October. October. October. If you live in a northern climate and experience the beauty of seasonal change, you are probably witnessing nature at her most colorful right now. Yellow, orange, red, rust, all mixed in with the deep green of conifers that retain their foliage all year. October, the tenth month of the Gregorian calendar and eighth month of the Roman calendar, (octo means eight) bursts forth with abundance and a desire to preserve that abundance. Crops are being harvested while those staples are being shaped into forms that can be stored for winter months that offer less in the way of fresh, local produce. In October we give thanks for what we have in terms of the environment that supports us, our families and friends and the passions that ignite the fires of creative expression. It is here on this planet that we have the opportunity to create, to manifest in physical reality whatever thought/idea we desire. At this time of year Mother Nature shows us how she creates: the diversity, the abudance, the life giving, the beautiful, the powerful, the gentle. We are awed by the everchanging nature of the world around us as we, like nature, engage in the process of giving forth before going within. Going within allows us to connect more deeply with our self, the self that is the I Am, Am I within which is the knowing that we are all one, that I am the plant, the animal, the soil, the wind, the cloud, the water. In deep winter is stillness that if we are stillness we are everything and nothing. So, in October we express all that we are, give thanks for all of our creative gifts and the many opportunities that surround us and prepare to become the stillness. As October wind eventually howls across open plains and through mountain forests taking with it leaves that are now curled, dry and brown think about shedding your 'old foliage' that no longer serves a purpose. When we stand naked, we are free. Tarot Cards for October  Card Number X of the Major Arcana is the Wheel of Fortune and Card XX is Judgement. Tens of the Tarot Deck in general refer to endings, completion. The Wheel of Fortune signifies the ending of one cycle and the beginning of another and the continuing process of one thing giving way to the next. Samhain celebrated October 31 signifies the end of summer, Diwali, October 28th this year, symbolizes the end of harvest. Judgement represents an ending of old ways and a rising above the past. It signals change and transformation where we recognize our own light within and are prepared to share that with the world. Diwali, the Festival of Lights, celebrated throughout India on a New Moon when the heavens are not illuminated by the moon's light is shared by all people regardless of religious persuasion or caste. Every lamp that is lit to shine in the darkness expresses the light within each being igniting that lamp. It is  a celebration of the individual light and the one light.   Dates to observe in October 3rd-Bacchanalia, the Festival of Dionysus 4th-Feast of St. Francis of Assissi 5th-Mundus Cereris, opening of the 'Earth Gate' or the Underworld. Child Health Day.  World Animal Week begins 11th-Thanksgiving Day in Canada 15th-Full Moon at 21 degrees Aries sextile Neptune (whatever houses the sun/moon opposition fall in be prepared to stoke the fires of what you want for it surely contributes to the realization of a more conscious self e.g.-2nd and 8th houses, understanding true self worth in order to understand the self in relationship to the collective conscious) 16th-World Food Day 28th-Diwali Festival of Lights in India (all of India lights lamps to celebrate; the end of harvest, the light within, the oneness of all beings-it falls on an amavasya or 'no moon day' The New Moon occurs at 5 degrees Scorpio takes us deep within to discover the nature of our true desires-we peel away the wool from over our eyes and no longer deny what lies at the core of our being-within the darkness lies a big secret that once seen no longer exists 31st-Samhain (summer's end) All Hallows Eve