samhain

happy samhain
happy hallowe'en
this is the time of the year when the thin veil between the worlds is lifted, when we can honour our beloveds who have passed on and honour those who have been born during this year.

every year i go to an event in vancouver put on by the reclaiming collective. each year it gets more inspiring and creative. i am not there tonight due to circumstance and miss my dear sweets who i usually spend this day with.
in thinking about this season i am recognizing that i have not experienced the death of a loved one this past year. it is a very important part of my mourning process to go to this ritual, where all 200 + people in the room have the sacred space to honour our beloved dead. grateful to not have lost this year.

i did celebrate samhain last night with a collective of folks. i was grateful to have the space to honour our beloved dead and chose to honour specifically my great grandmother elisa. i placed an amber bracelet of hers on the altar and when i held it in my hands i missed her so much. this woman....this woman i will tell you about one day. so grateful to have met her in this lifetime and blessed to have been her grandchild. grateful after all these years to still have the space to honour her and tell her i miss her.

in my neighbourhood there are firecrackers going of like haywire. there are the formal backyard firecrackers with familys gathered, clapping after each one goes off and there are the fernwood-hoolagans setting off firecrackers in the middle of the streets. some of them are far too close and i can hear far too much inside these thin walls...i wonder if falling asleep soon is a remote possiblity with all this activity.
oh, and after all this serious samhain talk...check this pic out