10.31.2012 | Wednesday

Samhain Blessings!

category: Holidayze
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reading time: 2 minutes

My Samhain altar
(Click for a larger view in a new window.)

Blessed Samhain to all!

Samhain (pronounced "sow-in") is an important Sabbat in the Wheel of the Year.  Many celebrate it as the Celtic New Year, as I do.  It is a day that also represents the end of the harvest and the beginning of the dark time of the year, winter.  It is a holiday meant to honor, remember, and celebrate the lives of those loved ones that have passed.  Contrary to popular belief, Samhain is not about raising the dead or the sinister.  It is simply about remembering those you have loved that are no longer here.  Death is a part of the wheel of life, something that is as natural and as important as birth.  With the New Year aspect of it, Samhain is also about the passing of all kinds of life changes.  Relationships, friendships, jobs, homes, etc.  It is a time to reflect on the past, learn from it, and to move forward into the future.

The picture above is from my mini-altar in my Lady Lair.  Fall flowers and a piece of sunbleached wood from an Arizona tree my little guy found in my backyard are my earth and body. Spicy incense is my air and breath.  A pretty orange candle is my fire and spiri.  A tiny cauldron of water and a shell from Myrtle Beach are my water and blood.  My grandparents are in a place of honor, too.  I have my witchy print that my son Donovan got me in Salem last year, along with three Samhain-themed oracle cards from the Oracles of Shadows & Light Deck.  And my ever-present chunk of amethyst.  

Some fabulous links…

A fabby article about Samhain by BBC is here.  Lisa from The HomeSpun Life wrote a couple of fabulous articles about the holiday.  She is a Christian woman who decided to embark on a bit of a mission of discovery and the blogs she wrote are pretty amazing.  I suggest reading this post first, a bit of background as to why she chose to do this.  Then read this post about the holiday and its meaning.  This next post talks about the meaning of All Saint's Day, tomorrow.  And this final post talks about incoporating some of the Samhain tradition into your own practices.

A beautiful Samhain poem

This poem is by the wonderful Sally Dubats, used with permission.

All Hallows Eve

 By Sally Dubats
 
Welcome ye now
to All Hallows Eve
Open the door
To webs we weave.
 
Midpoint between
Mabon and Yule
See the unseen
When nature is dual
 
Love and Light,
To Friends who’ve passed,
Taking our flight
Together at last.
 
The Veil is thin
Between our Worlds
You’ll hear the din
As belief unfurls
 
 
Apples and Candy
Bobbing and fun
Celebrate, Yes!
But when feasting is done…
 
 
Settle ye spirits
On this Sacred night,
Time to hear
Our stories of plight
 
We remember now
Those we’ve lost
And our heads do bow
At the great cost
 
Fathers and Mothers,
Sisters and Brothers,
Friends and Lovers,
Cousins and Others.
 
So candles burn
To honor those passed
And show the way
To Summerland’s rest.
 
The Veil will lower,
This we know
But cherish the hour
And don’t be low.
 
In a year and a day
Bless’ed candles we’ll burn
An’ next All Hallows Eve
Departed Spirits Return
 

You can listen to Sally read this poem here.

Have a Blessed Samhain!

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