Samhain, As Celebrated By Us

Saturday 30th April was Samhain for those of us in New Zealand.

Having been off Sabbats for a while, it was nice to have one of our group ask if she could do a ritual. The night before, I picked a pumpkin from my garden to make pumpkin soup from for our dinner after ritual. Two of our group were visiting, and on a whim, we decided to make a Jack O'Lantern with our pumpkin, not having any idea just how hard it could be to scoop firm pumpkin flesh out of a too small hole (the lid). This is why our pumpkin got four faces. Still, we had a fun night carving pumpkin faces while watching the Royal Wedding.

The ritual rocked. We each wrote a letter to the people we were hurt by, or upset or angry at. We laid it out as if we were speaking to them, and these letters were burned in our ritual fire, releasing the negative emotions that were eating at us. Then one at a time we went around our circle, offering good wishes and blessings for each other. All the while the others not currently involved were singing and chanting:

We are the old people,
We are the new people,
We are the same people, stronger than before,
Stronger than before,
Stronger than before,
We are the same people, stronger than before.

We are the old people,
We are the new people,
We are the same people, wiser than before,
Wiser than before,
Wiser than before,
We are the same people, wiser than before.

The singing and chanting got a bit silly (and headbangy) as the energy flowed more strongly around the circle, but it was a lot of fun and a very moving ritual.

After feasting, we kept going back to the ritual area as it got dark. Boris (as we'd named our pumpkin) looked awesome with his candle burning through his faces. It was kinda eerie to see his face through the trees. This was also the best time for some dark mirror scrying, some had surprising visions while others saw nothing.



This was our first Sabbat celebrated as a group with a ritual, and it was a success. Luana's cloak hanging on the trellis ensured that she was there with us.
Now we look forward to Winter Solstice!