“October is the gateway to enchantment, where the veil between worlds grows thin and whispers of ancient wisdom dancing on the wind. In the embrace of Samhain, we honor the spirits of the past, and as we kindle our inner flame, we ignite the power of transformation.”
October Celebrations
October brings the Sabbat of Samhain. “At Samhain, the circle of the wheel has come to tis final spoke. The Harvest season is complete and the dying God interred. The Goddess has descended to the underworld to be with her Beloved.”
Samhain, Llewellyn”s Essental Sabbat
October
For some, it is the season of the witches. The Witches New Year. It is the time of the wheel (if you live quite some distance from the equator as I do) where the mornings have a chill kissing them and we feel the day’s light is noticeably shorter. The ground, If I am lucky as in most years, the land is covered in fallen leaves. Sometimes Mother Nature likes to sprinkle a little snow early in the fall season. Fields, where crops once stood and flourished in the growing season, once again lay bare, with the last harvest put away for the long winter ahead. Children begin to get excited for All Hollow’s Eve, and Halloween, and Samhain and I begin to prepare my home for the cold winter days that are just around the corner. It is a time for Hot Cider, and special aromatic teas, Hot stews, baked bread, pumpkins, and warm sweaters. October also brings the time of year when the Veil between the Physical World and The Spirit World—a time to honor our dearly departed loved ones and ancestors.
Correspondences
Moon Phases October 2023 – Last Quarter October 6, New Moon October 14, First Quarter October 22, Full Moon October 28
Zodiac – Libra and Scorpio
Elements – Air and Water
Colors – Black, Brown, Grey, Orange, Yellow
Herbs – Garlic, Mugwort, Myrrh, Rosemary, Sage, Yarrow
Flowers – Calendula, Marigold, Chrysanthemum,
Stones – Carnelian, Jet, Moonstone, Obsidian, Onyx
Animals – Black Cat, Owls, Ravens, Spiders
Oils – Cinnamon, Clove, Copal, Myrrh, Pine
Symbols and Tools – Besom, Cauldron
Symbolism – Releasing old energy and thoughts and contracts, death and rebirth, Ancestors
Sabbat – October brings Samhain. “At Samhain, the Circle of the Wheel has made it’s final turn. The is Harvest completed and the dying God interred. The Goddess has descended to the underworld to be with her beloved.” Samhain, Llewellyn’s Essential Sabbat
Samhain October 31 – November 1, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the last harvest season and entering the “dark” half of the wheel. Samhain is seen about halfway between the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. Traditionally a celebration of the dead as it is believed the spirits of our loved ones return to earth. It is a time to honor those loved ones in feast and celebrations. We set a place at our tables for them with the offering of food from our plates made from out harvest.
Samhaim Rituals
Decorate your altar with symbols of late fall such as: Fallen leaves, acorns, gords, apples, cornucopia, pumpkins
Harvest food such as pumpkins, squash, root vegetables
Nuts and berries, dark breads
Dried leaves and acorns
A cornucopia filled with an abundance of fruit and veggies
Mulled cider, wine, or mead
Make an Ancestors Altar
Honor your ancestors. with this ceremony. Gather photographs, heirlooms, and other mementos of deceased family, friends, or even pets. Arrange them on a table, dresser, or other surfaces, along with several votive candles. Light the candles in their memory; while you do so, speak their names out loud, express well wishes and thank them for being part of your life or lineage. Sit quietly and pay attention to what you experience. Note any messages you receive in your journal. This Ancestors Altar can be created just for Samhain or kept year-round. Gaia
Samhain Ceremony
Start out by preparing a meal for the family, focusing on fruits and vegetables, and wild game meat if available. Include a loaf of a dark bread like rye or pumpernickel and a cup of apple cider or wine. Set the dinner table with candles and a fall centerpiece, and put all the food on the table at once. Consider the dinner table a sacred space.
Gather everyone around the table, and say this, “Tonight is the first of three nights, on which we celebrate Samhain. It is the end of the harvest, the last days of summer, and the cold nights wait on the other side for us. The bounty of our labor, the abundance of the harvest, the success of the hunt, all lies before us. We thank the earth for all it has given us this season, and yet we look forward to winter, a time of sacred darkness.”
Take the cup of cider or wine, and lead everyone outside. Make this a ceremonial and formal occasion. Head to your garden (if you don’t have one, find a grassy place in your yard). Each person in the family takes the cup in turn and sprinkles a little bit of cider onto the earth, saying, “Summer is gone, winter is coming. We have planted and we have watched the garden grow, we have weeded, and we have gathered the harvest. Now it is at its end.”
Collect any yard trimmings or dead plants and use them to make a straw man or woman. If you follow a more masculine path, he may be your King of Winter, and rule your home until spring returns. If you follow the Goddess in her many forms, make a female figure to represent the Goddess as hag or crone in winter. Once that is done, go back inside and bring your deity into your home. Place him on your table and prop him up with a plate of his own, and when you sit down to eat, serve him first.
Begin your meal with the breaking of the dark bread, and make sure you toss a few crumbs outside for the birds afterwards. Keep the King of Winter in a place of honor all season long — you can put him back outside in your garden on a pole to watch over next spring’s seedlings, and eventually burn him at your Beltane celebration. When you are finished with your meal, put the leftovers out in the garden as an offering for the dead.
Samhain Ritual Oil
1 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
1 Tbsp Calendula Flowers
1 Tbsp Marigold Flowers
1 Piece Frankensense Resin
Combine in a small bottle and leave in a sunny window sill until ready. touse. I place mine in warmed pot of water to aid in the fusion of the ingredients.
Recipe
Baked Apples – Preheat oven to 375 F
Ingredients
Apples (one for each person) Cored
1 Tbsp maple syrup (per apple)
1 Tbsp raisins (per apple)
1 Tsp all spice, cinnamon and ground cove (per apple)
Place the apples in a glass baking dish, in a separate bowl, mix raisins, maple syrup, and spices until evenly distributed. Fill each apple
Place the oven-safe baking dish into the preheated oven and bake for 10 to13 minutes.
Serve, you can add your favourite toppings like ice cream or heavy cream if you desire
Recipe
Pumpkin Seeds (save those seeds after you have carved your pumpkins) preheat oven 300°F
1 -2 cups of Pumpkin seeds
1 – 2 tsp of olive oil or sunflower oil
Salt to taste
In a bowl toss your seeds with your oil and add your salt
Spread your seeds evenly over a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, checking and stirring every 15 minutes
Allow to cool
Soul Cakes
Preheat oven 400°F 3 eggs
2 cups of flour
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
½ cup milk
½ cup sugar or maple syrup
½ cup butter
½ cup raisins
Beat one egg and set aside. In a small bowl combine flour and spices. In a sauce pan heat milk until hot to touch.
In a mixer cream together sugar and butter, add the yolk of the two remaining eggs and blend thoroughly, add flour and raisins and mix on high until mixture crumbles. Gradually add the milk until the dough is soft.
Turn dough out onto flat surface and knead until uniform. Roll into a cylinder then cut into roughly half inch thick slices and lay onto a baking sheet. Brush each with the egg wash that was set aside earlier.
