Some Serious Samhain

A SAMHAIN BLESSING

May the ancestors deliver blessings on you and yours...

May the new year bear great fruits for you...

May your granted wishes be as many as the seeds in a pomegranate...

May the slide into darkness bring you light...

May the memories of what has been keep you strong for what is to be...

May this Samhain cleanse your heart, your soul, and your mind!

Technically the feast of Samhain, better known in popular culture as Halloween, is the most important of the eight festivals of the Pagan year.  For me, it's not even an academic matter.  Come October, I start feeling it, I sense the coming of this end of summer rite.  Samhain is a time for reflection upon mortality, a time to let our ancestors know that their legacy lives on in us.  It's both very serious and very meaningful business for me.

This year we celebrated in grand Celtic tradition, with choice meats and apple cider and pomegranates and everything else tying us to Those Gone On.  We moved closer to eternity as the veil between the worlds finally reached its thinnest point.

"Samhain" is the Irish Gaelic word for November; technically what we are observing is Oiche Shamna or November Eve. Samhain is many things, and most of them link back somehow to change and rebirth. The ancient Celts regarded Samhain as the final harvest as well as the beginning of a new year. Many cautionary tales were spread warning people never to try and harvest anything after Samhain, as this now properly belonged to the war and death goddesses of Macha and the Morrigan.

The scary part of Halloween probably evolved from the tradition of the Veil between worlds being at its thinnest, or to put it another way, mortal humanity coming face to face with death and the dead. What better way to cope with what is perhaps mankind's greatest fear than to incorporate it into a celebration. This is never done to mock what is beyond the Veil but rather to accept it and honor it as part of the natural cycle.

The Blackbird

No matter how I've tried to shake him off, he still comes after me with the ferocity of a hunting carnivore--not the cunning of a carrion feeder. I close my eyes and I see the black bird, the same black bird who has been with me for all of this life and perhaps in other lives as well. For some reason I wanted to shake the bird but he's only come back thirteen times as powerful.

I realize now that I cannot run from my heritage--from the blood of my ancestors which now flows through me--and that the black bird, the Great Raven, will always seek me out no matter where I am.

My question to myself now is do I want to embrace him as forcefully as I have done before, do I want to have done with him and pursue my new existence, or can I possibly keep the Great Raven in my heart and continue to move forward?

I will ponder with care.


Through The Veil

The Veil floats before me, just as it has always done and as I expect it will continue to do. It’s no mystery yet it remains always an enigma, a puzzle to be explored and understood. What can I do but drift towards the Veil, moving without will and pulled without resistance.

There it is, the Veil, and I feel the icy tendrils of Death pierce my flesh and seize my soul. But there is not a touch of fear or of doubt, for I have come into this embrace before. I have experienced death as a revolving door, an unending portal to rebirth and renewal. Living weight drops from me, hesitant as if threatening to escape me completely and leave me beyond the Veil. The pain resounds in me so hot and fierce that it is not what I could normally call pain at all.

And then in an instant, when all seems to have fallen away to leave me for dead, the living energy comes rushing in like a frozen mountain’s stream taking new heart in a Spring thaw. I am reborn and renamed, enabled by a new knowledge and a new strength.

Such I am as I pass back through the Veil into the world like an infant sage, ready to embrace the universe again.

Raven Standingstone Having Fun At AllExperts

I volunteer in the Pagan/Wiccan Religion category of AllExperts.  Here I would like to share the questions I receive and the answers I offer with you.

How long did it take you before you felt confident in how you do your spells?

How long did it take you to actually believe in your spells?

How long did it take you to believe that your spells were actually working?

How long did it take you to NOT care if some other practicing witch/warlock told you that they dont think you should do your spells the way you do?

Actually I never tried any spells until I was confident in their power and their result.

Again, I never tried any spells until my belief was solid.

I saw results of my first spell within a few days, and I had no doubt it was working.

Listen, I NEVER cared, and neither should you. Casting spells is an individual art. Only you can determine what works for you. People who criticize you are saying more about their own feeling of inadequacy and less about your methods.


i was laying by a man whom i do not know but in the dream i did feel a great deal of lov 4 him we held hands but never kissed he got up put money in a red & black pouch he hid the pocuh but told me where it was he said the money is 4 his son he left some time later a girl was crying the man that i had layed with had just drown in the river i didnt go to the river but got the pouch & put it in a blue truck the same blue truck i wrecked 7 yrs ago but i never gav the son the money i never even saw the son then i woke up but what i do not understand is i was so very happy im a pisces a married one at that my numerology is 6-6-8 i would not feel happy about a dead lov one or stealing his money please help

The brain remains one of the greatest mysteries, and trying to make sense out of what our brains show us in the dream is even more mysterious.

In this case, don't allow your activities while dreaming to accurately reflect anything going on in your conscious mind. Dreams are not literal. Don't exhaust yourself trying to find literal meaning.



I recently took the liberty to purchase the book I've seen another 'Expert' on this site recommend to other posters byScott Cunningham called 'Wicca A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner'. I would've purchased the other 2 that she usually recommends w/ it but I could only purchase them over the net. Since I still live w/ my mother and she's a Christian, I would rather not have those books delivered to my house. Well, I've been taking my time to read this book, but I've heard from a close friend of mine that a person needs to actually meet/know a "Witch" and be taken under their wing in order to learn, practice, and ultimately become Wiccan. Becoming 'Wiccan' is not my ultimate goal either. Anyway, I kind of believe him. I feel like that is the most genuine way. What are your thoughts on this? Is it okay to continue reading this book and others and in the future start practicing rituals? Or should I wait for a "Witch" to come to me and learn directly from her?"

There's never anything wrong with reading and exploring. Scott Cunningham was really the first person to come out and suggest that a person could be a solitary Wiccan, and he's much loved for making Wiccaaccessible. Of course, not everyone agrees with Cunningham, especially those who believe that one cannot be a Wiccan alone.

Now, where do I stand? I think the right way to practice is the way that suits you best. The only real liability is to insist that one's path is THE path. I learned that no matter what, there is ultimately only one "initiator", whether you call it deity or the universal energy.

You don't need to be taught in person, but you might desire the experience. In the meantime, getting your hands on whatever reading material you can find will enhance your experience. Do what is right for you and you'll be walking the right path.

Incidentally, Amazon will deliver your books in a plain package. AzureGreen will also send books to you in plain brown wrapping. I mention this as a way of escaping detection.

Hi there, I actually have a couple of questions, and hopefully I'll be able to get an answer. I've been trying to work this out on my own for a while.

I've had an urge, like a rope connected to my chest, leading me somewhere, to someone, I think. And that the person on the other side of this 'rope' needs me to protect them from something, somehow

My problem is,whenever I try and focus on this feeling, it goes away.

I guess my questions are, how would I go aboutfinding a person when I have no clue who they are, just that I'm supposed to find them.

And what spells/runes/symbols can I use to help myself help them with whatever danger lies in their path.

Or, if all this is just in my head, and I'm wrong about what it means, how to get rid of the feeling.

I think that you've been able to articulate your feeling and your supposition as to its meaning is a very large advance in itself. People tend to try and ignore these great attractors or to dismiss them as silly, but obviously you're tuned into something beyond yourself.

It's a tricky path, but not an impossible one. This pull that you feel is part of a universal energy that defies all known logic and sensory input, which is why you lose touch when you focus on it. You have to know you're tapped in and live in that knowledge without letting that knowledge come to the forefront of your mind. It's a part of you, like breathing. If you can manage to live in the knowledge without dwelling on it and you stick to that path, sooner or later that other entity pulling you will materialize.

Do you know of a love spell or way of attracting love to ones self? Not of a particular person, a new love.

Normally I avoid spell questions, but by what you've written you have the right idea for success with a love spell. It should be you working on yourself to attract love in whatever new person may appear. Love spells should always be worked on yourself, to make yourself open to new love and to build your own confidence.

Simple is often best. An effective and easy love spell is to light a pink candle and meditate on new love. You may also want to recite some poetry or anything else that means love to you. Basically you're becoming a beacon of loving energy and sending that out into the universe.

Taking Vows, Goddess Woman Style

Next Tuesday I will celebrate my 40th birthday.  It's significant for a number of reasons, but none mean as much to me--after time and thought and reflection--as a vow I will be making.  Well, you can call it a vow, or a promise, or any such wording.

Before the Powers and the Great Mother and a host of spirit witnesses, I am pledging myself to a celibate life from this point forward.

Technically I've always been celibate, but this is something different.  I am embracing that part of me who is a woman unto herself, a Diana among women, a realization that I am a temple and I pledge to keep that temple to myself and for myself.  I am saying that having passed through a life of romance and heartbreak, I will be dedicating my life to my work and to my causes.

It's not denial.  It's not prudery.  It's an affirmation of myself and for myself.