Halloween

Halloween is the modern name of the ancient Irish and Scottish holiday of Samhain (pronounced SOW-win), a Celtic-Gaelic word meaning “summers-end”. It begins at dusk on October 31, and marks the doorway to the dark half of the Celtic year, the opening of a new cycle.

In the 7th-century CE the Pope established All Saints’ Day, originally on May 13, and in the following century it was moved to November 1. The evening before All Saints’ Day became a holy, or hallowed, eve and thus Samhain became Halloween.

The Reformation put an end to the religious holiday among Protestants, although in Britain Halloween continued to be celebrated as a secular holiday. The celebration of Halloween was mostly forbidden among the early American colonists, until the 1800s.

Agenda:

1. Make a costume

2. Trick or Treats

Lineage

Ancestry and lineage is one of my long-time fascinations.  I started doing research many years ago, starting with those who came to North America. I have a huge list of the names of early ancestors, but no context - no understanding of where they came from other than the name of the country: England, Germany, Holland, etc.

This year I'd like to begin to dive deeper into those lands of my roots to understand my origins a little better. 

 

1. Read "Root and Ritual"

2. Map it out

3. Dig a little deeper

4. Study more genealogy

Sabbath for Souls

Today is my Sabbath, and also the start of the week of Halloween, which marks the doorway to the dark half of the Celtic year, the opening of a new cycle.

The early Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin at this time of year, and so spirits of the dead could visit the living.

This is the time of year to welcome home the souls of your ancestors. But I definitely feel some angst regarding my relatives who moved here to the "New World" to take it away from the Native Peoples, and who bought into the false American Dream, built on the subjugation and decimation of so many other living beings. 

It has become my custom at this time of year to open my heart to healing the soul connection between me and my ancestors.

Agenda:

1. Unity Art for souls

2. Make Soul Cakes

3. Throw the runes

4. Have a soul ceremony

5. Offer ongoing support for my ancestors

Full Squirrel Moon

Tonight is the full moon called the Squirrel Moon, because now the squirrels are busily gathering nuts for the winter. This moon is also called Atchalankuaik, the "start getting sagittair roots" moon, by the Kalapuya of our area (sagittair is a potato like tuber). 

We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

Agenda:

1. Read "How to Manifest"

2. Take a vision walk

3. Celebrate abundance

4. Autumn blessings walk

Winternights

The Winternights, or Vetrnætr, is a twelve-day festival that begins on a night in mid-October, and marks the end of summer and the start of the winter. The name Vetrnætr (pronounced Vetter-natter) is Old Norse, composed of two words, vetr - meaning winter, and nætr - meaning nights. Vetrnætr is series of feasts and ceremonies (blóts, pronounced bloots) that celebrate the bounty of the harvest, and also honor the Disir, or female ancestor spirits.

Vetrnætr is celebrated by the Ásatrú; Ásatrú is an Icelandic name, taken by the modern-day Norse and Germanic people who worship the old northern gods (such as Thor, Odin, and Frey) and goddesses (such as Freya and Frigg). Though its practice was interrupted, Ásatrú has been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original religion of the Northern European people, based on the surviving historical records. Ásatrú intrigues me, because it would have been the religion of my ancestors.

2022 ofrenda

This month, Winternights festivals are held across Scandinavia, Germany, and New England and are marked by bonfires, tournaments, feasts, and arts and crafts vendors.

Agenda for today:

1. Read Root and Ritual

2. Set up my ancestor altar (ofrenda)

3. Disir meditation
4. Make more runes

5. Carve jack-o-lanterns
6. Feast and blót

Prepare for Halloween

Ms. Skeleton says, "Trick or Treat!"

This week we've been preparing for Halloween, with daily fun activities. Our oldest grandson has been talking about Halloween for months now - this is the first holiday he has a clear memory of.

Last year he learned all the iconic images of the season - pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, spiders, and bats - and this year he brings them into conversation - If someone says the word candy he replies, "Trick or Treat!"; If he sees a pumpkin or a ghost he says, "Ooo, scary." (He is also very interested in "blo-o-o-od".

The build up to Halloween is all about shifting to a darker phase of the year; darkness isn't bad, but it can be frightening, and having fun with fear is part of the process, something even a three-year-old can appreciate.

Agenda

1. Unity with pumpkins

2. Decorate inside and out

3. Cook pumpkin curry