Messages In This Digest (7 Messages)
- 1a.
- Why Trick or Treating is Better Than Sex From: Lady Nightshayde
- 1b.
- Why Trick or Treating is Better Than Sex From: moonlightwolf4@yahoo.com
- 2a.
- How the Moon Affects Your Moods--Part 2 From: Lady Nightshayde
- 2b.
- How the Moon Affects Your Moods--Part 2 From: moonlightwolf4@yahoo.com
- 3a.
- The Seeker's Bill of Rights From: Lady Nightshayde
- 4a.
- Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal From: Lady Nightshayde
- 5a.
- Re: Dedication Ceremony From: Tammy Jackson-Cruz
Messages
- 1a.
-
Why Trick or Treating is Better Than Sex
Posted by: "Lady Nightshayde" LadyNightshayde9@aol.com nightshayde99
Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:00 pm (PDT)
Why Trick-or-Treating is Better Than Sex
10. You are guaranteed to get at least a little in the sack.
9. If you get tired, you can wait ten minutes and go at it again.
8. The uglier you look, the easier it is to get some.
7. You don't have to compliment the person who gives you some.
6. It's okay when the person you're with fantasizes you are someone
else, because you are!
5. Twenty years from now you will still enjoy candy.
4. If you like what you get, you can always go next door.
3. It doesn't matter if the kids hear you moaning.
2. Less guilt the morning after.
And the number one reason trick-or-treating is better than sex......
1. You can do the whole neighborhood!!!!!
Love Each Day,
Lady Nightshayde
You never know how much you know until you know how much you'll never know.
- 1b.
-
Why Trick or Treating is Better Than Sex
Posted by: "moonlightwolf4@yahoo.com" moonlightwolf4@yahoo.com moonlightwolf4
Thu Oct 28, 2010 6:43 am (PDT)
hahaha i love this thanks needed the laugh this morning
- 2a.
-
How the Moon Affects Your Moods--Part 2
Posted by: "Lady Nightshayde" LadyNightshayde9@aol.com nightshayde99
Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:01 pm (PDT)
How The Moon Affects Your Moods
Part 2
VIRGO: Here's the Moon at her most discriminating. Wearing an efficient, tailored outfit that's specially designed for work, she's ready to take care of whatever needs it--no matter what it needs. This is the most detail-oriented
sign out there, the sign most concerned with fixing, fussing, and tending to. This Moon sign puts us in the mood to clean, scour, sort, and troubleshoot. And help. Virgo is the most helpful of all the signs, ready to take up broom, mop, or gardening tool and offer her assistance. Now's when we're more health-conscious, work-oriented, and duty-bound, too, so this is a great period to use to pay attention to our diet, our hygiene, and our daily schedules.
No matter how much she protests that it's not true, the Moon in Virgo really does love for her home to be clean and orderly. If you have this Moon, you'll think about cleaning places most of us wouldn't even think of looking at, much less touching. The spot between the counter and the stove, for example, or the underside of the kitchen chairs. Now, you may not necessarily get down on your hands and knees and clean it yourself, you understand, but you'll want it done by somebody. You like your surroundings orderly because it makes you feel orderly, as if all's well with the world. This is a tough Moon to own. If you've got one, you probably beat yourself up on a regular basis. Of course, you're also undoubtedly very, very good at whatever you do--because being good, accurate, and precise is what makes you feel secure. Remember your finer qualities next time you're feeling like you'll just never be good enough--like the gentleness, compassion, attention to detail, and willingness to help you're so famous for. Look at the people who share this Moon: Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Madonna (which, loosely translated, means "virgin mother," which is Moon in Virgo), Emily Post.
LIBRA: Libra is the second Venus-ruled sign, so here's where the Moon is at her most other-oriented. She's dressed in Venusian pastels, and in the mood for attraction--so relationships, partnerships, and being with someone are important. Since Libra's job is to restore balance, however, you may find yourself in situations of emotional imbalance, ones that require a delicate tap of the scales to set them right. Now's when we're all quite capable of that, fortunately. In general, this is a social, polite, friendly Moon time, when others will extend themselves, be cooperative, and agree more easily to compromise-- after all, Libra just loves people. Libra Moons also prompt us to make our surroundings beautiful, or to put ourselves in situations where beauty is all around us, so now's also a great time to decorate, shop for the home, or visit places of elegant beauty.
Folks born with this Moon know instinctively how to avoid conflict because they probably grew up with it around them. If you own this Moon, you feel unhappy in unbalanced situations. As a result, you're an expert at sensing out what other people need, regardless of who the other is or what type of social situation you happen to be enjoying. Once you do understand what someone needs, you try your best to deliver--in a most accommodating fashion. You're a "Cruise director" out to keep everybody happy--except possibly yourself. Like Mercury in this sign, the Moon here is a natural-born mediator, arriving on the planet with the built-in curse/blessing of being able to understand--and make a case for--both sides of an issue. Libra Moons also look heavily to their primary relationships to keep them feeling happy and secure, so when they don't have one, they can be absolutely forlorn. Take a peek at these Libra Moons, all of whom have a spouse with whom they are (or were) strongly associated: George Bush, Burt Reynolds, Don Johnson.
SCORPIO: This fixed, feminine, water sign is co-ruled by Mars and Pluto. This Moon doesn't mess around. She's all dressed up in her formal black, looking so good she knows you can't take your eyes off her. Scorpio is the most intense sign out there, and when the Moon is here, she feels everything to the absolute nth degree. Everything. Needless to say, we do, too. Passion, joy, jealousy, betrayal, love, and desire--they take center stage in our lives now, as all our emotions deepen to the point of possible obsession. Be careful of a tendency to become secretive and suspicious, or to brood or stew over an offense that was not intended. Now's a great time to play detective, to investigate a mystery, do research, dig--both figuratively and literally--and to allow ourselves to become intimate with someone.
Here's a Moon that can love just as intensively as she can hate--at the same time, too. If you own one, you're a natural-born firewalker, ready to do that and more to prove your feelings for someone. You're the best friend and the worst enemy to have. You understand--and experience-- the true extent of feelings, from agony to ecstasy. The intensity of your feelings, in fact, is what makes you know you're alive. You stew and smolder and own a passion that's just barely concealed. Others wonder why they're so drawn to you. You can get through absolutely anything because you're built for endurance, but the other side of endurance is obsession. Watch for the possibility of rerunning every situation, wondering what "they really meant by that." You can use your natural detective ability to understand the people around you and become an excellent judge of character. Here are others with this Moon: Prince Andrew, Warren Beatty, James Dean, Quincy Jones, Bruce Lee.
SAGITTARIUS: Here's the Moon at her most optimistic, nonjudgmental, and positive. Sagittarius is ruled by benevolent Jupiter, so now's a time when we'll be more likely to shrug things off, let them go, and laugh about it. Of course, Jupiter's also the planet of long-distance travel and educating the higher mind, so now's a great time to take off for a two-day adventure or take a seminar on a topic you've always been interested in--say, philosophy or religion. Expect your intuitive abilities to run on high now, too--this is the sign with the gift of prophecy. Sag loves to collect knowledge, experiences, and wisdom, so when the Moon's in this sign, she's dressed for any adventure, complete with a backpack and world atlas. Spend time outdoors, be spontaneous, and laugh much too loudly when the Moon is here. Now's the time to truly enjoy life--just watch for a tendency towards excess, waste, and overdoing.
If you were born with the Moon here, you have the soul of a comedian, a philosopher, and a preacher. You probably always have a smile on your face--or at least a half-smile. You were born believing that everything will work out just fine, no matter what, that everything will unfold just as it should. You have a gift for lending this same optimism to those who really need it, and an innate faith in the universe--which seldom lets you down. This Moon wrote the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy." You're the true emotional optimist of the zodiac, a real giver--an overextender even--who always lands on your feet. Since your Moon is Jupiter-powered, no matter what you feel, you feel it hugely. You're quite at home on the road, and that includes foreign countries. You'll probably end up living somewhere that's far, far away from your birthplace, too. Watch for a tendency to be a bit too Pollyanna-like in your expectations of others, and for the possibility of leaning towards bingeing or overindulging in something to pick you up when you're having that unusually blue kind of day. Here are other Moon-in-Sag folks: John Belushi, Liberace, Mozart, Christopher Reeve, Oprah Winfrey.
CAPRICORN: Here's the Moon at her most organized, practical, and businesslike. Capricorn Moons bring out the dutiful, cautious, and pessimistic side in all of us, and we suddenly prefer to work, rather than play. Our goals for the future, in a career sense, become all-important now, and the right thing to do becomes the only thing to do. No sign is more concerned with conforming to set rules, touching all the bases, and following orders. This Moon, in fact, is dressed in a uniform--and she demands that you salute her, too. Now's the time to tend to the family business, to act responsibly, to take charge of something, to organize any part of our lives that's become scattered or disrupted. Now, too, is the time to set down rules and guidelines, to sit patiently, listen, and learn. Watch for the possibility of acting in too businesslike a way now at the expense of others' emotions.
Capricorn Moon owners have the driest, funniest senses of humor out there. That's because they tend to see things as they really are and people as they really are--just the facts, ma'am. If you own this Moon, you have a no-nonsense attitude towards life. You were definitely raised on the work ethic, and you may have been raised on the road by military parents, too. If you have kids of your own, it may not be until later in your life, as you see, like no other Moon sign, the responsibility involved in having children. Even so, since Capricorn planets are almost as rough on their owners as Virgo planets are, you'll probably never think you've done enough for your children, and you may even feel that even though you want to give them all the love you never had, you're incapable. Don't think that. Contrary to popular opinion, this Moon is not cold. She's starved for love, in fact, and she cries a lot more than anyone will ever see, too. Famous people with this Moon are Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, David Letterman, General George Patton.
AQUARIUS: The Moon in Aquarius brings out the rebel in all of us--for better or worse. Dressed in electric blue, in something outrageous, eccentric, and far too futuristic, this Moon is ready to break free from the past, to just say no to all the rules we just set in place in Capricorn. Now's the time when we're ready to break out of our ruts, try something different, and make sure everyone sees us for the unique individuals we are--regardless of what we have to do. Now's a time of extreme, sudden, and abrupt actions, when we surprise even ourselves at what we say, when we're prone to complete reversals and changing our minds at the last minute. This sign is ruled by Uranus, so personal freedom and individuality are more important than anything now. Our schedules become topsy-turvy, and our causes become urgent. Watch for a tendency to become fanatical, act in a deliberately rebellious way without a reason, or break tradition just for the sake of breaking it.
Folks born with restless Aquarian Moons came here to break the family tradition, no matter what that was. If you've got one, and you're from a wealthy family, you'll undoubtedly renounce the family's traditions, broadcast the secrets, and deliberately set out to shock everyone. If you're from lowly roots, on the other hand, you'll kill yourself to become someone. You have an innate emotional need to be different, to separate yourself from everyone you're related to, and to make sure they know just how different you are. If you own this Moon, you've probably become an expert at coming off cold when you're hurt, rather than showing your emotions. That doesn't mean you don't have any, only that you tend to think your feelings, rather than experience them. Like the Moon in Capricorn, you'll have a hard time crying for yourself, but you'll cry a river for an underdog. You may not have children of your own, but you'll be really good at mothering other people's kids, animals, and causes. When you decide to move, you'll move immediately--and you'll do this most quickly if you feel like "something's coming." You have the soul of a rebel and the spirit of a nonconformist. Here's some famous members of the pack you run with: Merle Haggard, John Lennon, Princess Diana, Shirley Chisholm, Margaret Mead.
PISCES: This sign belongs to the planet Neptune, the ruler of altered states of reality. When the Moon slips into this sign, sleep, meditation, prayer, drugs, or alcohol--whatever induces a trancelike state that will allow us to escape from the harshness of reality--is what we crave. She dresses in her most ethereal flowing pink gown, picks up her pink smoke machine and sparkling bucket of pink dust, and sets out to woo us, to cast a spell upon us, to convince us that everything's all right. Now's when we're most susceptible to emotional assaults of any kind, when we're feeling fuzzy, vague, dreamy, nostalgic, wistful, or impressionable. Now, too, is when we're at our most spiritual, when our boundaries are at their lowest, when we're more compassionate, intuitive, and sensitive to those less fortunate--so now's the time to attend a spiritual group or religious gathering.
Here's the Moon at her most sensitive and most intuitive. There are no walls between your Pisces planets and "what's out there." If you own this Moon, on some level you understand this, and you may be in touch with your ability to feel everything that's happening around you--for better or worse. It's all too easy for you to absorb the emotions of others, confuse them as your own, and then, rather than talk about it, withdraw and hide your feelings--even from yourself. In truth, if this is your Moon, you may have problems finding your emotions at all. Pisces Moon folks sometimes find the world such an emotionally abusive place that they shut their feelings down in self-defense. On the other hand, you also have a Moon that's amazingly compassionate. You have the capacity to be generous to strays of any kind, and to take special care of anyone you see as a victim. Of course, you may also become an emotional victim, and you could also victimize others. You have the soul of a poet and the ability to tap into the collective unconscious and bring back the images for the rest of us. Famous Pisces Moon folks: Leonardo daVinci, Robert DeNiro, Michaelangelo, Martin Luther King, Jr., Edgar Allan Poe.
by Kim Rogers-Gallagher,
copyright 1998
Blessed Be,
Lady Nightshayde
You never know how much you know until you know how much you'll never know.
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/13Witches/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/Whispering Witches/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/MagickalMe als/
http://groups.yahoo/group/ NightshaydesNews
http://health.groups.yahoo. com/group/ BlackHatsAndBroo msticks/
We are a support group for Women Only.
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/13Witches/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/Whispering Witches/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/MagickalMe als/
http://groups.yahoo/group/ NightshaydesNews
http://health.groups.yahoo. com/group/ BlackHatsAndBroo msticks/
We are a support group for Women Only.
- 2b.
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How the Moon Affects Your Moods--Part 2
Posted by: "moonlightwolf4@yahoo.com" moonlightwolf4@yahoo.com moonlightwolf4
Thu Oct 28, 2010 6:43 am (PDT)
description of Virgo hits the nail on the head for me lol
- 3a.
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The Seeker's Bill of Rights
Posted by: "Lady Nightshayde" LadyNightshayde9@aol.com nightshayde99
Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:02 pm (PDT)
The Seeker's Bill of Rights
Seekers on the Pagan path are in an extremely vulnerable position.
In their quest for following and teaching, they risk encountering those who
use our faith to prey on others. To empower the Seekers of our community, a
Seeker's Bill of Rights has been drafted. This tool will help to alert
Seekers of a problem if a group or teacher violates any of the ten rights
described. It will also serve to remind Seekers that while they do not
have "degrees", they are still human beings with rights and dignity.
I - The Right to Verify Credentials: Seekers shall not be obstructed
from substantiating claims made by a teacher or group. In the case of
Elders that were inspired to create a new tradition, the Seeker has the right to know the circumstances surrounding the inception of that tradition.
II - The Right to Anonymity: Seekers have the right to keep their
involvement in the occult a secret to preserve their personal &
professional lives.
III - The Right to Financial Stability: Seekers shall not be
required or coerced into taking on any financial burdens on behalf of a teacher or group.
IV - The Right to Compensation for Professional Goods and
Services: Seekers have the right to be paid for goods produced and/or skilled labor for which they would normally received an income. Seekers shall not be
required or coerced into providing discounts or `freebies' on behalf of a
teacher or group.
V - The Right to Sexual Freedom: Seekers shall not be required or
coerced into sexual relations with unwanted persons, nor shall Seekers be
restricted from sexual relations with consenting adults.
VI - The Right to Physical Well-Being: Seekers shall not be
required or coerced into submitting to any form of physical injury or abuse.
VII - The Right to Abide by the Law: Seekers shall not be required
or coerced into committing any illegal act.
VIII - The Right to Consistency: Seekers have the right to expect
consistency in policies by a teacher or group. Seekers should be
formally informed in a timely manner of any policy change.
IX - The Right to Separation with Impunity: Seekers have the right
to discontinue association with any teacher or group without fear of
harassment or reprisal.
X - The Right to be at Peace with One's Conscience: Seekers shall
not be required or coerced into committing any action contrary to their own
sense of ethics or morality.
The Seeker's Bill of Rights was compiled from experiences other
Seekers have suffered at the hands of abusive teachers. Hopefully, this tool will help Seekers everywhere to avoid these pitfalls.
by Charles M. Mars
Blessed Be,
Lady Nightshayde
You never know how much you know until you know how much you'll
never know.
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/13Witches/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/Whispering Witches/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/MagickalMe als/
http://groups.yahoo/group/ NightshaydesNews
http://health.groups.yahoo. com/group/ BlackHatsAndBroo msticks/
We are a support group for Women Only.
- 4a.
-
Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal
Posted by: "Lady Nightshayde" LadyNightshayde9@aol.com nightshayde99
Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:10 pm (PDT)
Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal
by Alexei Kondratiev
http://www.imbas.org/samhain. htm
Copyright © 1997 Alexei Kondratiev
All Rights Reserved
May be reposted as long as the above attribution and copyright
notice are retained
--------------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
--
[Originally published in An Tríbhís Mhór: The IMBAS Journal of
Celtic Reconstructionism, volume 2, issue 1/2, Samhain 1997/Iombolg 1998.]
As the nights lengthen and the leaves take on their autumn colours,
many of our cities prepare for a seasonal festival dominated by dark and frightening imagery. Ghosts, skeletons, hags, nocturnal creatures such as cats and bats, and grinning monster faces peer out at us from shop windows. Much of it is just commercialism, yet there is no denying that the atmosphere of the holiday still has a profound effect on the modern psyche -- as we can see from the spontaneous outrageousness of Hallowe'en parades, the creative
expressions of death-related themes, and the general surge in
mischief-making. All these customs, however, are a diffuse
reflection of the beliefs and practices of the Celtic populations of Europe, for whom this feast was a crucial turning-point in the flow of time.
The earliest record we have of the festival of Samhain in the Celtic
world comes from the Coligny Calendar, a native Celtic lunar calendar
inscribed on bronze tablets and discovered in eastern France a hundred years ago. The calendar -- dated, through epigraphic evidence, to the 1st century CE -- is written in the Latin alphabet and was found in conjunction with a Roman-style statue (identified by some writers as Apollo, by others as Mars), but the language used is Gaulish and the dating system itself bears little resemblance to Roman models, implying that it represents the survival of an indigenous tradition maintained by native clergy. A detailed discussion of the calendar lies outside the scope of this article, but for our purposes it will be enough to point out that its year consists of twelve regularly recurring months that fall naturally into two groups, one headed by
the month that is labeled SAMON (for Samonios) and the other by the month GIAMON (for Giamonios), and that the names of these two months are clearly related to the terms samos "summer" and giamos "winter" (cf. Gaelic samh(radh) "summer", geamh(radh) "winter"; Welsh haf "summer", gaeaf "winter"). The date of SAMON- xvii is identified as TRINVX SAMO SINDIV, which can be readily interpreted as an abbreviation of Trinouxtion Samonii sindiu ("The
three-night-period of Samonios [is] today"). This is one of
the very few dates in the calendar that is given a specific name,
testifying to its importance as a festival; and since Samoni- is obviously the origin of the modern name Samhain, it is reasonable to equate the
Trinouxtion Samonii with the feast that is still one of the most important dates in the Celtic ritual year.
We should note, however, that since the Coligny Calendar gives no
indication of how its months relate to those of the Roman calendar, we have no conclusive evidence that would allow us to fit it into the framework of our own year, and scholars are still very much divided on the issue. The most confusing element, of course, is that Samon- refers to summer, and so would naturally lead one to think that a month with that name would head the summer half of the year; and many of the earlier interpretations of the Coligny
Calendar take this for granted. In living Celtic tradition,
however, the festival of Samhain, despite its name, is definitely
the beginning of winter. Though such evidence doesn't necessarily
exclude the possibility that Continental Druids used a completely different terminology, many scholars now accept the authority of the living tradition and place the Samonios month in October/November.
What does the name of the festival mean, however? Here, again,we run into controversy. The traditional interpretation -- first put forward in the Mediaeval glossaries and still held to by native speakers -- is that it means "summer's end", being a combination of samh "summer" and fuin "ending, concealment". This is obviously a folk etymology, since we know that the earliest form of the word (Samoni-) had a different structure, but its
importance to the living tradition should make us wary of dismissing
it too lightly. Although philologists have been unable to find a plausible Indo-European explanation for a suffix -oni- meaning "end of" (the
suffix, by the way, occurs in at least three of the other Coligny months), this is not conclusive in itself: there are quite a few other derivational suffixes attested in Old Celtic that resist an easy Indo-European etymology, although their meanings are uncontroversial. What should be kept in mind is that in the ritual context of the Celtic Year, Samhain is strongly identified with
the "end" or "concealment" of Summer, the Light Half of the year. In
the modern Gaelic languages the festival is called Samhain (Irish),
Samhuinn (Scots Gaelic), and Sauin (Manx). The night on which it begins (Oíche Shamhna in Irish, Oidhche Shamhna in Scots Gaelic, Oie Houney in Manx) is the primary focus of the celebration. The Brythonic languages call the feast by a name meaning "first of Winter", borrowing the Latin term calenda
which designates the first day of a month (Welsh Calan Gaeaf, Breton
Kala-Goañv, Cornish Kalann Gwav), but the beliefs and practices
associated with it are consistent with what we find in the Gaelic countries, and will help us discover a pan-Celtic theology of Samhain.
The Coligny Calendar's division of the year into two halves
associated with summer and winter is still very strongly reflected in Celtic folk practice, where the yearly cycle consists of a dark half beginning on Samhain (November 1st), mirrored by a light half beginning on Bealtaine (May 1st). The rituals surrounding Samhain and Bealtaine are closely related to each other and make it clear that the two festivals are linked, but also that they
deal with opposite energies within the unfolding of the year. What is
explicit and active in one is implicit and dormant in the other, and
vice versa. This is often expressed as the notion that what disappears in our world at once becomes present in the Otherworld, and it has even been suggested, on this basis, that Samhain's "summery" name was originally intended to designate the beginning of an Otherworld summer! Whether this is plausible or not, it remains certain that while Samhain began one kind of yearly cycle, Bealtaine began another, and both could be construed as a kind of "New Year". In ancient Ireland the High King inaugurated the year on Samhain for his household (and, symbolically, for all the people of Ireland) with the famous ritual of Tara, but in nearby Uisneach, the sacred centre held by the druids in complementary opposition to Tara, it was on Bealtaine that the main ritual cycle was begun. In both cases sacred fires were
extinguished and re-lit, though this happened at sunset on Samhain and at dawn on Bealtaine. Bealtaine was a time of opening and expansion,
Samhain a time of gathering-in and shutting, and for herd-owners like the Celts this was expressed with particular vividness by the release of cattle into upland pastures on Bealtaine and their return to the safety of the byres on Samhain.
Which of these two dates, then, should we think of primarily as
the "Celtic New Year"? Although both deal with the beginning of a cycle, Samhain begins it in darkness, and there is no doubt about the pre-eminence of darkness in Celtic tradition. In De Bello Gallico Julius Caesar notes that the Celts began their daily cycle with sunset (spatia omnis temporis non numero dierum, sed noctium finiunt; dies natales et mensum et annorum initia sic obseruant, ut noctem dies subsequatur -- "they define all amounts of time not by the number of days, but by the number of nights; they celebrate birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such a way that the day is made to follow the night"), and this is confirmed by later Celtic
practice. Darkness comes before light, because life appears in the darkness of the womb, all things have their beginning in the fertile chaos that is hidden from the rational mind. Thus the year begins with its dark half, holding the bright half in gestation as the seeds lie in apparent death underground, although the forces of growth are already at work in Otherworldly invisibility. The moment of death -- the passing into the concealing darkness -- is itself the first step in the renewal of life.
This association of death with fertility provided the theological
background for a great number of end-of-harvest festivals celebrated by many cultures across Eurasia. Like Samhain, these festivals (which, for example, included the rituals of the Dyedy ("Ancestors") in the Slavic countries and the Vetrarkvöld festival in Scandinavia) linked the successful resumption of the agricultural cycle (after a period of apparent winter "death") to the propitiation of the human community's dead. The dead have passed away from the social concerns of this world to the primordial chaos of the Otherworld where all fertility has its roots, but they are still bound to the living by ties of kinship. It was hoped that, by strengthening these ties precisely when the
natural cycle seemed to be passing through its own moment of death, the community of the living would be better able to profit from the energies of increase that lead out of death back to life. Dead kin were the Tribe's allies in the Otherworld, making it certain that the creative forces deep within the Land were being directed to serve the needs of the human community. They were, in Celtic terms, a "humanising" factor within the Fomorian realm.
Whatever the specific elements had been that determined the proper
date of the end-of-harvest honouring of the dead in various places, by the ninth and tenth centuries the unifying influence of the Church had led to concentrating the rituals on November 1st and November 2nd. The first date was All Hallows, when the most spiritually powerful of the Christian community's dead (the Saints) were invoked to strengthen the living community, in a way quite consistent with pre-Christian thought. The second date, All Souls,
was added on (first as a Benedictine practice, beginning ca. 988) as an extension of this concept, enlarging it to include the dead of families and local communities. Under the mantle of the specifically Christian observances, however, older patterns of ancestor veneration were preserved.
Most traditional Celtic communities maintain a year-round link of
some sort with their departed, making them a part of all significant
occurrences in the family, such as births, weddings and funerals. In areas of the Irish Gaeltacht it is still not unusual for a household to have a seomra thiar ("western room"), a section of the house (often just a nook or alcove) dedicated to the dead of the family. Objects that bring individual dead relatives to mind (old photographs, pipes, jewelry, etc) are placed on a shelf or mantlepiece, and as one contemplates them one faces the setting sun and the
vastness of the Atlantic, the direction the dead follow in their journey to the Otherworld. The rituals of Samhain, however, involved a more intense bonding with the dead, using the institution which, in Celtic tradition, was used to cement social links in a sacred and durable manner: the communal feast. Sharing food in a solemn context ("in the sight of gods and mortals") placed common and mutual responsibilities on all participants. Inviting the dead to such a feast encouraged the living to remember and honour their ancestors, while the dead in return were encouraged to have an interest in the welfare of their living kin.
On Samhain, the moment of the year's death, this world and the
Otherworld become equivalent to each other, classificatory boundaries are removed from all categories, no barriers exist between the dead and the living, so both can authentically come together in one place to share a ritual feast. Individual Celtic communities have preserved a wealth of different customs related to the way this feast was actually celebrated: one can still discern some distorted elements of them in modern urban practices, such as Hallowe'en parties and trick-or-treating. Most of the customs, however, fall into two broad patterns. According to the first, a certain amount of food
was set aside for the exclusive consumption of the dead. The dead were believed to be present as invisible entities; doors and windows were left unlocked to facilitate their coming into the house. In some cases, a specific type of food (usually cakes of some kind) was made solely for the dead; in others, a portion of the same food that the living would eat was set aside for them. The most classic example of this pattern (which is also found in Ireland and Scotland) is the boued an Anaon ("food of the hosts of the dead") custom in Brittany. The Anaon (the word appears to be the same as Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld; it is certainly a pre-Christian term) are the massed hosts of ancestral spirits, usually portrayed as hungry for
sustenance from the world of the living. A large amount of food was
set aside for their sole use, and had to remain untouched by any living
hand for the full duration of the ritual period. Eating the food of the dead (even if one was desperately hungry) was considered to be a dreadful sacrilege: it condemned one to becoming a hungry ghost after death, barred from sharing the Samhain feast along with the rest of the Anaon. It was, in effect, a particularly horrible form of excommunication.
The other pattern of Samhain custom, on the contrary, encourages the recycling of the offered food into the community, thus strengthening
social bonds. The most classic example of this second pattern is the Welsh cennad y meirw ("embassy of the dead") custom, although similar customs are found elsewhere in the Celtic and ex-Celtic world. Here, while the wealthier members of the community put together lavish Samhain feasts for their households, the poor take on the collective identity of the community's dead, and go from door to door to receive offerings in the name of the ancestors. At each house they are given a portion of the food that has been set aside for the dead. Originally the cenhadon would have been masked to
abolish their mundane social roles and allow them to represent the dead more convincingly. To refuse food to the cenhadon for any reason at all was an act of impiety and would invite retaliation in the form of
destruction of property -- retaliation that would go unpunished because of the holy nature of the ritual period. We can here see one of the origins of the "trick" aspect of our modern Hallowe'en customs, although nowadays it has largely lost its moral dimension.
A communal feast, of course, involves more than just food. The dead
would not only have to be fed, they would have to be entertained. Games and pastimes associated with Samhain feasting vary a great deal from community to community, but they have certain themes in common. While the younger people engage in the ritualised games, the elders will be gossiping, reviewing all the notable events of the past year for the benefit of the dead, who will then be encouraged to continue to take an interest in the affairs of the living. The games themselves, in many cases, seem to have
specific links with the mythology of death and the afterlife. Many of them involve apples -- in part, of course, because they are one of the last crops to be brought in and are thus easily available, but also as a reflection of the role apples play in beliefs about death: in Irish tradition the Otherworld place where the dead gather at a feast is called Eamhain Abhlach ("paradise of apples"), and its Welsh equivalent is Afallon. Some of the Scottish games in this context make use of parallel ordeals by water and fire, the two main elements out of which the world is made. The water ordeal is the familiar bobbing for apples, while the fire ordeal involves trying to take a bite out of an apple attached to a hanging stick which also bears a
lit candle. This seems to be a reference to myths about the ordeals
faced by the dead on their journey to the Otherworld -- a body of
beliefs we unfortunately know only through fragments, although the basic concept of the journey and the ordeals is well established. Sharing the experiences of the dead was yet another way of affirming the solidarity between the dead and the living, and of aligning the powers of renewal in the Otherworld with this world's needs.
While the dead were brought closer to the living by the formal
sharing of food, other offerings had to be made to the Land-spirits to reward them for their cooperation during the Harvest period, and to replenish their creative energy as they prepared to enter into a new cycle. With Samhain, the period of "truce" that had begun on Lúnasa was officially ended, and the fruits of the soil (especially wild crops) could no longer be harvested with impunity. Well within living memory, children in Celtic communities were warned not to eat the late berries that might still be ripening on roadside bushes, because "the fairies" or "the devil" had made them dangerous to consume. Having enabled the human community to survive by making the crops grow and
by standing aside to let the Harvest take place, the powers of the
Fomorian realm were now entitled to a gift of life-renewing blood; and Samhain was
the season when the cattle that would not be kept through the winter
were slaughtered. In historical times the date of the slaughter has
specifically been Martinmas (November 11), certainly in part because the name of the saint suggested the Gaelic word mart ("cattle marked for slaughter"). As late as the 1830's, when Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin discussed some of these customs in his famous diary, the occasion was understood as a ritual "shedding of blood", and other sources show that during the same period blood sacrifices could even still be held indoors, to protect a house from malignant "fairy" influences by sprinkling an offering of blood at each corner.
Renewing social links with the dead and feeding the Land-spirits
were both ritual means of ensuring a safe future. While Samhain (and the phenomenon of death which it celebrated) was obviously the end of a cycle, it was more importantly the start of a new one. Because all true novelty springs from the chaotic freedom and vitality of the Otherworld, a new cycle could be inaugurated only by dissolving all of the structures of the old one -- just as the moment of death dissolves our identity in this world, allowing the fresh energies of the Otherworld to impel us towards new life. This meant that, as happens in the feasts of renewal of many different cultures,
certain types of social disorder were actively encouraged during the period of the festival, because they promoted the renewing influence of the Otherworld at the point in the yearly cycle where it would be most beneficial. Customs originating entirely in the world of cultural values -- such as those relating to social rank or gender-appropriate behaviour -- were the most likely to be violated. Disrespect could be shown to elders or to members of the upper classes. Cross-dressing was one of the most widespread and popular ways of expressing the dissolution of social categories, and in parts of Wales groups of young men in female garb were referred to as gwrachod ("hags" or "witches") as they wandered through the countryside on Calan Gaeaf, indulging in all kinds of mischief.
But the disorder, of course, was only the prelude to the return of
order in a strengthened form. The structures that had been dissolved had to be re-created in order to channel the new energy from the Otherworld in the desired directions. While local communities would have had their own diverse methods of accomplishing this ritually (often through the extinguishing and re-kindling of household fires), more elaborate ceremonies were conducted by religious specialists at the sacred centres of a territory, in the name of the entire population. In pre-Christian Ireland the ritual of Tara, focusing on the High King in his role as linchpin of the social order, was the means for re-creating the world on Samhain. The Middle Irish text entitled Suidigud Tellaig Temra (The Settling of the Household of Tara) describes the essentials of the ritual and relates some of the mythology that explains its symbolism (albeit with a somewhat Christianised background), while Geoffrey Keating, the seventeenth-century
encyclopaedist of traditional Irish lore, provides us with
additional explanations of some of the elements. Since the Land itself, as a ritual entity, was conceived of as a square, so was Tara, for the purposes of this ceremony, seen as a four-sided space. Each of the directions was associated with one of the three functional classes of society (and with the divinity who was seen as the ruler of that function), the South being devoted specifically to the power of the Land and to the goddess who gave energy to the exercise of the social functions. The High King occupied the centre of the
ritual area, while around him, strictly ordered by social rank, were
representatives of the four provinces. Thus, when the New Year
actually dawned, the magical heart of Ireland would contain a model of the entire social order of the country in miniature, engaged in the solemn feasting whereby all social links were strengthened, and all parts of the country would then benefit from the influence of this ritual. The actual inception of the new cycle was signaled by the lighting of a fire, not at Tara but at Tlachtga,
which symbolically represented the southern province of Munster within the High King's central realm. This was the place where Tlachtga, the daughter of the mythological Druid Mug Ruith, died after being raped by the "sons of Simon Magus" (who wanted to gain the knowledge and talents she had inherited from her father) and after giving birth to three sons from three different fathers. This myth is obviously garbled in its modern version, yet one can still discern in it the figure of the Land-goddess and her three "functional" consorts. The association of the festival with the pre-eminently "female" southern
quarter may explain why in some Welsh and Scottish communities it is specified by custom that Samhain ritual (preparation of the ceremonial food, etc.) must be overseen by nine women (in contrast to the nine men who preside over Bealtaine). What of the role of the gods in this crucial turning-point of the ritual year? Since virtually all our knowledge of detailed ritual practices among the Celts comes from Christianised communities, references to divinities
who were actually worshipped are, as one would expect, rare and indirect. However, some of the stories preserved in both folklore and medieval literature seem relevant to the theology of this feast. Images such as that of the hero Diarmait killed by a boar after his romance with Fionn Mac Cumhail's wife Gráinne; or that of wild Myrddin emerging from the forest with a herd of stags to kill his wife's lover by piercing him with a pair of antlers; or that of Gwyn ap Nudd ("White son of Mistmaker") fighting
with Gwythyr ap Greidawl ("Wrathful son of Hot") every Calan Mai
(Bealtaine) "until the day of Judgment" for the hand of their common love, Creiddylad; and the notion of the Fianna living off the wilderness from Bealtaine to Samhain and indoors from Samhain to Bealtaine all suggest a myth of certain divinities changing their status in relation to the Land-goddess in response to the change of seasons along the Samhain-Bealtaine axis. The common denominator of these motifs seems to be the figure of the antlered god now conventionally referred to as "Cernunnos", whose mythology has definite links to the stories of the Fianna and whose attributes symbolise seasonal change as well as the interface between nature and culture. Antlers are a
seasonal phenomenon: they drop off in winter and begin to reappear
as velvet at winter's end, returning to full glory in the spring. In Scots Gaelic terminology, the month immediately preceding Samhain is called an Damhar (damh-ghar, "stag-rut"), because it is when stags clash with each other during the mating season, shortly before losing their antlers, as the antlered god must undoubtedly lose his (which is why some "Cernunnos" statues -- like the one from St. Germain -- apparently had holes for removable antlers). Our
sense of the seasonal importance of this event in
Celtic ritual symbolism is reinforced by the custom in southwestern
Brittany of baking appropriately shaped cakes called kornigoù ("little horns") to celebrate the coming of winter. From the many versions of the myth one can deduce that the antlered god is separated from his goddess-consort (who takes another lover) during the light half of the year, when he must live as a renunciate in the wilderness and wear his horns; but that with the coming of the dark season his rival is eliminated and he can return to his consort's embrace in the Otherworld -- abandoning, by the same token,
the "horns" of his cuckoldry. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the bonnag Samhna -- the Samhain cake prepared specifically for the ritual-- made by the women who preside over the Samhain feast in parts of Gaelic Scotland is named after a cuckold in the community. And we find echoes of the same motif (as we often do) at the other end of the Indo-European world, in the ritual calendar of India, where on Divali (Dipâvali), the Feast of Lights, which is usually celebrated very close to Samhain, Lakshmi, the goddess of abundance and well-being, leaves her usual consort Vishnu (who falls asleep at this time) to return temporarily to her first husband, Kubera, the fat god of material riches.
The Land-goddess, too, changes her appearance at this time: the
fertile part of her retreats to the Otherworld where she can join with her consort in beginning the creative work of the new yearly cycle (in their summer, which is our winter, as it were), but in our world only her "Fomorian" aspect remains, making the land barren and hostile to human comfort. In the Scottish Highlands this is the season of the Cailleach Bheura, the monstrous hag who wanders in the hills bringing bad weather, while in Wales we hear of the
Hwch Ddu Gwta ("tailless black sow") who lurks menacingly in the
darkness. Yet these are all aspects of the same being, the multiform
Provider on whom we all depend, who must, like all things, replenish
herself through alternating periods of action and repose, and who touches -- as we all must -- darkness and death to find the source of true renewal.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Céitinn, Seathrún (Geoffrey Keating), (ed. by Padraig de Brún) Foras
Feasa ar Éirinn. Dublin, 1982.
Danaher, Kevin, The Year in Ireland. Cork, 1972.
MacNeill, Eoin, On the Notation and Chronology of the Calendar of
Coligny, Ériu 10 (1926).
McNeill, F. Marian, The Silver Branch. Glasgow, 1953-66.
Owen, Trefor M., Welsh Folk Customs. Cardiff, 1959.
Rees, Alwyn & Brinley, Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland
and Wales. New York. 1961.
Sébillot, P. Y., Le Folklore de la Bretagne. Paris, 1968.
Suidigud Tellaig Temra (R.I. Best, ed. and trans.), Ériu 4 (1910).
Blessed Be,
Lady Nightshayde
"You never know how much you know until you know how much you'll
never know. "
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- 5a.
-
Re: Dedication Ceremony
Posted by: "Tammy Jackson-Cruz" tammycruz2003@msn.com sexy_enchanting_goddess
Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:15 pm (PDT)
Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you for looking. I'm so busy with school that I had to search through 504 emails to find yours! I will look at the self-dedication given and go through the books I have and I will write my own. I appreciate you so much Lady N, you do so much for all of us. (((HUGS)))
-Tammy
Follow the magic in your heart. It is the inspiration for your life. ~Adèle Basheer
Greetings!
My son is to be dedicated on Samhain... I am looking for a dedication ritual for him. Does anyone have one they can share?
Thanks!
Well, there are some in our archives, but I can't find them. In case no one has noticed, our group has been changed. The group owners were notified about the 'new' yahoo, and given an option to take a look, and if you didn't like it, they would change the group back.
A VERY UNHAPPY Lady Nightshayde
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