Shadows Curling Along The Winding Garden Path
I was going through my spam email one day last week. One of the emails I was looking at I thought was odd for having this quote in the body of the email because it had nothing to do with what the email was about. The quote was, “Shadows Curling Along The Winding Garden Path.” I knew deep down this was no accident. I had a feeling this was a message from spirit, the universe, my ancestors and my guides. Beings from other realms that are guiding us on our paths in life always have a mysterious but beautiful way of sending us messages. No matter what I am going through in the present, my guides always have a way of speaking a message through me for someone. I believe this message is in relation to what the collective and myself are experiencing right now with Saturn Retrograde in Pisces and the September Eclipse Season in Pisces and Virgo.
What Is Saturn Retrograde? Saturn is the planet of discipline, structure, responsibility, karma, and lessons. Saturn Retrograde influences you to turn inward and reflect. Spiritually, Saturn will ask you to pause, take a look back, and face what areas in your life you are avoiding. In retrograde, Saturn’s energy will shift your view of responsibility, karmic lessons resurface, struggles with authority, and your boundaries are tested.
What Is Saturn Retrograde Asking You To Do? Re-examine commitments, goals, and structures. Heal unfinished business, old patterns, or challenges that might come back for resolution. You might question your relationships with rules, bosses, parents, your upbringing, or self-discipline. If you have been saying “yes” to people, places or things most of your life. It is now time for you to start saying “no” and set healthy boundaries. Saturn isn’t in retrograde to harm you. Saturn is trying to help you heal years or decades of conditioning so you can live a much happier and healthier life.
What Is The Eclipse Season? Eclipse season is a time of change, endings, alignment, and beginnings. Eclipses will come in pairs with a lunar and solar eclipse. Eclipses carry fated energies that will shake our lives up so we can be realigned with our true paths. Spiritually, eclipses are seen as doorways that shift us and push our growth. They are an invitation to grow, realign, and embrace change. Eclipse season might be subtle or uncomfortable but it will be worth going through in the end.
What Is Eclipse Season Asking You To Do? Turn inward to reflect on what no longer serves you. Don’t resist the flow of change because it is clearing space for what is aligned. Reflect and release old patterns that have been keeping you stagnant from your growth. Dive deep into the unknown. You might feel uncertain right now but it is opening doorways that you wouldn’t step through. Even though the energy feels disruptive right now, run towards your soul’s path. Eclipse season is realigning you with your higher purpose.
This Saturn Retrograde and Eclipse Season, we all are experiencing a shift in our lives where we are being asked to accept both the dark and light. Old lessons, patterns, fears are re-surfacing because they are keeping you stagnant from healing and growing. When Saturn is retrograding in the sign of Pisces, Pisces takes you on a soul journey deep within your subconscious. A place within our soul that holds the hidden truths that can be painful but must be felt and seen in order to see our light within. We just went through the Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse in Pisces on September 7-8. Now we are in-between eclipses and getting ready to experience the Partial Solar Eclipse in the sign of Virgo on September 21. This eclipse is wanting us to redefine our daily life and health, let go of outdated beliefs and self-identity, find structure, organization, and set boundaries, embrace fated or karmic shifts, and integrate your intuition. The path you are being pushed towards within these eclipses cannot be ignored, it is fated. What makes this eclipse season very powerful is that Pisces and Virgo are opposite counterparts on the astrological wheel. The eclipse season is preparing us for a powerful, fated new beginning in our lives. We all are getting a second chance to take advantage of these energies and start anew in our lives. The only thing I ask of the collective is that you take this time seriously so you don’t risk starting the same painful old cycles and lessons all over again.
Saturn Retrograde and Eclipse Season kind of are in relation to one another. With us all experiencing both of these events at the same time. The energy is shifting us drastically for a reason. You are probably wondering how “Shadows Curling Along The Winding Garden Path” relates to Saturn Retrograde or Eclipse season. This quote does have many layers to its meaning but this is what I believe the quote is telling us. Shadows often symbolize the hidden, subconscious, or the aspects of our lives we avoid. No one wants to face their shadows but we have to in order to heal and grow. A winding path can mean your life’s journey is filled with twists, lessons, and discoveries. The path is never straight and predictable. A garden symbolizes growth, your soul, and it is a sacred place that reflects inner connection within yourself and the divine. The garden is your safe space. You are walking your path of growth to explore the unknown and hidden parts of yourself within the shadows. Your shadows are asking you to trust your spiritual journey even if the path seems unclear at times. We all fear our darkness but the darkness we hold within has a place on our healing path. The darkness helps us heal and grow too. In order to find the light within you, you must embrace the changes that come with the darkness. Embrace and love all parts of who you are as you are moving towards your fated path. I believe this quote is asking us to walk with the shadows that are curling along your winding garden path. Don’t fear the shadows, allow the shadows to help you explore and embrace the person you are fated to become.
A Ritual For Integrating The Shadows On Your Path
What You Will Need:
- A candle (white for clarity or black for protection and integration of shadow)
- A small bowl of water (represents emotional flow)
- A crystal (obsidian, amethyst or clear quartz)
- Pen and Paper
Steps For Integration:
- Set Your Space - Find a quiet place with no distractions. Sit where there is a path, trees, or shadows. Light your candle.
- Ground Yourself - Close your eyes, breathe in and out deeply three times until you feel connected. Imagine standing on your winding garden path and feeling the earth beneath your feet.
- Welcoming The Shadows By Whispering - “I welcome the parts of myself that are hidden in the shadows. I am safe. I am whole. I am ready to see what they want to teach me.”
- Visualize - Imagine the shadows curling alongside you on the path. Imagine them moving with you not blocking you. Notice how they shift. Ask from within: “What do you need me to know? Allow words, images, or emotions to rise.
- Write It Down - On paper, write down what came through to you. Fears, insights, or symbols. If things seem random, trust it.
- Seal The Lesson - Hold your crystal in your hands. Imagine it absorbing the wisdom from the shadows, grounding safely. Place the crystal next to your candle.
- Release & Bless - Dip your fingers into the small bowl of water and sprinkle a few drops around you and say, “Light and shadow walk with me. I honor you both as part of my path.”
- Closing - Thank your shadows for showing themselves to you. Blow out your candle. Keep the paper in a journal or burn it safely if you want to release the energy.
Remember: This ritual doesn’t banish the shadows. It integrates the shadows and is a reminder to you that they are an ally within your growth, not your enemy.
By Candlelight,
HN Staples
