How do you honor the Moon in its Newness?
Do you go out in the deep night and send prayers lifted on sacred smoke towards the inky sky?
Or set out crystal vessels full of holy water to be blessed by deep velvet night?
Do you sing to your favorite tree or spring as the sun rises or sets?
Or do you light candles inscribed with sigils calling forth the next part of your journey?
Do you slide into bed after a strong salt bath, skin alive and tingling?
Or do you sit quietly in the deepest part of night and listen for what the Owl might say?
These are all ways of honoring, all prayers well-made and better said. Find your own way into moon loving and moon mysteries – the waters here are deep and wide enough for all.
Make Magic:
We are now coming down from the heights of the Days of the Dead and Ancestor season and entering into one of the most magical times of the year. On this New Moon in Scorpio, you may be feeling especially magical and psychic. If so, it is a great time to deepen your daily magical practice, do an Active Imagination Meditation (I have a whole list of them here that were inspired by Making Magic), you might also want to bless or consecrate a tarot deck or another tool for divination.
The prompt for this New Moon is: What Ancestors are ready to be honored?
Heavenly Happenings:
For the month of November, the event to keep your eye on is the beginning of our final pair of Eclipses in 2021. We kick things off on November 20th with a Lunar Eclipse in Taurus and then move on to a Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius on December 4th. Remember that Eclipses are for breaking patterns. If you are a member of the Fixed Stars Society make sure that you check the Course Materials section in our group for your Eclipse Workbook!
Casa de Saussy:
October ended with a night of Trick or Treating for a Fox Woman (Me), Dragon (Baby Heath), The Green Arrow (Jasper), and Sherlock Holmes (David). You can catch the pics on my IG if you haven’t already seen them. Then we immediately entered into the deepening of Ancestor Season. They created a Dia de Los Muertos altar for Jasper’s 4th grade class which we contributed marigolds to as well as a skull candle. I worked deeply with our Ancestors over the last three days and honestly feel a little hollowed out (in quite a good way) from the experience. The Tequila has been poured, the pan de muerto devoured, and now as we enter into the deep dreaming part of the year we are ready to dream and be dreamed ourselves.
Jasper is a busy bee right now. Basketball season has officially started, cello chair auditions for the Youth Symphony are coming up, and so is a judged recital for the Royal Conservatory of Music…plus 4th grade fun! I believe I have heard murmurings of a Turkey Tango happening later on this month at school, the first foray into a school dance – although I am also told that this is just happening during P.E. and “not a big deal.” So make of that what you will!
Now that the weather has cooled off, Heath has been able to visit the playground more regularly and is very insistent on helping Dad feed our chickens first thing in the morning. The Chickens are pretty insistent about that too so it all works out. He is also requesting more “walks in the woods” and so we have been going to our local copse of trees – amazingly only 5 minutes away from our home – more frequently so that he can be in the forest places he so loves.
David’s Shakuntala seminar series is about to begin on Monday and he made a quick video to talk about the class and why Kalidasa is so amazing and why it’s important for the “Western” mind to encounter “Eastern” classics.
Out and About:
My friend Jeanna Kadlec interviewed me and I have to say I was equal parts flattered and humbled at her kind words and her brilliant ability to call forth real conversation with hawk-cry piercing questions. That is not an easy feat and I enjoyed speaking with her very much. You can read the interview here.
I was also delighted to see Star Child make Tiny Buddha’s list of top Spiritual Books – yay!
Speaking of Star Child, if you are searching for the just right gift for the holidays then this book might be the answer. Truly, every parent needs a copy! As always, you can order a personalized copy from my local indie bookseller – The Nowhere Bookshop. If astrology is not your thing (or your friends aren’t into it) then they may enjoy the more far-ranging work of Making Magic. Both are gorgeous books that make excellent gifts!
What I’m Reading:
Martin Shaw’s Scatterlings. Just started it and I am loving it thus far.
I’m still working on The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire edited by Jonathan Shepard, which should surprise no one.
Theresa Reed’s excellent LWB that accompanies the Tarot for Kids deck – you have to get this if you have not already done so!
I’m also including here that I have seen two movies since the last time I wrote: the new James Bond and Dune – they were both awesome and I highly recommend.
What I’m Teaching:
In Spinning Gold we are in the woods, at the chicken-foot house, listening to old Baba Yaga spin her tales. We are learning to talk to our Ancestors and make sense of what they have to say back to us. We are untangling knots and leaving out offerings and journeying across the threshold on the wings of story and moonlight.
Don’t forget that over at the Spinning Gold concierge page I have a free teaching series on Ways to Arise – Emerging from Difficult Times. You can check that out today and it’s totally free.
Glory in the Good Darkness,
