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<BR><FONT color=#800000 size=3><STRONG>Samhain Lore (October 31st)
<BR></STRONG></FONT><BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Samhain, (pronounced SOW-in, SAH-vin, or SAM-hayne) means "End
of Summer", and is the third and final Harvest. The dark winter half of the year
commences on this Sabbat. <BR><BR>It is generally celebrated on October 31st,
but some traditions prefer November 1st. It is one of the two "spirit-nights"
each year, the other being Beltane. It is a magical interval when the mundane
laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the Thin Veil between the
worlds is lifted. Communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is easy
at this time, for they journey through this world on their way to the
Summerlands. It is a time to study the Dark Mysteries and honor the Dark Mother
and the Dark Father, symbolized by the Crone and her aged Consort.
<BR><BR>Originally the "Feast of the Dead" was celebrated in Celtic countries by
leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead". Today a
lot of practitioners still carry out that tradition. Single candles were lit and
left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home.
Extra chairs were set to the table and around the hearth for the unseen guest.
Apples were buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no
descendants to provide for them. Turnips were hollowed out and carved to look
like protective spirits, for this was a night of magic and chaos. The Wee Folke
became very active, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans. Traveling after dark
was was not advised. People dressed in white (like ghosts), wore disguises made
of straw, or dressed as the opposite gender in order to fool the Nature spirits.
<BR><BR>This was the time that the cattle and other livestock were slaughtered
for eating in the ensuing winter months. Any crops still in the field on Samhain
were considered taboo, and left as offerings to the Nature spirits. Bonfires
were built, (originally called bone-fires, for after feasting, the bones were
thrown in the fire as offerings for healthy and plentiful livestock in the New
Year) and stones were marked with peoples names. Then they were thrown into the
fire, to be retrieved in the morning. The condition of the retrieved stone
foretold of that person's fortune in the coming year. Hearth fires were also lit
from the village bonfire to ensure unity, and the ashes were spread over the
harvested fields to protect and bless the land. <BR><BR>Various other names for
this Greater Sabbat are Third Harvest, Samana, Day of the Dead, Old Hallowmas
(Scottish/Celtic), Vigil of Saman, Shadowfest (Strega), and Samhuinn. Also known
as All Hallow's Eve, (that day actually falls on November 7th), and Martinmas
(that is celebrated November 11th), Samhain is now generally considered the
Witch's New Year.
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<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those who died-stripped<BR>naked, shaved &
shorn </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those who screamed in<BR>vain to the Great
goddess,<BR>only to have their tongues<BR>ripped out by the root. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For those who were pricked, racked,<BR>broken on the
wheel for the<BR>sins of their inquisitors. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For those whose beauty stirred<BR>their torturers to
fury; and for<BR>those whose ugliness did the same. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those who were neither<BR>ugly nor beautiful, but
only<BR>women who refused to submit. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those quick fingers,<BR>broken in the vice.
</FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those soft arms, pulled<BR>from their sockets.
</FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those budding breasts,<BR>ripped with hot
pinchers. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those midwives, killed<BR>merely for the sin of
bringing<BR>man to an imperfect world. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>For all those witch-women,<BR>my sisters, who breathed
freer<BR>as the flames took them,<BR>knowing as thay shed their<BR>female
bodies, the seared flesh<BR>falling like fruit in the flames,<BR>that death
alone would cleanse<BR>them of the sin of being born<BR>a women who is more
then<BR>the sum of her parts.</FONT></P></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial color=#008000
size=2>-----------------------------------------------</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Remember to look after the young
maidens.</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Notice that you assume
that your daughters are virgins. Many a good mother has made this
mistake!</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Maybe they've gotten around a little bit,
which would make them useless for ritual sacrifice...</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=2></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=2>Amazing the strage stories that were told about the
'witches' --- by their
enemies.</FONT></O:P></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000
size=3>-------------------------------------</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P><FONT color=#000080>It is the time of burning leaves,<BR>The crispness of the
air has awakened<BR>Memories both dark and hidden,<BR>Memories of past feasts
partaken. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>I sit comfortly in this silent room<BR>Computer keyboard
beneath my fingers<BR>Yet...my mind is never frozen here<BR>In times past it
wants to linger. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>I 'see' a bonfire raging on a hilltop<BR>With my people
all gathered around<BR>Our prayers to the Gods I shout,<BR>Yet, in my dreams I
hear not a sound. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>The drums beat, the people dance<BR>Wildness fills the
autumn night. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>The Other Side is so very close--<BR>The Veil just beyond
the fire light. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>I reach, I feel, I almost touch...<BR>Spirit fingers
entwine with mortal<BR>Then dawn's first light appears<BR>And seals again the
fragile portal. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>I turn away from the cold ashes<BR>Let the wildness leave
my aching soul. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>Another year til another Samhain...<BR>On that night
again I'll be whole.</FONT></P></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial
size=2>------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P><I><FONT color=#008000 size=3><STRONG>The Veil Is Getting
Thin</STRONG></FONT></I>
<P><FONT color=#800000>As I went out walking this fall afternoon, <BR>I heard a
wisper wispering.<BR>I heard a wisper wispering,<BR>Upon this fine fall day...
</FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>As I went out walking this fall afternoon,<BR>I heard a
laugh a'laughing.<BR>I heard a laugh a'laughing,<BR>Upon this fine fall day...
</FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>I heard this wisper and I wondered,<BR>I heard this laugh
and then I knew.<BR>The time is getting near my friends,<BR>The time that I hold
dear my friends,<BR>The veil is getting thin my friends,<BR>And strange things
will pass through.</FONT></P></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial color=#008000
size=2>------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
color=#008000><I>SAMHAIN</I> </FONT></FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT color=#000080>In the season leaves should love, <BR>since it gives them
leave to move <BR>through the wind, towards the ground <BR>they were watching
while they hung, <BR>legend says there is a seam <BR>stitching darkness like a
name. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>Now when dying grasses veil <BR>earth from the sky in one
last pale<BR>wave, as autumn dies to bring <BR>winter back, and then the spring,
<BR>we who die ourselves can peel <BR>back another kind of veil<BR>that hangs
among us like thick smoke. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>Tonight at last I feel it shake. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>I feel the nights stretching away <BR>thousands long
behind the days, <BR>till they reach the darkness where <BR>all of me is
ancestor. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>I turn my hand and feel a touch <BR>move with me, and
when I brush <BR>my young mind across another, <BR>I have met my mother's
mother. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>Sure as footsteps in my waiting <BR>self, I find her, and
she brings<BR>arms having answers for me, <BR>intimate, a waiting bounty.
</FONT>
<P><FONT color=#000080>"Carry me." She leaves this trail <BR>through a shudder
of the veil, <BR>and leaves, like amber where she stays, <BR>a gift for her
perpetual gaze.</FONT></P></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial color=#008000
size=2>----------------------------------------------------------</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P><I><STRONG><FONT color=#008000 size=3>Samhain </FONT></STRONG></I>
<P><FONT color=#800000>Red leaves are carried in the salt west wind <BR>And turn
to brown on dry soil. <BR>The sun is bright still, but not warm<BR>On the last
rich gold of scattered fall. <BR>The great wheel turns, another year <BR>Old,
bright gold with death. <BR>Bare branches now, the Old Lord's limbs,<BR>Chill
wind the Old Lord's breath. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>Like dancing leaves on sleeping branches <BR>The dark
tide of memory is stirred. <BR>The deepest thought-flame now is
kindled,<BR>Consuming, the fire in ancient words. <BR>Samhain, the thin veil
opens, fingers <BR>Reaching through the blackness deep. <BR>Through the grey
cloud wisps, old voices <BR>Shapes, shifting, slowly creep. <BR>Mab's red-eyed
dogs, howling, wander<BR>Through the fields as soil grows hard <BR>Searching for
uncounted jewels <BR>The Fairy Queen's forgotten shards <BR>The last red
morsels, undevoured <BR>Returned to Her who granted birth <BR>Mab's womb, given
up its children, <BR>Shrivels, cold with the hardened earth. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>In meadows that the scythe has tasted <BR>Now the Samhain
fires are high <BR>The circle dance is weaving, spinning<BR>On graceful foot, on
darkened thigh, <BR>The spiral dance is downward twisted, <BR>The Horned One's
chant, the Welcome Home--<BR>"Home" is on the north wind whispered, <BR>The
Swordless Death Lord takes his throne. <BR>And to Mab, the Horned One's sister,
<BR>Whose loins have yielded up their spark, <BR>"Follow" now the north wind
whispers, <BR>Mab, Death Queen, the Timeless Dark. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>And in the barren, fruitless meadow, <BR>Dancing 'round
the Samhain fire, <BR>Her face a flower, her eyes a-tremble,<BR>A young maid
spins the ancient spire. <BR>Chanting home the swordless Horned One,<BR>Like a
doe, she leaps the flame. <BR>In cold Autumn's death, a new beginning, <BR>In
Mab's cold womb, life starts again. </FONT>
<P><FONT color=#800000>Blessed Be.</FONT></P></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT face=Arial color=#008000
size=2>---------------------------------------------------</FONT></O:P></DIV>
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