October's End

   

Its the end of October; the leaves are sporting the last of their autumn finery and glitz and the breezes hint of the snow yet to come. October is a heady month for me-- the colors and scents up here are truly amazing; my wedding anniversary occurs in this month as well as my Grandmother's birthday-gone now some 8 years. And of course Halloween

  October has long been my favorite month; for years I had 'that' house in the neighborhood-- the house where all the kids went ; the house that hosted the summer bonfires, cook-outs, and sleep overs. And at Halloween I had 'that' house that was decorated to the hilt, hosted the family Halloween parties, and sported walk through grave-yards in the front yard for trick or treaters. I reveled in it! 

   Things change though; the kids are grown, 'that' house is now inhabited by others-- but the Season 

 remains..

  *imagine above is from transitionsabroad.com and is a Day of the Dead Altar in Mexico*

  So! Halloween approaches and what will I do this year? Well, being a real live Witch it is pretty much sacrilegious to ignore the event all together-- though I miss the kids and fun and trick-r-treating.

  For me Halloween is the secular fun of tricks and treats, kids in costume-adults in costume, and parties. Samhain ('sow-in') in the religious aspect of it and means 'summers end' or 'summers twilight' in Irish Gaelic . The energies of this realm thin and spread out allowing the energies from other realms to come in and mingle. It is a time of spirits -- both human and non. Of reverence for those who have gone before us and for preparing to go within ourselves for the dark part of the year. For me it is a time of Preparing....

  It is the most misunderstood of the witchy holidays-- because it IS dark and it DOES deal with death and endings. It does NOT, however, revel in  death, celebrate gore, or promote evil. Samhain asks us to respect and face Death in a mature and reverent way--acknowledging an afterlife and that the endings are often the mirrored miracles of the beginnings (birth). Samhain is about our own mortality, responsibilities, and ideals. It is a sacred time..

 So in the next few days I will gather my decoration and herbs, stones and bones, flowers, and leaves. candles will be set and lit and ancestors honored.... I will perform divination for the winter ahead and commune with friends who have passed on but return to visit. I will listen for the soft sigh of the spirits that have no home and set a candle in the western window for them...