31 Things to do for Samhain

I thought I’d share a few things to do this season of the witch. You can customise it to suit you and your lifestyle.

1, Set up your altar, add photos of ancestors, loved pets and add their favourite things, if you don’t have these things, add nature on the fireplace, pumpkins, candles, leaves and chestnuts.

2, Buy at least one witchy, gothic item or outfit. Anyone who knows me knows this is when my wardrobe is added too, not just for Halloween but they are my day to day clothes too.

3, Colour your hair, mystical purple, or spooky green, or add false nails with a spooky theme.

4, Gather up spooky movies, Halloween themed, ghost and ghoul too. We are doing 1 film for each day.

5, Get back into your Magickal practise if you’ve been neglecting it, tarot is a perfect place to start.

6, Freshen up your Book of Shadows or start one.

7, Buy a witches brew mug (I may or may not have one 😉😉 add pumpkin spice to cappuccino sachets.

8, Light a fire in the garden, we have a cauldron to do this in, write down what you’d like to release and burn it.

9, Star Gaze, the moon and stars are always lovely to gaze at.

10, Cook witchy foods, Spagetti Brains, or Worms, Potion Soups.

11, Plan to attend at least one online ritual or workshop to hel0 you feel less alone while isolated.

12, Catch up with friends, family, meet outside or over the phone.

13, Get out in nature, find a Corn maize or Apple orchards, take in the sights and sounds of this season.

14, Make beautiful arrangements with things you find like stones and feathers.

15, Photograph mushrooms, trees, mountains.

16, Go camping, or do a home camp with pillow forts and sheets.

17, Decorate your home with pumpkins, skulls and ghosts.

18, Visit loved ones at a cemetery or just visit anyway and try to imagine lives that were lived.

19, Freshen up your protection practices, meditation and crystal work.

20, Make a plan to learn something new magickally, herbal work, candle magic etc.

21, Start looking ahead to Yule plans, can some nature finds be used for a Yule decoration too.

22, Celebrate this rare Full moon and Blue moon, chant, raise energies, and honour others.

23, Hunt for your Yule Log, while thinking of things to leave behind, and think of new things to aim for.

24, Self care, Bubble baths, drink more water, face masks and soak feet.

25, Make a Magickal playlist up, I’ve used Heilung, Wardruna and Aurora.

26, Dig out fluffy socks, cosy blankets, and awesome warm pjs.

27, Do something for someone else, babysit, Make a lunch for a family friend.

28, Watch wildlife out your window if lucky enough to have a garden, or get to a local park, Watch squirrels and birds.

29, Cleanse your crystals under the full moon.

30, Dress up, try special fx make up, Do a monster mash.

31, Drink absinthe (or Apple juice) and talk to the fairies.

Lammas Sabbat 2020

It’s already Lammas, 1st August and this year there’s no specific celebration, as I’m gearing up to see 1 daughter for the day, then 2 days later take 1 daughter to move back to Uni.

It’s been a funny ole year with Coronavirus, it’s spoiled everyone’s plans globally and played heavy on people’s mental health.

Instead we are hoping to go out and spend a night in a hotel and celebrate as a couple, over good food and wine, and hope for the brightest of blessings.

What is Lammas?

Lammas day – or ‘loaf mass’ – is traditionally when people celebrate the first wheat harvest in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and is the noted as the first harvest festival (but much earlier than THE harvest festival which is in September) of the season.

Grains that are harvested at Lammas time include, wheat, barley, oats, rye as well as the plants meadowsweet, mint, sunflower and Calendula.

The festival’s roots date back to Anglo Saxon times when the festival was referred to as the ‘feast of first fruits’. It also marks the end of the hay harvesting season.

Lammas Day is usually around the beginning of August and coincides with when tenant farmers would have presented the first crop harvest to their landlord.

Ways to celebrate

If you are lazy or as busy as me, This year I’ll be picking my black berries and wild strawberries, and combining them with my rhubarb. Perfect to store away for winter months.

Decorate the altar or your hearth with Sunflowers. Bring in that last kiss of summer before you acknowledge autumn is coming. Or if flowers aren’t your thing, gather feathers, pine cones and nice pebbles from country walks.

Visit the woods and rivers if you can, feel the Earth and Water elements, it’s what we’ve been doing all Lockdown. It’s done wonders for mental health. Seen as all our Witch events are cancelled this year.

If you can bake bread now is the perfect time to do so, but alas it’s not my skill, but instead I will drink lots of beer and that’s my mini nod to John barleycorn.

As it’s the First harvest out of 3, it’s worth starting to plan the colder months, find the books you will want to read, brush up on what skills and visit places while you can, if you can.

Brightest Blessings Witches

Dark Gathering 2019 Part 3

Sadly our time to leave has come, and believe me when I say, we ae heartbroken. This place, this time, this event really touched us. It was perfect.

To end the trip properly, we gathered ourselves ready to walk the Rocky Valley.

This is what the website says about it.

Take in majestic views of the bay near Bossiney

The stream starts life high up on Venn Down, 820ft (250m) above sea level. From there it meanders through fields before tumbling dramatically, first at the waterfalls at St Nectan’s Glen, then through rocky bluffs and deep clefts all the way to the open ocean in the bay near Bossiney. Grade of walk: Trainer (all rounder); type of walk: ‘Waterside Walks’, ‘Hidden Places’.

It was not EASY, and I struggled if I’m honest. But the sights were worth the pain, and stiffness.

We found the ancient labyrinth carvings, the old mill and raging waters.

Bridge wasn’t confidence inspiring! Least it warned us.

The walk itself isn’t long, but it is grand and energies felt around the water and stones, and earth. Brilliant place to end our spiritual journey on.

Summer Solstice 2019

Well its already that time again, the time we all long for all bleak winter. When the gardens are blooming and bursting with life, and summer is in full swing.

But here are some correspondences for the Sabbat, I tend to use all my green adventurine,moss agate and citrine around this Sabbat.

Time to crack open the barbeque, turn on the sprinklers, and enjoy the celebrations of Midsummer! Also it’s nearly time for schools out!! Exams are over, less stress and more thoughts leaning towards enjoying the sun!

Also known as Litha, this summer solstice Sabbat honours the longest day of the year. So take advantage of the extra hours of daylight and spend as much time as you can outdoors, well weather permitting of course.

Depending on your individual beliefs amd spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Litha, the summer solstice.

However the focus is nearly always on celebrating the power of the sun. So get out there and watch a sunrise, or watch the sun setting. It’s the time of year when the crops are growing heartily and the earth has warmed up.( We hope, here in UK!!)

The dream we have is that we can spend long sunny afternoons enjoying the outdoors, listen to the birds, sunbathe and get back to nature under the long daylight hours.

Traditionally there would be balefires burning for people to leap to drive out evil energies, a tradition still going strong in some European countries, we saw it in Ibiza. Or farmers would drive their cattle through to cleanse them. Nowadays it’s done more symbolically. We’ve leapt a candle in the garden, making our wishes.

I don’t have an altar set up, nor do I do things ceremonially. I prefer to gather my family for get togethers have good food, share stories and enjoy some beers. And hopefully enjoy the sunshine and nature too. It’s very low-key as I’ve learnt over the years, faith and spirituality doesn’t need flare and pomp it just needs you and your intentions.

Yule Celebrations, what’s it all about? #Blogmas Part 1

Yule: Winter Solstice – Dec 21st/22nd

What is the origin of the word Yule? It has been suggested that it has origins from the Old English word, geõla, or the  Old Norse word jõl, a pagan festival celebrated at the winter solstice, or even the Anglo-Saxon word for the festival of the Winter Solstice, ‘Iul’ meaning ‘wheel’. In old almanacs Yule was represented by the symbol of a wheel, conveying the idea of the year turns like a wheel, The Great Wheel of the Zodiac, The Wheel of Life. The spokes of the wheel, are the old festivals of the year, the solstices and equinoxes.

The winter solstice, is  the rebirth of the Sun, is an important turning point, as it marks the shortest day, when the hours of daylight are at their least. It also the start of the increase in the hours of daylight, until the Summer Solstice, when darkness becomes ascendant once more. Finally the light is returning, you can feast, party knowing that the darkest days are over.

Cycle of the Year

Yule is deeply rooted in the cycle of the year, it is the seed time of year, the longest night and the shortest day, where the Goddess once again becomes the Great Mother and gives birth to the new Sun King. The oak king rejoices once again. On this the longest night of the winter, ‘the dark night of our souls’, that there springs the new spark of hope, the Sacred Fire, the Light of the World. New life is set to return.

Fire festivals, celebrating the rebirth of the Sun, held on the Winter’s Solstice can be found throughout the ancient world. The Roman festival of Saturnalia was held on the winter solstice, boughs of evergreen trees and bushes would decorate the house, gifts where exchanged and normal business was suspended. The Persian Mithraists held December 25th as sacred to the birth of their Sun God, Mithras, and celebrated it as a victory of light over darkness. In Sweden, December 13th was sacred to the Goddess Lucina, Shining One, and was a celebration of the return of the light. On Yule itself, around the 21st, bonfires were lit to honour Odin and Thor.

The festival was already closely associated with the birth of older Pagan gods like Oedipus, Theseus, Hercules, Perseus, Jason, Dionysus, Apollo, Mithra, Horus and even Arthur with a cycle of birth, death and resurrection that is also very close to that of Jesus. It can hardly be a coincidence that the Christians, also used this time of year for the birth of Christ, mystically linking him with the Sun.

That Yule is another fire festival, should come as no surprise, however unlike the more public outdoor festival of the summer solstice, Yule lends itself to a more private and domestic celebration. It is definitely more private for us, firstl its too cold and so close to Christmas, so its easier to celebrate at home quietly. Yet like its midsummer counterpart, is strongly associated with fertility and the continuation of life. Here the Goddess is in her dark aspect, as ‘She Who Cuts The Thread’ or ‘Our Lady in Darkness’, calling back the Sun God. Yet, at the same time, she is in the process of giving birth to Son-Lover who will re-fertilise her and the earth, bringing back light and warmth to the world.