Samhain Information
Samhain Goddesses - Cerridwen, Eris, Bast, Cailleach, Cassandra,
Fortuna, Frigga, Innana, Kali, Macha, Mari, Psyche, Hecate, Ishtar,
Lilith, The Morrigan, Rhiannon.
Samhain Gods - Hades, Horned God, Loki, Pluto, Woden, Kronos, Odin,
Sekhet.
Samhain - From the Sabbats booklet by Obsidian Star*
Samhain celebrates the eve of the Celtic New Year. It is also known as
the
"Festival of the Dead", because Samhain is a time to honor the Spirit
world. This is a time to reflect the cycle of Life and Death. Samhain is
the festival of the final harvest and marks the beginning of Winter (by
traditional reckoning). It was believed that any foods left uncut in the
fields after Samhain would be taken by the Phookas (nasty hob-goblins).
Samhain is Gaelic and means "Summer's End". In ancient times the day
began at sunset, which is why many Pagan festivals start on the last day
of a month - as they would begin the celebration at sunset. As the
darkness symbolized a beginning rather than an ending, the darkness in
Pagan festivals and traditions is usually thought to be a beginning
also. At Samhain the veil between the spirit realm and the realm of man
is at its weakest, and it is a good time for all sorts of magic,
divination, and inner workings. It is customary to leave a plate of food
outside your house for the souls of the dead as they journey to the
underworld, or to bury
an apple as a symbolic gesture to feed the souls who are traveling to
the underworld. It is also customary to light a candle/lantern and place
it in a window to help guide the Souls of the dead in their journey.
Some typical Samhain activities are bobbing for apples, scrying, making
masks,
visiting graves and making Jack-o-lanterns. Bobbing for apples is
actually a
prosperity/fertility custom. If you catch one it was believed that a
soul of your soul would enter the apple, and you could either eat it for
prosperity, or bury it to give continued bounty to the fields over the
winter. Mask making was possibly done to frighten off evil spirits, or
as a form of sympathetic magick to aid the traveling souls.
Jack-o-Lanterns were first made in Ireland, where they were used while
traveling to frighten off evil spirits that followed the deceased loved
ones, blocking their entry into the land of the dead. It is a time for
remembering those who have passed over. Some Pagans consider Samhain to
be the most sacred of all Sabbats.
Other names: Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, The Feast of the Dead.
Plants for Samhain: Chrysanthemum, Wormwood, Apples, Pears, Hazel,
Thistle,
Pomegranates, All grains, Harvested fruits and Nuts, Pumpkin, Corn,
Marigold.
Foods for Samhain: Beets, Turnip, Apples, Squash, Corn, Nuts, Cider,
Gingerbread, Mulled wine, Pumpkin dishes, Meat dishes, Pomegranates.
Stones: Ruby.
Colors: Red, black, orange.
Planet: Mars.
Zodiac: Scorpio.
Pagan Beliefs: Time to say Farewell to the God. God is now Lord of the
Underworld, the Goddess is a crone.
* Sabbats booklet available from www.obsidianstar.net. This booklet is
copyright obsidian, but this information can be forwarded to other lists
as long as these lines are included. |
October Magick
October Magick
Magick doesn't happen just with spells and rituals. It's the activities and events that allow for fun and memories, or that help others. Here are some suggestions on how to make October Magick...
Donate blood (think of Dracula)
Finish any incomplete projects and pay off lingering bills (if possible) to close out the old year and begin the new year afresh.
Go for a walk and collect twigs, leaves, pinecones, moss, seedpods, and feathers.
Leave food out for the birds and other wild animals.
Light candles, a fireplace or bonfire, put up Halloween lights to get a start on the season of light
If you don't have a wicker man left from Beltane, make one from dried grass or grains of some kind. Burn it in your Sabbat fire. If you don't have a fireplace or firepit, burn him in your cauldron, barbeque grill or hibachi.
Make a Scarecrow
Tell ancestral stories and tales around the fire, or at the dinner table.
Visit cemeteries to do a clean up project, visit ancestors, or just immerse yourself in the history
Have a mask-making ceremony in which you create masks to represent your ancestry.
Rake some leaves and jump in the leaves (especially fun if there is a child around to do this with you)
Decorate your computer with Halloween, Samhain or Autumn wallpaper or screensaver
Make a quilt, crochet an afghan or braid a rug using Autumn colors
Make a music tape of Halloween or Autumn inspired music and songs
Go for a drive strictly for the purpose of foliage gazing
Have a wine tasting party
Learn to weave (think of grandmother spider)
Plant trees (Japanese maple is a great Autumn tree) and flower bulbs
Pick apples from an apple tree and make a home-made pie or cobbler from scratch
Make a big pot of soup
Collect pictures of past Halloween's or Autumn activities and make a scrapbook; add pressed leaves, poems and sayings, seasonal sketches
Gather firewood
Samhain is the best time for divination; learn tarot, runes, using the pendulum, scrying
Start to knit a warm sweater
Visit a charity haunted house
Take a late night walk under the full moon
Make a batch of popcorn and hot spiced cider and watch Halloween movie videos
Gather up and press leaves of red, gold, and yellow
Set up an ancestor altar, with candles and your ancestor's pictures
Buy orange pumpkins and red, green and yellow apples
Easy decorations: a cauldron of apples, a candy dish of candy corn, chains made of black and white beads or paper loops, pumpkins.. carved or not
Make foods of fall; beef stew with thick gravy, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream and cinnamon sauce, pumpkin pie with whipped cream.... macaroni and cheese (it's orange!)
Make a Halloween tree; paint branches black and gather into a vase with black stones for anchors. Add orange Halloween lights, drape with dried moss and thin black ribbons. Even add ornaments!
Start a nature sketchbook. With the wonderful colors of fall, this is the perfect time to record the leaves changing colors, bare branches against a stormy sky, squirrels stocking up for winter...
Go on a hayride
Bake sugar cookies and cut out with Autumn-shaped cookie cutters. Frost with chocolate, maple and orange flavored frostings
Make or buy onion braids
Buy lots of orange, yellow, brown and gold candles to brighten up dark days and evenings
Make witch balls (clear glass ornament, swirl around silver paint inside, fill with red threads and herbs)
Collect pinecones for decorations and firestarters
Leave food outside as an offering to the dead
Make hot chocolate, French toast and bacon for Sunday Breakfast
Adopt a black cat (or orange or any color)
Watch for ducks and geese flying south for the winter
The most traditional Samhain activity is to prepare an extra plate at the dinner table to honor those passed. After the meal, place the plate outside overnight for any passing creatures. In the morning, bury whatever remains on the plate in the earth.
Buy some new fall clothes; corduroy pants or green denim jeans; a sweater or a college sweatshirt, a suede jacket, new hiking boots
Wear a costume to greet trick or treaters on Halloween night or accompany trick or treaters
Try a new shade of hair color; such as auburn or dark burgundy (red is the color of witch's hair)
Make homemade applesauce, apple dumplings, apple turnovers..
Make popcorn balls
Have a costume party; for kids only, for adults only, or families
Buy pumpkins and carve jack-o-lanterns
Bob for apples, do apple divination, cut an apple cross-wise to see the star that the seeds make. nature's own pentagram
Make caramel apples
Do a Past-life Regression therapy
Start to meditate if you don't already do this
Harvest and dry herbs
Celebrate a late Oktoberfest with beer and German food
Make and/or collect miniature buildings for a miniature Halloween village
Written and Compiled by Cindi Wafstet
© August 2002
Permission to share freely as long as credit is given.
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