Samhain Blue Moon: Goddess Juno Returns

Much is happening on and around October 31st this year, 2020. As we lily already sense, this year has been one preparing us for deep and profound transformation on a personal and cultural level. It is fitting then that the day traditionally celebrated at Samhain, Halloween, Day of the Dead, and All Soul's Day also happens to fall on a Super Blue Moon. Furthermore, during this time we have Goddess and Asteroid Juno coming into her own in Scorpion, in perfect sync with all of this transformational energy.

I share more about Samhain and Juno in the broadcast above, as well as in the blog post below. Enjoy!

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Samhain is both a festival of the Dead as well as a celebration of Rebirth. Meaning "Summer's End" and pronounced saah-win or saa-ween, Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year. For many practitioners, myself included, Samhain also is the beginning of the spiritual new year.

Originating in ancient Europe as a Celtic Fire festival, Samhain is now celebrated worldwide. In the northern hemisphere, many Nature Worshipers celebrate Samhain from sundown on October 31 through November 1.

With the growth and spread of Christianity as the dominant religion throughout Europe, Samhain time took on Christian names and guises. All Saints' Day or All Hallows on November 1 commemorated Christian saints and martyrs. All Souls' Day on November 2 was a remembrance for all souls of the dead. With the coming of Christian Spaniards to Mexico, the indigenous customs of honoring the dead at this time of year mixed with Roman Catholicism and gave birth to the Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, in early November. Samhain shares the ancient spiritual practice of remembering and paying respects to the Dead with these related religious holidays of Christianity.

Halloween, which is celebrated on October 31 is an abbreviation for All Hallow's Eve. Although occurring at the same time of year and having roots in end-of-harvest celebrations of the ancient past, Halloween and Samhain are not the same, but two separate holidays that can differ quite a lot in their focus and practice. In contemporary America and elsewhere, Halloween is a secular folk holiday. Like its cousin, Thanksgiving, it is widely and publicly celebrated in homes, schools, and communities, large and small, by people of many paths, ethnic heritages, and worldviews. Furthermore, Halloween has evolved to be both a family-oriented children's holiday as well as an occasion for those of all ages to creatively express themselves and engage in play in the realm of make-believe and fantasy through costumes, trick-or-treating, play-acting and engaging in make-believe.

Juno was one of the oldest Roman deities, the three original Gods, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. She is associated with Hera in the Greek myths but belief in Juno pre-existed Hera and they are not the same. Juno had various names, Juno Regina (Queen), Juno Sospita (protector of confinement, childbirth), Juno Lucina (Light), Juno Moneta (Moon).
She was said to be both the wife and sister of Jupiter, King of the Gods (note in my podcast I mistakenly said Saturn.. I meant to say Jupiter!), and mother of Mars, whose father was not Jupiter but rather a flower — though many stories now say Jupiter. How interesting that the symbol for Juno looks like a flower.
Juno is the protector of and the women her power has been long sidelined and underestimated as have all female deities during the Age of Pisces which roughly relates to the Age of Christianity. As we leave that Astrological Age and move into the Age of Aquarius all these long lost deities are gaining prominence again, slowly.

Just like Hera, Juno's sacred animal was the peacock. Below is an except from Aesop's Fables about "Juno and the Peacock" 
The peacock came to see Juno, because he could not accept with equanimity the fact that the goddess had not given him the song of the nightingale. The peacock complained that the nightingale's song was wondrously beautiful to every ear, while he was laughed at by everyone as soon as he made the slightest sound. Juno then consoled the peacock and said, 'You are superior in beauty and superior in size; there is an emerald splendour that shines about your neck, and your tail is a fan filled with jewels and painted feathers.' The peacock protested, 'What is the point of this silent beauty, if I am defeated by the sound of my own voice?' 'Your lot in life has been assigned by the decision of the Fates,' said Juno. 'You have been allotted beauty; the eagle, strength; the nightingale, harmony; the raven has been assigned prophetic signs, while unfavourable omens are assigned to the crow; and so each is content with his own particular gift.' 
Do not strive for something that was not given to you, lest your disappointed expectations become mired in discontent.
It is interesting here as we vibrate higher and ascend up out of heavier and darker times to look at the potential powerful lesson of "Being Here Now".. in whatever our "Here and Now" look like. This might be a potent part of the medicine and healing that Juno is offering us now through December 2020. 

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