Halloween: past life natties

I am a very spiritual person and have come to believe in past lives. I basically think the purpose of life is clearing karmic lessons and karmic ties with people. I think a lot about who I was in a past life and how those lives and those lessons still carry es over to today. This past year has been a really difficult year for me in my job. I was dealing with some difficult personalities who treated me poorly to my face, and as I ultimately learned, also did some not so cool stuff behind my back. It was really hard to stay graceful and positive this year when all if this was going on, and it really shook my spirituality and tested my belief in a higher good. I had so much faith that the universe was going to take care of me, but it took a lot longer than I expected. I was looking for a job at a time the market wasn't great and had so many promises that ultimately kept falling through. At every step I had to keep staying optimistic and trust that everything was going to work out for me in divine timing, and thankfully it did, in the end. But it was so hard to put on a happy face all year.

My dad and I developed a phrase - head down, chin up, that embodied the energy I had to be in this year. I was trying so hard to keep my head down and work as much as I could to survive in the environment and not let on I knew what was happening, while at the same time keeping my chin up and not letting the negativity get to me. I learned so much this year and grew so much. I learned how to validate myself, be kinder and more compassionate to myself, and stop relying on the opinion of others to provide my self worth.

It's probably no surprise then that two characters I related to were the witches burned at the stake and Medusa - both female characters who are unfairly persecuted and who unfortunately met their death because of it. I decided to embrace these characters and dress up like them for Halloween. I love using Halloween as a way to laugh at the universe and my costumes are usually pretty intentional jokes that I am the only one privy to.

I don't think most people would be surprised for me to relate to a witch. Since I was little, I loved witches and the idea of magic. I was so sad on my 16th birthday to not be levitating from my bed like Sabrina the teenage witch, and I am still convinced my Hogwarts letter is lost in the mail. I currently read tarot cards and talk about astrology to strangers all the time. I also live alone in a tower, am single and childless. This was super fun for me to dress up as this year to embrace all of the stereotypes I still embody. The witch being burned alive was obviously a darker twist on the costume, but a way for me to laugh at what may have happened to me in a past life.

The story of Medusa is a little more complicated. People think Medusa is the villain and monster and don't actually know her backstory. Medusa was cursed by Athena out of jealousy. Medusa is a powerful character who hid away from humanity knowing her gaze could kill anyone who looked at her. She was still chased and hunted even though she was minding her own business, and treated as a monster because of what others said about her. I go to a tarot reader regularly and she has a deck about which story you are triggering in other people, and several times this last year when I was talking about what was going on at work, my reader would pull the Medusa card and say that was the plot that was being triggered. There is a theme in the Medusa story of being a mirror to those around her who make them face parts of themselves they don't like. Sometimes my peace, light, and optimism makes those who don't embody those qualities uncomfortable; they want me to be miserable like them and pass that hate on to others, but it is not going to happen.

I basically had no choice but to be Medusa after all of those tarot readings, plus the makeup was so fun to do and I was so proud of how it turned out. I just used a piece of mesh and some shimmery eyeshadow to make a snake skin effect.

Interestingly, a few weeks after Halloween I was meeting with a new psychic. She is really awesome and I would highly recommend her to anyone who is interested in learning about their own spiritual journey and wounds that they need to heal to evolve. Her website can be accessed here: Tia Ress Professional Psychic | Chicago

She told me that my soul chose this incarnation to learn about and understand betrayal. She said my soul has been betrayed many times in past lives and that I chose to be betrayed in this lifetime so that I could understand people, the emotion, and relationships better and learn to confront betrayal. Pretty dark and I am not very happy that my soul chose such a difficult lesson to learn here! I hope after clearing this karma if I ever come back here I will be an heiress and just get to drink champagne on a yacht all day. Anyway, I do wonder how I am doing facing the betrayal. A lot of people told me that I should have stood up for myself better in the environment I was in and what I was dealing with. For me, I knew that it was a losing battle and rather than waste my energy, I just peacefully removed myself from the situation. Do you think that was the right move?