Samhain with Friends

So tonight we did Samhain at Innana's Spiritual Center. Lynn had a beautiful ritual prepared. I helped by calling a corner (North). We honored our ancestors in a private setting. I ate a portion of a lemon in honor of my grandfather. When I was a kid every weekend that I visited my grandfather, he would take me to the truck stop restaurant. My grandmother would order tea with lemon. I'd always eat the lemon and my grandfather would get a pucker on his face and say EW stop eating that. I did it to get that very reaction and it became a game over the years for us. So each year to honor and if I'm being truthful annoy him, I eat a portion of a lemon. I know anytime I do, he's standing there telling me to stop eating the nasty lemon. ;)

After ritual we all mingled and talked. Someone there was talking about if you've had a c-section that your energy ends at the scar. I don't really believe that. But do we have any readers that believe this or have heard of this belief? I suppose if you believe that your nerves is what carries the energy it could be true. I don't though. It was just interesting to hear another perspective.




~Magickal Graphics~





And a special Thank you to my DD. She babysat for me and earned an extra $5 for her allowance. :)

27. Samhain with the Kids

Samhain is right around the corner and that means its time for my favorite holiday! Every year I've taken off work for Halloween to prepare for Samhain. This year since I'm not working I won't need to do that. This year, money is tight so we won't be able to do our normal 2+ Jack o Lantern carvings. So I'm looking for some inexpensive ideas for Samhain.

For those readers not in the know. Samhain (pronounced SOW-in, SAH-vin, or SAM-hayne) is the last of three harvest festivals. Its celebrated traditionally between OCT 31st and NOV 1st. It is the second time each year where the veil between worlds is thinner and we are able to communicate with our dead (The first being Beltane). It is a time to honor The Crone and our ancestors.

Sierra (My daughter) and I love to carve pumpkins for Samhain to scare away unwelcome spirits! So every year I spend at least a good day online finding exciting (and free) carving patterns. Perhaps this year instead of mutilating real pumpkins, we'll make our jack o lanterns out of paper. Or maybe we can find some other materials around the house. Anything round like a jar or ball would work. Obviously for those options we wouldn't use any heat source to light it.

Sierra as a Witch

Another thing I've loved to do is come up with an inexpensive option for dressing Sierra up. Last year we bought a witches hat and a wig. She wore an old dress and went Trick or Treating as a witch. By far this was my most favorite costume and it only cost me $5. Unfortunately in the move to Ohio the hat had an untimely death. So we'll need to come up with something new this year. Or perhaps I can convince her to stay home and hand out candy to the younger kids. That would make me a happy momma!

As far as the Samhain ritual, we are going to join up with Inanna's Spiritual Center. I've talked Rev. Lynn to do a ritual at her center. There is a small group that wants it to happen at the center too so hopefully it will be a night of ritual and companionship. I can't wait! We are doing it on the 30th so everyone can go without our jobs (For those who have them) and school interfering.

This is apart of 31 Days of Samhain

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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

This is apart of 31 Days of Samhain

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How was your Weekend? Happy Monday!

Good Monday morning everyone. So how was your weekend? Mine went pretty well. Normally on Wednesdays I go to the women's group at Innana's Spiritual Center. They are lovely Pagan ladies and we chat about various topics. I skipped last weeks meeting because I wanted to save some gas so I could go to their Mabon harvest celebration on Saturday. I was going to get pictures of everyone and our harvest tree, but alas, I was busy with my 4 month old so it never crossed my mind. I must give a thumbs up for baby wearing in the circle! My daughter was a trooper though, she didn't feel like participating so she held Wyatt for a while so I could be in circle. But at the end she got tired and that's when I popped Wyatt into my Moby wrap and we were good to go.

If your in the Chillicothe Ohio area drop by Innanas for a visit. They have some exciting things happening there. There is a woman's retreat as well as some other things. I unfortunately won't be able to go to some of those. But I continue to go almost every Wednesday and some Saturdays just for some social interaction.

Sunday I wrote a bit more on the All Hallows Grim Blog Party. I have the outline almost complete and I have a couple of paragraphs written. So far I think its going to be more sexy than scary, but that's just my style.

Dh's mom made a fantastic Sunday dinner. She is an awesome cook. She made sweet rolls, homemade chicken noodles and mashed potatoes. Yummy!

Well I hope your coming week is fantastic! Happy Mabon everyone.

Prompt: Solitary Longing

Prompt: Solitary longing...

This week's prompt comes from reader suggestions, and I think it is something we should all think about....

If you are a Solitary, do you ever long for a mentor, coven or friend to learn with, learn from, or practice with? If so, what keeps you from seeking to join with others?

I am solitary but I do have mentors of a sort. First and foremost I have my very best friend in the whole wide world - my husband. He has taught me a lot not just about Wicca but magick in general. There are also others who have influenced me such as Linda Tipton who is the High Priestess of the Circle of the Blue Moon located in Louisville Kentucky. She also owns a pagan store called Moonstruck.  We would join her coven during sabbots from time to time. Or we would just hang out at her store for some Pagan fellowship.

Now that we have moved to Ohio we are looking for other pagans to join up with. I've found Innana's Spiritual Center. While its new, they do have an amazing womens group. The people coming for meetings is ever growing and we really enjoy getting together and chatting.

The reason I like to be solitary is because honestly I am anti-social. Both my husband and I have been hurt in our life by other people so we are not very trusting. We find socialization at a distance is better for us.