Showing Up Whole

Samhain: The Calm Before The Storm

• Christina Fletcher • Season 4 • Episode 19

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Show Notes: The holiday season often feels overwhelming, and with the current global situations and the upcoming election in the States, we've perhaps hit a tipping point in energetic tension.
You need a breather, a pause in this moment, before the storm builds up.

What if you’ve been given the opportunity to pause every year and you've just been missing it?

 In this episode, Christina explores the spiritual significance of the pagan festival of Samhain and how this ancient tradition invites us to reflect, recalibrate, and connect with our spirit guides, so we end the year right. 

As the veil between worlds thins, Samhain provides a unique opportunity for spiritual alignment before the holiday chaos sets in.

Rather than the traditional perspective of seeing Halloween as  a night of fear, darkness and the spooky unknown, let’s connect to a deeper version, which guides us to the spiritual realm that is there to love, support and surround you.

When we take a moment to pause and listen to our spirit guides, we open ourselves to insights and clarity that can shift our perspective on everything from daily stresses to life’s bigger challenges.
 In this episode, Christina discusses how tuning into this guidance can bring peace, direction, and a sense of being deeply supported through the holiday season and beyond.

We’ll also cover how small habit shifts, nurturing your nervous system, and practicing meditation or prayer can help you find calm amidst the storm.

So rather than triggering your nervous system through the scary season of Halloween, join Christina to discover how spiritual traditions like Samhain can offer you the balance you crave, helping you release what no longer serves you, and connect with the love and guidance always available to you.

If you're craving more support, why not join Christina in the Energy Reset Circle? This Sunday, she will be celebrating Samhain with the members in a beautiful ritual, and through November, she will be focused on self-care and practices that support you through the holiday season.

It's an opportunity to integrate practical spiritual tools and connection, as well as surround yourself in a loving community f

Christina Fletcher is a Spiritual Alignment coach, energy worker, author, speaker and host of the podcast Showing Up Whole.
She specialises in practical spirituality and integrating inner work with outer living, so you can get self development off of the hobby shelf and integrated as a powerful fuel to your life.

Through mindset, spiritual connection, intuitive guidance, manifestation, and mindfulness techniques Christina helps her clients overcome overwhelm and shame to find a place of flow, ease, and deep heart-centered connection.
Christina has been a spiritual alignment coach, healer and spiritually aware parent coach for 7 years and trained in Therapeutic Touch 8 years ago. She is also a meditation teacher and speaker.
For more information please visit her website www.spirituallyawareliving.com

Want to uncover where you need the most energy alignment?
Take her new Energy Alignment Quiz to identify which of your energetic worlds (mind, body, heart or spirit) needs aligning the most!

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Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome back to Showing Up Whole the place where we discuss alignment in mind, body, heart and spirit in every aspect of our lives. And today we are diving into a season that often gets missed. I want to talk about the spiritual season of Samhain, of this window of time that we are just entering, this time of magic which is so often feared and so often misunderstood, and maybe it's time we got the record straight. Hi and welcome back. Perhaps I'm making too large of claim of what we're going to talk about today, but I am deep in thought these days about seasons, about holidays, about different celebrations that we keep and how maybe it is time for some shifts, some changes and realigning. You know, I was in the grocery store with my husband today and we were walking down the aisles and there's all the Christmas stuff that's been brought out from who knows where probably a back room somewhere, and it's not even November yet. And then you look over the other aisle and there's all of this Halloween, ghoulish, costumey, candy stuff and something feels deeply off. It's so funny because Halloween was always a huge family tradition for my personal family. My kids loved Halloween and, honestly, I was the first one to encourage it. It's so interesting as we grow and change and learn new outlooks.

Speaker 1:

Halloween never meant anything to me except a time to get dressed up fun. I hated the creepiness, I hated the scariness, but it was time for small little Reese's peanut butter cups and little chocolate bars, which really made me happy. For well into my 30s it was a time of just silliness. To my 30s, it was a time of just silliness and I never really considered the spiritual aspect of it until probably the last five, six years. It's fascinating how we grow and change and when we were living in Canada and we were close to my parents, halloween was totally synchronized with just. It was synonymous with my dad. Honestly, it was a time where my kids would experience the same traditions that I had, where we would go over to my parents' house and they would show off their costumes and my dad would be handing out candy probably still does and the kids would all go to the door and his candy was the last of the evening because they would do trick-or-treat to surprise him. It was a theme, there was tradition. So Halloween was just tradition. It was what we did. It didn't need to make any sense. And then we find Samhain. Samhain, the actual, deeper, richer, magical understanding of a time when the veil between this world and other worlds become thinner.

Speaker 1:

And as I was walking down the grocery aisle or the Halloween aisle in the grocery store today and I was noticing all of this plastic junk, I found myself remembering a memory of when my kids were really little, when, before my before, our girls were into the whole Halloween thing. Before my eldest loved horror movies and I remembered this, their first introduction to the Halloween season, and they wanted to take part, but I didn't want to introduce them to the concepts of scariness. So I sat there teaching them how to make these little ghost figurines that I used to make when I was little, just with toilet paper and you know, like stuffing a ball of toilet paper and then taking another sheet and wrapping it around with a little piece of string. And they asked me you know, three years old, well, what's a ghost? And I remember looking at them totally straight in the face and without, without a beat of hesitation, I just said it's an angel, we're all angels and we all are ghosts. When we don't have our bodies anymore, when our bodies stop working, you're an angel, you're a ghost, you're a ghost.

Speaker 1:

So where are we at with Samhain? Why am I telling you this today? Well, you know we're a week and a half away from Halloween, you know, from the actual season of Samhain, but it does start now. You know this concept of, well, Samhain, halloween is when the veil between two worlds is the thinnest and it's like somewhere in our heads we think of it as like a massive curtain that just kind of lifts up very quickly for 24 hours and then drops. It's not the case. This is a season, as I sit there looking at the different things in a grocery store, or walk through the aisles of that grocery store, observing the push, the force, the contrived nature of how you should do holidays, and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing that is continually thrown on our paths.

Speaker 1:

And I consider the world we live in, the chaotic, stressful, ever-changing, lately complicated and confusing world. We live in the world that now has people so triggered that we sometimes wonder what regulated nervous systems look like, the ones where the world where we live, where, as I was just telling my mother, actually we live in a world where people have forgotten what to trust Because in so many ways, what they put their trust into has failed them. And so you ask yourself do you just barrel along thinking that you need to keep everything the same, or do you find a space to pause? And can that space to pause be right now, in the season of Samhain? And can that pause and reflection period before the busyness, before the storm of holiday seasons, can we use this time, here and now, to create a stronger link to your spiritual team, to who you really are, to your spiritual source and the ghost within yourself? I'm pausing dramatically in order to let that kind of sink in, because really, we're all spiritual beings, we are all energetic beings who bung around in these human forms that we call home for temporary times. We're all angels, we are all deeply connected to the spirit realm. We're all angels, we are all deeply connected to the spirit realm and we literally have a time of year that you can. You know.

Speaker 1:

It is advertised, it is promoted as a time of otherworldliness, a time where the veil becomes thinner, and then that is geared up to be scary. It is marketed to be filled with dread or filled with a sense of eerie creepiness. It is something to fear, according to the advertisements. According to the advertisements. And yet I'll be honest, I talk to spirits all the time. You know, between the different ancestral presences that will show up in a client's session when we've finished our meeting and I'm doing the energy healing, and suddenly I'll feel a nudge from a different energy than the person I'm working with and I know that that is someone giving them love and guidance To my own personal experiences of having connection with my grandmother, who I've spoken to I've spoken about on this podcast before and receiving little nudges on how to do more worldly things rather than the great spiritual concepts that other angels have guided me through.

Speaker 1:

Meeting my husband, archangel Michael was a guide within that. There has been times where, just after our dog passed, he was with us for such a long time to the point of almost knocking me over at times as I walked to the dishwasher on my usual path. My son was even just talking about how, at this time, he keeps seeing the spirit of his cat who passed four years ago. In my family we talk as spirits, as every day, and yet you take a season like this and, for some reason, some powers that be decided to make that a scary thing or a strange thing, and yet, and yet, if you shift that concept and imagine for a moment a world where that is every day, for a moment, a world where that is every day and you know in the your deepest of beings that you have a spiritual team, a loving network cheering you on, and you can see that as ancestors, you can see that as loved ones you have, can see that as ancestors, you can see that as loved ones, you can see that as spirit guides, spirit animals, angels or God itself. And if you imagine the divine love that is flowing to you, an energetic force, field of love that is present for you and like a giant database when you need help, you can plug in to that force, that network. You just need to ask a flood of divine love that will touch and nourish and replenish you as you walk through your path. And then you have a time where the veil becomes the thinnest and so that love is more accessible.

Speaker 1:

How did that turn into a scary season? What are we talking about Now? I'm not, I am not going to pretend that. Sure, if you want to focus on the scary, if you want to focus on the heavy, if you want to focus on the denser, yucky stuff, that's out there. Sure, 100%, there is enough energetic force out there that will meet you there. Where attention goes, energy flows. You can always tap into a certain channel, just like a radio channel. If you want, you can listen to the denser stuff, but you also don't have to. You don't have to. It's not a question of, well, it's either denser stuff or you turn off the radio. It's a question of you find the channel of your divine light, of your love, and you do that by asking, by knowing, by deciding, knowing, by deciding.

Speaker 1:

Every single person has a spiritual source, a spiritual team, however they want to perceive that to be. You have a guiding source of love that wants to nourish you and replenish you, and whether you believe it or not, it's just how it is. You are a spiritual being, you are an energetic being and, as such, you are part of something greater, and in that part of greater, however, you want to see that there is light waiting for you, and so you can ask for it. You can reach out to it In complicated times. You can connect to it, and you can literally very casually, because goodness gracious me, my guides are very used to me being very casual there's no problem in just saying, hey, actually I could do with a little bit of help on this Good friend of mine. She always talks about how you know you can say I need 10,000 angels right now and you will get them.

Speaker 1:

I loved it when she mentioned that there's so much love, there's so much light, and in a world where often we aren't feeling that, then isn't it time for us to create change in our traditions and in our patterns and in our habits to invite more light in? Isn't it time to actually ask ourselves what changes in the routines that we keep can we create so that then we align to a better, greater, lighter version of ourselves? Do you feel like you are continually seeking, trying to embody, to heal, to fix and show up, but you always find yourself running on empty? Let's look at finding you more energetic alignment. There's a good chance that one of your energetic worlds either your mental, emotional, spiritual or physical is out of balance, and with the right practice, you'll have you back in flow in no time. I'm Christina Fletcher, an energy alignment coach, and I want you to know that self-development doesn't always have to be another trip down a rabbit hole. Rather, let's figure out where your flow is blocked and go from there. Check out my free quiz over at spirituallyawarelivingcom backslash quiz and find out where you do need more energetic alignment. Then we can explore what simple practice will give you that shift. None of us are in alignment all the time, so let's get you what you need to be back in flow wherever you need. You know.

Speaker 1:

Back in September I did a habit challenge over on my sub stack. September I did a habit challenge over on my sub stack and it was so interesting watching how a whole group of people kind of gathered and we all started putting patterns in place new habits, just simple new shifts and the transformations were pretty phenomenal. People were saying that they could sleep better. People were saying that they felt less anxiety. Little tiny, simple, little steps, like not looking at your phone in the morning, and you go. Well, how can we harness that intention and actually apply it to other things? And why are things like family traditions something that we maybe resist looking at changing? What happens if we actually infuse traditions with light? Okay, what does that look like? Let's let's I mean let's brainstorm here.

Speaker 1:

So Samhain evening All right, your kids are not going to let go. If you have young kids, they're not going to let go of the tradition of Halloween. So talk to them about it, make it a dialogue about what actually real Halloween could mean. And you don't have to involve them in your own personal reflection and celebration. But you can come home and in the evening light a candle and you can journal and write a letter to someone who has passed on and maybe you would like to ask them for some help. You can do a blanket statement to your team and say I don't know who is out there helping me, but I could do with a sign, I could do with some connection, I could do with some help. You can pray, you can ask for guidance, or you can just say hey, how you doing? I don't know what I'm talking to, but thanks. Or if you do know who you are talking to, then write a list of appreciation acknowledging what is flooding in. Or write down your challenges and ask for guidance there.

Speaker 1:

Make it casual, make it there. Make it casual, make it real, make it yours, because we live in an expansive universe and where attention goes, energy flows and as spiritual beings we understand the expansiveness of the universe. As humans, we keep to the plot, we keep to the routines, we keep to what we know, and so we live in a state of duality, and it's really important, in this time of so much polarity, so much intense conflict, so much heightened emotion, to actually look at your own personal patterns and routines and ask yourself whether they are lifting you up to the greatest state of your truest sense of who you are. Is it creating a platform for you to be the most loving? Is it creating a space for you to shine out your most light? Is it creating a landscape within your inner self to feel as held and as grounded and as fully connected to the angels around you as you can be? What happens if we start to perceive things differently? What happens if we open up our minds to a new state of being so that we can actually integrate complete and utter spiritual awareness? It's a big ask.

Speaker 1:

I'm not going to say this is going to happen in a day, because our human brains are going to tell us to keep to the program and we also have families and neighbors and communities that keep to the set traditions and, honestly, there's also part of us that mourn what we might be letting go of. So this is not something to encompass all at once, but I do believe in this time that we're at. I do believe that it's important to claim this moment the calm before the storm. The storm of American Thanksgiving if you're in the States. The storm of being bombarded by Black Friday sales. The storm of the complete whirlwind of holiday preparation, as your to-do lists every year grow longer and longer and longer and you find yourself feeling guilty if you don't keep to the program that you yourself probably established a long time ago or that other people established for you, and you wonder why. And also, let's also include the storm that leads to the end of the year, the pressures you might feel, the heightened expectations of what you need to accomplish before the end of the year, or maybe what you want to be planning or your goals that you need to be setting. The heightened built-up pressure. How do we transform that? How do we actually take this time after the year that's been and alter our perception of it, of saying, okay, so we just had the summer, we've had the September flurry of activity after that, and now here we are at the end of October and there's a window.

Speaker 1:

The veil is at its thinnest. There is a time of asking for support, for help. There's a time of saying Nourish us, help. There's a time of saying what next? How can I be the best version of myself in the now? What do I need to shift, transform, lean into in order to shine a little bit brighter? There's also the window to say actually, team of mine, I'm tired. Help, give me that little bit of extra oomph, please. I need refueling. Whatever you need, whatever you need at this time, you can ask for and, the veil being thinnest, it's being heard quickly. Where attention goes, energy flows. So when you have made the ask, then listen for the response, the nudges, the intuitive guidance, the sudden signs that flow in your path, the little reminders of what is possible or the solutions you never saw before.

Speaker 1:

Something so liberating happens when you pack up a trouble and you imagine it wrapped up in a lovely little gift package and then you hand it over to the universe. I've often actually taught my clients how to do that. I've actually just said this issue. You don't quite understand what you can do with. Pack it up, make it pretty, imagine it in a lovely little box, tie it with a ribbon and then give it to the universe as a gift, because the universe will take it gladly and then it will transform it for you. What better time to do that than now? What better time than as you barrel towards another busy time? And then January will come and you'll feel like you should be putting things together. But it'll be January and January is usually that kind of January and then it will be February and you'll be like, okay now, and then there's March, and then it's well now, and then it will be February and you'll be like, okay now, and then there's March, and then it's well now, and then you're into spring. So it's like, well, now we live in this seasonal pattern.

Speaker 1:

Why not season now? Why not seize this moment to connect to your spiritual team and connect within your own heart, acknowledging what is troubling you and ask for that inner, deeper spiritual support? And then why not set the intention for taking better care of yourself too? The minute you put pause, you watch as things slow down, you watch as perceptions change just a little bit and you watch as your November can be a consciously aware state. Don't get me wrong Even though I walk down the Christmas aisles and I'm looking at them going maybe actually I don't want to do this the same way this year round Doesn't mean that I'm not doing it. I will celebrate. I will be honoring deeply the end of the year.

Speaker 1:

End of the year is one of my favorite times of year. I get to do my fresh start workshop at the end of the year and that is my favorite thing of all. I have bought my planners, I have things to look forward to, I am excited, but I also want to make sure that I'm acknowledging who I am now and not just do the same patterns that I've always done. So what if November is actually about nourishing yourself? What is it? And I can hear you going, christine, I've got way too much stuff to do. Yes, what if you were nourishing yourself while you did it? What if you were plugging into your spiritual source in a deeper, more fulfilling way while you do your stuff? What if you created a new routine, a new pattern, new habits that actually supported your spiritual connection, instead of putting it aside because you have stuff to do? This is my passion, not just for you, for myself as well, because I can always keep tweaking and I can always realigning and I'm always shifting and I'm always changing and I'm always growing, and that excites me.

Speaker 1:

So with that in mind, I will say that over my membership program, the Energy Reset Circle, after Sunday's Samhain ritual, which we will be incorporating in our usual meditation and energy healing practice. We will be incorporating in our usual meditation and energy healing practice. We'll be honoring and connecting and asking and exploring in light and wonder. There's no dark, heavy stuff who needs it. But after we do that, then we are embarking on a November of nourishment which will be focused on practical little steps that you can do every day. I'll be teaching them on the Sunday sessions, which also has a replay, and we will be working through a few simple steps that you can practice in the day. We have a WhatsApp group for accountability and I'm going to help you take care of yourself throughout the busyness of the season. So November is going to be curated into creating the habits. December there's going to be even more accountability. Even though it's a busy season, we're also going to be gearing up for what you want to create, because then at the end of December, that's my workshop, that's the fresh start, clearing out the old, realigning to the new. Anyone in the energy reset circle, by the way, does get access to my workshops for free. It's included in the membership you can if you're not in the membership, you can still take part in workshops for a fee.

Speaker 1:

So we're doing things a little differently, we're tweaking it, we're making sure that we are encompassing all versions of ourselves, all aspects of ourselves. The spiritual team is right there. There's so much love guiding you, so much love present for you. Access it, plug into it, let it flow through you, let it revitalize you, let it juice you up. And then let's also take care of nervous systems, which are always so triggered, and let's also acknowledge those lovely patterns of thought that try to keep us where we are, because, honestly, we did not come here for that. It's time to do things differently.

Speaker 1:

I firmly believe that it's time to acknowledge what we're sad to let go of and yet still say it might be time.

Speaker 1:

It's time to love the traditions that fill us with joy, but let go of the ones that feel heavier. It's time to acknowledge the fact that we are so much more than these physical bodies, and it is time to welcome in all of the love that is flowing and let it light you up. And so then, when it lights you up, and so then, when you light, it lights you up, you can shine out that light into any of the darkness in the world and make the world a better place. Because you're here, you got to put those things in the right order. You can't create the light if you're stuck in fear. So it is time to align, it is time to connect, it's time to let the love in and if we're not just choosing the narrative that what is trying to support us is scary so we push it away, let the love in. Don't let it be a dark story. Enjoy the comfort of the season and know that you are loved. It is Samhain and it is a time of grounded connection and nourishment.