October Medicine Notes: Scorpio Season, The Orisha Oyá and The Egun
This week we are moving into Scorpio season and I have to say, this is one of my favorite times of the year. As a witchy-witch I can feel the veil thinning as we draw closer to the end of the month and as we dive into the deeeep waters of Scorpio. This energy brings lots of shedding and releasing- as we in the northern hemisphere witness the leaves on trees changing colors and falling, so do many aspects of us. We are truly, always in harmony with the earth. After an intense eclipse season, we may already be aware of what is ready to change, to go, to be put down and to be released. Things take time to transition and this season of change reminds us that we can take our time and let the universe and the cycles of life do what they do.
Scorpio season also holds lots of ancestral energy as we celebrate Dia de los Muertos from October 31st to November 2nd. This holiday is very important for many spiritual folks. The Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos), is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration.
It is a blend of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture. While October 31 is Halloween, November 1-2 is All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead. According to tradition, the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of ancestors can rejoin their families until November 2nd. The roots of the Day of the Dead go back about 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-colonized Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held/hold a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.
Holding death as an integral, ever present part of life – that always stands out to me because we are in fact in a constant state of death and rebirth and it's important to honor those deaths as we move along the circle of life. In my spiritual path, we tend to our ancestral altars or Bovedas weekly, on Mondays. Replenishing water, food, flowers and offerings for our ancestors// Egun. Tending to the altar and to this relationship is of the utmost importance as we believe that our ancestors are constantly present and are helping us throughout our life. They are able to give us a deeper understanding of our time here on earth and offer us protection. This relationship is the foundation of all spiritual workings before the Orisha and any Santos.. It is our Egun. This Dia de los Muertos I will be offering a donation based workshop on how to create an altar for our ancestors and how to connect with them on a deep level with the use of candle work and capturing the essence of our energy.
The energy of Scorpio is associated with The Orisha Oyá. Oyá is a fierce and powerful female warrior in the orisha pantheon. She is the owner of the marketplace and keeps the gates of the cemetery. Oyá is the force of change in nature and in life. She wields lightning and rides the winds into battle, often fighting with her machetes side-by-side with her husband Shangó. Oyá’s axé is fierce, turbulent, calls for big change and is very protective.
Contrary to what is sometimes said, Oyá does not live in the cemetery. She lives in the marketplace and guards the changing fortunes made through business. She does own the cemetery gates and will escort the spirits of the dead to the threshold of the graveyard, but it is actually Obba and Yewá who live in the cemetery itself. Oyá is said to control the air and winds in nature, and often rides storms into battle against her enemies.
Oya enters our lives in many moments but can be most felt during the many deaths and rebirths in our lifetime, at the face of change and transition. She is associated with the Tower tarot card. In the Tower card image we see the tower being struck by lightning, the top of the building (crown) being tumbling down as the building smokes with fire and 2 figures are falling to the ground, jumping from the windows. We know when this card appears that a change is a’comin and it may be long overdue. Oya’s medicine of change billows into our lives like a tornado and tears down the old systems in our life, figures, ideas and beliefs being struck down. This change can be brought into our life in many different ways. Oya reminds us that we are being fiercely protected throughout it all. Sometimes the change we are experiencing is necessary and sometimes it's a challenging path that we must walk to understand our own medicine more deeply.
Oya also rules the Thymus gland and chakra. The thymus is a small gland in the lymphatic system that helps the immune system fight infection and disease. Psychosomatically, it can hold a lifetime of unprocessed emotions, such as anxiety, sadness, and grief. Both the thymus chakra and gland live above the heart and below the throat, behind the sternum (the high heart). Energetically, the thymus is the center of compassion, empathy, joy, peace, serenity, balanced emotions, patience, and unconditional love. It is thought that when we find balance in the thymus, we are living in congruence with our most authentic self.
This month, we will dive deeper into ways that we can be in more flow with Scorpio season, Oya and Change. Let's start with Scorpios Energetics.
