Samhain Traditions, Symbols, and Rituals
Design your own ritual to welcome the triple Goddess in her crone stage, the Old God dies, summer becomes winter, day becomes night, and the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed. In this time the dead (and your ancestors) are honored. In most places it marks the end of the harvest season, and is the time for apple-picking. There have been widespread folk traditions that the harvest must be completed by Samhain; any grain left in the fields at that time was abandoned, because the spirits abroad on Samhain would render it unfit for human consumption.Think of your directions, questions and needs and focus on them.
A traditional Vernal equinox pastime: It is a time for divination as the curtain between the other world and ours is at it's thinnest. Do divinations for the next year using tarot, a crystal ball, pendulum, runes, Ouija boards, a black cauldron filled with black ink or water, or a magick mirror. It is customary to set an extra place at your supper table on Samhain in honor of the departed.
Other traditional activities include past-life recall, Meditation, drying winter herbs.
Foods in tune with this day (linking your meals with the seasons is a fine method of attuning with nature) include apples, squash, pumpkin pie, pumlkin seeds, hazelnuts, acorns or other nuts, Soul Cakes, corn, cranberry muffins or breads, ale, cider and herbal teas. Meat dishes are appropriate, as this was considered the meat harvest. Season these dishes with rosemary. Drink apple cider spiced with cinnamon to honor the dead. Bury an apple or pomegranate in the garden as food for spirits passing by on their way to being reborn.
Candles are orange and black.
Incenses to be used alone or in combinations include myrhh, patchouly, apple, clove, frankinscence, heliotrope, lilac, sage, nutmeg, or yarrow.
Plants and herbs are acorns, allspice, apples, broom, callendula, catnip, deadly nightshade, dittany, ferns, flax, heather, garlic, gourds, mandrake, mugwort, mullein, oak leaves, rosemary, rue, sage and straw.
Stones to use include clear quartz, smaky quartz, ruby, garnet, carnelian, hematite, black gemstones: jet; obsedian; onyx.
Animals and mythical beasts for this time of year are bats, cats, dogs, goblins, phooka, medusa, harpies.
Altars can be decorated with jack-o-lanterns, gourds, autumn flowers, apples, candles in shapes of witches, ghosts, black cats, skulls, etc., photographs of deceased loved ones, tools of divination, a statue or figure representing the Triple Goddess in the Crone aspect.
Goddesses honored at this time concern crone goddesses and underworld goddesses. Bast, Cerridwen, Crobh Dearg, Edda, Eris, Frigga, Hecate, Innana, Kali, Morrigan, Psyche, Rhiannon.
Gods honored at this time include Death gods, underworld gods and aged gods. Dis, Hades, Heimdall, Loki, odin, Pluto, Sekhet.
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Samhain Altar Decorations
Carve the pumpkins as you would any other pumpkin, except carve the element symbols (to find some examples, see Scott Cunningham's book Wicca: a Guide for the solitary practitioner or Silver RavenWolf's To Stir a Magick Cauldron.) If you choose to use the ribbons, tie them around the pumpkins' stems that correspond to the element the color represents (Earth: green, Air: yellow, Fire: red, Water: blue.)
Place the pumpkins where they belong in the circle (earth: north, air: east, fire: south, water: west.) Proceed to cast your magick circle and call your quarters. Enjoy!
Miyu
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