Samhain

[Merlyn]

Blessings all, and my best to everyone.
May your dragons protect and may the spirits in our lives of those we knew and others we may not have: be given to the light, and guide us wisely.

From the colorful hills.
Merlyn /|\

[FoxPhantom]

I wish you a wonderful samhian Merlyn, and may the spirits come to visit be joyful to celebrate. ^_^

From the foot lands of the rocky mountains.
_Fox Phantom.

[Dendrias]

Dyro, Dduw, nerth.

[Tynan Elder Oak]

Blessings to you all as we approach Samhain.

May you know the touch of the lLady as she draws her blanket over the earth, and you may you know peace as we recall those who have gone beforet o teh summer lands and those whom we love.

Blessings and love to you all.

[Merlyn]

FallColor20102.jpg (31.94 KiB) Viewed 1338 times

From Merlyn's back yard

[willowcrow]

Blessings to all on this lovely, windy Samhain!

[Argenta]

Blessings all... and a thank you for those given.

If I may ask, how do you plan to celebrate?
Do you have some traditional ways, or do you come up with new ideas every year?
What works best for you -- solitary or group celebrations?

Any sharing welcome.

[merryb]

Blessing and light to everyone for Samhain.

I will be digging the ground to plant a crab apple tree on the 31st during the day. Then in the evening I will meditate with friends and then we will write down on slips of paper all the negative things we wish to get rid of from the past year and burn them in a wooden bowl, filled with burning sage. We will them bury the ashes. Next we will each light a candle and place them in a circle one by one expressing gratitude for the good in the year gone and hopes for new year. Then the party will begin!

A beautiful picture thank you.

Happy Samhain
Merry B

[Heddwen]

Samhain blessings to all.

Yesterday I went to the roman baths at Bath, dedicated to the celtic goddess, Sulis and the roman goddess, Minerva. I left an offering in the cold pool then went on to drink Her healing waters direct from the source at the hot spring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths_(Bath)

I usually spend Samhain out in the garden, around the fire with warm drinks and soup. I do something very similar, Merryb. We write the things that we want to let go onto dried bay leaves with felt pen. We then watch as the fire transforms and there is a quite a transformation, try it! I will also be planting some snowdop bulbs, hopefully they will peek up in time for Imbolc.

All good wishes to those in the Southern Hemisphere that are celebrating Beltaine.

[DJ Droood]

Samhain blessings to all.

Yesterday I went to the roman baths at Bath, dedicated to the celtic goddess, Sulis and the roman goddess, Minerva. I left an offering in the cold pool then went on to drink Her healing waters direct from the source at the hot spring.

Very cool....years ago, we visited the Shrine of Mithras in London and I sliced my finger on a jagged piece of metal...later, we visited Bath and I dipped my finger in the hot spring....I left a coin in the pool. (didn't have the guts to actually drink the water though!)..(tip for North Americans if you like to get giggled at in pubs...call it "Bath...with the "a" like in bat or cat, instead of "Baaawth)"

Have a fun and safe Samhain!

[merryb]

Thank you Heddwen use bay leaves is a good idea, I have a oak tree near me I might see if that could be used.

Bath is lovely I lived there for years - sometimes wonder why I left.

The swimming pool in bath was filled with hot spring water then there was a bug foud and it became filled with ordinary water. I have been to parties in the Roman Baths - very proper but you could swim in the bath. The spring water is very sulpherous and I do not think many people would drink much of it DJ.

Blessings
Merry B

[Heddwen]

You lucky dab, Merryb, I'd love to live there. I expect that the parties were amazing. The water certainly tasted a bit chalky, it must have been wonderful to swim in a place where the ancestral pilgrims once bathed.
DJ Droood, I hope that your finger healed well. Perhaps one day I will visit the Shrine of Mithras too. There are so many sacred sites that I'd like to visit. I'm glad that you enjoyed your trip to the UK.

[helenoftheways]

I'd like to regale you with what I did (or didn't!!) on Saturday night for Samhain. There was to be an OBOD gathering at Camlet Moat in Trent Park in north London, and I really wanted to attend a full monty. As I'd never been there & it was going to be dark, my friend Anamcara accompanied me for moral support in case we got lost!

We eventually, after a long tube journey, found the entrance to the park, where there's a beautiful Gate Lodge with fantastic Gothic chimneys. We spotted a chap there in the dark, and asked him the best way to get to the Moat. He gave us long complicated directions (we could tell he thought we were bonkers!) so, armed with only this & a wind-up torch , we set off into the woods! After a little bit, we see these flashing blue/red lights hurtling towards us from the darkness and...barking!!! Yep, it was a huge dog & there was another one too! A voice in the darkness called to them, and two ladies appeared from the murk with...as we discovered in a moment...miner's pit lamps strapped on their heads!! So one of these ladies gives us long directions to the moat...which aren't the same as the previous one!! Then she said she could walk a part of the way with us if we wanted. However her friend declined to do this as, when she discovered we were going to a Samhain meetup, told us she couldn't walk with us as she was a devout Christian!!!! I got a fit of the giggles at this point - good job it was so dark & they couldn't see me! The thing is - they thought we were pretty weird, but we thought they were even weirder!! Two women in the pitch dark in a park with pit lights on their heads??

Anyway, we were both having serious doubts about the whole thing by this time - not only the complicated distance to the Moat (go straight, then right, downhill, then uphill past the lakes, through a forest, etc...), but these ladies were freakin' me out!! So we reluctantly decided we'd leave it for this year, bade a farewell to the 'ladies' & set off back to the gate....where we met the same chap as before - but now dressed in a tux & bow tie!! He said he was holding a Halloween party & he was Dracula!

So we never got to the gathering, but we had a hellova laugh! But better luck next time!

By the way, there were orbs all over the place there! Here's an impressive one beside the Gate Lodge..

[Vapour Trail]

Hi everyone,

I celebrated Samhain a week before most people, on the 23rd October, because that was the closest full moon to the supposed date.

I prefer to follow the rise and fall of the moon than be tied to a calendar date by convention. That's come about simply because I have found it to be the most powerful energetically and therefore magically too.Seeing as that's kind of the point of Samhain (thin veil between worlds) I decided it would be a better time to celebrate.

Anyway - turns out it was a pretty good time to do some energy work, as I found out when I went up onto the hill of Dinas Emrys in North Wales to attempt to contact the spirit of Merlin. "A jolly good time was had by all" as they say, and you can read this "spooky" Underworld journey that I went through on my blog:

http://www.hedgedruid.com/2010/11/samhain-part-2-lowering-merlins-rowan/

[Aethelwulf]

I had a locvely Samhain, celebrating with my two daughters and the eldest's boyfriend at a Celtic Camp near here. http://www.celticharmony.org/ I have a few pictures I could show you all, if you wanted. As I am all new to this I felt I had the most wonderful day, other more hardened people may have thought that it was a bit 'commercial' but I loved it, it was small and personal I thought.

If anyone wants to see the photos I can link them, so just reply here I guess!!

[helenoftheways]

Yes I would love to see your photos, Tiigaan!

[Aethelwulf]

Yes I would love to see your photos, Tiigaan!

Not such a hot photographer yet but have started going to a photography club!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkside_images/sets/72157625298372282/with/5139865992/

We had a blast!!