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France, All Saints' Day, 1 November, is a public holiday.
In earlier times people in many lands would put garlic on West-facing windows and
open the shutters to allow the good family dead to enter It was also the time when
the cattle were brought from the hills for the winter and either put in byres or
slaughtered for meat, having been driven between twin fires to purify them. These
fires also served to drive away bad spirits who were believed to lurk at the
transition of the year. Food was stored for the winter and so it is a time of
housekeeping, spiritually as well as physically and mentally.
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Fears of the unknown and evil have become focused around this festival: our
ancestors projected their anxieties on to bad witches and malevolent faeries who
might be kept away by a Jack o' Lantern, a candle in a pumpkin or turnip. The name
derives from a legendary Jack who escaped from Hell and was ever after forced to
walk in limbo carrying a hot coal.
In the myth of the Wheel of the Year, the descended god now guards the gate to the
Otherworld and on this festival he holds sway. In some myths, the Goddess enters
the Underworld to be reunited with him and returns to Earth on the third day to
prepare for the birth of the new Sun, the ascended god, at mid-winter.
The year too is dying and will be also reborn on the mid-winter solstice, so there
is a cross-over of energies as the new year begins on the wane of the tide at a
period of decline and darkness. Just as the Celtic day began at sunset, with the
darkest part of the night still to come, the Celtic year begins in darkness.
This is a time for charities and initiatives to aid the family, the elderly, the
sick and dying, to encourage experience to be valued in a culture that worships
youth; also for the preservation of ancient sacred sites and the cultural heritage
of the world, including the wisdom of indigenous peoples.
On a personal level, rituals are potent for family concerns, especially those about
older members of the family or any who are sick or need constant care; for psychic
protection, overcoming fears, for laying old ghosts, psychological as well as
psychic, and for marking the natural transition between one stage of life and the
next, for remembering the family dead and linking the young to the traditions of
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the past; also for increasing divinatory skills.
Associations
Candle colours: Black, navy blue or deep purple, for letting go of fear, and orange
for the joy of immortality that is promised at this time
Symbols: The pumpkin, or Jack o' Lantern, apples - these are symbols of health and
feature in Hallowe'en love divination, a custom dating from Druidic times -
photographs and journals of deceased family members, to form a focus for happy
memories, favourite foods, flowers and symbols of deceased relatives
Crystals: Smoky quartz, apache tears (obsidian), very dark amethysts, boji stones
Flowers, herbs, oils and incenses: Any seasonal yellow flowers -Mexicans scatter
yellow flowers from the cemeteries to the homes on 1 and 2 November, their Days of
the Dead - cypress, dittany, garlic, marjoram, mugwort, nutmeg, rue
A Samhain Ritual To Move Beyond The Constraints Of Linear Time
Unusually, this is a solitary ritual, so that you can make connection with your
personal ancestors, though you may wish to share it with close family members.
Perform it on Hallowe'en Eve, as it gets dark.
* Light an orange candle.
* Cut the top off a pumpkin or large turnip, to make a lid, and scrape out the
inside and place the flesh in a bowl in front of the candle.
* When the skin is quite empty, do not draw a scary face with grinning teeth, but
instead make eight large, regular, round holes in it to let in the light.
* Place a small, orange nightlight or tiny candle inside and leave off the lid.
Beginning anywhere in the circle of holes, look into each hole in turn, asking a
question about your future life path and saying:
Jack o' Lantern burning bright,
let me pass through time this night,
Seeing not a future set,
but possibilities that yet
I can seize as paths unfold,
Jack, guide me to new joys untold.
* Shut your eyes, open them, blink and write down the first image that comes either
in your mind's eye or in the circle of light.
* Continue until you have explored each of the eight windows of the future and have
eight images. You can either interpret the images as referring to the eight time
points of the Wheel of the Year, beginning with Samhain, or integrate them into a
story about eight steps on your unfolding path throughout the coming year.
* Cook and eat the pumpkin or turnip flesh to absorb the magic.
* Leave the candle to burn down as you make plans for the future.
Alban Arthuran, The Mid-Winter Solstice
Time: For three days from sunset on or around 20 December (20 June in the southern
hemisphere)
Focus: Rebirth, the return of light, the triumph of life over death, spiritual
awakening, light in the midst of darkness, faith that the Wheel will turn and the
life cycle begin anew.
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The mid-winter solstice pre-dates organised religion. When early humans saw the Sun
at its lowest point and the vegetation dead or dying, they feared that light and
life would never return. So they lit great bonfires from yule logs, hung torches
from trees and decorated caves and homes with evergreens to persuade the other
trees to grow again. So this really is a time of faith and hope and also an
awareness once more of the responsibility of individuals to ensure by ritual and by
giving hospitality to family, neighbours and strangers that at this lowest point
(the yoke or yule of the year) life would be rekindled. This is a long way from the
present commercial and consumer emphasis that has overtaken our Christian festival
of Christmas.
The name Alban Arthuran means 'light of Arthur', named after King Arthur who in
legend bore the title Sun King. His round table represented the great solar Wheel
of the Year.
The common theme of the festival that spans many ages and cultures is that the
Mother Goddess, under one of her many names, gives birth to the Sun itself, the Sun
God. It is the same theme as the Virgin Mary giving birth to the Son of God in a
cave or stable at the darkest hour of the year. The virgin birth features in
several cultures and traditionally a candle (or other flame) is left burning all
night on this longest of nights, to persuade the newborn Sun to rise again on
Christmas Eve to light Mary on her way. The feasting of Christmas was another
magical gesture to ensure there would be food again in the spring and good harvests
the following year.
Globally, this is a time for rituals of renewed faith in the face of despair and
cynicism; for work to provide homes and shelter for people, birds and animals, more
efficient and humane welfare services; the regeneration of famine or war-torn
lands; rekindling goodness even in wrongdoers, improving conditions in all
institutions; also individual charitable endeavours.
On a personal level, the mid-winter solstice is a good time for matters concerning
the home and practical family matters, for money spells as well as abundance in
less material ways; for relieving depression and anxieties for all matters where
improvement, relief or success will come after patience and perseverance; also
potent for rituals concerning the very old, unborn children, mothers-to-be, nursing
or new mothers and newborn infants.
Associations
Candle colours: White, scarlet, brilliant green and gold
Symbols: Evergreens, Christmas trees adorned with lights, oak, ash or pine,
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