The days of Lughnasadh merge into Samhain as the colours in the trees and hedgerows go wild!
Autumn arrives at Bealtaine Cottage with a more magnificent palette year on year!
As the Celtic New Year arrived on the first day of Samhain, it’s time to visualise yourself in the year ahead…spend five minutes each day quietly meditating on your goals for the year ahead. Visualisation is the key to changing your life for the better!
The Ancient Festival of Samhain marked the last day of the Celtic year, with the rising of the sun on the following morning illuminating the New Year and the turning of the wheel. Samhain Eve marked the Celtic New Year’s Eve.
The Celts believed that night preceded day, thus all four annual festivals began at sunset on the evening before.
There is no doubt that that this festival was the most important of the four Celtic Festivals.
Samhain was a crucial time of year, loaded with symbolic significance for the pre-Christian Irish.
As they watched the the sun descend into the western skies, the symbolic inference was that of a descent into the Otherworld. This marked the thinning of the veil, as those within the Otherworld were free to roam the Earth.
The Sidhe, (fairies as we know them, for we know so little of them) have the power of shapeshifting are deemed able to walk among us, unknown and unrecognisable to mortals. Alongside them travel our ancestors and other spirits we fail to recognise. It is a night filled with magic!
The Christian fear of the Pagan outlook has damaged the whole consciousness of man.
~D. H. Lawrence
The incredible astrological event of the Winter Solstice is a momentous, epoch changing event. We are literally living through the end of the age of Pisces and entering the Age of Aquarius. These are literally historical times. I have written about this many times, over the past decade and a half, on my website and spoken of it often on my YouTube channel. I will be preparing and sharing as we approach Midwinter in the ancient Celtic Calendar, the beginning of Yule, Winter Solstice, the 21st of December 2021.
Many claim a respect for Nature, but as a Pagan Woman, the Earth’s patterns and rhythms are the bedrock of my belief…that Mother Earth is a living, sentient being at the centre of all I venerate and respect. This is the very principle upon which Bealtaine Cottage was founded.
The Pagan Celts of the ancient world were animists to the extent that they believed that all aspects of the natural world contained spirits, divine entities with which humans could establish a rapport. According to classical sources, the Celts worshipped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in anthropomorphic terms.
“Follow me down, follow me down, follow me down
To the place beside the garden and the wall
Follow me down, follow me down
To the space before the twilight and the dawn” – Van Morrison
The great Winter bird Feast is ripening! The calorie-rich berries of Ivy are a useful winter food source for blackbirds and other garden visitors.
As Orion strides across the evening sky, we draw closer to the winter solstice and the darkest, stillest, night of the year.
Beautiful.
A beautiful post Colette you have a very healing way about you.
Beautiful, gave me chill’s you told told so beautifully. Thank You Colette
Lovely photos and words Colette. Love Samhain. Scrabo tower is about an hours drive from me, C.S Lewis spent a lot of time around the tower and got his inspiration for Cair Paravel from it in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Last time I was at it you could get into the tower and the view from the top was great. Blessing Colette xx
Beautiful words and images, Colette. Blessings to you!
Wonderful to read, as we pack up our suburban home in England to move west into mid Wales later this month. To a patch of land, with a small paddock, where we will plant many more trees. This has been my life’s dream, as I approach my 51st birthday. With your wise, encouraging words and wonderful films I have been able to visualise our new home, rich in promise, to live and work alongside with Mother Earth. You helped me keep faith that this would come to pass. New beginnings indeed. Thank you so much Colette!
Beautiful and a wonderous enlightenment of mother earth , thank you for sharing
Blessings dearest Collete love hugs and blessings 😘🙏
Enjoy this momentous time.💚
Thanks for your words, so near to my feelings and so encouraging to me for a restar!
Love receiving these uplifting and informative emails. The pictures are beautiful and so is your main message…Honor our Mother Earth. Blessings to you!
Dear Collette what amazing photos and lovely words many thanks
Absolutely Magical,love the pictures,greetings and blessings from Australia
Colette, your words are like sparkles of stars or dew drops on lilies : meant to be read in the moment or missed. so I read them over several times to savor the flavor and absorb your blessings. Your photographs are pure delight. Thank you so much, Colette.
Blessings Colette as always you weave magic into all you share x
This is so beautiful. Thank you for the enlightenment. Blessings to you my friend.
Wonderfull blog. Thank you!
My Celtic blood responds to your words. I, too, believe that the earth is sentient. As I sit here gazing into the magical eyes of a beautiful little creature who showed up at my home and adopted me a few years ago, listening to her purrs, how can I believe anything else? I send you a big hug and greetings from North Carolina, USA.
Beautiful words and beautiful shots Colette. Blessed Be.
Beautiful post Colette, thank you 😊
I was listening to a native American speak and he referred to ‘mother earth’ as ‘grandmother’. I liked that. A wise, loving image. He indicated that grandmother isn’t happy with us right now.
Thank you, truly Magical. Small point, Scrabo Tower is north Down not Antrim.
Pure Magic ! Thank you… Blessings Sara
I love your description of Autumn, Mother Earth and everything else. I can almost imagine being there. Blessings from the Land of Oz. 🌺🤓
Scrabo Tower is in County Down near Strangford Lough. Beautiful photos as always!
Thank you for bringing these truths to all of us. We could all learn a thing or two by paying attention to the wisdom of those that went before. Blessings to you!
I love the yellow sun setting on the ocean, exquisite photos. Seeing you and reading your writings brings peace to my heart. Great idea for five minutes a day 😉. Thank you gratefully, Nancy Perry
Blessings
Beautifully spoken, Colette!
Thank you Colette! The wondrous anticipation is felt .. if we listen and take note to the splendid natural energies!
Dear Colette, we are on the very same wave length, if not the same ley lines! My beliefs are yours, and yours are mine!
Beautiful words and photos. Thank you so much.
You have spoken wonderful
Thank you very much ,Colette.
Blessings to you
Greetings from Daggy, Kiel, Germany