Letting Go of Deep-rooted Anger

Samhain 2024 - Daniela in Mexico

In some way it always feels like this celebration is about: Letting Go.

However, this year my “letting go” felt wildly different. Inspired by my friend Martin, I realized that this time I wanted to put emphasis on LETTING GO OF DEEP-ROOTED ANGER.

Do you know what I mean? The kind of anger that is not due to the idiot that ignored the red light in a busy street, but the kind of anger that you are not even aware of anymore. Anger that your mind might have forgotten, but not your spirit or your body. The kind of anger that might even lead to disease in the long run if left unprocessed. The kind of anger that perhaps is not even entirely yours, but transgenerational, yes…ancestral.

Before I go on, let’s make clear that anger in itself is not a bad thing. ALL human emotions are valid and have a purpose in our own personal development. For instance, anger helps us set boundaries which is an utterly important skill to have. Let´s not feel guilty for feeling anger since it is just a self-preservation instinct; a way in which our nervous system tells us:

“Hey! There is something harmful close to us, stop it, do something about it!”.

Be angry, do something to resolve the situation and let go.

I know it is a classical example of “easier said than done” (believe me I know! I’ve been with my mother for 4 weeks now for the first time in a loooooong while and I know how difficult it can be to let go of things both old and new).

That is why I decided to dedicate this year’s Samhain celebration to let go of the kind of anger that does no longer serve a purpose in my journey and on the contrary, only poisons my soul if I choose to hold on to it.

So, I found this magnificent tree that you see in the photo (in the countryside of Mexico), and I felt it was the perfect place to sit and meditate about this. Under a tree which has healthy roots holding it firmly to the soil, so that it can literally stand its ground (the same way I want to do when it is necessary), while letting go of the leaves that have already fulfilled their mission and now shall depart for good, just like my anger towards so many things, people, and situations.

I want LIFE to run through my branches rather than poison.

This Samhain, under this tree, I let go of the kind of energy that hinders my personal growth and embrace the kind of energy that reminds me of the fact that I came to Earth to create for myself a life of peace, joy…love.

I invite you, dear friends, to do the same.

Happy Samhain and beyond! Daniela.

Samhain 2024 - Martin in Ireland

The cross quarter day that marks Samhain is the midpoint in the yearly cycle between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. This date is usually the 8th November and is what many of the stone age cairns are most closely aligned to for sunrise. It means we have entered the cold dark winter quarter of the year which the Celts and those before them knew to be the beginning of the year. The period of dark before the rebirth. Halloween is the Christianised version of this festival, which in more recent decades has been rebranded as a modern take on ghoulishness, a far cry from the ancient beliefs.

Daniela and I decided to collaborate on celebrating Samhain in an authentic way using the themes from tradition. Daniela was celebrating in Mexico at the "Dia de Muertos" (Day of the Dead) and I in Ireland for "Samhain" (summers end).

We each noticed that anger was coming up for both of us, so we chose to channel that anger constructively.

It's a powerful healthy energy that can sponsor change and fuel beginnings. It's only when it is suppressed that it becomes explosive and dangerous.

I used the following template for my ritual which lasted about 40 mins.

Smudge, Light, Open Directions, Spirit Plate, Angry Apples, Contemplating the Ancestors and the native tongue Song, Close Directions.

I set up the center on a flat slab on an old stone wall that divides two townlands (liminal space). It also is fortuitously located under a tree and about 10 feet from my house.

The spirit plate is a tradition of leaving out food on a plate to honour the ancestors. It contained bread for comfort, honey for sweetness, salt for the spice of life and wine for merriment.

The Angry apples bit was added to use the anger and get it out of the way before engaging with the core action of the ritual. It involved externally focusing all the anger into the apple which used visualisation and physically beating the apple. The anger now in the apple was buried to rot in the ground so that the anger energy would fertilise the soil and promote positive growth.

To contemplate the ancestors I lit two incense sticks, one for each branch of my family tree. I addressed them in their native languages so I spoke Irish, French and English. Then I let my mind wander. At first I thought about their struggles, their problem solving abilities, their success and their failures, their pain and their pleasure and how I was in some way the embodiment of many people. I was a product of their thoughts, deeds and actions. I thought how I may be influenced by them and what influences were theirs. .

And then I thought, a tree transports water and minerals from its root tips to its highest leaves and the leaves move sugar to the root tips. Its a two way conversation the tree has between the above and the below. I too can influence my ancestors. It's within my gift to use discernment to cultivate my positive conditioning and reject unwanted conditioning. I can send light, forgiveness and love back through my family tree and heal it and heal myself.

A healthy tree connects in with the mycorrhiza in the soil and gives health bearing substances to its daughter trees and even if it chooses to other non related trees. I felt this was going on between myself and my ancestors but also between myself and Daniela. Healing the one heals the all. It's a ho oponopono mindset which I love.

Daniela, who had no notion of the conversation I was having with the ancestors, was tuning in and had this to say ".....Martin heals so I heal and the other way around and we are connected to everyone else so we all heal". .........wow!

We are indeed all connected on the world wide web of energy!

To finish I picked one sad and one melancholic song to sing for the ancestors. I am stretched on your grave and The parting glass.