When back means forwards

Dearest ones,

It's been a minute since our last exchange.

Loads have been happening on this side of the ocean.

For starters, following up from our latest newsletter, we managed to inaugurate home number 22 in London, United Kingdom.

It felt so special to be welcomed by the city's vibrant and electric energy as well as by so many loved ones, on the flesh. Their embrace, love and support is the most precious, rich and abundant gift we will forever be grateful for.

And now, that we are back, we will devote ourselves to honour it, with love, appreciation and humility. Never taking it for granted, ever again.

And as we talk about being "back" - there is something truly magnificent about the "motion-related" aspect of its meaning. Going or coming back, implying that you are returning to a place where you have been before. That is still true, in the literal sense of the word. London is my forever home, not only because it's the one I have lived the longest but because it's the one that feels closer to that definition of home - which I delved into in our latest newsletter (link here if you are interested in dipping into that concept.

However, this time it feels like coming back home is actually a "moving-forwards" motion. It's returning to a physical place that I have inhabited before but both the place and myself have intrinsically changed. We aren't the same anymore from the last time we were reunited. Or the first time we met, in the mid 90's.

Somehow, it feels like all that history, rapport and intimate exchanges provide a solid background and foundation for us to move forward, into a new (renewed, rekindled, restarted) chapter in our intimate and sacred partnership.

And as all of this is revealed, we notice the systemic and contextual influence of the moment when this is actually taking place: just right in the antechamber of Samhain: the halfway point between autumn equinox and winter solstice (commonly known in other cultures as Halloween, All Saints' Day or Dia de los Muertos).

Samhain originates from the Celtic and Gaelic cultures and it welcomes the darkest part of the year (in the northern hemisphere) and creates a portal for the veils between the two worlds to become closer.

Energetically, also not coincidentally, the inauguration of Scorpio season (ruling the underworld and depths of the conscious / unconscious) invites us to look at our deepest and darkest sides - to embrace, acknowledge and love them. Because as scary or fearful as they might seem, they are still part of us, life and the universe itself. Our work is to integrate them through this acknowledgement, as they will transform and liberate us - instead of the common misconception of suppressing or disregarding them because they are "bad".

They are expressions of the universal consciousness and as such, they are part of life. We can't eradicate them or just write them off because we don't like them. However, as conscious beings, we have the choice to act on them or not. That's our most prerogative. To become sufficiently aware of them to see, accept and transcend them - so we aren't at their mercy to guide us one way or another.

And beyond all that ethical conundrum and in a more simple yet powerful overview, our life is run by opposites. Day and Night. Yang and Yin. Light and Dark. Sun and Moon.

Our ancestors fully knew of this wisdom and not only worked with it but honoured the power that lies in that particular expression of consciousness. A duality that comes from a non-dual aliveness that is everywhere, in us and around us.

Our invitation is to potentially sit with that apparent contradiction and let it offer us a space where we can explore and identify the hidden gems inside of us. Those that we haven't been ready to acknowledge, embrace and embody. Wisdom, skills, intelligence as well as fear, unknowns and uncertainty. To discern which ones need to be integrated and those which are ready to be let go of. But until we see what we can't see, we won't be able to make that choice.

All is welcomed, all is loved. All is part of life and only for that, it should be celebrated.

And so it is.

With all my love and gratitude,

Monica & team x

More info on Samhain and its different expressions around the world:

Samhain

Samhain practices + southern hemisphere guidance

All Saints' Day

Dia de los Muertos

Halloween