Celebrate Halloween

This blog post will address the following information about Halloween/Samhain.

What is it?
Themes
Activities
Decorations
Crafts
Correspondences

What is Halloween/Samhain?

The most sacred of all the sabbats.

Halloween is also known as Samhain by the Celts and Wiccans, All Hollows Eve, and is the Witch’s New Year bringing the Sabbat cycle of the year to an end, and after midnight the cycle of the year begins again.

Halloween occurs when the sun is at 15 degrees Scorpio. The sun will be at its lowest point on the horizon. Halloween or Samhain is one of four lunar fire festivals of the year and the most sacred sabbat. It marks the end of summer, and the earth begins its preparation for winter.

The veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is the thinnest at this time, allowing us to contact those who have passed to the other side with much greater success than at other times of the year.

Halloween is an “in-between time.” It is the end of one time and the beginning of another. The time of the past and the beginning of the future. Time of passage between the real world and the spiritual world. The Celts of Ireland and Britain have recognized and celebrated the ending of the agricultural year since 2300 b.c.e., which is over four thousand years.

Halloween Themes

Remember and Honor the Ancestors

Honoring the ancestors is a way of reaffirming and celebrating the continuing cycle of life and new beginnings through reincarnation. On Halloween, the spirits who have not reincarnated return to the world for visitation. The soul never dies; death is not the final act of existence.

It is traditional to create an altar devoted to the remembrance of those who have passed recently and their ancestors. Start your altar with black and orange candles. Use only new candles. Add photographs of those who have passed and rosemary sprigs for remembrance, items that belonged to the deceased such as jewelry and charms. Perhaps you could add natural objects such as a seashell for one who loved water or stone for a gardener. Burn incense. Bury an apple outside to nourish the souls that have passed.

Prepare your home for your loved ones as you would for guests. Clean the house, prepare a fancier meal, dress nicely, and set an extra place setting for the returning loved ones’ visit. Tell stories over the meal of memories of things that happened and what they were like. Set luminaries on your front walk to guide them in, and have lights or candle lanterns (if safe) in the windows.

Third and Final Harvest

This is a time to finish things up and give thanks for what you have received. The last of the crops, usually root vegetables, must be harvested by sundown on Halloween. The livestock is gathered and brought in for the winter. The herds are culled, and the meat is salted and cured for storage. It is also the time of the great hunts or hunting season.

It is time to do a final cleaning and organizing of your home for the end of the year. Finish up food preservation and storage.

Take care of unresolved issues, make peace, and ask for forgiveness. Evaluate unhealthy behavior – drug use, excess alcohol, unhealthy diet, smoking, obesity- commit to resolving these conditions.

Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain insight using nontraditional metaphysical systems. Frequently these systems are to gain knowledge of romantic and marital prospects. The other desire is to seek insight into a problem and its outcome. The answers are based on your continuing your current behavior. A change of behavior on your part will result in a change in outcome. Divination is most accurate when it reaches out no more than six months. It is meant to be a tool to find your way. The elements of air, fire, water, and earth are often involved in divination. An individual reads the signs within the system being used by accessing the collective unconscious, the unconscious world shared among all humans past and present. These systems include astrology, runes, palmistry, scrying, tarot cards, psychometry, etc. Herbs for divination include mugwort, wormwood, myrrh, and Dittany of Crete.

Palmistry is the reading of the lines and mounds on the palm of the hand.

Astrology is the reading of celestial objects such as planets that influence a human’s life based on their time and place of birth.

Scrying is the process of observing and interpreting messages and visions observed by looking into a reflective object such as a crystal ball or water.

Runes are the Futhark Norse alphabet (400-100ad) consisting of twenty-five runes, each with different characters. Each character is inscribed on a stone and they are blindly chosen giving precognition of the future.

Tarot is the practice (1400’s) of reading from a spread of cards chosen from a 78-card deck reading and interpreting past, present, and future. I prefer the Rider-Waite deck of tarot cards, but there are many to choose from

A pendulum is a suspended object from a chain or string. A question is asked. Outcomes are predicted by the movement of the pendulum when suspended. Clockwise is positive, a yes. Counterclockwise is no or negative

Psychometry is the ability to divine information about a person or situation by holding a personal possession such as a watch or ring

Activities

Little girl trick or treating on Halloween

Wear a Halloween costume to work.
Have a scary movie marathon
Visit the graveyard of your oldest ancestor and do a grave rubbing on paper using charcoal. If that is not possible, visit an old cemetery and do a rubbing of the oldest headstone. Display the rubbing as part of your altar when you are finished, spruce up the grave and leave flowers as an offering.
As part of Halloween’s entertainment, have each person share a scary thing that they have experienced.
Play scary Halloween music.
Have an adult costume party after the kids have finished trick or treating. Include pumpkin carving, scary stories, fortune-telling, a prize for best costume, spooky designed food, bobbing for apples with a coin hidden in one of the apples with a prize for the person who finds it. If possible, have your party outside under the full blue moon, and light many orange and black candles. Have a bonfire. If that isn’t possible, have a patio fire pit. Play spooky music. Line your front walk with luminaries. Give sugar skulls as guest gifts.
Visit a haunted house.
Have a guided past life regression. Prepare by anointing both temples and third eye with lilac essential oil. Drink a tea of 1 cup water,1/2 teaspoon lemon balm, jasmine, and mugwort before your regression.

Have plenty of Jack-O-Lanterns to ward off evil spirits.

3 dogs dressed for Halloween trick or treating

Trick or Treating is the activity of children wearing a costume and going door to door for a gift of candy. Trick or Treating was brought to the United States in the 1840s during the Irish potato famine when the immigrants arrived and brought the custom with them. Trick or treat began as a custom of guising in Ireland. The poor would dress to look like the dead to protect themselves from dead spirits wandering the night. They would sing and dance to keep away evil spirits. They carried punkies, carved-out turnips with a lump of coal inside, that provided light. The guisers would go door to door begging for soul cakes, small round loaves of bread. Those who donated brought prosperity and protection for themselves.
Plant a tree in honor of a loved one that has passed.
Explore your family history through genealogy.
Take time from your busy schedule and do meditation around those you have lost.
Leave an offering plate of food out for the mischievous fairies to prevent being a victim of their pranks.

Decorations & Symbols

Halloween items used to decorate your house and altar are numerous and have history and meaning. Typical altar or centerpiece decorations include pumpkins, mums, marigolds, walnuts, gourds, turnips, apples, pomegranates, black and orange candles, and crow or raven feathers.

Pumpkins are a symbol of fruitfulness, healing, and money drawing.
Beets are symbols of love, beauty, and long life.
Jack-O-Lanterns scare away evil spirits with a typical carving of triangular eyes and a grinning mouth.
Pomegranate is for fertility, creativity, and money luck. Make a wish before eating one.

Many of the following items have a dual history of being evil and unlucky or a positive history of being good and bringing blessings. This is largely the result of when the Christian church was trying to convert the population and demonize many significant symbols of Halloween or Samhain.

Bats are a symbol of happiness and longevity. They are guardians of the night and a guide to past lives. The Polish, Chinese, and Aborigines considered them to be good luck. Suppose you are fortunate enough to have bats put a bat house up for them. Place it high on a tree or the side of your house. The church viewed bats to be evil.
Jack-O-Lanterns go back 2000 years. They are placed on your porch near the front door to light the way and welcome home loved ones and ancestral spirits. They scared away evil spirits.
Ghosts and skeletons celebrate the belief in reincarnation and the journey of birth, death, and rebirth. They are seen in all aspects of nature and are considered blessings for the dead.
Black cats were seen in Egypt as representing the benevolent Goddess Baset, who had many lives, and black cats were worshiped. It was believed they possessed psychic and magical powers. Black cats are also associated with the Greek goddess Hecate and the Norse goddess Freya. During the middle ages, the black cat was seen as a devil’s companion and were burned with the witch.
A cauldron is a powerful witchcraft tool, a container for cooking meals, creating potions, burning incense, and a tool for divination. The shape represents the Mother Goddess and transformation. The three legs represent the three aspects of the mother – maiden, mother, and crone. The three legs also represent the phases of the moon – waxing, full, and waning.
Owls were considered wise old birds by the Greeks. The Romans considered them demons. They have become a messenger from the dead, bringing omens of bad luck or death.
Black is a traditional Halloween color associated with witches, cats, attire, the devil, ravens, death, and the cauldron. It was considered an evil color. Black stones actually counteract negative vibrations and are protective.
Orange is the color of the harvest and nature. Pumpkins, Fall leaves, and the flames of a fire. It is a color of protection, strengthens health, and brings luck, and psychic visions.
Spiders are the weavers of the web of fate. Sometimes referred to as Grandmother spider. They are a symbol of creativity, good luck, wealth, and protection against enemies.
A witches’ broom is associated with handfasting and birth; additionally, they are used to sweep away bad luck and negativity, making room for new positive energy.

Crafts

Carve candle holders out of mini pumpkins and turnips. Using a paring knife, slice off the top of the pumpkin exposing the inner lining. Carefully carve a depression to accommodate a tealight candle. The same technique can be done with a turnip but is significantly more challenging as they are quite hard. Use it as part of a centerpiece or to line your front walk.

Make a smoking candlelit pumpkin. Carve your full-size pumpkin in the usual fashion removing the pulp and carving your design. Place your design a bit higher than usual. The pumpkin’s inner bottom should not be visible when looking through the pumpkin’s front design. Cut multiple holes in the top lid. Place dry ice and a cylum at the bottom of the pumpkin for light. Place the top on your pumpkin. The cylum will light up the billowing smoke. Your pumpkin will be the talk of all the kids in the neighborhood.

Luminaries are lights traditionally lit by candles used to line a walkway or patio. Place a votive candle securely upright in cat litter placed in the bottom of a brown paper lunch bag. The glow of the flame lights up the entire bag. A safer alternative is to use a cylum placed on end in the cat litter after activating the cylum.

Make a talisman using nine hazelnuts. Drill a hole through each nut large enough to be able to thread through the nut. Use several threads of embroidery thread to give it strength. You can make the thread long enough to tie off and wear as a bracelet or shorter to carry with you to ensure good luck.

Make a drawstring charm bag from red felt. A small bag, but large enough to hold a silver coin ( real silver, like an old pre-1965 quarter ) and a slip of paper. Write on the slip of paper a financial need you have. Do this while concentrating on the joy you will feel when the need is met. Place the paper in the charm bag with the coin. Carry your charm bag with you in a pocket or purse at all times. Repeat the process as needed.

Using a styrofoam wreath, the size of your choice, attach white heather and dried apples with florist pins. Secure several small iron bells to the wreath. Hang on your front door to repel mischievous fairies away and invite good spirits into your home.

Make an apple dolly. This is a video on YouTube showing how to make the head of an apple dolly. This is perfect for making a witch dolly.

Sugar Skulls

Sugar Skulls recipe, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon water, 1 teaspoon meringue powder. You can find a skull mold on Amazon.

History of the sugar skulls link

Sugar skull tutorial link

Food & Drink

Pomegranate Sangria

2 pomegranates
1/2 cup sugar
1 pear
1 apple
1 bottle Pinot Noir
1/4 cup Triple Sec
1/4 cup pomegranate liquor
De-seed the pomegranates saving seeds
In a small saucepan, mix 1/2 cup water with sugar and 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes
Cool completed, strain, and discard seeds
Cut pear and apple into thin slices. Place fruit slices and remaining pomegranate seeds in a big pitcher
Pour the wine, triple sec, pomegranate liquor, and cooled pomegranate simple syrup
Chill in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Serve over ice

Halloween Popcorn Balls

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 bag (10 ounces) of miniature marshmallows

1/4 cup light brown sugar

3 quarts of popped corn

1 cup M & M’s

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper ( buy it at the dollar store). Set aside

Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot over low heat. You can add 10 drops of orange food coloring at this point if desired

Add marshmallows and brown sugar. Stir until melted and combined. Remove from heat

Add M&M’s and combine well.

With buttered hands shape into 3-inch balls. Place on the baking sheet and allow to harden slightly

Place each popcorn ball in a small cellophane bag, tie it with black and orange ribbons

Candy Apples

15 apples/3 pounds
2 cups white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cup water
8 drops of red food coloring
Lightly grease cookie sheets
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, corn syrup, and water. Heat to 300 degrees.
Remove from heat and add food coloring
Insert popsicle sticks into stemmed apples
Hold apples by stick, dip in syrup, and remove. Spin and tilt the apple to cover it completely
Place on a baking sheet and allow to harden

Soul Cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch of saffron
1/2 cup whole milk
8 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup currants
One egg yolk beat for glaze
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Combine flour, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well with a fork.
Crumble saffron threads into a saucepan over low heat until the scent is released. Take care not to burn. Add milk until just warm to the touch. Remove from heat. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the egg yolks and blend in thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and blend as much. It will be dry and crumbly. Add currants to the dough. Mix well.
One tablespoon at a time, add saffron milk. Blend vigorously. Continue adding one tablespoon at a time. Stop when you have soft dough.
Turn the dough out on a floured surface. Knead until the dough is uniform.
Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with 2 inch round biscuit or cookie cutter. Roll and cut until all the dough is used.
Cut a crisscross on the surface of the soul cake.
Brush with beaten egg yolk.
Bake for 15 minutes till they are golden and shiny.

Best Pumpkin Bread

Makes two 9 X 5 loaves

2 cups 100% pure pumpkin
3 cups of sugar
1 cup canola oil
2/3 cup water
4 large eggs
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine all wet ingredients and mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients and whisk until well combined
Slowly add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture combining well after each addition.
Divide mixture evenly between two 9 X 5 greased loaf pans
Bake for 55 – 75 minutes, remove from oven when a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaves middle comes out clean.
Transfer pans to wire racks to cool.

Correspondences

Foods

Root crops, potato, beet, carrot. turnip, pumpkin, apple, pomegranate, squash, pork, hazelnuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, caramel or candied apples, mulled cider, candy, apple cider, and walnuts

Ritual Oils

Frankincense, camphor, clove, basil, lilac, yarrow, and ylang-ylang

Stones

obsidian, black tourmaline, jet, onyx, carnelian

Happy Halloween!

The Good Witch

And a happy new year