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well...i'm a little disappointed in the way my samhain season worked out, for all the stress and angst i 'entertained' everyone with....but let's get started with the write-up. (adf-ers, dep preceptory and ex-preceptory types invited to comment...everyone else too.)
what samhain means
I've always been intrigued by (some) pagans argument that christianity is icky because it's a death cult, focusing around the death of their main figure; when what is arguably THE high day for the neopagan community is Samhain...which focuses on death as well. There's the death of the land. Okay, sure it's dormant and barring some kind of global change or geopolitical tragedy, it'll be back in the spring. but basically we're talking about dead trees, dead flowers, dead animals (some). and while we are blessed in the US to not have much to worry about on this end, the death of family and tribe through a long winter is also a concern.
when i teach non-neopagans about samhain, i usually sum it up as a conglomeration of 3 holidays with which most americans would get: memorial day, thanksgiving, and new year's eve. the memorial day aspect is obviously the 'death' one, the focus on ancestors. perhaps in ancient times, this time of year began a season in which many of them 'left,' and that is why there is the view that the veil is thinner at this time of year? or maybe the harvesting and butchering and preserving being essentially done for the year, or close to it, our paleopagan ancestors had time to observe the worlds around them, and actually notice how close they really are. either way, contacting the dead is easier then, and even now i usually find myself thinking about my relatives who have gone on more during this season, or more disturbingly my own death. this is not a pleasant thought. i'm not necessarily scared to BE dead, but i'm pretty darn afraid of the actual process of dying, and so looking for distractions from thinking about this very real, tangible, and unavoidable process is paramount :)
Thus leading to the second theme i see, that of thanksgiving. not only just for being alive another year (although i think that is also something worthy of thanks) but also to the land for providing for us another year, regardless of whether we deserve it or not; to our deceased ancestors and living relatives for giving us life; to the many thousands of things most of us have to be thankful for, if we were to every truly sit down and think about it.
The third theme is that of new year's eve. I often wonder if we shouldn't be using the term 'celt' to refer to modern day 'goths,' as day starts when it gets dark, and the year starts at the end of the fun time, rather than at the beginning (spring). anyway, celtic new year celebrated at the end of summer, so to me this is an appropriate time for oaths, as 'new year's resolutions.'
stone soup circle
i was the ritual leader for this rite, and i've mentioned the process in numerous posts already. i worked on the ritual in some way for about 3 months. most of that was mental, but not all of it. i borrowed heavily, once again, from 'the apple branch' as it touches on most of the themes i discussed above. when we got together, i actually cast a circle. given the time of year, and every other pagan and vaguely-pagan person casting this and conjouring that, with wildly differing levels of skill and knowledge and intention, it seemed like the prudent thing to do. it was the first time i had done so in a while, and had COMPLETELY forgotten everything i used to say. i even forgot a wand or athame! so i used the knife that we would use later and just...spoke. and i don't know about everyone else, but i certainly felt it. woot!
our first act was to symbolically extinguish the hearth fires, so everyone had lit candles they brought from home (we had extras). i walked around the circle, reading a poem about the coming of winter and blew a candle out on each line. (this all would have been REALLY COOL had it been actually DARK.) at that point, i lit the fire in the hearth to symbolically "re"kindle the community fire, and folks put offerings/sacrifices into it. the next step, i think (wow, i'm blanking) was the journey to the land of the dead. each person got a pomegranite seed (not celtic, i know...sue me) to grant them admission. they closed their eyes and we sang "Mothers and Fathers of Old" while we visualized a bridge building. once it was done, i asked folks to envision a bridge and mists swirling about it.
now...had things worked, they would have opened their eyes to a shelter house with mist on the floor. however, dry ice being the PAIN IN THE ASS that it is, there was a lack of mist....so we tested visualization skills :)![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seamus_mcnasty played the role of Donn, who granted admission to folks to be able to speak to their ancestors. some folks had very powerful experiences (one whom i thought we'd have to go in and get!) so that made me feel good.
after that we made oaths. BEFORE each person oathed, i reminded them that they were making this oath in the presence of their tribe and their tribe's ancestors, and we would hold them accountable. only 3 people made oaths, only one of which was challenged, and then amended to the satisfaction of all. we said goodbye to the land of the dead. participants then relit their candles from the hearth fire, and we drew omens we were to meditate upon. (i got a polymer clay leaf.) then we went to fazoli's :)
i never get much out of ritual when i lead it. this is something i think i need to work on.
Three Cranes
i was originally psyched b/c i did NOT have an invocation or part in the rite.seamus_mcnasty and i did the centering thing, but other than that i could just sit back and relax and get into the rite.
EXCEPT....i'm so used to HAVING a part (and being good at getting into the ritual moment in that way, ever since summerset), that i found myself kind of drifting. i did get to be fire tender, which means more to me spiritually than i think anyone except maybeaislinggheal can appreciate, and while i was getting into THAT, i was then separated from the rest of the ritual. and maybe that's the way it should be, but i was somewhat disappointed. i don't recall the omens, (as usual) except that they were good :)
so my tasks or goals are not just to get some juice out of the ritual when i'm leading it, but also when i'm doing essentially nothing too. gotta love that. (incidentally, this also happened at summerlands too).
Hearth
well, this was a tad ... disappointing, too. Winternights (10/15) we offered to frey and the alfar (grain) freya and the disir (amber necklace; these offerings went in as praise offerings at 3CG); odhinn and sleipnir for the wild hunt (mead and oats). i still feel angsty when doing rites at home withseamus_mcnasty, and i don't know why that is. we don't do a very good job of communicating what it is we want to do (although we are both to blame for that, except that it's ALL HIS FAULT :D...KIDDING!!!), and it seems to fall to me to come up with something, and then try to communicate it in between conference calls....but i digress :)
So, overall a good start to 'da season,' aside from the awkwardness. we lit candles (yes, those i was look for :) to 7 categories of ancestors (great great grandparents; great grand parents; great uncles; great aunts; grand parents; aunts; uncles) that we kept burning as much as possible until 10/31.
the fete ghede on beggar's night was a similar miscommunication, and a ritual never got performed, although we did have the altar with the offerings. and more importantly, we hadduriyah and ... C (i'll find his lj name in a bit) to share with us and THAT was cool :) i hope they had fun and will be back later. and then, we did NOT do a home samhain rite. that is the most disappointing aspect of all. especially given how deeply moving this whole set up was last year :/
so, now it's on to yule...what does one do for 12 days? :)
what samhain means
I've always been intrigued by (some) pagans argument that christianity is icky because it's a death cult, focusing around the death of their main figure; when what is arguably THE high day for the neopagan community is Samhain...which focuses on death as well. There's the death of the land. Okay, sure it's dormant and barring some kind of global change or geopolitical tragedy, it'll be back in the spring. but basically we're talking about dead trees, dead flowers, dead animals (some). and while we are blessed in the US to not have much to worry about on this end, the death of family and tribe through a long winter is also a concern.
when i teach non-neopagans about samhain, i usually sum it up as a conglomeration of 3 holidays with which most americans would get: memorial day, thanksgiving, and new year's eve. the memorial day aspect is obviously the 'death' one, the focus on ancestors. perhaps in ancient times, this time of year began a season in which many of them 'left,' and that is why there is the view that the veil is thinner at this time of year? or maybe the harvesting and butchering and preserving being essentially done for the year, or close to it, our paleopagan ancestors had time to observe the worlds around them, and actually notice how close they really are. either way, contacting the dead is easier then, and even now i usually find myself thinking about my relatives who have gone on more during this season, or more disturbingly my own death. this is not a pleasant thought. i'm not necessarily scared to BE dead, but i'm pretty darn afraid of the actual process of dying, and so looking for distractions from thinking about this very real, tangible, and unavoidable process is paramount :)
Thus leading to the second theme i see, that of thanksgiving. not only just for being alive another year (although i think that is also something worthy of thanks) but also to the land for providing for us another year, regardless of whether we deserve it or not; to our deceased ancestors and living relatives for giving us life; to the many thousands of things most of us have to be thankful for, if we were to every truly sit down and think about it.
The third theme is that of new year's eve. I often wonder if we shouldn't be using the term 'celt' to refer to modern day 'goths,' as day starts when it gets dark, and the year starts at the end of the fun time, rather than at the beginning (spring). anyway, celtic new year celebrated at the end of summer, so to me this is an appropriate time for oaths, as 'new year's resolutions.'
stone soup circle
i was the ritual leader for this rite, and i've mentioned the process in numerous posts already. i worked on the ritual in some way for about 3 months. most of that was mental, but not all of it. i borrowed heavily, once again, from 'the apple branch' as it touches on most of the themes i discussed above. when we got together, i actually cast a circle. given the time of year, and every other pagan and vaguely-pagan person casting this and conjouring that, with wildly differing levels of skill and knowledge and intention, it seemed like the prudent thing to do. it was the first time i had done so in a while, and had COMPLETELY forgotten everything i used to say. i even forgot a wand or athame! so i used the knife that we would use later and just...spoke. and i don't know about everyone else, but i certainly felt it. woot!
our first act was to symbolically extinguish the hearth fires, so everyone had lit candles they brought from home (we had extras). i walked around the circle, reading a poem about the coming of winter and blew a candle out on each line. (this all would have been REALLY COOL had it been actually DARK.) at that point, i lit the fire in the hearth to symbolically "re"kindle the community fire, and folks put offerings/sacrifices into it. the next step, i think (wow, i'm blanking) was the journey to the land of the dead. each person got a pomegranite seed (not celtic, i know...sue me) to grant them admission. they closed their eyes and we sang "Mothers and Fathers of Old" while we visualized a bridge building. once it was done, i asked folks to envision a bridge and mists swirling about it.
now...had things worked, they would have opened their eyes to a shelter house with mist on the floor. however, dry ice being the PAIN IN THE ASS that it is, there was a lack of mist....so we tested visualization skills :)
seamus_mcnasty played the role of Donn, who granted admission to folks to be able to speak to their ancestors. some folks had very powerful experiences (one whom i thought we'd have to go in and get!) so that made me feel good. after that we made oaths. BEFORE each person oathed, i reminded them that they were making this oath in the presence of their tribe and their tribe's ancestors, and we would hold them accountable. only 3 people made oaths, only one of which was challenged, and then amended to the satisfaction of all. we said goodbye to the land of the dead. participants then relit their candles from the hearth fire, and we drew omens we were to meditate upon. (i got a polymer clay leaf.) then we went to fazoli's :)
i never get much out of ritual when i lead it. this is something i think i need to work on.
Three Cranes
i was originally psyched b/c i did NOT have an invocation or part in the rite.
seamus_mcnasty and i did the centering thing, but other than that i could just sit back and relax and get into the rite.EXCEPT....i'm so used to HAVING a part (and being good at getting into the ritual moment in that way, ever since summerset), that i found myself kind of drifting. i did get to be fire tender, which means more to me spiritually than i think anyone except maybe
aislinggheal can appreciate, and while i was getting into THAT, i was then separated from the rest of the ritual. and maybe that's the way it should be, but i was somewhat disappointed. i don't recall the omens, (as usual) except that they were good :)so my tasks or goals are not just to get some juice out of the ritual when i'm leading it, but also when i'm doing essentially nothing too. gotta love that. (incidentally, this also happened at summerlands too).
Hearth
well, this was a tad ... disappointing, too. Winternights (10/15) we offered to frey and the alfar (grain) freya and the disir (amber necklace; these offerings went in as praise offerings at 3CG); odhinn and sleipnir for the wild hunt (mead and oats). i still feel angsty when doing rites at home with
seamus_mcnasty, and i don't know why that is. we don't do a very good job of communicating what it is we want to do (although we are both to blame for that, except that it's ALL HIS FAULT :D...KIDDING!!!), and it seems to fall to me to come up with something, and then try to communicate it in between conference calls....but i digress :)So, overall a good start to 'da season,' aside from the awkwardness. we lit candles (yes, those i was look for :) to 7 categories of ancestors (great great grandparents; great grand parents; great uncles; great aunts; grand parents; aunts; uncles) that we kept burning as much as possible until 10/31.
the fete ghede on beggar's night was a similar miscommunication, and a ritual never got performed, although we did have the altar with the offerings. and more importantly, we had
duriyah and ... C (i'll find his lj name in a bit) to share with us and THAT was cool :) i hope they had fun and will be back later. and then, we did NOT do a home samhain rite. that is the most disappointing aspect of all. especially given how deeply moving this whole set up was last year :/ so, now it's on to yule...what does one do for 12 days? :)
