Samhain Review

Ok, so I've been too busy to blog. Is there a word for that?
I've been deeply entrenched in a production of an amazing play called "Kindertransport" If you don't know what that is, I suggest researching it.
Anyway the show closes today and the next thing I will be doing is Samhain.
So from Actress to witch, as is my life...

This year Samhain is going to be raw for me. I will NOT be doing any public rituals even thought the pull to do them (and ignore my own) is very strong. This is something I have to struggle with as, on one hand it is my responsibility as a Priestess to facilitate, but on the other hand I must care for myself first or I am of no use to others.
I know, "what the hell are you talking about, Rose?"

Let me explain, below is last year's homily and ritual that I gave/did at my UU church. It should give you an idea of what I'm taking about. Once you've read it, you can imagine the amount of energy it takes to bring 50+ people through a ritual like this (then take their stones to the ocean to release them)
I can't do it this year.



"This is the first time I’ve been called on as a witch and priestess to publicly celebrate Samhain. I will do my best.

Let me start by telling you what it is we do at my house.
We decorate the table with pictures and mementos of our ancestors as well as the last veggies from our garden. We set a place at the dinner table for them to feast with us. We even give them a piece of candy.

But it’s my husband, who really goes for it.
First of all takes the day off, there is a lot of preparation. He LOVES Halloween.
He begins communing with the pumpkins days in advance to “find their faces"; he and the kids repeatedly watch The Great Pumpkin while I roast the pumpkin seeds.
He goes all out with multiple Jack o lanterns, black lights, spiders, candles and fog machine (I’m not kidding, it’s industrial sized this year) for the pleasure and fear of our trick or treaters .

What does any of that have to do with Samhain?

Actually quite a bit.
By doing all of that he has created a place where people truly feel otherworldly when the tread our steps.
They feel fear and have to summon the courage to strive through that fear to get their reward.

That is the journey of Samhain.

Let me explain.

First a quick history of Samhain and how it has shaped the way it is observed today

First off, the word Samhain. Simply put it means “Summer’s End”. The Ancient Celtic year had 2 seasons Summer and Winter. The Year ended at Samhain

Early pagan life depended on a good harvest by summer’s end: they must have all they need filling there larders and root cellars and barns to ensure they and their livestock would survive the winter. There were no markets to run out to for bread or milk, you needed the wheat thrashed and stored safe and dry or there was no bread. It was a time to literally take stock.

Samhain is the final of the 3 Harvest Sabbats of the Pagan/Wiccan calender. The 1st two being Aug 1 called Lugnasadh, and the second on the Autumnal Equinox called Mabon.
Samhain is the last. It is the deadline. Whatever was left unharvested was plowed under to feed next year’s soil and eventual harvest.
At Samhain the seeds must be chosen and stored. Animals culled, some for food and some to propagate for the nest year. Choices were made that our ancestor’s very lives depended on.

Things are a little easier for us now. But we still feel the urge to wrap things up at this time of year. We pack up our summer clothes and pull out the winter ones. We bring in our houseplants from their summer's outside. We clean up the yard and stack our wood for the fires. We still feel the pull to sleep a bit more, eat a bit more and curl up with a book on long cold nights.
I truly believe this is instinctual, the shorter days tells the animals and plants to prepare for the winter, of course we do too, it is in our DNA.


Modern Wiccans and Pagans also see this as a time to think on the past year, all the projects you have sewn and cultivated. All the friendships, arguments, losses and gains you have accumulated over the year.

Is there something you no longer need? Something you wish to banish from your life forever? Samhain is the time for such harvests and banishments.
It is the time to cull what no longer serves you.
Samhain gives us the one time we can truly look Death in the eye. When we can embrace it as the wise Crone who will be fair but stern and help us to look at ourselves and that which we need and that which we do not.

And who better to ask to assist us in this spiritual harvest then our own wise ones who have gone before us?

At this time of seasonal transition,
The veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. We can speak with our beloved dead. We honor them with feasts. We ask for their guidance in our harvest.

This is not an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of courage to remember our dead. It makes us feel sad and lonely, but our memories make us smile as well.
It takes courage to take a look at ourselves and let go of old habits, old patterns of behavior that no longer serve us. These are hard choices.

But the treat!
When we remember our dead we also remember our love for them.
When we let go of that which we no longer need, we make room for new adventures to take shape, new ideas to grow.

The trick is having to face our fear of change. Our fear of the unknown. And the biggest fear, what if we get nothing, what if there is no candy? There’s only one way to find out. Tread the steps, face the witch at the door with the cauldron and look inside.

Think about the things you want to bring into the cold dark time with you. The blessings of those who have gone before, a positive outlook, what will serve you in the coming time when we a re close to one another by the fire. Do we bring anger and bitterness and fear into our stores? Or do we bring happiness, release and courage into our larder.

Today we will do just that.

Here is how it goes.

Each of you was given a rock when you came in. I encourage each of you to take that rock and think on what you would like to get rid of. What no longer serves you? And when you are ready please come up and drop it in the bowl of salt and water. This is your release.
Then light a candle as a beacon for your ancestors, honor them and listen."