We hear that expression a lot this time of year. “The veils are thin!”. But what does that mean? Is this even important? How does it work? Well, hopefully I can shed a wee bit of light on that topic for you. This expression comes from very old traditions that viewed the line between life and death as fleeting, impermanent, flexible. The Ancients knew (much better that our contemporaries do) that we are not just a system of biological mechanisms. Many modern folks don’t even believe in the existence of a soul because “it can’t be measured, therefore it does not exist.” We have become a culture of scientific dogma in action. Now, please don’t get me wrong here. I am not bashing science in any way. I am saying that science has a lot to learn. After all, science in the magic that we do understand, and magic is the science that we don’t yet understand.
We are not just physical bodies. Those bodies are actually inhabited by souls. And those soles are something that travel. This ties into many things, such as Astral Travel, Out of Body experiences, Near Death experiences, Soul loss/retrieval and so on. The point is that the soul does inhabit the temple of the body, but is not just limited to that for its existence. The body, however, does need a soul in order to exist. You will often hear terms like, “That person is devoid of a soul.” This does not mean that they do not have one. It means that there is a vast disconnect between the conscious mind and the soul of that individual, thus their behaviors can end up becoming cruel and even, at times, evil.
So this Veil thing…what is that about? Well, the Veil is a very thin barrier between this realm and other realms. One of those many other realms is the place where the soul tends to go when they die. I am not here to try to convince anyone of the accuracy of anything. I am here to explain what the terminologies mean. Some people would call the other side of the Veil “heaven” or “hell” or “Nirvana” . It really does not matter what the terminology is, so much as it matters that, for millennia, our people have all, regardless of tradition, culture, race, or location on our planet, KNOWN about this.
The Veil is not an actual physical thing. It is a perceptual thing. When one trains one’s mind to pierce the Veil, one can do that at any time and in any place. So then why are they so thin at this time of year? Well, there is also this thing called Earth energy. The energy of the Earth is not stagnant. It is something that shifts and changes, often slowly, and sometimes more rapidly. This time of year, in the Northern Hemisphere, those shifts begin around mid-August and build up to a climax around the last full moon in October, then decline over the next month and a half to around the end of December. When that Earth energy builds like that, it has a tendency to heighten our senses. When our senses get heightened we are more able to perceive what otherwise would go unnoticed.
This means that people start seeing strange things. They begin to see shadows that move fleetingly past, sometimes even disturbing the air as they move. They begin to see faceless people out on the street, which is creepy at best. They begin to see dead loved ones or relatives. They may or may not hear them, but the visual aspect is certainly there. Thus this time of year is considered to be a time of becoming aware of ghosts and of honoring the Ancestors.
The most important aspect to this is the knowledge that we need not be afraid of the Veils being thin. Seeing apparitions and ghosts etc is not a scary thing. We do not have to be creeped out about that. And even if we do see something that appears to be frightening, we still have to ask ourselves why it is frightening to us? I have personally been frightened of a few things in life, but when I have asked myself why I was afraid, it has always boiled down to the unknown. Once we have a handle on what something actually is, we have our fear factors reduced tremendously.
This brings us to the aspect of dualism. We live in a world where duality is not just accepted but encouraged. There is always someone who will tell us that black apparitions are evil. That is nonsense. There have been many white apparitions that have turned out to be malicious. So no, not everything can e determined simply based upon a color. I also have a personal bias against this determination based upon color because I see how it has been used to racially discriminate over the years as well. So we really have to check that within ourselves and recognize that a color, itself, is neither good nor bad.
So why the faceless ones? Often this creeps people out. It has even creeped me out on occasion. But here is the thing. They appear to be faceless because they are NOT meant for us to see or know. They will have a perfectly formed face for the ones who need to know and recognize them. That is how simple that is.
Yes, the Veils are thin. That does not have to frighten us at all. In fact, the thinning of the Veils gives us opportunity to commune more clearly with loved ones who have passed on. That can bring great comfort to us. And they can share with us insights from the other side of the Veil, which can serve to guide and protect us. So this time of year can definitely be of great benefit, if we choose to allow it.