Friday, October 28, 2011

Guest Post: The Village Witch On Samhain




Samhain Emotions

I love Autumn.  The feel of the coolness of the breeze as we switch seasons and head towards the Winter, the colours of the trees, the reddish tinged skies and the harvest we bring in from our veg patch in the garden.

2 years ago, my Grandmother, who I loved dearly died at the beginning of October.  We knew with Samhain coming up that this would be an emotional time, especially as we spend Samhain evening with parents and my Grandmother was my Mum’s mother. 
As always, we played some games and tried to keep it happy in the house as I have 2 children and they love this time of year.  We are the talk of the village when it comes to Samhain as we have a big bowl of chocolates ready for the trick or treaters who come to the house so everyone knows if they come here, they will get their treats.  So we had everything planned and ready, just like we always do, every year.  But it felt so different.  We were sad.  Understandably sad.

Samhain is a time to remember and honour our ancestors and to be thankful for the harvest, so with this in mind we had a lovely meal and raised our glasses to our ancestors and said an emotional goodbye to my Grandmother.

The problem is when someone you love dies, you cannot help but be upset.  But why are you upset?  Because you will miss them.   Samhain is for us, a time to celebrate the lives of all those who have gone and that year should have not been an exception.  I made my feelings clear that we could either all have sat there in tears at the dinner table OR we could celebrate her life.  So with a quick wipe away of the tears we cheered my Grandmother and the life she led.  As we ‘chinked’ our glasses together the atmosphere changed in the room immediately.  There was electricity in the air, a powerful shift change in emotion.  The magic was there. 

With all the rushing around we do, the stress, the financial worries, the housework, the cleaning, running our businesses, running our homes and general day to day living we do, it is hard to take time out to think about how lucky we are.  Lucky for the food we grow, the food we harvest, the food we eat.  Lucky for the people we share our lives with, past, present and future.  We may not all have riches but if we have food to eat and people to love, we are indeed very lucky.

May you all have a wonderful and magical Samhain.  I will be raising a glass to you all this year!


Bio: I am a traditional village witch, which means I follow the old craft that has been taught down from generations.  I am not Wiccan and do not follow Wicca.  However, I do have a sense of humour and not at all ‘hell and damnation’.   
I am not ‘fluffy’ but I do like a smile…

I offer services within my community and work full time as the village witch, whether that be a shoulder to cry on, making charms, spells, handfasting, baby blessings, naming ceremonies, cleansing, removing negative energies and much more.  I am also a qualified complimentary health therapist.  I take my role within my village seriously but also love to meet people, especially when we can share cake!

1 comment:

  1. I loved your story... Halloween has always been a big celebration in my family, as well. (We have been THE Halloween House in my neighborhood for almost 50 years!) It is so wonderful to see that my daughter and nephews are passing along all of our traditions.

    Your Grandmother would be so proud!

    ReplyDelete