The Dark Time
The time right before Samhain is very charged – the electrical pulses are cruising along of the natural energy web at high speeds! We are receiving this rushed pulse and then sending it forth, strengthening ourselves, so that we may safely walk the bridge when the Veil opens.
At Samhain, we are closest with the ones that came before us – family, friends, and kindred of all kinds that share our heart. We call to them, sending our voices of remembrance echoing through the Universe. We stretch to reconnect for a moment with the familiar energy of their spirit, because we recognize that while the body is sacred, it is also just a vessel for the spirit to settle into for a while. We take time to thank these loved spirits for their influence in our lives. We may create elaborate rituals to honor those that have past, or sometimes we may just sit quietly and remember them fondly. We are all moved to honor spirit in different ways at Samhain.
After Samhain, we enter what I call the “Dark Time”, the time between Samhain and Yule. This is not necessarily a depressive or foreboding time as the name might imply. It is a time for personal reflection and listening. In my personal tradition, at this time of year I prefer to spend a lot of time by myself. I like to take time to stop and listen to what my spirit is saying.
Over the past few years, it has taken me a while to “come back” after Samhain. I move from remembrance into mourning. I mourn for those I have lost, in one form or another. I fight the closing of the Veil. This year I am finally allowing myself this time to mourn. On Samhain, I lit a fresh black pillar candle and made a commitment to myself that it was okay to mourn. I made a personal pact that I would stop fighting my reaction to the Dark Time and allow myself to move with it, traveling the Silver Wheel. I promised myself that I would light the candle for a few minutes every night and during that time I would feel what I needed to feel – not suppressing where my mind wandered, even if it kept going back to the same moment in time, the same painful experience over and over again. So I cry, sniffle, relive moments, and regret the unspoken or spoken words/deeds. And then, when I am ready, I blow out the candle, releasing as much of the hurt as I can. And, honestly, it’s working. I’ll continue this until Yule.
The return of the sun at Yule will bring my Dark Time to a close. No, Yule won’t magically heal my wounded heart, but it will encourage me to move further along the Silver Wheel and usher in a new calendar year of renewal and hope.
