A Major Decision I've Made

So, I decided the other night that I'm going to do something I think I am ready to do. After about 4 years of studying & learning (and I'm not even finished), reading, preparing, I am getting myself ready to do a Self-Dedicating ceremony. I feel that after these years of hard work I've committed into the learning process, I am ready to serve the God &Goddess wholeheartedly.

Now, I'm not big on doing the whole big ritual thing that a lot feel they have to do, when I do my ceremony, it will reflect me & who I am. I am an Eclectic follower of the Old Ways, I borrow from other Paths to make my own, but yet I still follow a certain pantheon of Deities. I also have a special place in my heart that resonates with me on a spiritual level that would be a perfect place to do this. It is in the wilds of NS, where nature is as bountiful as the ever-changing leaves on the trees. It is a place that I fell in love with the 1st time I visited there, a place that I felt a great connection to the Earth spirits and Gaia, Herself.

I am preparing myself for this by what I eat, how I conduct myself and with a lot of meditation with my guides to assist me. I do not know when exactly I will be doing this, I will just know when it's right.

Cheap & Easy Samhain Decorations

Ok, I'm on a tight budget this year & can't spend a whole lot on Samhain decorations. I've been decorating my home, as well as my workplace. I've been re-using stuff from years gone by and I also came up with some new ideas from things around my house. For instance, you can take an ordinary black garbage bag and make a spooky entrance to you home (mine is on my patio).

Laying out a garbage bag with the open end facing you, cut into strips about 1" in width, without cutting all the way through to the other end. Leave about 1" at the top, as this is what holds it all together. When all the strips are cut, cut along both closed sides of the bag and along the top where the bag is joined. Pull & stretch the strips at varying lengths (careful not to stretch too much). Now this is ready to hang in your home or outside on a porch/patio.



Another thing I make is kitchen-catcher ghosts. These are made from those small Glad kitchen catcher garbage bags. I stuff the bag with crumpled up newspaper, about 1/4 the way up in the bag. Tie it off with some string. Then draw a spooky face on the front and cut strips down the length of the body. You can hang these on trees, from you patio railing, inside from the ceiling, etc. It's way cheaper than buying those ghosts at the store when you already have these in your kitchen drawers.

Here's something new for me this year. Get an old pair of white pantyhose, stuff it with a paper ball in the toe part. Drop in plastic spiders, cut to a desired length and hang from anywhere in the house. This looks like a huge spider's nest hanging around. Kinda gross. You can also make your own silhouettes for your windows. If you don't have any black bristol board, construction paper, use a black garbage bag. Tape the bag taut on a table, so it won't slip around on you. Use a spooky template or draw freehand a design. Using an Xacto knife, cut out the pattern and tape it to your window. For an extra creepy effect, use some green tissue paper as a backdrop. Just cover the whole window with it and voila!! Instant decoration.

These are some of the ideas I used this year to make Samhain a bit more "festive" in a sombre way. Happy decorating!!

Samhain Shortbread

Here is my shortbread recipe I use at this time of year (ok, Yule, too) It was my grandmother's recipe and they are a good cookie to use with witchy cookie cutters. You will need:

• 1 Cup butter (real butter, not margarine)
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

Cream together in a bowl, the first 4 ingredients until light & fluffy. Then blend in the last 2 ingredients and combine well. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll to a 1/4" thickness. Cut into shapes with a floured cookie cutter. Bake at 300F for about 8-10 minutes. Add icing, sprinkles, etc for decoration.

Correspondences for Samhain

Symbolism: Third Harvest, wisdom of the Crone, death of the God, reflection on our place in the Wheel of the Year, New Year, reincarnation, the dark mysteries, Rebirth after Death.

Foods: turnips, apples, nuts, beef, pork, poultry, gingerbread.

Drinks: Mead, apple cider, mulled cider, mulled wines.

Herbs: Angelica, burdock, catnip, pennyroyal, rosemary, rue, sunflower, sage, thyme, wild ginseng, tarragon, mugwort.

Flowers: Calendula, chrysanthemum, cosmos, marigold.

Trees: Acacia, apple, cypress, hazel, hemlock, yew.

Incenses and oils: Bay, cedar, clove, copal, coriander, cypress, eucalyptus, frankincense, heather, mugwort, myrrh, patchouli, peppermint, sage, sandalwood, vetiver, wormwood.

Colors: Black, brown, orange.

Stones: Amber, beryl, bloodstone, carnelian, clear quartz, diamond, garnet, gold, granite, hematite, jasper, jet, marble, obsidian, opal, pyrite, rose sapphire, ruby, sandstone, smoky quartz, steel, tourmaline, turquoise.

Animals: Stag, jackal, cat, bat, ram, scorpion, heron, crow, robin.

Mythical creatures: Goblins, harpies.

Some appropriate Gods: all Death, Underworld, and aged Gods; Am-Heh (Egyptian), Anubis (Egyptian), Arawn (Welsh), Cernunnos (Celtic), Dis (Roman), Hades (Greek), Heimdahl (Norse), Herne (English), The Horned God (European), Kronos (Greek), Loki (Norse), Nefertum (Egyptian), Odin (Norse), Osiris (Egyptian), Pluto (Greco-Roman)

Some appropriate Goddesses: all Crone and Underworld Goddesses; Arachne (Greek), Aradia (Italian), Babd (Irish), Cerridwen (Welsh), Elli (Teutonic), Ereshkigal (Assyro-Babylonian), Eris (Greek), The Fates/Moerae (Greek), Fortuna (Roman), Freya/Frigg (Norse), Hecate (Greek), Hel (Teutonic), Inanna (Sumerian), Ishtar (Babylonian), Macha (Irish), Mari (Basque), Morrigan (Celtic), Nephthys (Egyptian), Nicneven (Scottish), Persephone (Greek), Psyche (Greek), Proserpina (Roman), Rhiannon (Welsh)

Decorations: Autumn leaves, fall flowers, pomegranates, apples, pumpkins, ears of corn, sprays of grain, corn dollies, gourds, nuts, seeds.

Traditional activities: divination, drying winter herbs, feasting and partying to defy the coming darkness (bob for apples, roast nuts, pop popcorn), Witches' Ball.

Spell/ritual work: astral projection, past life recall, Dark Moon mysteries, mirror spells, scrying, protection, inner work, clearing obstacles, transition, culmination, transformation. Releasing bad habits and toxic relationships, illness, failure and poverty; everything you do not want to carry into the new year.

An Update

Blessings to you all this cool October day!! Haven't been blogging that much due to having a cold & feeling miserable. The weather's has been reeking havoc on me...one day humid & hot, the next cold & grey. I'm even late on decorating the place for Samhain...egad!!

Please bear with me as I up my vitamin intake, echinacea and whatever else to rid myself of this pesky bug.

~Rowan

Blessed October

Well, my favorite month is upon us and even though we are again going through a hot, sticky spell here in the East, the feel of autumn's chill is not that far off in my mind. I've been busy the past couple of week's, since the Mabon ritual, getting things ready for fall. Bread has been baked, decorations brought out & sorted and fabric is being sewn. Ok, I have had a wee bit of a distraction, but things are moving along as planned. I've also been aware around me the feeling of the veil getting thinner as those who have passed on before me are making their presence known. I get this feeling twice a year, not just at Samhain, actually, I can even feel them around Yule, as well.

This is my first posting on the topic of Samhain. During this most magickal month I will be sharing with you recipes, decorating ideas and whatever else I can pull out of my pointed hat. I was thinking about putting up a Samhain/Hallowe'en themed background, but every other witchy blog is doing the same thing from all the background sites and since I just got this one, I'm kinda partial to it.