Feast of Divine Life 3341

3341 Abolan 17
Happy Cuivanya!

It's the Equinox -- the midpoint of autumn has arrived! The Feast of Divine Life celebrates the harvest, the turning of the year, and reminds us of the world to come. Whether we believe in a single afterlife, many journeys after our sojourn on Earth, or in reincarnation, Cuivanya is the festival to recall that this life is not all there is.

This year is Sai Raya's year -- I was so excited to find a picture that echoed the photo for Sai Raya to use for this festival! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this year feels so much more...magical? than previous years. At least part of that comes from this year being under such a beneficent influence, but also another part of that (for me) comes from some interesting reading during the past month or two that have put me in a better frame of mind than I have been in a long time. Most have had something to do with life after death: books on historical beliefs, on near death experiences, and so on. I've really enjoyed reading them! It's helped me lighten up in other, unexpected ways as well; it suddenly became a lot more obvious to myself how much was lipservice to what I wanted to believe, and how much it truly changes you to actually believe something.

While this festival is about life beyond death and is associated with the Dark Mother, this is not inherently a festival of the dead. That comes more into focus here shortly with the festival of Tamala (around Halloween); Cuivanya is more about "[t]he death to this world that is birth to a higher world" (from Mother God), the reminder of continued existence, and the love that sustains all things.

I hope everyone has a wonderful festival!