Samhain

"This is the time...when the veil between the worlds is its thinnest..."

"The Mexicans call it 'Dia de Los Muertos'...they visit the graves of their ancestors, the children crack hard candies shaped like skulls between their teeth and clutch marigolds in their fists...running to sprinkle the petals over the graves....."

(Paraphrased thoughts from Starhawk's Spiral Dance and Kingsolver's Animal Dreams)

I'm truly a solitary witch. Much as I dig the idea of the spiral dance and get comfort from drumming around the fire with my friends, I am definitely a solitary. I'm at work today, but inside my head, I'm so looking forward to tonight, to lighting candles, working with salt and water, sitting very very very still and listening to the earth as I ground and trance. I'm surprised at how it speaks to me today.

I'm quite the lapsed pagan.....if fair-weather Catholicism means catching the Christmas and Easter services and skipping the regular Sunday sermons, then lapsed paganism must be waking up on Halloween and realizing how desperately you need to practice again. How your very soul is aching to hold a wand in your hands, call the quarters and your guardians, ask their help in celebrating this beautiful turning of the Wheel, and if they have any spare time, could they help you get your head screwed on straighter too?

It's the Celtic New Year. I'll spend time tonight thinking, and I'll write some resolutions. I'll read from my books about the rituals of Samhain ("sow-in"), and incorporate parts into my own ritual. I'll punish my pancreas today with my sugar intake, and start fresh with my lifestyle changes on Tuesday.

Mostly, I'll enjoy gratitude for the life I have. It ain't perfect, but it works.

Images from here and here.