Samhain

This is the sabbat for honoring and remembering the deceased.  We get out our pictures of loved ones who have passed on and our candles and we do a ritual for them, and just for them.
Blessed Be

Preperation:
You'll need an apple, a pomegranate, a pot of earth containing 3 seeds of lavender.
Strew the sacred space with fall leaves, and mark the quarters with differently carved pumpkins that each bear an unlit candle.

Altar:
If you use altar cloths, black is appropriate, or red.  The pomegranate, apple and pot of earth need to be on the altar if possible.  Otherwise leave around the base of the table.  Add any other suitable autumn decorations.

Invocation:
Begin in the south and end in the west going counterclockwise to mark the time of death.  The candles in the pumkins are lit by the person reciting the quarter invocation.
South:
The moon is bright, the crone is old
The body lifeless, the bones so cold
We all live and pay our dues
To die in ones, and threes, and twos.

East:
Death, dance and play the harp,
Piercing silence in the dark.
The womans old with withered limbs
Death beckons her to dance with him.

North:
As she accepts the dance of death
The earth is cooled by ghostly breath
To lie in  dormancy once more
To have her strength and life restored.

West:
All ye spirits who walk the night
Hearken, hearken to my call
I bid you in our circle join
Enter enter one and all
Speak to us of things unknown
Lend your energies to this rite
To speed your journey we have joined
On this sacred samhain night.

Center:
O mighty pan of the summerlands
Guardian of the beloved dead
We pour forth love on those you keep safely
In your peaceful stead
We bless those who have walked the path
That someday we as well shall rove
We offer peace unto their souls
While resting in your arms below

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