Samhain Guided Meditation!


Ground and Center, Once your mind is calm, the noise of stray thoughts vanished, and you are in your quiet inner place; listen and hear the distant thundering of horses hooves coming closer; the rattle and squeak of harness and saddles and you will know it is the wild hunt approaching.

You call out Let me tarry awhile and see the great spiral.

Let me ride with thee now into thy dark bower.

Let me see the path followed and how the lives flow.

Let me ride with the Rade as you travel below.

The hunter nods his antlered head and now you see the mound in the gray light of early dawn. The crone, in her tattered shrouds, stands before the entrance and you hear her cry out , "All must pass through me!" and you see her getting closer as the horses plunge their wild plunge into the gateway.

Yet the horses ride on and the Hunter holds you firmly in his grasp, you cling to him as you call out to the fearful image of the Crone as you pass through her, " I know who you are! You are the mother of All, and I do not fear you!"

She laughs and turns to you as you pass through her, and incredibly you see a lovely lady, smiling and more beautiful than words can describe, and you begin to laugh with her. You hear her gentle voice as she replies to you "Only those who do not know me, fear me." Suddenly it is as though you had been a child all along, playing in a dark room, letting your imagination frighten you.

Now you know that the face of the Crone is also the face of the lovely mother who awaits you with open arms, and you feel secure. Loved and at peace.

The Hunter races his mount through the dark realm and you see spirits taking their rest by still, dark pools overhung with cypress branches and long gray moss. Soft, silky grass and delicate pathways beckon to you, to walk and relax.

You are tempted to stay here and enjoy the Shadowland with it's night blooming flowers and air scented with lilacs, but the hunter does not let you down from his steed.

Through a dark forest padded with the sodden leaves of autumns past you now race, and the you burst upon a sunlit meadow.

There are children playing and the shining bright Other People wave to you as you pass. Spirits appearing to be of all ages and ageless move in this bright place, and you realize that there is light and warmth here for you are in the Summerland, close to the Otherworld of the Fair Folk. Still the Hunter holds you tight, and you sense rather than see that you are passing through another kind of veil.

Here goes one who has rested and now desires to resume the great dance of life," the Hunter whispers in your ear and mind.

You look towards a shadowy figure as it appears to be moving through a grayish swirling mist towards a distant light, and you realize that this is a spirit departing the Shadowland to be reborn.

Now your own race is ending and you see the dark earth close in around you, pebbles and snails, and earthy creatures that wriggle by on many legs, or none at all. The ground seems to open up and a starry night becomes visible to you up ahead, and as you look around you behind the Hunter you see the great mound in back of you.

The Hunter now clasps you with one strong hand and effortlessly swings you off his mount and onto the ground, then laughing, rides off into the night, the Wild Hunt behind him on their rounds anew.

You see the dawn coming now, and as you return to normal awareness, you are at peace and hold the memory of the beautiful lady who laughed with you when you penetrated her disguise. You know that life is eternal. There is no death only passage.

by Bronwynn Torgeson