A Week's Worth: Samhain
October 27 - November 2
Blessed Samhain! This week was a whirlwind with joys and overwhelm, but the common theme throughout was how much I miss my dogs, Ed and Ru, who have passed away. For Samhain, we lit candles in the color of their collars (and one for Maggie, who’s a very good girl and very much alive) and celebrated how much joy they brought us and how much we miss them.
After Samhain, I strung Fran’s garland together and hung it in her room. It’s delightful.
Other than that, I’ve mainly just been writing poems this week to process all my feelings! Here they are:
I Take My Daughter To Church
The kitchen counter.
We genuflect for pumpkin pie.
I tell her my sins
As the candles bend their bodies
Away from our prayer.
Forgive me, Daughter,
For I have sinned.
It’s been a long week.
There’s a way my body stores emotions
A bit like a kettle.
I tell her my mistakes-
She nods knowingly.
She’s just most recently
Put her soul in a body;
She’s the closest I can get
To fresh cosmos.
Forgive me, Daughter,
I’ve made mistakes.
She nods and dips her fork
Into another piece of pie.
I hope when she is close to screaming,
When she feels her body about to boil/
I hope when she wakes up
On the other side of her mistakes,
She knows there’s a kitchen counter
Somewhere, there’s pie
Somewhere
Waiting for her.
There’s a clean fork.
A knowing nod.
All the cosmic forgiveness
One could need.
I suspect
When
My Cup Runneth Over,
An uncomfortable sort
Of feeling
escapes from
my eyes,
Down my cheeks,
A bit in the back of my throat.
The leaves float
A magical descent
swirling themselves
perfectly still,
their soft rustle,
three
Cold little noses.
I’m verklempt.
You ask through the bathroom window:
Is it gratitude?
one eye
runs,
It’s an overwhelming sort
Of feeling
Getting everything you want. It’s all so finite. The amount of time The cookies will be in the oven Is so finite. Whatever it is You’re thinking of now It’ll be over Before you know it.
How was your week? What art did you make? Did you celebrate Samhain and how? What is one of your favorite ways to prepare yourself for Winter?
Samhain is the witches’ new year and I love to celebrate it that way. It makes sense to me to start the year in this place of darkness, like a seed; to allow ourselves rest and inner work. It’s the beginning of a new cycle with new intentions, letting go of what no longer serves us. From here, we will move towards next Autumn, springing to life, harvesting in summer, and falling back to death again in Fall, until we reach the next Samhain, where the veil between life and death is thinnest.
Much love and blessed be!
Bríg
PS. Look at the crema on this coffee yesterday morning - perfection!
