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Weekly PathWalkers.Net e-Newsletter #104 :: PathWalkers.Net Interactive :: Helping you along your path
the Otherworld and its inhabitants. And if you are one of them, may all your jack-o'lanterns burn bright
on this All Hallow's Eve.
- by Mike Nichols
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Samhain is the night when the Old King dies, and the Crone Goddess mourns him greatly during the
next six weeks. The sun is at its lowest point on the horizon as measured by the ancient standing stones
of Britain and Ireland, the reason the Celts chose this sabbat rather than Yule as their new year. To the
ancient Celts, this holiday divided the year into two seasons, Winter and Summer. Samhain is the day
on which the Celtic New Year and winter begin together, so it is a time for both beginnings and
endings. It is the last of the three harvest festivals, the harvest of meat.
On this day, the veil between the worlds are thinner. The doors of the sidhe -mounds are open, and
neither human nor faery need any magickal passwords to come and go. Our ancestors, the blessed dead,
are more accessible, more approachable during the time of the dying of the land. Samhain is a day to
commune with the dead and a celebration of the eternal cycle of reincarnation.
Rosemary (for remembrance of our ancestors), Mullein seeds (a projection for abundance), rue,
calendula, sunflower petals and seeds, pumpkin seeds, turnip seeds, apple leaf, sage, mushrooms, wild
ginseng, wormwood, tarragon, bay leaf, almond, hazelnut, passionflower, pine needles, nettle, garlic,
hemlock cones, mandrake root
At Samhain, witches once gave one another acorns as gifts. During the Burning Times, giving someone
an acorn was a secret means of telling that person you were a witch. Acorns are fruits of the oak, one of
the most sacred trees to the ancient Celts. They are symbols of protection, fertility, growth, values, and
friendship.
Black obsidian, smoky quartz, jet, amber, pyrite, garnet, granite, clear quartz, marble, sandstone, gold,
diamond, iron, steel, ruby, hematite, brass
At Samhain, witches cast spells to keep anything negative from the past -- evil, harm, corruption, greed
-- out of the future. Cast spells to psychically contact our deceased forebears and retrieve ancient
knowledge, thus preserving the great Web that stretches through many generations of human families.
-- Laurie Cabot, Celebrate the Earth
Make resolutions, write them on a small piece of parchment, and burn in a candle flame, preferably a
black votive candle within a cauldron on the altar.
Wear costumes that reflect what we hope or wish for in the upcoming year.
Carve a jack-o-lantern.
Make a spirit candle. This is a white candle anointed with patchouli oil. As you place it inside the
jack-o-lantern, say:
With this candle and by its light
I welcome you spirits on Samhain night.
Enjoy the trick or treating of the season.
Drink apple cider warmed and 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.
Do divinations for the next year.
Set out a mute supper.
Make a mask of your shadow self.
Make a besom, or witches broom.
Make a witches cord as an expression of what you hope to manifest in the year ahead.
http://www.pathwalkers.net/interactive/modules.p...file=article&sid=417&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 (7 of 15) [12/25/2005 12:12:42 AM]