Samhain / Pagan New Year

So what are other Pagans doing to celebrate or mark Samhain this week?

I'm not Pagan, but I'm very interested in it, what will you be doing can you share?

Well, we do the trick or treat part of it, mostly for the children. They carve or decorate a pumpkin that becomes the centrepiece for our Hallowe'en window along with other spooky decorations. They get a few Hallowe'en treats and we give sweets or small trinkets to trick or treaters. My children like to get dressed up to answer the door and my son likes trick or treating himself, though I only let him go to houses we know.

I use the seeds out of the pumpkin for a ritual to bring luck and fortune throughout the year to come. I place them in a bowl, and surround the bowl with 5 white or orange candles. It's a spell I read a number of years ago now, but it's quick and simple to do so I carry on the tradition. You visualise golden/white light showering down upon your household and loved ones. Then light the candles, saying 9 times (I say it in my head, some may prefer aloud) "All that is good on this All Hallows' Eve, will shower us all with this magic I weave."

I also light candles for my passed over loved ones, and I make a witch's ladder out of ribbons - it's basically weaving the strands together while repeating your intentions for the year in your head or aloud. I find this one is better done when I can concentrate, so I will do it later on after trick or treat time is over, because it doesn't work as well if I'm distracted by listening out for the door. The ribbons each represent a quality you want to bring to your life that year. I did this practice for a couple of years consistently and saw the things I had intended at least partially manifested - the first year I did it, everything manifested perfectly. I didn't do it last year because I wasn't "feeling" Pagan practices and rituals at the time, and I have had a quite chaotic, busy, tiring year. Though I do realise that is probably mostly coincidence and thought creating reality, I will be trying not to skip it again. This one I learned from a friend, some years back.

I never know whether to class myself as a very eclectic Pagan or as interfaith, because I have beliefs and practices that are more to do with other religions or the New Age movement as well, such as working with angels. I tend to find that in the dark half of the year I identify more as Pagan and in the light half of the year I identify more as interfaith.

Thanks for sharing, its interesting, ive never heard of anyone using the pumpkin seeds but what a good thing to do with them, aside from the trick or treat id love to be a fly on the wall it all sounds  lovely, I use ribbons for readings but never for anything like that, I know they can be used for spells though, thamk you:bfs:

It is a special day for us and pumpkins everywhere, this year I even baked pumpkin fairy cakes, a burning ash fire and lots of singing :)

Awww sounds lovely, its just me and my son at home so we do the trick and treating thing too, once he has gone to bed I meditate and cleanse myself and our home!

There is a member on here whose username is Norseman.  Hasn't been on here in a while.   He would enjoy your posts.   He uses to be on the site,Spiritual Forums.
Wonder if I can track him down?

I'm sure if he's meant to be here right now he will find his way. :)

I would love the recipe for pumpkin fairy cakes! The main reason why I use the pumpkinseeds for a spell is to at least re-use them in some way before throwing them away. Part of being Pagan is about respecting nature and avoiding a "throwaway" attitude; we have tried toasted pumpkin seeds and also pumpkin soup so we can also use the pumpkin in a meal as well as carving a lantern with it, but nobody in our house likes either.

It's coming up real fast now! Anyone going to celebrate Samhain?
I have done big rituals for a number of years on Samhain but not the last couple of years. Somehow it just doesn't happen anymore after I've moved house 8 yrs ago. 
I do think I will put my pumpkin and Jack o'Lantern t-light holders in the living room and in the window :) 
Anyone who does celebrate it elaborately?

This Samhain is not only a full moon but is also a blue moon and a super moon. Since we're not handing out treats this year I plan on doing a tarot reading to try to take a peak into the Celtic new year. I haven't done anything like that before so should be an interesting experience.

Chrysalis2 wrote:This Samhain is not only a full moon but is also a blue moon and a super moon. Since we're not handing out treats this year I plan on doing a tarot reading to try to take a peak into the Celtic new year. I haven't done anything like that before so should be an interesting experience.

Oh yes, I'd almost forgotten about the 2nd blue moon on Samhain, hihi. 
A reading for the Celtic New Year sounds good! You're inspiring me, haha.

I don't do the treat bits -which is more Halloween. In this village I currently live in they only started doing it when I first moved here. Maybe I took it with me as in the village I lived before it had gotten huge! Me and my then partner did a lot as well, sounds out of every possible opening of the house, lots of light effects and sometimes a smoke machine, depending on the story we'd play out for the audience. My then partner was a pro light & sound tech so he had a lot of stuff to do all that. He'd turn the inside of the house into cable city, haha, while I wrote the story and took care of our outfits. 
Always great fun and a lot of people to watch what came to be the show of the night.

Then I came here, and I decided to do some funny witch-thing on my own. Reactions from kids were unpleasant, along the vein of, "Why don't you just give us the sweets like everyone else does?"
That was the 1st time ever they did Halloween here and the kids clearly hadn't even been told what it was about. In the other village school was involved for that part!
In any case, I decided that was once and never again. 
(Halloween isn't really traditional in Holland. I believe in Germany it's Walpurgis night.)

I have always done a Samhain ritual, ever since I got on the spiritual path and especially as I was busy with Paganism & hedgewitch-craft at first. 
The energies are indeed very powerful around Samhain! I've done the most impressive ritual ever for me during Samhain, using crow feather to make a circle as Raven was my power animal still and crow is close to that. 

Anywho, this year I don't know. I think I will light candles for my ancestors and especially my dad who passed away in 2016. 
But I doubt I'll get to doing more. Hoping for a clear night so I can see the full moon :D

Ah yes, all the fun and games of Halloween. I bet your house looked amazing after he did all the decorating. 

There's not too many kids around and the most I've done for decorations are orange lights for outside. Our house doesn't have a doorbell so the first year for Halloween, I posted a sign on the door saying for them to knock really loud. They did pound on the door so we heard them over the tv. Just in case I missed some kids, I kept a lookout for cars pulling into our driveway. One group of older kids saw the sign and I was by the door waiting for them. As I waited, I heard a whispered discussion about knocking on the door or not as they thought it was some sort of trick. The discussion was something like this, you knock on the door...no, you knock on it...I'm not going to knock on it...  I had no trick for them, just treats. That was the only time I had stuck the sign on the door. Hubby got smarter and set up a portable sensor with an alarm for inside the house so we used that and no more watching for cars.

Athena Rowan Dawn wrote:I'm sure if he's meant to be here right now he will find his way. :)

I would love the recipe for pumpkin fairy cakes! The main reason why I use the pumpkinseeds for a spell is to at least re-use them in some way before throwing them away. Part of being Pagan is about respecting nature and avoiding a "throwaway" attitude; we have tried toasted pumpkin seeds and also pumpkin soup so we can also use the pumpkin in a meal as well as carving a lantern with it, but nobody in our house likes either.

I used to love Halloween. Not for the tricks or for the treats but for the pumpkins.

After Halloween, I would go to the various stores and would get their pumpkins for free which got turned into pies.
The 'residue' ended up on the compost pile. The snakes loved the pumpkin residues.

As you can see, everybody ended up being happy.

Chrysalis2 wrote:Ah yes, all the fun and games of Halloween. I bet your house looked amazing after he did all the decorating. 

There's not too many kids around and the most I've done for decorations are orange lights for outside. Our house doesn't have a doorbell so the first year for Halloween, I posted a sign on the door saying for them to knock really loud. They did pound on the door so we heard them over the tv. Just in case I missed some kids, I kept a lookout for cars pulling into our driveway. One group of older kids saw the sign and I was by the door waiting for them. As I waited, I heard a whispered discussion about knocking on the door or not as they thought it was some sort of trick. The discussion was something like this, you knock on the door...no, you knock on it...I'm not going to knock on it...  I had no trick for them, just treats. That was the only time I had stuck the sign on the door. Hubby got smarter and set up a portable sensor with an alarm for inside the house so we used that and no more watching for cars.

That is a really cool story! I can almost see it happen, hihi. Brings me back to the excitement when I did something like this (not Halloween) with my sister and 1 or 2 friends. Some houses we felt were creepy, or we knew the person who lived there wasn't too nice, and so on.
I cannot imagine having to use a car to go trick or treating, but I see you live in Canada!

BigJohn wrote:

Athena Rowan Dawn wrote:I'm sure if he's meant to be here right now he will find his way. :)

I would love the recipe for pumpkin fairy cakes! The main reason why I use the pumpkinseeds for a spell is to at least re-use them in some way before throwing them away. Part of being Pagan is about respecting nature and avoiding a "throwaway" attitude; we have tried toasted pumpkin seeds and also pumpkin soup so we can also use the pumpkin in a meal as well as carving a lantern with it, but nobody in our house likes either.

I used to love Halloween. Not for the tricks or for the treats but for the pumpkins.

After Halloween, I would go to the various stores and would get their pumpkins for free which got turned into pies.
The 'residue' ended up on the compost pile. The snakes loved the pumpkin residues.

As you can see, everybody ended up being happy.

No one had nor grew pumpkins here in the past. Halloween wasn't celebrated nor known here either.
But some years we did cut a Jack o'lantern out of sugar beet. My dad helped us with that. 
I have no idea where that idea came from as it is in a way related to Halloween I guess.

RainbowLight wrote:

Chrysalis2 wrote:Ah yes, all the fun and games of Halloween. I bet your house looked amazing after he did all the decorating. 

There's not too many kids around and the most I've done for decorations are orange lights for outside. Our house doesn't have a doorbell so the first year for Halloween, I posted a sign on the door saying for them to knock really loud. They did pound on the door so we heard them over the tv. Just in case I missed some kids, I kept a lookout for cars pulling into our driveway. One group of older kids saw the sign and I was by the door waiting for them. As I waited, I heard a whispered discussion about knocking on the door or not as they thought it was some sort of trick. The discussion was something like this, you knock on the door...no, you knock on it...I'm not going to knock on it...  I had no trick for them, just treats. That was the only time I had stuck the sign on the door. Hubby got smarter and set up a portable sensor with an alarm for inside the house so we used that and no more watching for cars.

That is a really cool story! I can almost see it happen, hihi. Brings me back to the excitement when I did something like this (not Halloween) with my sister and 1 or 2 friends. Some houses we felt were creepy, or we knew the person who lived there wasn't too nice, and so on.
I cannot imagine having to use a car to go trick or treating, but I see you live in Canada!

I live in the country so having a car or truck is vital. It's a 3 1/2 miles to the nearest paved highway. It's interesting how some houses give off certain vibes.

I'm going to a Samhain celebration Friday night! 
Really exciting, I have never done anything with a group of people relating to this kind of thing. I always did all my rituals alone.
I was in two minds about it, then this afternoon decided I wanted to go. I really need to get out of the house more, meet new people, do some things in real life etc.
And I'm intrigued how it's going to be with others.

The Samhain celebration in the Avalon way was really good! 
Only just got home half an hour ago, much later than I had expected, hihi. 
For now... chill time and a movie!!

Chrysalis2 wrote:This Samhain is not only a full moon but is also a blue moon and a super moon. Since we're not handing out treats this year I plan on doing a tarot reading to try to take a peak into the Celtic new year. I haven't done anything like that before so should be an interesting experience.

Plan making a lot of Blue Moon Water. 

I have some Dead Sea Salt and Black Salt which I will put outside to get energized by the Blue Moon energies. 

Good thing I am posting this, I just remembered I have some Sage that will go outside also.
One of the Sage Bundles is White Sage and Sweet Grass Bundles. It should also do wonders to Black Sage (MugWort).

Gee, the more I think about it, there is a whole lot of other things I should do...... Ooooh my, I can't forget my crystals.

I made a bit of an altar this afternoon :)
It's full but it feels good to me. A kangaroo skull, an obsidian raven skull, a number of crystals incl an iolite sphere to represent the dark energies (dark moon), a black cat incense holder, my bell, a cast-iron cauldron etc.

I like my salt lamp, which lives there, as do the Goddess & Lord of the Wildwoods. 
The birds in the back to the right were my grandmother's and dad's so it fits there for Samhain.

RainbowLight, lovely altar and I really like the crystal raven skull. I haven't seen anything like it in the stores and am wondering where you got it.

I did the tarot reading for the new year and was hoping for a more positive message. What did surprise me is that I had a couple of reversed cards. I don't expect it as I place the cards right way up before putting them away. The deck is a Marseilles style so I felt a spread would be unsuitable. I ended up using a lot of cards so my altar looked quite messy at the end, lol. The ancestors did speak that night.

Chrysalis2 wrote:RainbowLight, lovely altar and I really like the crystal raven skull. I haven't seen anything like it in the stores and am wondering where you got it.

I did the tarot reading for the new year and was hoping for a more positive message. What did surprise me is that I had a couple of reversed cards. I don't expect it as I place the cards right way up before putting them away. The deck is a Marseilles style so I felt a spread would be unsuitable. I ended up using a lot of cards so my altar looked quite messy at the end, lol. The ancestors did speak that night.

 Great that you did something for Samhain as well. I hope you got good messages!

The raven skull... I bought it on Ebay. My ex also bought one as he liked mine so much. So I helped him find one, also on Ebay.