Halloween/Samhain, Reed Moon & Fog Moon

Halloween is also called Samhain (Sowen) in the pagan community. This is classed as the Celtic New Year. It is a time of endings and of beginnings. I find it deeply satisfying that the Celts celebrated their new year in the dark, before the return of the light. It is a time of inward-ness, of looking to ourselves, facing our fears and shouting 'I am not afraid to face this year. I will take all that it throws at me and I will roar in its face.' There's a fierce defiance, a fierce careless bravery about this.

As a time of endings, we say farewell to our loved ones and think about those who have gone before. Not just our parents/grandparents, but those several generations back. We wonder how they lived, loved and died. What their dreams and fears were.

In Scotland, telling ghost and faerie stories is a favourite past time and has been for a few centuries. Halloween has always been the favoured time to do this. Apple dooking (bobbing for apples) is another. And divining for your future lover/life partner is another. There were many ways of doing this - peeling an apple while reciting the alphabet and whenever the peel fell away on a letter, that would be the initial of your lover. The same goes for twisting the stem. Looking into a mirror to see a face was another way. Popping a posy of herbs under your pillow at night was a way to entice dreams of your love as well.

In the UK we never had 'trick or treating'. We had guising. This was the same sort of thing but the guisers, those going round houses looking for treats, had to tell a joke, poem or sing a song to win their treat. And you didn't trick someone. I miss this aspect of life. Only in the last 20 years has this died out.

So what do you like to do for Halloween? Do you like to dress up and party or light a candle for those who have passed? Do you celebrate the New Year or do some quiet divination? Or a combination?

The 28th of October is the beginning of the Celtic Tree Month Reed (or Elm). A water element tree. This is a great tree for using music in your magic, as well as for divination. Protection spells are good just now. It is also a good luck tree, so talismans made with this wood are especially effective. It is sacred to Odin, and the Festival of Woden is on the 2nd of November.

On the 1st of November, All Saints Day, or Beltain in the Southern Hemisphere, we also see the festival of the Fogmoon. This was a day of remembrance, dedicated to Odin and also to Freya. This is also the festival of Pomona, called Pomonia, the Roman Goddess of orchards. This is a very busy time of year.

Sacred fruit of this time are apples and pomegranates but also anything coming from an orchard xx

BB x


On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scotland about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback: The Island of the Mist is book 2 The Stone in the Sword is book 1
The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats: The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

Beltain 2013

Beltain this year will be a little different from previous years, given the strange weather we have all been having, and people's inability to do much because of the economic climate (although most of us we're equally without money last year).

Beltain is about love, about sensuality, as the God and Goddess get together for the sacred marriage. It is about loving your partner and enjoying each other, if you are with someone, and loving yourself if you are not.

Too many of us, when single, do not think about ourselves in that way. We don't take a good hard look at ourselves and say 'You know what, I'm pretty amazing!'. And we should, because we are all amazing. Life is amazing, no matter how cruddy it can look just now. Mortality is so very finite and we are so lucky to be able to draw breath. Many out there would disagree, thinking that they wished they were dead. That is truly sad, given how hard it can be just to be alive. The very fact that we survived to birth is a blessing. That we survived childhood and reached adulthood without war/illness/accidents taking our lives is equally amazing. So many people die every day and being able to draw breath is a gift.

So celebrate that gift. treat yourself and (if you are lucky enough to be in a relationship) your partner to something special. This doesn't have to be expensive. A picnic is practically free and if the weather is good, its a delight. Getting out into nature is a wonderful thing to do at this time of year. Clearing your spirit of all the cling-ons of winter and a sluggish early spring.

If you are lucky enough to live near a botanic gardens and the weather isn't so great, get indoors and be part of nature - if not a museum, or wrap up in waterproofs and get to a local beach. These things don't cost/don't cost much and can be a wonderful change to your normal pace of life.

Make something nice and different for dinner and thank the gods for your wonderful bounty. Plant things in your garden or get a little pot of a herb you like and sow those seeds, enjoy everything you can about nature because it is risig to the peak of its glory.

If you can, give your place a quick once over, in respect for the day and also as a metaphorical clearing the clutter/cobwebs away. If you have beeswax use it on your furniture, or burn beeswax candles in honour of the day.

Fill your home with pleasant scents/textures and sounds. Let the sensuality of the sabbat awaken you!

BB

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

Spring is now in the air!

The flowers are blooming, the grass is green and the birds are singing their hearts out. Spring is here with a vengeance!

This time of year is less about inner work and much more about external work. We want to be outside, in the air, with the sun on our skins. Ok, in Scotland, the latter is often harder to get a hold of but we all feel like doing a Julie Andrews in the 'Sound of Music'!

Getting out, even just for a wee walk, is re-connecting with nature. Feeling the ground beneath your feet is a way of drawing earth energy into us. Drawing air into our lungs blows out the cobwebs.

Beltain is fast approaching and this is a wonderful time for fertility magic, for any form of creative magic and for beginning new artistic projects. This is when we are most connected with the earth, when we feel the 'sap rising', the wonderful energy from below that is brought up in the Spring to keep us regenerated through the Summer.

Enjoy the waking of the earth!

A great book to get you going, a book that has pagan references and Sidhe/fairy/fey featuring is this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stone-Sword-ebook/dp/B006ZQIEPG/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327179005&sr=1-3

The year ahead - dates for your calendar in paganism

Many pagans seem to be under the incorrect idea that all pagan festivals are fixed to one specific date of the year. This is not the case. The solar festivals (both equinoxes and solstices) move every year. Some days they are on the 20th, the 21st or the 22nd of the corresponding month. This is because there are very slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The majority of pagans simply celebrate on the 21st of the month but this is not always the actual date of the solstice or equinox.

For instance, this year, the dates are as follows:
Spring Equinox - 20th March
Summer Solstice - 20th June
Autumn Equinox - 22nd September
Winter Solstice - 21st December

The agricultural festivals are not as fixed as many imagine either - these are dates for actual agricultural events as well. The only exception is Hallowe'en, or Samhain. This is a fixed date as it is the date the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. But the others can alter slightly. For instance, Imbolc, usually celebrated on the 1st or 2nd February can be earlier or later, depending when the first snowdrops appear and the first signs of life begin to show. Equally, this is the same of Lammas, the wheat harvest, can be earlier or, more commonly, later.

Personally, I tend to feel that Beltain is more like Hallowe'en. It feels more stationary, less mutable. This would make sense, given that these dates are the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere.

So when Imbolc comes around and you haven't spotted any snowdrops pushing up through the ground, hold off celebrating a few days until they appear. Likewise, if the first harvest hasn't happened in the countryside near you, wait a few days. If you can't tell re Lammas, then go ahead and celebrate around the 1s August but it is always better to feel more attuned to the seasons, and to the energies of the sun.

Month of May, post Beltain

May is a beautiful month. All the most vibrant flowers are appearing, the scents are amazing and life is fully blooming.

May starts with a blaze, Beltain, and eases into Summer, usually with a sizzle.
In the Celtic Tree Calendar, this is in part, the month of the Willow (15th April to the 12th May). I always thought that odd, as Willow is a wet tree and May is usually one of the driest in the UK and in W Europe.

The Willow Tree represents water and is ruled by the moon. There is a new moon on the 3rd of the month. As this moon grows, think about aspects of your life you would like illumination or inspiration for, as the magic of the Willow is that of inspiration, divination and prophesy. The Willow represents Spring and Autumn, the tides and as such is considered a feminine tree.

It is associated with weddings in the garlands of flowers worn on the head of the brides and in pentagrams made for handfastings, due to its flexibility.

While Beltain has passed, the rest of the month is lively, filled with life and vibrancy and the key to the first part of this month is, due in part to the tree, flexibility.

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin