| Samhain |
| Samhain is by far, my favorite of all of the Sabbats. Celebrated on October 31st, this is also known as Halloween, November Eve, the Third Harvest, and the Feast of the Dead. Samhain is the Irish Gaelic name for the month of November and is thought to me summer's end. Samhain is sacred ot the Crone Goddess and the Horned God as the Lord of Death. To the anceint Celts, it was the time when the fattened summer cattle were brought in for claughter and the meat preserved for the upcoming year. Only the breeding stock were left alive. Samhain is the "New Year's Eve" for the Celts. Many Wiccans view Samhain as the end of one year, but reserve Yule for celbrating the New Year. Samhain is a very ancient holy day. It is opposite Beltaine on the Wheel of the Year and these festivals of life and death are the oldest and most sacred of the Great Sabbats. It is on this night that the veil between the worlds is its thinnest. according to lore, the spirits of the departed return to this plane to be with their loved ones among the living. In some places, people set places at their dinner tables for their departed loved ones. This rite is called the "Dumb Supper" (in the sense of mute or silent) This is the perfect time to communicate with the dead and to perform divination such as scrying, tarot, I-Ching, pyromancy, etc. This occasion was not generally seen as frightening until th epopular view of death and the dead changed from respect into fear. The ROman Church tried to change the meaning of the event by renaming it "All Saints Day" to recongnize otherwise unknown Christian martyrs. The connection with death and rebirth is still there in children's activities of Halloween. Though much of the focus of Samhain is on death, this also a time for feasting, drinking and the defiant affirmation of life and fertility. Here are some ways that you can celebrate Samhain: ---Do some public education. Talk to the media, merchants who sell ugly witch costumes, and community groups that run haunted houses for children. As Always, simply be polite and informative. ---Wear black clothing and jewelry, and decorate your altar and shrine and temple in black ---Make masks that represent the different aspects of the God and Goddess and wear them to ritual, then you can use them to decorate your temple. ---Carve a jack-o-lantern, then hold it on your head and proceed to your ritual site. This is in remembrance of the Burning Times. In those times, Witches could frighten away superstitious people and get safely to the Sabbat meeting places by carrying the jack-o-lanterns. ---Toll "Lost in the Dark" bells ---Pay your debts and squash your quarrels --- Symbolically extinguish the hearthfire of your home, and relight it from the Samhain sabbat fire ---Meditate on what you have accomplished in the season of growth just past; accept it, and release tha which is finished and harvested ---Visit your Coven or personal Astral Temple. Center yourself and prepare for a quite time of rest, reflection, and evaluation over the next few weeks ---Perform important divination by scrying in a dark mirror or using the tarot, runes or flames. ---Place an apple and a pomegranate on the altar. Slice the apple horizontally to show the star of seeds, saying "This is the fruit of life, which is death." Slice the pomegranate and display the seeds, saying "This is fruit of death, which is life." ---In your ritual, place family memorabilia on the altar and invite the spirits of the dead to come and visit ---Visit a cemetay and meditate on your ancestors and erlations buried there. If you have no relatives buried close by, choose an isolated grave and try to visualize that person's life. Leave an offering of thanks to the departed soul ---If you have unresolved business with someone that has passed on, communicate with them and resolve the issue ---Write or update your living will and put instructions in it for your Wiccan funeral or memorial service ---Perform the symbolic Great Rite as an affirmation of life in the approaching season of darkness ---Drink a toast to the Crone and the Lord of Death and Rebirth |
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