Today is Samhain, the highest of Celtic holidays. In Celtic tradition and pagan, Wiccan, and Druid ritual, it is the day when the veil is thinnest between worlds, when the dead are honored and when the new year is said to begin. For some, it is when the goddess in her crone form meets the god as the Horned One. As such, it  seemed appropriate to pull our monthly card from a Druidic deck. Branches of the Celtic Tarot has a comprehensive guidebook written by Kristoffer Hughes, a modern day Druid of the Order of Bards,Ovates and Druids and the Chief of the Anglesey (Wales) Druid Order. The book is a rich source of information and is designed for readers to go deeply into the tradition if they desire to do so. You can find out more about the author at www.AngleseyDruidOrder.Co.UK.

The Celtic tarot for Samhain, November, and into the new Celtic lunar year is The Tower.

The Tower is probably the most dramatic of the major arcana and most easily recognized. Imagine yourself in the peak of this tower beautifully illustrated here by Chris Down. 

The message of the tower which crumbles and rumbles beneath the Fool on their journey is that there are times when our foundation is rocked. If that foundation is weak, it will collapse. This archetype for Sudden Change is universal. However, the interpretation varies from sudden doom to sudden awakening. The wisdom is in acknowledging the threat and its fear, while holding on to one’s facilities and perhaps one’s faith.

Our world lately seemed to be shaking at its very core. Like in a Jenga Tower game, our challenge is to take out the sticks that are dysfunctional or irrelevant and keep those that have value and are needed at the very foundation.

In both our personal lives and our wider community, may we meet the challenge with grace and wisdom.

As you celebrate Halloween, if not Samhain itself,  be mindful of how the symbols and traditions are meant to welcome the change of seasons to a time of darkness in a way that allays our fears and reminds us that winter is required for spring to come again and new growth to manifest.