Hi folks! It is officially spooky season, and by that, I mean Scorpio Season! We are also moving into eclipse season, so the next four weeks should be interesting.

Scorpio season is a mysterious time, it’s the time when the bounty of autumn starts to turn towards death. We’re coming up on Samhain and Dia de los Meurtos, both holidays that honor the dead. Many cultures across the world believe that the line between the dead and the living is thin at this time. This is a great time to acknowledge and pay homage to your ancestors. On November 1st and 2nd, I like to put up an altar in the kitchen for my ancestors. (Don’t forget to cleanse the space, I use sage, but incense or sound can work as well). I put up pictures of my ancestors and leave offerings of things that they enjoyed during their lifetime. If I have something of theirs, I also place it on the altar. For added writing ability, I leave a small space on the altar for Roberto Bolaño, one of my favorite writers. (Honor your creative ancestors too!)
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Watch out for the eclipses on October 25th (today! solar eclipse - not visible in North America) marking the Scorpio new moon and November 8th (lunar eclipse - this will be visible in North America) marking the Taurus full moon.

My dreams always get intense around eclipse season; the one time I had a full fledged lucid dream was during a solar eclipse. If you have the inclination, I recommend dream work for the next few weeks. I love working with dreams; as a creative person, they’re one way to communicate with your unconscious. As a writer, my dreams inspire my stories. And if you’re doing inner work, dreams are great for understanding why you hate that person in your writing workshop so much (haha, not talking about myself of course 🙊but he reminded me of all the bad aspects of my mom . . . )

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​Tips for dreaming:

• reishi - reishi is a mushroom and an adaptogen and it is generally just great for you. Drinking reishi before bed aids in relaxation.
• Green tea - not before bed obviously, because of the caffeine, but at some point during the day. The L-theanine in green tea helps your brain to produce alpha brain waves, which help with creativity and REM sleep.
• DREAM JOURNAL - write in your dream journal each morning, this tells your unconscious that you’re paying attention to it, and you’ll be able to remember your dreams more readily
• Strenuous exercise during the day - to help you sleep
• Epsom salt bath before bed - again, this relaxes your body and helps you sleep

Tips for lucid dreaming:

• reality checks - a reality check is something you do during the day to make sure you’re not dreaming. My favorite reality check is to make the floor change color. If it changes color, then you are dreaming. If it doesn’t change color, then you’re awake. Do them throughout the day so you remember to do them in a dream.
  • Stare at the numbers on a digital clock - Apparently clocks don't work in dreams.
  • Looking at your hands - this has never worked for me, but this is another type of reality check, because hands looks strange in dreams? Or something.
• Have an intention to lucid dream - lucid dreaming takes time, and you’ll need to tell your mind that you intend to wake up while dreaming. You can tell yourself this before bed "I want to have a lucid dream tonight," or read up on lucid dreaming (before bed for extra points!). Be consistent.
• Have a plan for lucid dreaming - lucid dreaming is amazing because you can control the experience, but it’s also difficult to think properly when your lucid dreaming (at least, that’s been my experience). So, to bypass all that I recommend having a plan for what you want to do when you lucid dream. Do you want to fly into space? Kiss a movie star? See an old friend? Since I work with deities in my witchcraft, my intentions are always to meet with the deities I work with. (Unfortunately, the one time I had a lucid dream I was unable to remember what the deity told me . . . oh well!)

Scorpio Season Book Recommendation:

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Mexican Gothic - by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The perfect read for spooky season! This is a lushly written gothic romance set in Mexico, plus it involves mushrooms! If Moreno-Garcia wrote a dishwasher manual I'd probably still find it riveting.
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That's it for this month!!
​Connect with me: on Instagram @foxandthestoryteller, on Facebook: Demelza Champagne, my website: alchemical-writing.com, and email: demelzachampagne@gmail.com