Samhain

Samhain Lore

It is traditional on Samhain night to leave a plate of food outside the home of the souls of the dead. A candle placed in the window guides them to the lands of eternal summer, and burying apples in the hard-packed earth "feeds" the passed ones on their journey.

For Food,
beets, turnips, apples, corn, nuts, gingerbread, cider, mulled wines and pumpkin dishes are appropriate, as are meat dishes.

The Altar
apples, pomegranates, pumpkins, squashes and other late autumn fruits. Autumn flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums are fine too cauldron or some similar tool on a trivet or some other heat-proof surface (if the legs aren’t long enough). A small, flat dish marked with an eight-spoked wheel symbol should also be there(if not its ok)

The Ritual
cast circle of protection, ask every one to enter,(with each person place a small dab of scared space oil on their forehead asking "how do you enter this circle?" they then respond "with perfect love and perfect trust") call the corners, evoke the God and Goddess.

sit quietly and think of friends and loved ones who have passed away. Do not despair. Know that they have gone on to greater things. Keep firmly in mind that the physical isn’t the absolute reality, and that souls never die.

Lift one of the pomegranates and, with your freshly-washed white-handled knife, pierce the skin of the fruit. Remove several seeds and place them on the wheel-marked dish. Raise your wand, face the altar and say:

On this night of Samhain I mark your passing,
O Sun King, through the sunset into the Land of the Young.
I mark also the passing of all who have gone before,
and all who will go after. O Gracious Goddess,
Eternal Mother, You who gives birth to the fallen,
teach me to know that in the time of the greatest
darkness there is the greatest light.

Taste the pomegranate seeds(this can also be done with juice is a pomegranate is not available) burst them with your teeth(or simply swish the juice around in your mouth) and savoir the, bittersweet flavor. Look down at the eight-spooked symbol on the plate; the wheel of the year, the cycle of the seasons, the end and beginning of all creation.(if you don't have plate with the wheel just remember the cycle)

Write on a piece of paper an aspect of your life which you wish to be free of: anger, a baneful habit, misplaced feelings, disease.

Light a fire within the cauldron (a candle is fine). Sit before it holding the piece of paper, gazing at its flames. Say:

Wise One of the Waning Moon,
Goddess of the starry night,
I create this fire within your cauldron
to transform that which is plaguing me.
May the energies be reversed:
From darkness, light!
From bane, good!
From death, birth!

Light the paper in the cauldron’s flame and drop it inside you may chose to share what you have writen on the paper with the others in your circle or you can keep it between your self and the God & Goddess. As it burns, know that your ill diminishes, lessens and finally leaves you as it is consumed within the universal fires.
take this time to look into the past. Try to recall past lives too(if you want). Release any pain and sense of loss you may feel into the cauldron’s flames. See your self being reborn and becoming the person you want to become, losing all of the things you want lost.

thank the God and Goddess for their participation, close your corners, release the circle, enjoy your meal, remember the ones you have lost, and cherish the ones you still have.  




thanks to http://www.tryskelion.com/tryskelion/samhain2.htm for the help in this ritual