Even though we’re three weeks and some change out from Samhain, I’ve always felt that the Fire Festivals lend themselves to an entire season. These three months are the time of Samhain, a space for the Ancestors to take prominence again in our lives. We continue descending into the dark and cold in the months after Samhain and we don’t emerge until the next Fire Festival, Imbolc, tells us it is time to welcome in the spring. (As a side note, I don’t connect with the Dark Half/Light Half of the year, at least not when marked by Samhain and Beltane. It just seems more logical to me to count the Equinoxes as those particular points in time.)
This past Samhain my wife and I were honeymooning in a cabin in Michigan on Clear Lake, about an hour east of Tawas City on Lake Huron. Those three days in Michigan, largely without wifi, surrounded by nature and quietude, were truly magical for me in a way I cannot describe. It was an opportunity to experience the kind of Pagan lifestyle I have always wanted but have felt too busy, too disorganized, too disabled, too neurodivergent. We put out food for the house spirit at every meal. We gave multiple offerings to Clear Lake and the surrounding wilderness. We read Tarot every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. And I wrote so much, something I haven’t done in far too long.
I didn’t know at the time of my Samhain ritual that I wanted to rejoin ADF, but later that night I sent in my dues and became a member again. This ritual then is not anything approaching ADF’s Core Order of Ritual (which… to be honest, I am not that hot on practicing again as a solitary), but rather something my wife and I created together. This is actually a Christo-Pagan ritual, reflecting the makeup of our household.
Samhain Ritual 2017
☉♏ ☽ ♓ waxing gibbous 84%
Goals
- Invoke Brighid and Mary
- Say thank you to forest, lake, and cabin spirits
- Acknowledge Ancestors
Supplies
- Ancestor pumpkin
- Flowers (leftover from marriage bouquets)
- Paper
- Fire starter log, firewood, newspaper as kindling
- Lighter
- Whiskey
Dining table with offerings left for various spirits including a large candle, portions of our breakfast, a small pumpkin (given to the Ancestors during ritual) and a bowl of orange roses and Gerber daisies (given to the nature spirits).
Preparation
- spending two days in quiet contemplation (not necessary but it really made a difference)
- talking about our goals and expectations of the ritual together as we wrote the script
- getting the fire started beforehand (involved weathering two sudden hail storms and having to run out for fire starter logs)
The fire that my wife started despite two hail storms. I hadn’t been around an open fire for more than two years.
Outline
Call to Ritual: “We come here to celebrate Samhain, the spirits of this land, and our Beloved Dead.”
Invocation: “We invite Brighid and Mary to this rite, so that we may share in blessings and companionship.”
[Sage gives offerings of whiskey to Brighid; Etienne has quiet reflection and prayer.]
Nature Spirits: “We give thanks to Clear Lake, these forests of birch, oak and pine, and to the cabin for welcoming and sheltering us.”
[Offering of flowers for each spirit.]
Beloved Dead: “We name those who are gone but not forgotten, whose memories live on and nurture the next generation.”
[Naming of the dead; offering of small pumpkin.]
[Silent reflection as long as weather permits.]
“We give thanks to our Beloved Dead, to the spirits of lake, forest, and cabin, and to Mary and Brighid for attending this rite. May we strive to be in good relationship with you and each other over the coming year. May we be open to your guidance and blessings.”
Ending: “This rite ends, but the ritual of our lives begins. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.”
[Clean up, douse fire, go inside.]
Sage and Starshine 