SAMHAIN - HALLOWS - October 31st
Samhain is the most sacred and high holiday of all the festivals of all rituals. Samhain combines a number of elements: the agricultural harvest, the wild harvest, the transition of the fall foliage season into the onset of winter weather and the commemoration of The Day of the Dead. It is a time for remembering our ancestors and our departed loved ones, and a solemn time should be set aside for contemplating the mystery of Life and Death as taught by the ancient ways. Samhain is a time of introspection, of emptying the false from the mind, heart, and soul. It is a time to heal the source of our deepest wounds....and those we have inflected on others around us.....before time fails us. It is a time when we can learn to see clearly. The true victory of the self is in the Cauldron. Now we must look at the nature of our motives and at the results of our actions. Samhain is a time to communicate and hear the other side, a time of death, thinking of ancestors and what we are because of them. It is a time of letting go, a time when the veil is the thinnest between the worlds. We can penetrate the veil and get messages from people who have gone on before us to help us in this life. It is a time when we look at death hopefully trying to find meaning in that.
An eerie time, full of power, partaking of both the first and the second half of the year, yet belonging to neither. It is akin to dawn and twilight. Samhain was probably originally celebrated on the full moon closest to the now customary date of October 31. The full moon lends its light to the returning spirits who traditionally revisit the scenes of their lives. Samhain, signifying awakening, letting go, when the seed falls to the earth from the mother plant. It is the CRACK OF TIME, the boundary-point between the worlds, a time belonging neither to the old or quite yet to the new. Any ending is also a beginning of a new phase and at this time, memories and thoughts of the past mingle with hopes and fears for the future. It is a spiritual cleansing of those aspects of our life which we have grown out of or no longer need. It is a time for divination and looking into the future and a link with the dead. We have come to a place of rest and reward, all our labors and harvest complete for the time being. This is a time of Thanks-Giving for all that you have accomplished, been gifted with, brought to completion so far this year. Keep a votive candle lit all through this month as a symbol of the eternal blessings of the Goddess in your life.
Hecate, and none but She, is Queen of all living things .It is through Her that all things live or die. She is the laughing maiden, the living mother, and the black hag of death. She is the three and the one. She smiles and the radiance of the moon, whether it be full or dark, is everywhere for there is no power like Her power and no living thing can withstand Her power. For She is anticipation. She is the fulfillment. She is all death. Hear her words, children, worship and be glad for if you seek Her, She is with you always. She was with you in the beginning and shall be with you at the end.
Candle Colors: Black and orange.
Incense: Cloves, myrrh, sandalwood, camphor, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, gum mastic (oil), acacia, copal. Using equal parts, make incense to be burned on charcoals.
Gemstones: All black gemstones, especially jet, obsidian and onyx.