In a recent blog post (Forgiveness and Release at Samhain), I shared some thoughts on the veils associated with Samhain, which marks the New Year in the Celtic / Pagan Wheel of the Year.

We often talk about the veils between the physical world and the Otherworld being so thin at this time, allowing us to connect more with Spirit, our Ancestors, and our intuition… but the name of An Cailleach, the goddess of Samhain, is actually rooted in the word itself, coming from the Gaelic Caille, meaning “veil”, which in turn is rooted in the Latin pallium meaning “woollen cloak”.

So not only are the veils thinnest at Samhain, when An Cailleach comes into her power, but they remind us that we too have a veil, that we may want to raise our awareness to our own masks and filters to see the hidden or submerged truths.

Once we remove our masks and filters, we can face what is beneath. We can forgive and transform what we have hidden, forgive what has hurt us, forgive and release what no longer serves us. What might that be? Self-limiting beliefs, behaviours, toxic relationships, objects that hold onto the past, and more.

Samhain is a powerful time for releasing the ghosts of our past so that we can step into the next Wheel of the Year unencumbered… with space to create anew.

As in Kate Chopin’s words, we can cast aside our fictitious self. We can step into our true and authentic Self.

“She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”
—Kate Chopin, “The Awakening” (1899)

Are you ready to raise your veil?

Image Credit: Mirzet on Pixabay