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It’s Halloween week, aka Samhain, aka Scorpios in their element, aka the thinning of the veil, aka dress up yourself and act out your dreams. You may have heard that Halloween is a great time for tarot, divination, shadow work… This is due to the "thinning of the veil" - the curtain separating the living from the dead. The veil between the worlds is thinnest on October 31st - this world being the world we see, the ~other world~ being the unseen (whatever it means to you). This makes it easier to access information outside yourself to create change.
Change is magic - the bending of space and time to your will. We do magic when we wish for something to change. So when we do a reading or other magical practices on Halloween, or the days surrounding it, the odds look good that we will affect real change in our lives. We make magic happen.
What do you wish to grow or change in your life? What kind of information do you need to get you there? This is what you might ask in a reading this week.
The High Priestess
Your tarot ally this Halloween is the High Priestess. The II of the major arcana in the tarot, the High Priestess is the second archetype that The Fool encounters on their journey, after The Magician (which is all about the self and manifestation). The High Priestess is often seen as representative of the Greek goddess Persephone. Persephone - daughter of the Olympian Goddess of Agriculture, Demeter - is the queen of the underworld. In the tarot representation, she sits between two pillars across which is stretched curtain covered in a printed pattern of pomegranates. Persephone is sitting upon a throne in front of the curtain, donning light blue robes and a head dress with the three representations of the moon: The Maiden (waxing), The Mother (full), and the Crone (waning). At her feet is a crescent moon. She guards the entrance to the other world, and guides those who dive deep enough to meet her there.
Persephone didn't exactly choose to be queen of the underworld, as she was dragged there against her will by Hades (with the help of Zeus). Hades imprisoned her there for months without food or drink, with the dead to keep her company. Demeter, hysterical and looking for her daughter, (understandably) neglected her role in the agricultural community, as she was preoccupied in finding her daughter. She was finally informed by Hecate of Persephone's whereabouts. Demeter eventually got her daughter back, as nothing would grow on the earth and the humans were dying of famine; Zeus intervened so as to have mortals to continue worshipping him, and he commanded Hades to release Persephone. However, before this came to pass, Hades had offered Persephone some food (after literally months of her being in the underworld). A few pomegranate seeds to be exact, and hungry as actual hell, Persephone obliged. Upon eating the fruit, Persephone unfortunately had sealed her fate, and she was from then on destined to return to Hades for four months out of each year for eternity. For these four months, Persephone would reside in the underworld as Hades' wife, and Demeter, mourning and awaiting her daughter's return, would cease to grow anything; the world would go dormant.
Persephone sits before the portal to the dead in the High Priestess card, and her departure to the underworld each autumn signals the death of another cycle. She is of both this world and the other world, and serves as a wise and steady guide to those who seek advice beyond the veil. Halloween is both a portal to the otherworld and a portal to the dark moon time of year - a time of endings, death, and sleep. We know that winter is coming next, and with the wisdom of the High Priestess, we can access the intuition needed to do the work of winter, and continue processing and growing through this upcoming time of dormancy.
Here is a great podcast episode from Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! detailing the story of Persephone.
Scorpio
This week we also celebrate the start of Scorpio season. A water sign, Scorpio is themed around sex, death, and transformation. I once heard someone refer to Scorpio as Cancer in a leather jacket, and that image really clicked with me. Often symbolized as the scorpion, Scorpio can go deep - down into the dark corners of the subconscious waters. Scorpio has seen some things, and through these pivot points, it has grown and can help you heal your own pain. Interestingly, Scorpio's form transforms; it embodies change through its own evolution of the shell. First, it is a scorpion: hard on the outside, soft on the inside, defensive and sometimes poisonous if you get too close. Next, it becomes the eagle: soaring high above the world, surveying, learning, discerning, and getting closer to its source - learning to trust. The third and final evolution of Scorpio is the phoenix: the symbol of change itself, birth, death, and rebirth from the ashes, learning to surrender, understanding that life has cycles and moving gracefully through those cycles to level up itself and those around it.
Halloween Guide
So, as we move toward the night the veil is thinnest, here are some things you can do this week that would be particularly in the ~spirit~ of the moment:
Ground and center. Sit on the floor, close your eyes, imagine you are a tree with roots as deep as the iron core of the earth and branches that reach beyond the stratosphere. Thank yourself ( + whoever) for your health, your community, your belongings, your willpower, anything else you can think of.
Light a candle for those who are no longer with you.
Talk to your friends / family about your collective ancestors.
Go trick or treating with your inner child: dress up as a childhood dream you once had, treat yourself to something delicious, have fun and get a little mischievous, stop and comfort yourself when things get a little scary, hug yourself and remember how much every part of you is YOU and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Brood.
Attend a fabulous costume party and sing and laugh and spin around in circles.
Water your plants, harvest anything still living in your garden if you have one, say thanks to the land for providing.
Listen to Billie Holiday or Joy Division or Babymetal or something that gets you going but equally just makes you feel cool.
Dream. Lucid dream. Write down your dreams. Act out your dreams. Dress up as your dreams. Draw your dreams. If you have trouble remembering them, herbs like mugwort and valerian root might assist you.
Tell stories beneath the moon by candlelight.
Read tarot cards using the spread below, or book a reading with me.
Tarot Spread for Halloween and the Dark Moon
Tarot is an intimate and continuous practice of change, and being open to change. We are entering the dark moon period of the year (in the Northern hemisphere) - the time where the natural cycles around us slow and cool. The leaves die, the roots become dormant. We as humans do this in our own ways; we might spend more time indoors or go to bed earlier. We change our diets and our habits to fit the season. And if we are doing all this external work - as the natural world around us does - we can stay aligned with ourselves and the outside world by making changes internally, too.
This is the time for internal work, i.e. the energy you spend on progressing your soul / that which exists inside of your body-shell. Internal work is work; it might bring you joy, it might bring you tears, but it is work all the same. Emotional reactions to internal work are important to note - and to move through. Below is a spread I have created for Halloween and the Dark Moon season following. You can answer these questions with your own tarot deck, in a reading with me, in your journal - whatever you're comfortable with. The point is to gain clarity, in whatever mode suits you best.
Suggested questions for your Halloween reading / journaling:
What themes will be coming up for me this season?
How should I interact with these themes for the best possible outcome?
What in my life needs to be cleared to make room for change?
What energy am I welcoming in?
What should be the focus of my internal work this season?
How should I go about doing this internal work?
Messages for me (about _?_) from beyond the veil.
If you have questions about your spread or would like a private reading using this layout, please message me here to book a session. Happy Halloween, happy Samhain, happy Scorpio Season, and happy Dark Moon. ✨
- Snarklet