Sacred Woman

  At our Samhain event we began with a sage smudging for cleansing. Then we moved on to a sensory awareness and breathing exercise. We ate a fresh homegrown raspberry, held our gaze on the beautiful altar, appreciated the woody scent of Tibetan incense, listened to the sound of crackling fire and felt the touch of our clothes on our skin. We did some deep breathing and body scanning and brought ourselves fully into the present. We listened to some history of this amazing fire festival and learned that it dates back at least three thousand years. We acknowledged the common themes across traditions of darkness and light, death and rebirth, thin veils between the physical and spiritual realms, honouring family who have passed, ancient ancestors of the world and benevolent spirits.  We brought representations of our ancestors for a special altar and lit candles to honour their spirits. We opened our sacred space by invoking the elements of earth, air, fire, water and spirit and the fou