Samhain-November 1st 2011

HecateGoddess of Witches . Associated with Isis . Thought to give
instruction to the arts of alchemy . moon goddess . triple goddess .
Associated with magick, witchcraft, crossroads, walls, gates, and doorways .
torch . sword . dogs . thunder shrieks yells and barking dogs are heard upon her travel...



I had a wonderful ritual last night on the eve of Samhain. I'll get to that later. 1st I must say how enlightened I am to have just learned the truth of Hecate today. I (and I have no idea why) thought she was evil. I don't have a reason for thinking that. Now that I have learned of her history I have the overwhelming feeling that she is deeply sacred. An extremely important Goddess. I want to know more about Hecate and Morrighan...

Now for last nights ritual. Interesting! I used what words came to me. I'm not huge on planning. So, I didn't write out my ritual word for word. I'm a wing-it sort of person. *lol* Drives my sister insane. Guess I truely am a hedge witch. *hee hee* I also used parts of Scott Cunningham's samhain ritual from his renowned book: Wicca - A guide for the solitary practitioner. And also borrowed from Ann Moura's samhain ritual. I didn't cast a circle. But I think that I will tonight. I had also decided that it would not be necessary for me to do a naming ceremony. But then all of a sudden at the end of my ritual, I was gazing into the flame of my black candle that I created myself with different shades of orange dripping down it. All the words just came to me. And I claimed my name bestowed to me through dream.

For my rememberence of the dead part of my ritual I spoke to my grandma. I let her know how much I love her and how proud she would be of me if she were here to see all that I've done and all that I've become. Continued on to say that if she would like to come through the doorway just for tonight for a moment, she is welcome to do so. Then I sat silent for a moment with my eyes closed memories of her and I swirling around in my head. Just then I started to hear this loud crackling sound. I tried to not break my visualization. But I did look. And a dried rose i used to decorate my samhain candle came into the bottom of my candle. How I have no idea. Since I didnt put any roses near the wick. But it was so perfect since my grandma Jennings loved roses. She had a rose garden. And my grandpa picked a fresh rose for her everyday and brought it in and it was put into a special goblet glass of water.

I also said good-bye to the past year of bad thoughts, terrible experiences, sadnesses. Wrote down on a piece of parchment paper the thing I would like to rid myself of most. And welcomed the new year, new joy, new experiences, new knowledge in the coming year and welcomed happiness.

I also incorporated samhain correspondences such as black and orange candles. I had another candle on my altar which I also made and it turned out w/ an image of a black cat on 1 side. It was suppose to just be a swirly design with dark candle coloring. *lol* My altar cloth was black with gold triple moon in the middle. and a pentacle in the center. I made my own incense. Not so sure I'm very crazy about the scent though. It may end up in the trash. *lol*
Ingredients: broom wood, red sandalwood, mugwort, patchouli, rosemary, yarrow, myrrh resin, flax seeds, frankincense resin, 11 drops of cedarwood oil, 2 drops of ylang ylang oil.

My ritual was performed at 12:30 at night. Wind blowing. A cauldron in my window burned an orange candle. Which when it was extinguished the wick kind of has a crescent moon shape to it. And the glitter inside the candle all went to 1 side to also make a crescent moon shape. ??
I also had candles in other windows in my home to guide the spirits.
Today is perfect. cold, somber, snowy/rainy dreary! Very calming and comforting.



Some of my Samhain / Halloween Pics:

My 1st Samhain
October 31st 12:30 a.m.
Samhain Altar
Stones: moonstone, carnelian, garnet
candles: black and orange - handmade by me

Samhain Candle Cauldron
placed in my bedroom (magickal space) window next to my altar.



Cauldron Candle
I thought it was interesting how the wick shaped like a cresent moon
after being burned.



Then I noticed how the glitter all went to one side forming
the shape of a crescent moon too. As you can see the
glitter started out all over the entire candle.
(look around the edges)

The next few pics are of my grandkids Evey (11) & Dante (7)