Yesterday we talked about what the Veil is and what it means when the Veil is thinning. It’s an essential part of the spiritual and magickal time of the year, and one that is felt by lots of people, even those who wouldn’t call themselves witches. If you missed part one, be sure to go back and check that out.
{On to part two…}
The thinning of the Veil is something that has a profound effect on many people. Some people don’t feel anything, even some spiritual and magickal people. But other people feel like their world is being turned upside down. People who are highly sensitive to energy and who pick up quickly on shifts in energy around them at any given time normally can feel really out of sorts during this time.
Most people feel it at Samhain more so than Beltane, something that I personally think it is a bit psychosomatic. I believe as witches we’re conditioned to see Samhain as a time when the Veil is thin, and communication with the spirit world is at its peak, but we don’t hear about it that much at Beltane.
It also happens during the moon cycles, lunar and solar events, and other seasonal changes, it just isn’t as strong as Samhain and Beltane, and we aren’t as affected as we are at Samhain because we expect it.
Nevertheless, it can be a hell of an experience!
10 Common Signs You’re Feeling The Thinning of the Veil
1. Sleep is really rough. You have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. And it’s not uncommon that you wake up at the same time every night, particularly around 3am.
2. Dreaming is exhausting. Your dreams suddenly are ratcheting up to like 1000 on a scale of 1 to 10. Things are really vivid and sometimes really kind of fucked up and weirder than normal.
3. Your house is like Grand Central for spirits. You feel like you’ve got a lot of “visitors” around the house. This is what my husband calls the spirits that connect with. You might notice you have the feeling that you have a lot of spirits popping in and out of your space and you can either see them or distinctly feel them.
4. Your furry babies seem to be going literally insane. All of a sudden you start to notice that your pets are seeing things that aren’t there…more so than usual. We know our pets are more sensitive to energies than we usually are but we really notice it now. So by proxy, this affects you too.
5. Being sick is just normal now. Getting sick and feeling run down just happens this time of year for you. This isn’t the craziest sign you’re feeling the effects of the thinning of the Veil, but for some people, this can be pretty intense. Maybe you normally just get a cold or two during the winter or early spring but mid-September through October you might get an all-out flu.
6. You feel like you’re living in the saddest movie ever. Everything makes you emotional, even more so than normal. It’s not uncommon for sensitive people or empaths to be an emotional lot, but this time of year you can be a walking Kleenex commercial on most days.
7. You have moments where you feel like you’re in another world. You just feel ungrounded and “not here” a lot. This can manifest in just being more daydreamy than usual, being forgetful or feeling like your attention is being drawn to odd places for no reason.
8. Suddenly you’re the most psychic psychic of all the psychics in the psychic world. Your intuition and any divination you do is super clear. This is an important one because it’s easy to see all these other things as being problematic or possibly negative, which they aren’t. One of the more enjoyable aspects of the thinning Veil is that the spirits are more “in our ear” {sometimes literally} when we’re doing readings or connecting to our intuition.
9. You smell things that aren’t there so you’re constantly WebMD making sure you’re not having a stroke. Suddenly you’re smelling things that aren’t anywhere near you. First, make sure you’re not having a stroke, then observe what you’re smelling without fear. This is one of the ways a lot of spirits become noticeable to us. So you might smell flowers that remind you of your grandmother or a cologne your father used to wear.
10. You often feel like you’re on fire or freezing to death for no reason. You start to feel like you have hot and cold flashes for no reason. As long as this is not something that’s normal for you, meaning you’re not already sick or you’re not going through physical changes {damn those hormones!} chances are you’re feeling the energetic shift in the air as spirits and energies move around through the Veil.
Some people experience all of these and some only experience a few. The important thing when using these are markers for an experience with the spirit world, and the thinning Veil is that they aren’t fluke occurrences.
Whatever you’re experiencing you’re experiencing pretty consistently during this period from mid to late September into the start to November. You’ll likely feel it the most around the last week of October around Halloween and Samhain, partly because we’re conditioned to.
So how can you deal with this energy in a way that keeps you from going insane but also not entirely shutting down your sensitivity to it? We don’t want to become numb to the energies and shifts during the seasonal change, but we don’t want it to be disturbing our mental, emotional, and physical health in any negative way.
Tips To Help You Survive The Thinning of The Veil
Rest and Downtime – Even if you have to go out of your way to do it, make sure you’re doing the best you get to get as much sleep and personal downtime. Sleep may be tricky right now, but it’s an essential part of staying healthy during energy shifts like this. Break out the lavender oil and nature sounds CDs!
Use a Dream Journal – Since your dreams are likely ramped up and weird, this is an excellent time to make use of that dream journal that’s collecting dust on your nightstand. Communication during Dreamtime from spirits and ancestors often happens under normal circumstances, but it’s even more likely during Samhain. Write it all down so you can recall it and make sense of it all.
Drink Your Water – Drinking water is cleansing to the system by helping to remove toxins which can make us feel unstable, but it’s also grounding, which is something you really need to be mindful of during Samhain. And there’s just something about being hydrated that makes you feel fresh and on top of things.
Carry Grounding Stones – And speaking of being grounded, you can also carry or wear traditional grounding stones like onyx, black tourmaline, tiger iron, and smoky quartz to help your energy stay rooted and focused. You might also want to have one of these stones next to your bed if your dreams get really out of control or if you find you’re having trouble “coming back” when you wake up.
Energetically Cleanse Your Space and Yourself – Now is the time to bring out the sage and the Epsom salts and keep your space and yourself clean and clear energetically. Smudge your home and your space as often as you feel you need to and use salts, herbs, and oils to take ritual baths to keep both your energy body and physical body cleared of unwanted vibrations.
Honor the Dead – This is really important since it’s probably that you’re having many of these challenging experiences because of spirits reaching through the Veil. The spirits want to be honored and remembered, they want to be made to feel welcome right now. Honoring the dead is what Samhain is all about, so be sure to set up a small altar space in your home, even if it will be temporary, to give offerings and remembrances to the spirits that visit, being sure to also include “unknown spirits” that may visit as well.
But most of all, have fun! Experience this without numbing yourself to it. Connecting across the thinning Veil and touching the world of spirit does not need to be scary or something that you need to anticipate will create problems for you.
Just approach the season and the Veil with honor, respect, and a measured amount of caution. Keep yourself grounded and pay your respects to the dead and it will all go beautifully.
Don’t forget to check out the Samhain Roundup for more posts on the holiday season, including how to honor your ancestors and create a Samhain altar space.
