One of the things that I’ve loved about attending pagan moots in York is the connection with nature. It’s something that’s been lost in most of our everyday lives unless we really try to seek it out. I also love the diversity within the moot, I could do a whole post on the pagan group but it’s led by a Jewish pagan, and there’s a mix of Christians, agnostics, and a wealth of women who ascribe to different elements of witchery (kitchen witches, hedgewitches, eclectic, traditional, etc). The majority of whom were very active in the anti-fracking campaigns in North Yorkshire.
But I digress.
I’ve loved the focus on seasonality and living as naturally as possible as it fits in to my personal ethos that I try to ascribe to on a daily basis.
A brief background (because you know I love a bit of trivia and history):
The Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced ‘sowin‘) originated in Ireland, the UK and Northern France around 2,000 years ago. The Celtic new year started on November 1, and the day marked the official end of the summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold, hibernating and regenerating time of year (thus we usually associate it with death). They believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary that seperates the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. They would mark the occasion by making large bonfires, and the next morning they would relight their personal hearth fires with a flame from the sacred bonfire, helping protect their home for the upcoming year.
So how to celebrate when you aren’t a trick ‘o’ treater:
As a time of hibernation, its a great time to give way to some personal reflection, and practice gratitude. If you are having a night of revelry on Halloween, you can chose to celebrate Samhain on November 1st making it a day for more reflective occasion.
It’s a great time to focus on releasing bad habits from your life, letting go of past grievances, protecting your home and emotions and honouring grief. It’s also a great time to practice divination, if that’s something that interests you. (Did you know that the Halloween party game of bobbing for apples originally was a form of divination?)
These things all sound quite grand but can easily be practiced by recreating a family recipe, walking in nature, sharing a family story or creating a small space in your house that reminds you of the season, by bringing pumpkins, leaves, and other seasonal touches inside.
I love to honour the season by cooking things that are fairly bountiful at the time; apples, pumpkin, squash, and many root vegetables. (One of my other favourite Halloween facts is that jack’o’lanterns weren’t originally carved pumpkins but carved turnips.)
If you, like me, love essential oils and want to have something evocative and comforting in your diffuser during this time, I’d focus on sage, sandalwood, rosemary and sweetgrass. (Of course, always check if the essential oil you are using is safe for pets – not all are!)
Crystals that are great to use are fluorite, obsidian, smoky quartz and labradorite.
Will you be observing in any way?
