The Celtic festival of Samhain, where the veils between worlds is at its thinnest, occurs on November 7 at the midpoint between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice (at 15 degrees Scorpio). Samhain celebrates the darkest time of the year and the ascendancy of the Holly King (darkness) over the Oak King (light).
This poem by Kabir is a beautiful remembrance of the power of darkness.
The darkness of night is coming along fast, and
the shadows of love close in the body and
the mind. Open the window to the west, and disappear
into the air inside you.
Near your breastbone there is an open flower.
Drink the honey that is all around that flower.
Waves are coming in:
there is so much magnificence near the ocean!
Listen: Sound of big seashells! Sound of bells!
Kabir says: Friend, listen, this is what I have to say:
The Guest I love is inside me!
–translation by Robert Bly
photo by Sean White, courtesy of Corbis.
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