Samhain Thanksgiving Moon
The Thanksgiving Moon has become a crescent, my favorite shape of the moon. When it matches up with Venus or Jupiter in the evening sky, what a wonder. As the Thanksgiving Moon wanes, we are in the middle of Samhain, the cross-quarter holiday beginning on Summer’s End, October 31st, and running through the Winter Solstice. Samhain covers the first 8 weeks of the fallow time. Winter the next 8 weeks. At least on my sacred calendar.
Following the Great Wheel as it rolls through the sky, a human, mythic rendering of the earth’s orbit, helps me stay in touch with the seasonal nuances. Following the moon through its phases adds a wheel within the larger wheel, two eccentrics moving through the universe and around the sun together. This would, in itself, be enough for me.
The other holidays though, Deepavali, Easter, Boxing Day, 4th of July, the Eve of St. Agnes, the Posada, Christmas, Hungry Ghost, the various new year’s dates add spice, are the flavors of others sacred sight added to the earth tones of my own observances. And I love them, too.
We can experience this life as a series of holidays, one after the other. Delightful and evocative. Why not? Perhaps one year, maybe my 70th, I will decide is a holiyear and try to celebrate as many festivals as I can over the course of a year. Could be fun.