1st: Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), All Saint’s Day
2nd: Día de los Muertos, All Soul’s Day
5th: Super Full Beaver Moon in Taurus
16th: Night of Hecate
20th: New Moon in Scorpio
27th: Thanksgiving
What happens after we give in to decay? According to Mesoamerican tradition, death is not an ending, but an initiation into a new plane of existence, a years-long journey that friends and family can assist with. In the meantime, we can help ourselves to food and water offerings, and personal items meant to nourish and hearten us along the way. In Spanish there is a verb for the kind of engagement that takes place between family and the deceased: convivir. It means “to live with.” Ancestors are communed with via altars set up at home, and graves serve as a portal to convivir, when pan dulce, favorite foods, and stories can be exchanged between the living and the dead. This is more than a solemn occasion–festivities that take place during el Día de los Muertos allow for the celebration of the lives once lived and of life itself. Since the time of Spanish colonialism, some syncretism has occurred with All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day, but in all this sacred indigenous holiday persists. The names of the deceased beloved can be written into a book of remembrance on All Saint’s Day, and some pray for the departed during a novenario (a prayer of 9 days in a row). On All Soul’s Day, these prayers are meant to cleanse the souls in purgatory and make them suitable for ascension into heaven.
The theme of family continues on the 5th, during the Super Full Beaver Moon in Taurus, primarily in regards to building steady shelter and structures, which will allow us to build strong foundations for the years to come. With the 16th comes the Night of Hecate, which in turn honors the transitory, cyclical nature of life. At this time, Hecate guides us at the crossroads and offers enlightenment during uncertain times. On the 20th, with the New Moon in Scorpio, we have an opportunity to do deep shadow work and question old patterns and behaviors we must release to alchemize them into something new. Finally on the 27th, we reflect on Thanksgiving, a holiday that for many symbolizes getting together as family and expressing gratitude for the abundance in our lives. However, it is critical to remember the historical indigenous suffering that prompted this festivity, and the suffering that continues to take place today, if we truly wish to rebuild the holiday on foundations of goodwill.
This month we use an original spread called “Autumn Leaves,” inspired by the seasonal changing colors of the leaves.
Green (Fledgling and Evergreen): Reverse Justice
In November, the green “fledgling” aspect of our souls speaks to such virtues as justice, ideals of fairness, and a sense of morality gleaned from a heart of gold. It feels green because of its youthlike idealism, but is arguably more “evergreen” than our modern justice system (though it feels evergreen in comparison to our single lifetime). This aspect is greatly challenged by a changing Justice system that does not seem interested in the people it most impacts. As general elections take place on the 4th, as judicial decisions get made that don’t reflect our deeper values, we experience a deep sense of betrayal and captivity in a system we didn’t ask to play a complicit role in. Why me? or Why us? is the question held silent on the tongue. Seeing Justice as something that happens to us, however, gives our power away. The other side of this question is: how can we enact Justice in a way that we’d like to see in our communities and in our lives? How can we stay true to ourselves and our virtues, as living proof that a heart of gold, that Justice still persists in the human spirit? This, in spite of all that would attempt to mock it whilst dressed up in a satirical version of it. In spite of a hand heavily skewed in favor of the punitive sword, the mouth that might spew hot air with complicated jargon in mimicry of the lofty ideals it purports to uphold. If we can but keep the vision of Justice aflame in the mind’s eye, in as many minds as we can, a longer arc of Justice may yet unfurl. It may unfurl in deep universal time farther than the eye can see, than the mind can imagine, or even faster than we could have ever believed possible.
Red (Core): Reverse Magician
At the core of what troubles us in the dilemma above, is a dwindling sense of personal power, autonomy, and sovereignty under a gargantuan structure meant to uphold hegemonic values and structures, while undermining all the rest. These forces can at times feel much bigger than us, bigger than any one mind or voice can speak against. But change starts in the heart and mind of the individual. Each persons’ beliefs and actions have a greater ideological impact than we think. It will be heartening now to think of ways in which we can realize our will in our own corner of the world, whether that takes root in our own lives, our family systems, or the community at large. While it is true that on an external level some things are out of our control, internally we retain control over our response, our thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions. We must grant ourselves power, in the way we perceive and present ourselves, and the ways in which we create, expand, and act on it. The impact is all the greater when we focus on honoring the inner heart of gold, that calls for Justice.
Yellow (Bright): Reverse Devil
The spotlight, or the focal point that absorbs our attention, is on the reverse Devil. Specifically, the sense of powerlessness perceived in the Magician, in regards to reverse Justice, stems from the Baby Elephant syndrome. The constraints that we taught to us at a young age, whether in our family systems or systems at large, were at one time unbreakable, and held us in place. We were taught to accept the rules laid in place by an authority, and that punishment would be enforced if we went against the rules we disagreed with. Even as adults, this subconscious structure has transferred from parental/family/guardian systems to authority at large. The reverse Devil reveals that if we were to resist as an adult, we would come to realize that the chains we thought held us in a state of paralysis do not have the ability to keep us in place the way we thought they did. In terms of personal sovereignty, it is useful to think beyond following the leader or the masses, and tuning back in with the heart of gold that serves as a moral compass. We can only submit to what we permit for ourselves, and the yoke about our necks is something we can put on and remove at will. If we have the privilege to step back from survival mode, we must question whether what we envision is impossible, or if it really is possible, and what we should willingly accept. Though our first mental instinct may be escapism, the real escape is recognizing the Plato’s cave we are in and stepping out of it.
Orange (Flame): Reverse World
Our internal flame, the drive that propels us, is impacted by our reverse perception of the World. In terms of Justice, we are not seeing the World we want to see. It may be that we are passively waiting for change to come about, rather than actively participating in its transformation. This may be because previous efforts have felt stymied, or because we haven’t seen results. When we let go of the destination and focus on becoming, change is something we can feel. We can feel like we are part of Justice by doing something to shape the world with our own hands, and watching the magic come to life. We often think too little of what we’ve done, or what we can actually do, when we get lost in overwhelm and the immensity of the task, or when we compare our actions to those we feel greater than our own. But each act and potential act we carry out, when we act from the fair World of our mind’s eye is invaluable. It is an act of bravery, creation, manifestation, against all the rigid ways we have been conditioned to accept. It is an act that shapes the World, no matter whether that takes place on a grand scale or a small detail. It all counts, it all contributes to the Justice of the greater human spirit.
Brown (Old and True): Reverse Star
As a form of self protection, it may feel easier to dissociate from what’s happening, to seal off the tender heart of gold that forms a core part of our truth. But now more than ever, it’s the time to renew the vision put forth by this heart, to commit to its fruition. Though it may feel vulnerable, we need to restore our belief in such virtues as fairness, Justice, and the greater life-affirming natural order. We may find we need to grant ourselves some rest and self care, to create space for regeneration this November, and give this belief some time to bloom. We don’t have to do it all this month: activating the Magician to take on the reverse Devil and change the World…these are larger arcs we can become aware of, while also tending to ourselves. When we feel lost, we can look up to the North Star, and begin to wander in its direction, even when we don’t quite know where we are headed, or what we will encounter along the way. Others may feel inspired to join us, and together, expand into a sky full of constellations. We can turn to each other as guides and support, lighting up a seemingly oppressive night sky. This is what it is like to bring ourselves back into flow, to pull ourselves out of rigidness and inflexible systems that don’t match universal needs and consciousness.
Purple (Royal Spirit): Reverse Temperance
Reverse Temperance reminds us not to allow our integrity and spirit to become dampened by uncertainty. When thinking of alternate Justice systems, we know change needs to happen–but we may not know what that looks, be that in our own lives or the World at large. In this case, we are encouraged to take on the alchemist role, to experiment with the right balance, to learn from failure just as much as success. For instance, we improve our ability to enforce boundaries through lived experience and interactions. We might find ourselves overcompensating for a passive communication style with an aggressive one, before we find the middle way to the assertive communication style. It may take some time to counteract a punitive internal narrator with a more compassionate voice. Temperance is about intuiting things on an internal level just as much as we do on an external level. If we think about the Justice scales, fairness looks like granting equal weight to different positions, and resting in the middle, which Temperance can help us to do. Our learning paths are going to look different for each of us, but we all have a role to play in transmutation large and small, personal and universal.
A Note: I originally felt overwhelmed when, for the first time, I pulled a spread of all major arcana cards reversed. A special thank to Jen Vera and Katrina Firor for reminding me that in the States, we are facing a lot of change at large.
Take care and take heart,
Angel Intentions