This post is wicked overdue. I’ve been writing it in my head for weeks and thinking of what I wanted to share with you all. It’s been a crazy few weeks {newsletter stories to come}, and the best I’ve been able to do is write in my head. So here we are, attempted to get it on virtual paper!

So, the Veil. By now you’ve heard this term over and over since probably mid-September. Many of you are like “Yassss! That Veil is thinning like a motherfucker.” Others of you are more like “Uhh…what now? I don’t see any veils around here, what on earth are you talking about?”

This has actually turned into two posts! So today we’re going to talk about what the Veil and when it happens, and then tomorrow we’ll talk about how to know you’re being affected by the thinning of the veil and what you can do to make it through easy peasy.

 


First, what is “the Veil” that we’re talking about?

The Veil is an energetic barrier between the world of the living and the world of spirit. The Veil {which yes, I’m going to keep capitalizing} is more of a concept than a thing, it’s a metaphor.  The purpose of the Veil is to divide spirit from the psychical world, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still connected. It is an invisible barrier that separates the psychical and spiritual worlds.

The actual use of the term “Veil” is more of a modern concept, likely something that came out of the early 1900s and possibly developed through practices in the spiritualist movement. There are rituals for spirit communication, even in modern Paganism {specifically in Wicca} where the use of a veil while connecting with spirits is used.

In Celtic mythology, it is usually barriers of Mist that separate the living from the spirit world or that create the obstacle that needs to be crossed to reach another realm.

It was in these kinds of spaces that the Celts, in particular, felt that magick and spirit energy was the strongest. When you look at Celtic mythology and magick, you see the use of liminal space quite heavily, like using doorways, gateways, and land boundaries as ways to mark places for offerings.

 

 

 

 

So why now at Samhain?

Samhain is the liminal space between Summer and Winter. It’s the gateway that we go through to get from one state to the next. It is no longer summer, but winter isn’t here yet either. This makes Samhain and Beltane, the point that makes the crossover time winter to summer, points that are in-between and liminal and therefore the Veil is seen as thinner than usual.

At Samhain, we are celebrating the dying season and honoring the dead. With the Veil thin, it is easier to contact with spirits of our ancestors. At Beltane, we are connecting to a different energy, one of vitality and life force energy, often with a sexual component. When the Veil is thin here the spirits that we connect with include faeries, plant devas, and other living energies.

Once we are part of the world of matter, we always have a connection to it. This is one reason why we see such a difference between the energy of a spirit that has lived and crossed over compared to an angel who is a being of pure light and energy and has never occupied a body.

Merely having a physical form lowers your energetic vibration. And while your vibration shifts in death when you shed your meat suit, you’re still connected to the overall energy of having been a physical thing.

While we can reach through the Veil and touch the land of the spirits at Samhain while we celebrate death and the dead, we can again reach through the thinning Veil at Beltane and feel an energy of life and vitality as this is a time when we are celebrating life.

 

Samhain is a season, not just a single day.

You may also feel it strongly around three other times during October/November which marks the arrival of Samhain.

Astrological Samhain

Astrological Samhain occurs when we come to the actual mid-point between Summer and Winter Solstice, which happens when the Sun crosses 15 degrees Scorpio.  It doesn’t  fall on the same day every year and is usually about a week off from Traditional Samhain and Halloween. It often occurs around November 6th; this year it will be late November 6th into November 7th.

Lunar Samhain
This is when we have the first New Moon in the sign of Scorpio. It usually falls close to the fixed October 31st  date but can happen anywhere between mid-October and mid-November. This year that will occur on November 18th.

Pleiades Culmination
And finally, we have the culmination of the star cluster Pleiades. This is when the Pleiades reaches its highest point in the sky at midnight, usually happening around November 21st. According to some astrologers the cross-quarter day between Summer and Winter Solstice of Samhain, and the culmination of Pleiades occurs on or new October 31st during the time of the Julian calendar.

Before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, what we use today, the Julian calendar was about a week off from the seasonal shifts. If early astronomers were using the Gregorian system, we would be celebrating Samhain, and thus Halloween, around November 7th…and that brings us back to the Astrological Samhain we talked about.

No matter when during this period you choose to honor Samhain, the energy shifts are happening through it all. Stay tuned! Tomorrow we’re going to talk about the effects of the thinning Veil that a lot of people experience along with tips for keep thing those things from getting in the way of life and an enjoyable Samhain.

Also, be sure to check out the Samhain Roundup for a list of posts about Samhain and Samhain magick.