Sahmain 1999 Newsletter Samhain |
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Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-een’ or ‘sow-in’) occurs for the Southern Hemisphere on the 30th April, or the 1st May depending on tradition. Some people in the south choose to celebrate Samhain on its Northern Hemisphere date of 31st October. Samhain is also known as Halloween. Samhain literally means ‘summer’s end’, or ‘November’.
We are now entering the dark half of the year. The sun is descending for His Winter rest, and we stand facing the Crone until the Maiden is reborn at the Spring Equinox in September. This time of year marks a turning inward of our energy, it is a time of introspection.
This time of year traditionally signalled the time when livestock was brought in from the pastures to protect them from the winter snows and frosts. Some of the family or community livestock would also be killed to ensure food supplies remain high during the long dark months.
It is often said that on Samhain the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. This also occurs at Beltane. The dead are invited to return to feast with their loved ones, and it is a time to remember those who have passed from this world. A place is set at the table, and a ‘dumb supper’ is provided to offer sustenance and comfort to those who join us on this night. The food also gives nourishment to those who are wandering between the worlds, waiting for their time to be reborn, or their time to rest. Many people also leave a comfy chair out, so that ancestors can rest their weary selves before travelling further.
A traditional activity is to place photos of loved ones on the altar and to pay tribute to them in ritual. Some people leave a candle burning all night in a window (or some such safe spot as to not catch fire) to help guide the souls who are looking for rest.
Because the veil between the worlds is thin, Samhain is considered to be the best time of year for practicing forms of divination. Tarot cards may be read along with other oracles. Meditation can be done by focussing on the Wheel of Fortune tarot card, seeing what you can learn about the cyclical nature of life and of fortune.
Samhain marks the beginning of the new year, it is a time to take stock of what you have achieved, and what you need to say goodbye to before the new year turns on. It is a time to make some ‘new year resolutions’ for the coming cycle on the wheel. It is a time to reflect on our own mortality, and to confront our fears and attitude towards death and dying.
The Jack-O-Lantern is a familiar sight at Halloween. Traditionally these were carved out of turnips! As old legend says that the candle flames that flicker on Samhain night are being touched by the spirits of dead ancestors.
Samhain Goddesses include the Crone Goddesses, such as: Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Macha, Mari, Psyche, Ishtar, Lilith, Morrigan, Rhiannon and Cerridwen.
The Death Of The Bird
by A. D. HopeFor every bird there is this last migration;
Once more the cooling year kindles her heart;
With a warm passage to the summer station
Love pricks the course in lights across the chart.
Year after year a speck on the map, divided
By a whole hemisphere, summons her to come;
Season after season, sure and safely guided,
Going away she is also coming home.
And being home, memory becomes a passion
With which she feeds her brood and straws her nest.
Aware of ghosts that haunt the heart's possession
And exiled love mourning within the breast.
The sands are green with a mirage of valleys;
The palm-tree casts a shadow not its own;
Down the long architrave of temple or palace
Blows a cool air from moorland scarps of stone.
And day by day the whisper of love grows stronger;
That delicate voice, more urgent with despair,
Custom and fear constraining her no longer,
Drives her at last on the waste leagues of air.
A vanishing speck in those inane dominions,
Single and frail, uncertain of her place,
Alone in the bright host of her companions,
Lost in the blue unfriendliness of space.
She feels it close now, the appointed season:
The invisible thread is broken as she flies;
Suddenly, without warning, without reason,
The guiding spark of instinct winks and dies.
Try as she will, the trackless world delivers
No way, the wilderness of light no sign,
The immense and complex map of hills and rivers
Mocks her small wisdom with its vast design.
The darkness rises from the eastern valleys,
And the winds buffet her with their hungry breath,
And the great earth, with neither grief nor malice,
Receives the tiny burden of her death.
