Mending
fences, honoring your teachers, and ancestors
Correspondences
Colors – Black and Orange
Gods –
Death and Mother Aspect (Hades and Persephone)
Direction – North West
Standard Halloween Decorations, Pomegranates
Magic – Honoring Ancestors,
Teachers, and Adversaries
Samhain is the time of year when the veil is thinnest, and hands down the most popular pagan holiday of all
time. At Samhain we honor our ancestors and those who have made an impact on our existence.
Since we are all dead it is sort of a reunion with all those who have crossed over. We dress up
like the dead, and make special foods for those ancestors that we want to honor.
It is a very celebratory time, as we have finally made the long journey
around the wheel, and there is nothing to do but enjoy moment and catch up with loved ones. All conflicts
are put aside, and all come together in love and harmony and celebrate the connectedness, and the love of family.
Pomegranates are the food of
the dead, and what Persephone ate in the underworld that bound her to Hades. Sharing Pomegranates with
each other is a Wiccan cultural tradition.
In times past, people would put out food and candy to appease the dead, and dress up like ghosts,
so that when the ghosts saw them they wouldn’t try to scare them. Trick or treating evolved from
people deciding to embrace the season and have fun with it, so as to not sit around all night waiting for a ghoul to pop up
and scare them.
Because the veil is so thin, Samhain is the best night of the year to do divinations, prophecy,
and communication with the dead. We generally celebrate Samhain with a Feast to honor our ancestors, setting
them a place at the table, and then each participant filling the plate with food they prepared from their loved ones.
A personal ritual could include making a special meal that reminds you of a passed loved one, setting a place for them
at the table, putting a picture of them where you can see them while you are eating, and having a conversation with them.
If you have had a particularly
difficult year, and have a lot of bitterness to process, now is a very good time to make special efforts to find the good
in the lessons that you were given, and to honor those who stood as your adversary and became a catalyst for your growth.
Most seasoned Priestesses
modify their circle cast to included added protective measures to contain the many souls who will cross through west when
invited.
*Note – This ritual is a séance. While this is not a dangerous ritual for
those adept at dealing with the deceased, it can be a real energy zapper for even the most seasoned Priestesses.
Invoking the dead is not the same as invoking Deity. Deity has your best and highest good at heart.
The dead don’t always have such high aspirations. Not only that, but the dead have a much
heavier vibration than Gods, or Ascended Masters. Make sure that if you invite the dead into your realm,
across the veil, that you can contain them inside your circle and send them back when you are ready for them to go.
You never know what can creep out of that west quarter when you are unaware. This is not a ritual
that you can just get lost in. Be sure that you or someone you trust is in control of the energies within
the circle at all times. Forewarned is forearmed.
