Samhein

The Brits called her Morgan Le Fay, the Celts called her Morrigan. She was the ruler of the Isle of Avalon and the death Goddess. "The ambivalence with which she is traditionally represented echoes our own fear of her deep and ancient wisdom." Michael Babcock
It seems fitting to think of her on Samhein.

Samhein, Samhain, Samhuiin, Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, Oiche Shamhna, Nos Calan Gaeaf, Hallowmas, All Saints Day, Hollantide. Those are just some of the names from the British Isles. The day to honor the dead is known around the world and is usually at this time of year.

What we call the thinning of the veil between worlds is a force that people from ancient times have felt and honored. Even the Catholic Church at the height of its power in Europe could not stamp out this festival and had to settle for co-opting it. It is a powerful, mystical time of the year.

In Celtic lore, the Great Horned God dies at Samhein and passes into the underworld. He will be reborn at Yule and the Wheel will turn again. The Goddess is now seen in her Crone aspect, healer and destroyer as the winter progresses.

This is the end and the beginning of a new year. It is a time to look back on the year just passed, honor the dead who have crossed over during this year and take accounting of our own lives. It is a time to be honest with ourselves about what we have accomplished or failed to accomplish and what we want to do in the coming year.
Not in the way of making resolutions that has become a silly game played on January 1st, but a real committment to move forward with our lives.

Sometimes those who have died recently or other unknown spirits will reach out through the veil at this time. Some are able to hear or see them.
If you are contemplating being the one to reach out from this side of the veil, I urge you to take along an experienced guide or at the very least cast a strong circle and be very clear about whom you are inviting into it.
The last thing most of us need is a bored or malevolent energy hanging around in our lives. Personally I have never been tempted to try this, so perhaps I am more wary of it than it deserves. But caution can be a good thing.

Other than the spiritual side of the day, there is also, Trick 0r Treat, costume parties, time to act silly and see how you look in black and orange, pumpkin carving, corn mazes, haunted houses (the fake kind), and at least locally, the Witches Ball.

Have fun and be safe.

For anyone who missed this link on The Wild Hunt.....enjoy:

Fending off religious tourists and struggling to organize a coven on Halloween.by: Lee Ann Kinkade

Invoking the Elements

There are many different ways to invoke the Elements. You can simply ask them to be present, you can make calling them an important part of a ritual or you can even make calling them the ritual itself.

This little invocation is one of my own and is about as short and to the point as you can get:

I call upon the wisdom of the North,
The creativity of the East,
The passion of the South,
The emotion of the West,
To create this sacred space between the worlds.

This is another very simple invocation that I wrote for myself and use quite a lot:

Spirit of the Earth, Guardian of the North, You ground me and feed my connection to the earth. Be with me now to be witness and guardian to this ritual.

Spirit of the Wind, Guardian of the East, You fuel my imagination and give me creativity. Be with me now to be witness and guardian to this ritual.

Spirit of Fire, Guardian of the South, Your power leaves me in awe, I am comforted by your flame. Be with me now to be witness and guardian to this ritual.

Spirit of Water, Guardian of the West, you are my pathway to the Goddess, you bring me peace. Be with me now to be witness and guardian to this ritual.

Akasha, spirit of energy that surrounds us. Be with us now to be witness and guardian to this ritual.

Here is an invocation that is the ritual itself. It is a Winter Full Moon ritual. I regret that I do not remember where I found this. I think it is a lovely ritual.

We call upon the powers of Earth and welcome you to this circle.
You hold the seeds within you, warm and deep, waiting for the return of daylight. Keep the roots of life sacred within your womb until it is time for growth to begin once more.

We call upon the powers of Air and welcome you to this circle. The whirling winds of winter bring snow and cold to our hearths and homes. They also bring with them change, opportunity and renewal as they blow.

We call upon the powers of Fire and welcome you to this circle. May you keep us safe and warm in our homes, spirit of the sun.

We call upon the powers of Water and welcome you to this circle. Snow and ice, sleet and rain wash away that which we no longer need.

We gather tonight to rejoice by the light of the moon. We celebrate the season of darkness, knowing that the next turn of the wheel will bring light. We use this time of darkness for thought, introspection and growth.

As the moon above, so the earth below.

The following is one of the more ornate ways of calling the Elements that I have run across lately. It is from Embracing the Moon by Yasmine Galemorn. If you are really into ritual, hold on to your hat...

Spirit of the North, Spirit of the Earth,
You who are stone and rock, bone and crystal,
You who are tree and root and branch,
You, whose soil is the body of the Goddess
And whose grass is the green of her hair,
Spirit of Earth, come to me!
Spirit of the Wolf, Spirit of the Gnomes,
I call upon thee.
You who rule from the blackest caverns below To the highest mountain tops,
Hear me.
Bring to these rites your spirit of prosperity, Of stability and manifestation.
With a ring of stone and bone and crystal,
I encircle this sacred space and all within.
Let nothing enter unwelcome. Spirit of the Earth, welcome and blessed be!

Spirit of the East, Spirit of Air,
You who are mist and vapor and cloud,
You who are fresh breeze and wild hurricane,
Webweaver at the edge of dawn,
Sweeping out the stagnation to weave a new day,
Come to me.Spirit of the Hawk Spirit of the Sylph, Hear me.
Bring into these rites purification and clarity,
Sweep through and remove stagnation.
With a ring of mist and vapor and fog,
I encircle this sacred space and all within,
Let nothing enter unwelcome.
Spirit of the Air, welcome and blessed be!

Spirit of the South, Spirit of the Flame and Faerie Fire.
You who are the crackle of bonfires,
you who are the golden sun and glowing lava,
You who are the heat of the desert
and the sparkle of phosphorescence on the shore in the the water.
Come to me.
Spirit of the Phoenix, Spirit of the Flame Dancers,
Hear me.
Bring into these rites your spirit of creativity And passion,
Your ability to transmute and rise new from the Ashes.
With a ring of sunlight and lava I encircle this sacred space and all within.
Let nothing enter unwelcome.
Spirit of the Flame, welcome and blessed be!

Spirit of the West, Spirit of the Water
You who are the Moon Mother,
You who are the Undines of the Rivers
And the sirens of the crashing ocean breakers
You who are the Naiads of the grottos,
Come to me.
Spirit of the Shark,
Hear me.
Bring to these rites your deepest intuition and truest emotions,
Teach me to be flexible, to adapt and flow Like your waters.
With a ring of wave and rain and tears
I encircle this sacred space and all within
Let nothing enter unwelcome.
Spirit of the Water, welcome and blessed be!

I'm sure there are much more ornate ways to do this. I'm sure there are invocations that go on for hours. Fortunately, I don't have any of them.

5 Elements

Not four, five..... Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Akasha.

The Elements, as primal forces of nature and The Elements as we tend to think of them when working magick are unique and independent.

But actually, the Elements are one of the best examples of how we are all interconnected and dependent on each other.

The Earth needs Water, Air and Fire in order to be anything but a cold rock. Air needs water molecules, Water is teeming with life, Fire needs fuel. Each cannot, in the physical world, exist without the others.

This interdependence is also a force of nature and it has a name. The energy force that binds the Elements together, us to the Elements and them to us is called Akasha.

Akasha is the primal source of unchanging energy that fuels the Elements. In perfect balance and harmony, not manifested in physical form.

Modern physicists have a modern name for Akasha. They call it dark matter. Can't see it, feel it, touch it or even prove that it exists, but it binds the universe together. This is a relatively new scientific discovery.

Akasha, the fifth elemental force, has always been there, many of us feel it without being told. Scientists may have known this too, but prefer to think of it in scientific terms.

Some magick traditions feel that the spark of the divine within each of us, sometimes called our soul, is a bit of Akasha within us.

My invocations of the Elements include an acknowledgment of this source of the Elements. Not to be used or commanded, I acknowledge the existence of Akasha with respect.

Coming up next.....a variety of invocations, from the dramatic and ornate to the simple.