Samhain

Photo provided by http://blog.colormarie.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

     Late October and early November is when popularly know Halloween occurs, this is also known as Samhain. The end of the harvest season is marked at this time. Pagans have paid their respects ancestors, departed loved ones and guides in the spirit world at Samhain. This is the New Year for most Wiccan practitioners and a time for looking ahead to the new and letting go of the old.It is a celebration of endings and transformations. The Goddess manifests as the crone and the God as the Horned Hunter and Lord of Death. Orange and black are the sacred colors.
     To honor ancestors and departed loved ones set up an altar in your home, light a candle and place offerings there.Have everyone dress up as they were in another life and throw a Come As You Were party. Set a place at your table for your spirit friends and relatives and serve them some food and drink you share at your Samhain feast, as done in ancient times. To bless your home set lighted carved pumpkins around your home. Make a resolution to break magically out of a negative habit pattern and begin a healthier way of being. On the year ahead do divinations.