Samhain On The East Coast

Well hurricane Sandy is coming and it looks like it's going to change plans for most trick or treaters. We are in the south east part of Ohio so we may have snow next week.

I had already decided weeks ago that we would not be joining a group this year for Samhain. I felt a need to stay home and keep it all in the family. Especially since this will be the first time we will do a ritual in our new apartment.

My ritual also involves bringing out my genealogy records. That's what I love about rituals, you can use virtually anything that has meaning to you! Have you ever used your family tree during Samhain or when evoking your ancestors? So many pages and I only know the stories of a short few; which is sad when you think about it.

Someone posted a poem on FB yesterday that I thought really put my feelings into words perfectly. I'll also be using this poem in our Samhain ritual. I do not know the author of this poem, so if this is your work or if you know who wrote it please tell me so I may give credit.

STRANGERS IN THE BOX
Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, and serene.

I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories,
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time,
To tell, who, what, where, and when,
These faces of my heritage,
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate,
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories,
Someday to be passed away?

Take time to save your stories,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours,
Could be strangers in the box.

Will you be changing your Samhain or Halloween plans because of hurricane Sandy?

Celebration of the Stag

 Celebration of the Stag

By: SalemWitchChild, Oct. 2007

 Autumn time and we all dance to the chime. 

Fires burn and hearts sublime. 

Goddess sleeps and God now reigns. 

Leaves sing a tune that sustains.

Harvest moon bright and soaring.

Under her light now we're mourning.

For our ancestors we sing a spritely tune,

Gather 'round for the feast of the hunters moon.

The stag is here to lead our games.

"It's Samhain time", the stag exclaims.

Honor ourselves, ancestors, and everyone. 

May all our days be blessed and with light. 

For our God is here this night.

What to do with Unwanted Candy

Image Source

 So in our family Tootsie rolls are the "leftovers". No one wants to eat them for some reason. Unless they come in a sucker. Then DD will fight over them. At least until she's ate all the sugary goodness off of them.

So what can we do with tootsie rolls? Well you can make a sphinx like our creative friend here at ericfaller.com did. Or, you can cook with them!

Re-purposing tootsie rolls is a good way for them to be happily eaten. I know in my house I hate to throw any food away! It comes from not having much food as a kid. Throwing any food away is a travesty in my mind. After all there are plenty of others in the world that would very much love to have what you are all too willing to throw in the garbage.

Here is a fudge recipe using tootsie rolls. Taste of Home Tootsie Roll Fudge This looks so yummy! Here is a Tootsie roll rice Krispies treat. Oh yum! I think I might have to do this one. This same site also has a Tootsie roll devils food cake.

Who says you shouldn't play with your food? You could make a tootsie roll rose.

What kind of candy sits around in your home? And what do you do with it?

31. How do You Wish To Be Buried?

~Magickal Graphics~ Happy Halloween and I hope everyone has a blessed Samhain! I thought I'd talk today about how you wish to be buried once you reach your final end. I know death isn't often a topic people wish to discuss. I know I don't want to dwell on it. But all must come to an end, and that end is smoother sailing for our relatives if there is a plan made. I admit, I don't have a will. And I'm not sure my husband has any idea what I really want. But now that I'm publishing it here, its certainly going to be available for all to read just in case.

I use to say I didn't want to be cremated. I mean witch equals big burning fire! Hello? Didn't my ancestor get similar treatment? OK well bad example, she was hung. But somehow burning my body had less appeal. But then I thought about it some more.

Cremation has a long history. Historians believe it started approximately 3000 B.C in Europe.**Source It was only with the early Christians that we begin to see burials become popular.

So here is how I want my burial to go. When I die, I do want to be cremated. But I do not want an elaborate urn or a big funeral. I want those people who mattered most to me to scatter my ashes to the 4 winds and 4 elements. Keeping only a small vial of ashes for each person to carry with them as the 5th Spirit element. I'll leave my family to decide exactly where to scatter my ashes. But I would like them to visit a different state for each direction.

• In the North, Somewhere in Ohio. My ashes should be mixed with Earth and left in the corn fields my husband all too often teases me for loving so much.
•  East can be somewhere on the East Coast. My ashes should be mixed with sea water. Because in life I may not be able to visit the sea, but in spirit I will visit often.
•  West, well I won't make them go to the coast, but as far west as they'd like to go. Just reach a high point, and let air carry me away.
•  South, my old Kentucky Home. Build a fire somewhere in the woods with my ashes. Roast some marshmallows, and hear me laugh and dance around the fire.

And I have a poem I'd like them to read aloud.

Do Not Stand at my Grave

Do not stand at my brave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am the thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on a ripened grain,

I am the gentle Autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning rush,

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

This is apart of 31 days of Samhain

 

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30. Share or write a guided Samhain meditation.

A Samhain Guided Meditation

By: SalemWitchChild

Oct 23, 2011

Lets begin by sitting in a comfortable position. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Become aware of each part of your body starting from your toes. Relax each muscle as you work your way up to your ankles, calves, knees, hops, arms, hands, fingers, shoulders, and neck. 

See yourself sitting in your home next to a window. You look out that window and see a willow tree with a Raven sitting in its branches. The Raven calls to you and invites you to the other realm. 

You walk outside and stand before the Raven and the willow tree. The Raven spreads his wings and the leaves of the tree transform into a shimmering doorway. This is the Samhain veil between worlds. 

The Raven calls you to follow as he enters the veil; you follow. 

On the other side you see the street of your childhood home. Ahead you see your ancestors are waiting for you outside of your home. Each have a message for you. Some just wish to be remembered, others have a message or advice to give. Listen to your ancestors and ask any questions you have now. 

The Raven calls and awaits you at the door to the veil. It is time for you to give your thanks to your ancestors for their love and advice. You follow the Raven through the shimmering veil once again. 

On the side of the living, you face the Raven and the willow tree and give thanks for their assistance. The Raven calls and promises to open the Samhain veil next year. 

Begin coming aware of your breathing and your body. Move your neck, arms, hands, fingers, legs, and toes one by one. You become more aware of your surroundings and finally are awake. Remember each message your ancestors gave you. Write them down so that you may reflect upon their advice. 

I hope you have had a wonderful visit with your ancestors. 

Blessed Be

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26. Talk about Halloween colors. Black

Black has a bad view of being evil or only about death. When we think of black the Grim Reaper might come to mind. For me, Black represents change. This change might be unwelcome. I might view it as positive or negative. But it's change that I cannot stop. Its neither evil or good. It just is.

I am a person who hates change. I like things the way they are and to move something or to change the rules just throws a wrench into my day. Take my  family for instance. Living with MIL/FIL is a challenge in and of itself. Given my MIL's propensity for changing the furniture and other items around the house, it gets a bit irritating when I no longer know where things go! That's a minor change though.

Black happens to be my favorite color, and not because we associate it with the Fall and Samhain. I like to wear it, I like to make black candles. One of my best candles I've made is a black Lilly of the Valley skull. I wish I had pictures of it! I made it for a co-worker years ago and I was so proud of it. Unfortunately I've misplaced the pictures of my candles.

Its late and I'm rambling. I apologize!

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23. Share a Poem (written by you or someone else with credit) about Samhain/Halloween.

I wrote this poem in 2007 when I wanted to do babysitting in my home. I did get an interview to babysit one little boy, but it didn't work out. That's not to say this poem didn't work in ritual for me. It did bring me a little boy. It's just I was meant to do other things, and shortly thereafter I found a wonderful job that I loved doing even more than I would have loved babysitting.

So here it is,

Bring to me a person of means, 
who needs my service and works well with me. 


Whose children are wonderful and well behaved, 
who plays with Sierra and loves my name. 


I call to thee now notice my name, 
by the beginning of the new moon,


So mote it be

I know its not about Samhain, but there you have it. Maybe my writing will inspire someone today. :)

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22. Samhain Divination. Draw one Tarot card and tell us how it relates to your life.

Source

The 6 of cups: This card represents opening the heart to the simple pleasures of life. This card reminds us to follow the simple joy of youth and innocence. It teaches us to be in harmony with natural forces and allow old friends to enter our life again.

This card makes a lot of sense to me. This year has been all about change and getting back to my husbands (and mine) childhood homes. Though my family in Ohio is not on speaking terms, I do still consider Ohio to be "The homeland". Really, I have two home states, because although I will gladly bitch about how backward Kentucky really is, I've grown fond of it over the years.

As far as the "simple pleasures", well I could read that in a lot of ways. Earlier I said I want to live like a gypsy. That would involve bringing the simple pleasures back to our life. We wouldn't have access to things like cable TV or the Internet. Both things Dh and I both love and find it difficult to live without. Yet there is a certain health benefit (Both spiritual and physical) of unplugging and being closer to nature. I've long said that I believe embracing our faith more and getting back to nature are going to be how Dh's mental illness is maybe not cured, but controlled.

I suppose what will be will be. I'm trusting in the Lord & Lady to guide us. I'm sure she will. But like anyone now, I'm impatient to get things moving! I have a feeling around the first of the year things will turn around for us. Which isn't soon enough for me. But we shall see.

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24. What are you doing to prepare for winter?

It's hard to prepare for winter when you don't have your own house to prepare. We do have two cars though. Which reminds me, time to remind DH to "winterize" the cars; whatever that means. I pretend not to know much about cars, and DH does all the work. Perfect solution for me! *giggle*.

For winter, I'd love to be harvesting and stocking food. Buying or better yet making quilts, repairing or replacing winter clothing, etc.. Due to our living arrangement, I can't do those things. What I really need, is a home!

Can you tell the past few days I've been really irritated with our living arrangement? That's because MIL is irritated, which makes me irritated. I don't handle conflict well, even when its a "passive" conflict. She's not being rude or mean. But she's gone on a cleaning spree, rearranged our room, and then "jokingly" said if it's not kept to her standards she will throw away our stuff. I hate this passive aggressive crap. But I hate shouting and fighting even more. As a kid I suffered in a home with that kind of environment and I never wanted that for me or my kids again.

It's past time for us to be out of this house, but were stuck. HELP! I need someone to hand me a winning lotto ticket. Not that I'm not willing to work for what I want. But every time I try I don't seem to be getting anywhere.

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20. Tell us a Tale about an Ancestor of yours who has passed.

I've already wrote about my grandfather, who was a soldier in WWII. I'd like to point you to an older post of mine to tell his story. You may read it at...

My Grandfather was a Son of Biche'

On his personal side, my grandfather was on big hulk of cuddly bear love. I just remember him as a non threatening, very comfy man who I loved dearly. When visiting his house I only went to visit him and my great granny. I never understood how such a wonderful kind man could be married to such a horrid abusive wife. He would get screamed at by my grandmother and he'd just sit there patiently listening. Then comment in a mild almost bored manor about whatever topic she was going off on. He certainly taught me a lot about how to handle conflict and patience. He had a lot more than I do!

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19. A Samhain Resolution

I've thought about this for a few days. Normally for a New Years resolution I say I make a resolution to not make more resolutions. Because inevitably I always don't carry through with my plans. I know my many flaws. I'm obese, I eat too many munchies, I'd like to fix my teeth, I have too many bills that need paid. There are several improvements I could do in my life. But inevitably they never get done for some reason or another.

Last year I finally decided I'd had enough of being overweight. So I joined curves and went on a diet. I charted how many calories I ate every day through Sparkpeople.com. I drank only water most of the time. Those times I did allow myself to indulge in Pepsi (My Achilles heel!) I kept it to one 8 oz can with dinner. I was doing anywhere from 1200 - 1500 calories per day which is what the trainer at curves suggested for me. I wasn't there long, maybe 5 weeks. I lost only 5 lbs. But the important thing is that I was starting to feel great. I had a routine, I was sticking to it, and I even began to look forward to my time at Curves.

Then we went to a family BBQ and the kids wanted to ride a horse. My mother owned a 25yr old Shetland Pony. He was barn sour*. We tried to lunge him but the little shit was lazy too. Needless to say he bucked, I grabbed the kid, the pony took off and knocked me down. I twisted my ankle and turns out I had chipped my foot yet again. I had chipped my other foot the year before on slick ice. I had to be off my foot for almost a month. I needed physical therapy, crutches, then a boot for awhile. I took off work because I couldn't drive with the boot on. Needless to say my weight loss routine was derailed. I did plan to get back to my weight loss plan, and then I got pregnant with Wyatt. Knowing that I was considered high risk because I've had a miscarriage before, I didn't want to take the chance of loosing our son by doing a weight loss plan.

So how does this relate to a Samhain resolution? Well, I make the resolution that I'll loose the weight sometime. It won't be today, not even tomorrow. But when I feel it's right to join a gym again (Because I need that kind of motivation) and when I have my own home again, I'll begin!

And as far as changing those other things, well with money maybe I will be able to change those too. But until then, I am beautiful in my own way and I'm happy with my life now.

Ponyboy, who was responsible for breaking my foot.
He is now re-homed with a no-child family.

*Barn Sour is when a horse will buck or rear and then race to the barn rather than be worked or rode. It happens when they haven't been rode in a long time and are use to staying in the barn or paddock.

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18. What God(dess) do you involve in your Samhain rites?

Source

I don't believe its absolutely necessary to involve a specific deity in rituals. I've mentioned before that I am connected to Isis, but for Samhain I don't really work with her. I don't know why, her connection to life, death, and rebirth is strong. For Samhain, if I'm working solitary, I simply use "The Universal Energy". Or just Lord and Lady. If my husband is working with me, we may use The Great Spirit. All of them work for me. As long as I'm able to connect with that divine energy I don't believe it's important what we call it. 

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17. Favorite Scary Monster

Werewolves would be my favorite scary monster. I mean, who wouldn't love to be a wolf? I like the werewolves that turn fully wolf, not the half-man/half-wolf you see in the picture to your left. Though that is an awesome picture. :)

I suppose everyone has a little part of us that would love to be able to shed their human life and go feral for awhile. No human problems to plague us. Just basic animal instincts and needs. Of course, we couldn't do that forever, hence a werewolf has the best of both worlds! I don't like the movies where they portray the werewolf as dumb savage animals who only want to maim and kill though. Wolves are actually very intelligent creatures with a dynamic family life.

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16. What is your favorite Halloween Project(s) for the kids?

Projects for Samhain/Halloween can be made from items around the house. Have your kids collect some fallen leaves, use uncooked pasta, paper plates, food coloring and whatever else you have handy for the kids to create. One of the more simpler things to do is make a pentacle out of a paper plate, construction paper, and glue leaves around the outside. This makes a perfect decoration for your children's door. Gather twigs and make one for your front door instead of making the circle out of paper.

Another thing I like to do is a wishing cauldron. Fill a small cauldron or bowl with milk. Everyone gets a small piece of paper (sticky notes work well here). Everyone writes one wish and one thing they wish to let go of. A ritual is done and you can choose to either read your wishes aloud or just fold the paper and add to the cauldron. At end of ritual, dig a hole and consecrate the wishing cauldron's contents to Earth.

I'm sorry this is so short. I had a long sleepless night with my baby and mom is tired!

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15. Share a picture of a pet in costume.

Not for Halloween, but equally cute! Sierra Belle and Kota Blue Storm

You can really see how they love each other.

My little Wonder Woman & the hippy dog! 

Kota hates costumes. Two seconds after snapping this photo she got out of it. lol

In case anyone is wondering, Kota is a blue merle rough collie.

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14. Favorite Halloween costumes for adults and/or children.

As a child I would almost always dress up as a witch. One of my favorite costumes as a child was one year when my mother did not have enough money to buy the premade costumes, she dressed me up in her old 70's outfits, gave me big hoop earrings and I went as a gypsy. It was so fun, and that year I had a lot of compliments on my costume at school.

One of my favorite costumes I've dressed my daughter in is a witch costume. I found a dress at Goodwill that reminded me of a 20's style dress. DD loved it and wore it till it literally fell apart. The only other things I bought to complete her outfit was a witch hat and wig which cost me about $8 at Wal-Mart.

This is my favorite Halloween picture of DD. So pretty. :) 

Showing off her dress. We added a shirt underneath the dress for warmth.

Here are some links to costume sales around the web.

• Discount Halloween Costumes - This site has a "Below cost sale". So maybe something there will strike you as the perfectly priced outfit! 

Here are some links that discuss how to make your own costumes. 

• Dollar Stretcher.com - Cheep and simple costumes using household items.
• Last Minute Costumes

This year I'm not sure what my daughter is going to come up with. The baby won't get dressed up though. I hope these links help you!

BB

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13. Favorite Halloween movie.

I'm actually not into scary movies. As a kid I'd see a lot of things that scared me, so Freddy and all those other 80's horror flicks just wasn't appealing to me. I was the kid that if I watched a scary movie late at night, I wouldn't be able to go to sleep without waking up screaming Freddy was going to get me. Once upon a time even Wizard of Oz was a bit too dark for me.

Source

So instead I like the childish Halloween movies. Disney channel has a few good ones and I watch them with my daughter every year. Usually Halloween Town is the more popular one. Its silly, its fun, and the best part is it won't give me or my daughter night terrors.

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12. How do you celebrate Samhain/Halloween?

I separate Samhain and Halloween into separate parts. Halloween is just fun with my daughter. We like to dress up and go trick or treating or hand out candy. Usually Dh and I will take turns walking around with our daughter while one of us (Namely my husband) sits on the porch handing out candy. Where we use to live we didn't get too many TOTers so by 7pm he was normally indoors and we were "Stuck" with candy. Oh poor us. lol.

For Samhain we would meet up with The Circle of the Blue Moon for the day. We'd spend it participating in ritual or just hanging out talking about various Pagan topics. We made a lot of good friends that way and helped a few people along the way. Usually there is at least one or two people who need healing and the High Priestess would ask me to assist once in awhile.

Now that we are in Ohio I'm not sure what we are going to do. There isn't much money to buy candy or costumes. Though my daughter is determined to make her own costume if she has to. And I think she may have sweet talked my mother into sending her something. She's almost 10 yrs old now and I've tried to convince her to just hand out candy. After all that can be fun right? Nooo. Evidently not. She won't have it. I'm not even sure if there is TOTing in our area. I assume so since there are a lot of kids around here.

As for ritual, I have to ask Lynn from Innanas Spiritual Center if she'll be doing anything. If not, or if she is leaving town, I may just skip it this year. Or maybe I'll just bake a nice pie for Dh and enjoy his pleasure at eating something I made. Who knows. I'm a bit spontaneous and not making plans kinda gal!

Sierra Belle as Cleopatra

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11. Share your favorite recipe for Samhain dinner.

So I'm not the worlds greatest cook. I'm not even my families best cook. But for Samhain I like to keep it simple. I don't like to eat pumpkin, however I do like to cook for my husband so one year I decided to make pumpkin pie from scratch. I didn't come up with my own recipe. So I'll share a recipe similar to what I followed.

Buy 2 small pumpkins. They MUST be small ones. The large pumpkins do not have very much meat and your pie won't come out as well. If you want to skip this step, you can buy pumpkin puree.

Cut your small pumpkin in half and clean out the seeds and "stringy stuff". Save the seeds, they can be baked for a yummy treat. Now you can steam, microwave, or do as I did and bake upside down on a flat baking sheet @ 350 for about 30-45 minutes.

Once its baked, scoop the meat of the pumpkin out and puree in a blender. If your puree is a bit watery, let it sit for 30 minutes and then pour off the water using a coffee filter.

Next you need:

1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
And your puree.
I just buy the pumpkin spice mix. But if you don't want to do that add:
1 tsp ground clove
1tsp all spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cans evaporated milk

Mix, pour into your pie crust and bake for 350 degrees until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Approx an hour.

Cool your pie and enjoy!

NOTE: The water you poured off the pumpkin puree can be saved and used in soup!

Also, if you have leftover pumpkin puree, you can freeze this and use it for later, or its a good medicinal use for your pets when they have an upset stomach/gastrointestinal problems.

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9. Share a Pagan/Wiccan story about Halloween/Samhain.

Hmm. A Story about Halloween or Samhain. Well I could recite mythological stories about Samhain, but chances are you've heard them before or can easily look them up on other various sites. So I'll save that for another time. My story is more personal.

Many years ago at another Samhain festival with The Circle of the Blue Moon the group was doing a small reenactment. At the time I just thought it a sad story about young witches who chose to kill themselves rather than be killed or convert to Christianity. That is until the reenactment sparked a vision and I saw myself walking into the sea. The vision brought me to tears, and it makes sense why I am so fearful of deep water, and why I refuse to eat any fish! I can taste the dirty water I choked on in a past life.  I knew from that day on that the High Priestess had shared that life with me, which is why she chose to do the reenactment. It was the most powerful vision I have ever had. But I needed to see it to spark more interest in learning about Wicca and following my path.

Lisa Thiel- Samhain Song

The Witch's Sabbat

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