own? I'm not sure luck has all that much to do with it. More like painstaking preparation.

This Hallowe'en, let's honour the day for what it truly is. Let's remember all those who have come before us, all those whose wisdom has guided us through the dark nights of our own souls and the dark night of the collective soul. Let's fall down on our knees and thank that which has reached up through our DNA and whispered in our ears that we are loved, that we are honoured for the struggles we take up, that we are part of something bigger than just our personal lives. Let's light a candle, as so many others have, and honour this day and these people, of which we are a part.

Happy Hallowe'en.