May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, The foresight to know where you are going, And the insight to know when you have gone too far
Irish Blessings
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May those who love us, love us; and those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.
Irish Blessings
May God grant you always…A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.
Irish Blessings
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
Irish Blessings
As we make passage on the River Styx
I know not what lies ahead,
less of what I’ve left behind,
but I will go to complete
my preterdained journey to the otherworld
as the Ferryman leaves me off
and guides his boat
back to earthly shores.
Kaaren Whitney, The Ferryman
My tidings for you: the stag bells,
Winter snows, Summer is gone.
Wind high and cold, low the sun,
Short his course, sea running high.
Deep-red the bracken, its shape all gone,
The wild goose has raised his wonted cry.
Cold has caught the wings of birds.
Season of ice – these are my tidings.
Irish Poem, Translated by Caitlin Matthews
May God give you…For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer. Irish Blessings
Fire has always played an important part at Samhain. It was very important to the Celts as it was to all early people. In the old days people lit bonfires to ward away evil spirits and in some places they used to jump over the fire to bring good luck. Samhain was a fire festival to the Celts and in Ireland, originally all fires were put out save the sacred one which was kindled by the old rubbing sticks method, branches were then taken to light all fires in the land. Pagans today include a fire outside if possible for our celebrations, or indoors a candle in a cauldron is used to signify this. Bingley in West Yorkshire used to have a reminder of Celtic customs at its October Fair, Parkin pigs were sold. The boar is a symbol of the Sun in Celtic myth and so the symbol originally honoured it at the time of going into the light. Apples are traditional at this time and if you cut an apple crosswise you will see the centre displays a 5 pointed star or pentagram, the symbol used by many pagans as a sign of their beliefs.
Samhain – Cauldron Corner
I heard this whisper and I wondered,
I heard this laugh and then I knew.
The time is getting near my friends,
The time that I hold dear my friends,
The veil is getting thin my friends,
And strange things will pass through.
The Veil is Getting Thinner
No regrets cloud my thanks
no fear of the river,
slower now than the swift moving channel
I deigned to cut
in the exuberance of youth.
The River Lethe trickles through cracks
opened several summers ago
but not before I earned,
and still hold in my own right,
the gold coin Charon will demand,
though not a word be spoken,
not a breath exchanged.
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in the Neopagan religion of Wicca. He is often given various names and epithets, and represents the male part of the religion’s duotheistic theological system, the other part being the female Triple Goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality, hunting and the life cycle. Whilst depictions of the deity vary, he is always shown with either horns or antlers upon his head, in this way emphasising the union of the divine and the animal, the latter of which includes humanity. The term Horned God itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god with pseudohistorical origins who, according to Margaret Murray’s 1921 The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, was the deity worshipped by a pan-European witchcraft-based cult, and was demonised into the form of the Devil by the Mediaeval Church. The Horned God has been explored within several psychological theories, and it has also become a recurrent theme in fantasy literature since the 20th Century.
Horned God
As I went out walking this fall afternoon,
I heard a whisper whispering.
I heard a whisper whispering,
Upon this fine fall day…
As I went out walking this fall afternoon,
I heard a laugh a’ laughing.
I heard a laugh a’ laughing,
Upon this fine fall day…
If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living.
And the dead will outnumber the living.
Ishtar’s Descent Into the Underworld
The symbolism of this Sabbat is that of The Third (and final) Harvest, it marks the end of Summer, the beginning of Winter. It is a time marked by death when the Dead are honored – a time to celebrate and study the Dark Mysteries. Samhain means End of Summer. Its historical origin is The Feast of the Dead in Celtic lands. It is believed that on this night, the veil Between the Worlds is at its thinnest point, making this an excellent time to communicate with the Other Side. Symbols for representing this Sabbat may include Jack-O-Lanterns, Balefires, Masks, The Besom (Magickal Broom), The Cauldron, and the Waning Moon. Altar decorations might include small jack-o-lanterns, foods from the harvest, and photographs of your loved ones who have departed from this world. Appropriate Deities for Samhain include all Crone Goddesses, and the Dying God or the Dead God. Samhain Goddesses include Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Macha, Mari, Psyche, Ishtar, Lilith, The Morrigu/Morrigan, Rhiannon, and Cerridwen. Key actions to keep in mind during this time in the Wheel of the Year include return, change, reflection, endings and beginnings, and honoring the Dead. Other meanings behind this Sabbat celebration include the Wisdom of the Crone, the Death of the God, and the Celebration of Reincarnation.
Samhain Lore
I have come to a still, but not a deep center,
A point outside the glittering current;
My eyes stare at the bottom of a river,
At the irregular stones, iridescent sandgrains,
My mind moves in more than one place,
In a country half-land, half-water.
I am renewed by death, thought of my death,
The dry scent of a dying garden in September,
The wind fanning the ash of a low fire.
What I love is near at hand,
Always, in earth and air.
Theodore Roethke, The Far Field
May those who love us, love us; and those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.
Irish Blessings
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
Irish Blessings
May God grant you always…A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.
Irish Blessings
May God give you…For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer.
Irish Blessings
May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, The foresight to know where you are going, And the insight to know when you have gone too far
Irish Blessings
It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets.
William Thomas
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
Hal Borland
Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.
Robert Browning
When one has not had a good father, one must create one.
Friedrich Nietzsche
To many ancient people, the waning of the light signaled death. For example, in Welsh mythology, this is the day of the year when the God of Darkness, Goronwy, defeats the God of Light, Llew, and takes his place as King of the world. To this day in Japan, the equinox is celebrated by visits to the graves of family members, at which time offerings of flowers and food are made and incense is burned. The three days preceding and following the equinox are called higan, or the Other side of the River of Death.
September Folklore
Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us
The bounty of your sacrifice
The warmth and the light of friends gathered around the bounty of the earth.
Dionysus, Osiris, Cernunnos, Dumuzi, Frey,
Lord of the grain,
Welcome!
Autumn Equinox Celebration
The eve of the New Year or Oidhche Shamhna was a gap in time. Thus, the spirits from the Otherworld could enter into our world. Rituals on Oidhche Shamhna include providing hospitality to the dead ancestors. They welcomed the dead with food and drink and left the windows and doors of their homes open for the dead to enter. But all spirits from the Otherworld were not good; there were evil spirits too. To keep evil spirits away from their home, they carved images of spirit-guardians onto turnips and placed them at the doors of their homes. As part of the festivities young people wore strange costumes and moved around the village, pretending to be dead spirits visiting from the Otherworld. The Celts believed that on the eve of New Year not only did the boundary between this world and the Otherworld dissolve, but the structure of society dissolved too. Boys and girls would dress up as members of the opposite sex and play pranks on the elders.
Celtic New Year
Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o-lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o-lantern of choice.) Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan ‘baptism’ rite called a ‘seining’, according to some writers. The water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which the novice’s head is immersed. The fact that the participant in this folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony.
Mike Nichols, All Hallow’s Eve
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not,
but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance,
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
William Blake, To Autumn
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