Samhain 2015 - Take 1

Dear Neophyte,

This post is a long time coming.  5 days from a month after Samhain.  I'm almost done going over my Self-Reflections list and wrapping up the old things.  I've started some new projects already, but I suppose I need to prioritize.  I think I have five more days to wrap it up completely before I really need to start focusing on Yule.

My Samhain this year was tense.  My sister's boyfriend was messing it up as he has done every holy day since they started dating and she started inviting him over.  He's not Pagan, he doesn't celebrate our holy days and he hardly participates.  This time he held up dinner plans for three hours while he hemmed-and-hawed about whether he was even going to be there.  As someone who made it a point of offering to make the main dish for the feast I was irritated beyond anything.  I point blank told my sister that if they wound up staying together after Samhain that no one else who isn't Pagan and not respectful of HOLY DAYS is invited over on the holy days.  They can come after the day before or the day after but not the day of.

He wound up playing nice long enough to do the dish he said he'd do but the damage was done.  The whole emotional flow of the holy day was thrown off almost completely.  Even building a fire didn't dissipate my irritation that he was there.  What annoyed me even more was that because he was there and had been fighting with my sister all day her energy was off as well.  I spent hours picking out music to play while we cooked and ate to get the mood focused.  Days were spent on research, activities, crafts and thoughtful discussion topics to go along with the holy day.  This has been our tradition each time; there is is always discussions and themes.

This time it was different.  He stayed the whole time, played his own music out loud in the living room and completely ignored the two of us.  It was rude because he knew I spent hours picking out good mood music that fit the theme and set a mood.  I surmise he did it on purpose, though the little angel in me wants to say he thought he was helping?  My sister kept herself focused on him and not the theme of the holy day, which ruined any chance of salvaging the evening.  There were no thoughts, no discussions, no crafts or even one divination activity.  As soon as we were done eating she wanted me to clear out of the living room so she could do her ritual and go to bed.  They (together) succeeded in ruining the entire evening.

I went ahead and went to bed early, thoroughly irritated at not getting to do anything Samhain related but eat food.  That is not Samhain.  That is not the theme of the holy day.  Food is just a part of a harvest festival; honoring the ancestors is the focus.  Some part of me needs to finish what I started.  To make a feast, set it out with the ancestors and truly honor the divine.  I didn't even give my offerings to the Gods; I couldn't help but feel it would have been show since no real emotion was behind it.  It would have been tainted.

It's like I'm stuck in backward motion because everything is moving forward without me.  There hasn't been any spiritual progress.  I would really like some spiritual progress  I would really like Samhain... so I think I'm going to make my own.  When I get done with this list I'm going to write my ritual, perform it on the next day I have off which she doesn't have off and then do the accompanying spells.

I feel like my co-dependence is bugging out here.  I don't need someone else to celebrate my holy days.  Not if they keep insisting on ruining it.  This is why journaling is fun: you finally realize things you sort of knew all along because you can finally process things out.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the good parts that I actually managed to celebrate.  Some of these pictures suck, but that's why I never got a cellphone for the amazing video quality:

First off, I grew the peppers from scratch.  I've featured these peppers in a couple of recipes.  For this one I stuffed them with a mixture of chorizo sausage and rice.

I also hand made the french bread.  Here is a picture of it rising in the bowl.  Whole wheat bread doesn't make fluffy anything.  It makes dense, nutritionally packed, satisfying bread.

The crock pot took care of mulled apple juice.  There was no cider to be had on Samhain since I waited till the last minute to do shopping, erroneously thinking it would be helpful to have two people carry things back with me.  The truth was that it rained and my sister paid for a cab home.  Whatever, lol

If you wanted an example of how my sister uses her religion to muscle in on celebration, this apple juice is one.  I bought good quality apple juice, spiced it, added fruit and mulled it.  It was for the harvest celebration since apples are the harvest food for this area and this time of year.  It was for everyone to share.  Instead of drinking it my sister uses the holy days as an excuse to buy over $40 worth of alcohol and drinks that exclusive to drinking any of this apple cider.  It hurt my feelings.  I was the only one who drank it while they both had exclusive alcohol.  

Latter I was told that since I don't buy alcohol she was going to stop sharing with me, and I said that was fine.  I never ask if any of it is for me; I assume she buys it for her Gods and shares if she's feeling froggy.  She retorts with, "Well *godname* says I have to share with family!"  I said ok, and waited for her to respond.  She just says, "So it's just for Them now."  I said ok again, and waited for her to respond.  She couldn't say anything else since I have never once asked her to share her God offering alcohol with me, but I got the feeling I was being given an ultimatum: either buy alcohol for to share with her in the future or she'll stop sharing with me.  I don't crave alcohol; I actually don't like most of the stuff she buys.  I drink it to be nice because *godname* says share and she's required to and to turn a God down is rude.  Especially if They have a habit of getting together with yours and wiping out power for 4000 people in downtown Portland because you and your sister got drunk and introduced them to each other.  Yeesh...

Moving on.

A glass of the apple juice with rings of lemons floating in it.  That's me in the background, in a dress I made, and wore special for this occasion.

I cooked this entir emeal from scratch, except the chicken.  The boyfriend (not mine) grudgingly made that.  The stuffed peppers were from my garden, the bread was hand made, the carrots carefully glazed.  It took three hours to make all of this and it's hardly any food at all.  It was a feast!  Delicious!

Latter my sister pointed out what she didn't like about everything I cooked.  She has never done this before since she's from the South,and in the South we only glow over someone else's cooking or manage to keep the subject so far away from food that the cook never has a chance to ask if we liked it.  And if it's a feast we either eat it or don't, but we don't complain!  Like I said, she and her boyfriend were in a mood, and I got a brunt of it the entire day.

This is what our plates looked like.  I had also bought corn on the cob and potatoes, but with bread AND chicken cooking in the oven at the same time that was a no-go.  My original menu, which did not call for Boyfriend to use the oven to make chicken, used the toaster oven to make the main dish.  As it was the stuffed peppers had to be cooked in the toaster oven. 

The boyfriend decorated the fireplace with the Mabon decorations my sister's other boyfriend liberated from the garage just the day before Samhain.  Normally my sister and I decorate for fall on Mabon since that is the official beginning.  These decorations usually go everywhere around the house to bring fall to the entire indoors.  As it is it's concentrated over the fireplace and we skipped most of the Halloween decorations altogether.  (Thank the Gods, because my sister has some truly, spectacularly tacky taste in decorations.  Were talking strings of plastic skeleton lights.  Eeeeks!)  As it was the boyfriend did a good job and I like it, even if that means the rest of the house is  sparse.  

The picture hanging over the fireplace is one my sister did for Mabon and it'll stay up till our Yule decorations go up.

The fireplace when I lit it.  We were suppose to do divination and end-of-year releasing spells with the fire, but it didn't stay lit long.  I got tired of babysitting it and then I got asked to leave the room so my sister could do her dancing in private... A video she then uploaded to facebook.

That's me blurrily attending the fire!

This post is heavy on the whining. I just don't (for today) feel like lying about what kind of day I had on Samhain.  It was not magica.  It was not fun. I didn't want someone there who inserted himself into the situation.  I didn't get to listen to my music.  I didn't get to share cider with my sister.  I didn't get to do magic, divination games, or talk about our families like your'e suppose to do on Samhain.  

I didn't get Samhain.  I got to spend three hours cooking while listening to my sister placate her boyfriend while he ignored the both of us and played on his computer and played strange music.  I don't feel like there was a celebration.  My ancestors didn't get honored properly because a cowan was there staring at me like national geographic while I was dropping food into the bowl, and with that atmosphere I certainly wasn't going to call in my Gods to partake in the misery! 

Salutations,

Sesh

P.S. What do you want to bet come Yule she suddenly recants her agreement that non-Pagans are banned from our holy day celebrations.  

Samhain Magic and Divination - A List

Dear Neophyte,

This is a generic list of the most popular types of magic to perform on or near Samhain.  Sometimes the details are vague and the audience is left to fill in the blanks in order to personalize a spell.  You really don't need more than a line or two of information on what components go into a spell anyway.  At this point (past the first couple of years of being a witch) you should be able to formulate simple spells off the top of your head.

Note that most of these list a time of "Samhain Night" but that is not a hard and fast rule.  Unless otherwise stated I put that for everything.  Between the full moon in October (the blood moon) and Samhain is a fine time to do this.

I am straight up going to jack a bunch of images from Google Image just to break up the post a little.

 Magic

Type of Magic: Divination - Various

When: Full moon; Sun is in Scorpio

Topics:

1. What has gone wrong in not bringing about your desired progress.

2. What is to come in the winter months? Abundance, etc.

3. Secrets, personal power, psychic growth, divination, death, romance/marriage

4. Ask for guidance in the coming year. Select something appropriate and ack upon it.

Meathod – Scrying: Scrying is done in a dimely lit room with a either a black bowl of water or dyed water in a regular bowl.

Meathod – Cards: Reading the meanings of symbols on cards drawn from a deck in a particular order.

Always write down messages you receive in divination. Select a couple things to work on in the coming year.

Picture Credit

Typ of Magic: Divination – Nuts, in shells

When: Samhain night

Divination Topic: Romance

Materials: Two hazel nuts, hearth/fireplace

Meathod - Couples: Name each nut for a specific person. Set them before the fireplace and close enough to get hot quickly. Use the chant below. If they stay together than so to will the couple; if they split apart then so will their love.

Meathod – Singles: Two groups of nuts are placed; one for the batchelors and one for the batcheloretts. As the nuts pop and fly the romantic links are made. For this one modify the chant below to be for singles.

Chant:

“If you love me pop and fly;

If you hate me, burn and die.”

Reading: You can decide who's intentions are true based on how the nuts pop.

Variations: Dropping chestnuts directly into the fire.

*These little bastards like to NOT crack open, even with a hammer.  See my samhain post some few years ago for my adventures with finding out I had wild hazelnuts in my backyard.  I even drove over them with the car and they would not crack!

Picture Credit

Type of Magic: Divination – Apple, eating

When: Samhain night

Topic: Romance and marriage

Materials: 1 whole apple, knife, mirror, candle, lighter

Meathods: Slice an apple in half horizontally and eat it by candlelight. Tradition says your future husband will appear over your shoulder. A skull may also appear, signifying the person is doomed to either die or not find fomance that year.

Photo Credit

* The color doesn't really matter but if you're going for love I'd choose red.

Type of Magic: Divination – Apple, peeling

When: Samhain night

Topic: Romance and marriage; life expenctancy

Materials: Apple, knife, window facing east

Meathod 1 - Romance: Peel the apple in one long strand while facing West. West is the element of water, emotions, and the direction of the land of the dead.

This is cheating.

Meathod 2 – Life Expectancy: You can also peel an apple with the intention of finding out how long one's life would be. Longer rind means a longer life.

Chant:

“I pare this apple round and round again

My sweetheart's name to flourish on the plane:

I fling the unbroken paring o'er my head:

My sweetheart's letter on the ground to read:”

My love is infinity signs?

Type of Magic: Divination – Hearth, Animal

When: Samhain night

Topic: Romance

Materials: Hearth with ashes still inside, live snail

Meathod: Send a snail crawling through the ashes of your hearth and the 'considerate little creature' will spell out the initial letter of your intended as it moves.

Type of Magic: Divination – Apples, floating

When: Samhain night

Topic: Marriage

Materials: Apples, Water, Container big enough to float several apples in

Meathod: Bobbing for apples. Whoever bites into an apple first will be the first to get married.

Type of Magic: Any

When: Sun in Scorpio

Pagan Magic

Topic: Secrets, personal poer, psychic growth, divination, seance death, unfrtility (sterility); put the whammy on that whomb and shrivel those balls! Vines and gourds don't need to be the only withered, dead things that refuse to yield seeds to life this time of year!

About: For many pagans, Samhain, especially the first few you celebrate, are a way to learn new magics: how divination works, how to conduct a séance, and making contact and establishing links and relationships with spirit guides.

Materials: Any

Meathod: Any

Chant: Any

Type of Magic: Banishing - Herbal, Fire

When: Samhain night

Topic: Releasing bad traits, self-reflection, shedding, releasing, cleansing, opening blocks

Materials: Hearth fire, paper, pen, appropriate herbs

Meathod: Strike a fire with the intention of it helping you to shed your unwanted habbits and parts. Offer herbs to the fire and waft the smoke over your body as purificaitno. Write down the outmoded feathers of yourself; concentrate on pushing it out of you and into the piece of paper. Toss it into the fire. As the flames consume imagine it leaving you for good and no longer causing you blocks. In the end picture yourself adopting a healthier way of being. Remember magic does not fix problems if you don't apply the effort outside spellwork. Circle the fire as you dance joy at shedding the problems. Dance in front if it is a hearth. Give the fire your dance as thanks for its help.

Chant: Banishing, releasing, shedding chants

*Note: I write my spells on birch bark because it's the tree of new beginnings.

Birch bark paper.

Type of Magic: House Blessing - Broom

When: Midnight before New Years Day

Topic: Spiritual cleaning

Materials: Broom, either new or old;

My Amish corn broom.

Meathod: Ritually re-bless your broom and use it to sweep out the old year and it's associated energies to make room for the fresh energies of the new year.

Chant: Cleansing, Blessing

Friction Tools

Type of Magic: Need-fire - Bonfire

When: Samhain night till Samhain morning

Topic: Strengthen the Sun and God-in-the-Womb; purification; banishment; protection

Materials: Old-fationed fire making tools, preferably ones which used friction; sacred woods

Meathod – Making Fire: Follow the meathod of friction which your tool calls for. Needfires are only made when there is a pressing need for them, and doing it from scratch honors the Gods and show you are serious and willing to put in the effort for the goal you seek. This fire is sacred to the Gods and is not normal cooking, warmth fire.

Meathod – Smoke/Ashes: Standing in the smoke, or wafting it over yourself has purifying and protective influences.

Meathod – Flames: Running throug, near or jumping over the flames is said to burn up negative influences. Driving lifestock between the fires is common way to cleanse the herd.

Chant: Sun, pregnancy, vigor chants

Traditionally boys would go out and cause trouble while young girls stayed home to play divination games. Pre-suffrage girls were obsessed with finding a man and getting married which is why the older methods revolve around romance and marriage.  I personally feel there are better holidays to do love magic on but in the interest of record keeping I wrote the love divination down anyway.  It's sort of out-of-character but Christians at that time had lost touch with the Celtic roots of this holiday which focus on death, harvest and spirits.  Feel free to change any of the elements of the spells to focus on whatever you want (shedding, banishment instead of love).

Most of this information comes from the internet.  There are literally dozens of sites I read and compiled this list from. Next year I'll probably add to it.  Since there were too many sites I didn't write down sources.  Every third site was copying another site so it's hard to tell where the information originated from anymore.

Salutations and have a happy Samhain!

Sesh

Samhain 2015

Dear Neophyte

The beginning of our Samhain celebrations. 

A bouquet of flowers for the table.

Ciders and wines for celebrants and offerings. 

Walking the tracks to the store and home.

I hiked through the rain for MILES to get and bring this Samhain fest home. It doesn't look like a lot but it took almost 3 hours to cook. My sister's partner made the chicken and I made everything else. Including the fire 
kiki emoticon The peppers are from my garden and are the same ones shown in a post earlier this week. See individual pictures for further descriptions.

We redecorate the livingroom every season, mostly changing out the hearth decorations,

Fall fireplace. Thanks to my sister's friend busting into our garage with the fireplace poker we were able to liberate our Mabon decorations and put them up (2 months after Mabon!). My sister's partner did most of this lovely work; I built the fire (which is unlit) and my sister did the painting.






Blurry me feeding the fire! The watering can comes in handy often :) 

The trick to stop the flames going up the chimney is to keep it low and wide.
kiki emoticon










Candied carrots (from a bag of carrots I got at a food bank earlier this week) --> cheddar slices for the -->stuffed peppers from my garden. Then roast chicken with 30 cloves of garlic in it to go on the (already sliced) whole wheat French bread I made. Tablecloth is a fabric remnant from the place I work. I also made baked potatoes, but since I didn't think they'd get done in time I left them in the oven while we ate.

Simple and elegant meal with my family. I really love this fabric remnant so I used it as a table cloth. The ancestor table is to the right.


Apple cider mulled in a crock pot. Lemons, oranges, allspice and cinnamon. It tasted like liquid apple pie, only without the annoying crust.

A glas of my apple pie cider. I made this dress by piecing together a pattern and adding a belt. It's super comfortable and I love the style.

As you can see Samhain doesn't have to have a lot.  Just friends, family, the Gods and some foods.  We didn't even have a kitchen table so our feast was on the coffee table in the living room.

Hope yall's Samhain feast went well and that you and your Gods are fat and happy!

Salutations,
Sesh