#samhain with friend

[archerinventive]

Happy Spooky day to all my bad b(w)itches out there. 👻

[greenwitchcrafts]

October 2024 Witch Guide

New Moon: October 2nd

First Quarter: October 10th

Full moon: October 17th

Last Quarter: October 24th

Sabbats: Samhain- October 31st-November 1st

October Hunter's Moon

Also known as: Blood Moon, Drying Rice Moon, Falling leaf Moon, Freezing Moon, Harvest Moon, Migration Moon, Moon of the Changing Season, Sanguine Moon,, Shedding Moon, Ten Colds Moon, Winterfelleth & Windermanoth

Element: Air

Zodiac: Libra & Scorpio

Nature spirts: Frost Faeries & Plant Faeries

Deities: Apollo, Astarte, Belili, Cernunnos, Demeter, Hathor, Herne, Horned God, Ishtar, Lakshmi & Mercury

Animals: Elephant, jackal, ram, scorpion & stag

Birds: Crow, heron & robin

Trees: Acacia,apple, cypress & yew

Herbs: Angelica, burdock, catnip, pennyroyal, sweet Annie, thyme & uva ursi

Flowers: Apple blossom, calendula, cosmos & marigold

Scents: Apple blossom, cherry & strawberry

Stones: Amethyst, beryl, cat's eye, chrysoberyl, citrine, obsidian, opal, sapphire, tourmaline & turquoise

Colors: Black, blue, dark blue, blue-green & purple

Issues, intentions & powers: Cooperation, darkness, divination, healing & hope

Energy: Artistic works, creativity, harmony, inner cleansing, justice, karma, legal matters, mental stimulation, partnerships, reincarnation & uncovering mysteries or secrets

The Harvest Moon is the full Moon that occurs nearest to the autumnal equinox date (September 22, 2024). This means that either September or October’s full Moon may take on the name “Harvest Moon” instead of its traditional name. Similarly, the Hunter’s Moon is the first full Moon to follow the Harvest Moon, meaning it can occur in either October or November.

The Harvest Moon & the Hunter’s Moon are unique in that they are not directly related to this folklore or restricted to a single month. Instead, they are tied to an astronomical event: the autumnal equinox!

• October’s full Hunter Moon orbits closer to Earth than any of the other full Moons this year, making one of the four supermoons of 2024!  As the Moon drifts over the horizon around sunset, it may appear larger & more orange—how perfect for the fall season!

It is believed that this name originates from the fact that it was a signal for hunters to prepare for the upcoming cold winter by going hunting. This is because animals were beginning to fatten up in preparation for the winter season. Moreover, since fields had recently been cleared out under the Harvest Moon, hunters could easily spot deer & other animals that had come out to search for remaining scraps. Additionally, foxes & wolves would also come out to prey on these animals.

Samhain

Known as: Ancestor's night, Feast of Apples, Feast of Sam-fuim, Feast of Souls, Feast of the Dead, Geimhreadh, Hallowmass, Martinmass, Old Hallowmass, Pagan New Year, Samana, Samhuinn, Samonios & Shadowfest

Season: Autumn

Element: Water

Symbols: Apples, bats, besom, black cats, cauldrons, ghosts, gourds, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, scarecrows & witches

Colors: Black, gold, orange, silver & white

Oils/Incense: Basil, cloves, copal, frankincense, gum mastic, heather, heliotrope, mint, myrrh & nutmeg

Animals: Bat, bear, boar, cat, cattle & dog

Stones: Amber, anatase, black calcite, black obsidian, black tourmaline, bras, carnelian, clear quartz, diamond, garnet, gold, granite, hematite, iron, jet, marble, onyx, pearl, pyrite, ruby, sandstone, sardonyx, smokey quartz, steel & tektite

Food: Apples, ale, beef, cider, corn, nuts, fruit, garlic, gourds, grains, hazelnuts, herbal teas, mushroom, nettle, nuts, pears, pomegranates, pork, poultry, pumpkin pie, sunflower seeds, thistle, turnips & wine (mulled)

Herbs/Plants: Acorn, allspice, angelica, besom, catnip, corn, deadly nightshades, dittany of Crete, fumitory, garlic, mandrake, mugwort, mullein, oak leaves, patchouli, reed, rosemary, rue, sage, straw, tarragon, thistle & wormwood

Flowers:  Calendula, chrysanthemum & heather

Trees: Apple, beech, buckthorn, hazel, pine, locust, pomegranate, willow, witch hazel, yellow cedar & yew

Magical: Faeries

Goddesses: Al-Lat, Baba Yaga, Badb, Bast, Bebhionn, Bronach, Brunhilde, Cailleach, Carlin, Cassandra, Cerridwen, Copper Woman, Crobh Dearg, Devanyani, Dolya, Edda, Elli, Eris, Erishkigal, Fortuna, Frau Holde, Hecate, Hel, Mania, The Morrigan, Nemisis & Nicneven

Gods: Arawn, Baron Samede, Chronus,The Dagda, Dis, Hades, Nefertum, Osiris, Pluto, Woden & Xocatl

Spellwork: Divination, fire magick, night magick, shape-shifting, spirit calling & water magick

Issues, Intentions & Powers: Crossroads, darkness, death, divination, honor, introspection, otherworldly/underworld, release, visions & wisdom

Activities:

•Dedicate an altar to loved ones who have passed

• Boil a simmer pot to cleanse your space

• Have a silent dinner

• Light a candle for your loved ones & yourself

• Decorate your house and/or altar

• Release negative energy & cleanse yourself with a ritual bath

• Pull tarot cards to see what may be in store for you ahead

• Cleanse, clean & de-clutter your space

• Host or attend a bonfire

• Leave offerings for the Sídhe

• Journal & reflect on your accomplishments, challenges & everything you did this year

•Go on a nature walk

• Learn a new form of divination

• Have a bonfire with your friends and/or family

• Carve pumpkins, turnips or apples

• Express yourself creatively through art, music, ect

• Visit a cemetery & help clean off areas that need it or to visit a family member/ ancestor & leave an offering

• Hold a seance

• Bake spooky treats & bread as offerings

• Refresh your protection magicks, sigils & rituals

Samhain is about halfway between the autumnal equinox & winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Beltane, & Lughnasa. Historically it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, & the Isle of Man. 

Samhain is believed to have Celtic pagan origins &  some Neolithic passage tombs in Great Britain & Ireland are aligned with the sunrise at the time of Samhain. It is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature, from the 9th century & is associated with many important events in Irish mythology.

The early literature says great gatherings & feasts marked Samhain when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Some of the literature also associates Samhain with bonfires & sacrifices.

• According to Irish mythology, Samhain (like Beltane) was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; while Beltane was a summer festival for the living, Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead".

•The festival was not recorded in detail until the early modern era. It was when cattle were brought down from the summer pastures & livestock were slaughtered. Special bonfires were lit, which were deemed to have protective & cleansing powers.

At Samhain, the aos sí were appeased with offerings of food & drink to ensure the people & livestock survived the winter. The souls of dead kin were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality & a place was set at the table for them during a meal. Divination was also a big part of the festival & often involved nuts & apples.

Mumming & guising were part of the festival from at least the early modern era, whereby people went door-to-door in costume, reciting verses in exchange for food. The costumes may have been a way of imitating & disguising oneself from the aos sí. 

• In the late 19th century, John Rhys and James Frazer suggested it had been the "Celtic New Year", but that is disputed.

Some believe it is the time of The Goddess' mourning the death of The God until his rebirth at Yule. The Goddess' sadness can be seen in the shortening, darkening days & the arrival or cold weather.

Related festivals:

• Halloween( October 31st)-

In popular culture, the day has become a celebration of horror, being associated with the macabre and supernatural.

•One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan roots. Some go further & suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallow's Day, along with its eve, by the early Church. Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallow's Day.

Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising & ghouling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, & watching horror or Halloween-themed films

• Day of the Dead(November 1st-2nd)-

 el Día de Muertos or el Día de los Muertos

The multi-day holiday involves family & friends gathering to pay respects & to remember friends & family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember amusing events & anecdotes about the departed. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage.

•The observance falls during the Christian period of Allhallowtide.

Traditions connected with the holiday include honoring the deceased using calaveras & marigold flowers known as cempazúchitl, building home altars called ofrendas with the favorite foods & beverages of the departed & visiting graves with these items as gifts for the deceased.

 The celebration is not solely focused on the dead, as it is also common to give gifts to friends such as candy sugar skulls, to share traditional pan de muerto with family & friends, & to write light-hearted & often irreverent verses in the form of mock epitaphs dedicated to living friends & acquaintances, a literary form known as calaveras literarias.

 Some argue that there are Indigenous Mexican or ancient Aztec influences that account for the custom & it has become a way to remember those forebears of Mexican culture.

• All Saint's Day(November 1st)- 

Also known as All Hallows' Day or the Feast of All Saints is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether they are known or unknown.

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

Wikipedia

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Encyclopedia britannica

Llewellyn 2024 magical almanac Practical magic for everyday living

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy awoke on the morning of The Feast of All Hallows… upside down in a spiky, prickly larch tree…

As he slowly regained consciousness, he had some vague recollection of spinning round and round a large, flapping bat in the darkness the night before, but everything after that was merely a muddled misty blur…

And there seemed to be something odd and rather heavy pressing on his chest… Moving his head with difficulty, Algy peeped up at the peculiar orange object. Now he could remember! It was his Tumblr Halloween Boop-o-meter!

Slowly it all began to come back to him. While spinning over the eerie peat bog he had had a lot of fun enjoying many special Halloween posts on tumblr and "booping" friends and strangers – a cute tumblr friendship game he had never played before, and very much enjoyed.

So Algy would like to thank everyone who booped him yesterday, and everyone who made special posts to make the day more enjoyable, and he offers his fluffiest apologies to those he could not boop back because it was too late in the night in the wild west Highlands of Scotland. Please consider yourselves happily booped!

He sends you all a very special Samhain fluffy hug, and hopes that you survived "death's and truth's unlocking time" and have not found yourself upside down in a tree this morning…

At midnight, death's and truth's unlocking time, When far within the spirit's hearing rolls The great soft rumble of the course of things – A bulk of silence in a mask of sound, – When darkness clears our vision that by day Is sun-blind, and the soul's a ravening owl For truth and flitteth here and there about Low-lying woody tracts of time and oft Is minded for to sit upon a bough, Dry-dead and sharp, of some long-stricken tree And muse in that gaunt place, – 'twas then my heart, Deep in the meditative dark, cried out…

[Algy is quoting the first verse of the poem The Crystal by the 19th century American author and musician Sidney Lanier.]

[moiraimyths]

Happy Halloween, fateful friends! Now that we're just one day away from Samhain and Shae/Maeve's first update, we have a question for you... Do you believe in ghosts? 🪦

🍃 Wishlist on Steam 🍂 Follow on Itch

[spinnysocks]

blessed samhain! happy halloween!!! :D

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

Happy All Hallows' Eve Eve!

[theharddeck]

listening to remi wolf and handing out skittles and gummy worms and joking with the neighborhood kids as they try to guess my costume and how many pieces of candy is okay to take and how big of a handful is too big and waving to their parents and coming back to my desk to write between trick or treaters and sipping homemade apple cider

[livid-tomorrow]

Friends came over for an early Halloween Party and now I am drunk 🥴

[freelancesketchartist]

it may be april but when you think about it we are Halfway to Halloween

[thesundowncrew]

but i have to make it so I like the world

because it has me too // 🌇

😻🍀✨💀 Read Tales of Sundown on webtoon canvas!

[unsolicitedadvicecatlady]

We're at the approximate halfway point between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. Traditionally, this is a time of preparing to rest. The harvest is finishing up, what we sowed in Spring and watered in Summer has bloomed, blossomed, born its fruit, and has been gathered. The work is almost over. Time to rest, but not for long. There are plans to be made for the next season, there are preparations to be made for the coming months. Everything in its time. While we're busy doing, let's not forget to take the time to reflect on what has been accomplished, what lessons we've learned, and what we'd like to do better. Too often we get so caught up in the doing and the planning that we don't stop to appreciate what's been done. Let's take the time to appreciate our accomplishments and comrades. Feast, celebrate, dance, be merry, enjoy the benefits of a job well done.

[wisteria-html]

Going to a rave in an “abandoned mansion” tonight?? So we’ll see how that goes. The extent of my partying experience is getting drunk in a friends basement in high school, so this should be.. Interesting.

[ghostriderslade]

Have a sexy Halloween

[bewitched-bullet]

The whole club was chantin a Latin verse

She got on her broom (she got on her broom!)

Smoke filled the room!

And shawty went vroom vroom vroom vroom

[comfycozycrossfox]

maybe for halloween this year i just take shrooms and watch a horror movie and have a horrible fucking time with it

[thebonnevillegamepodcast]

In honor of Audiodrama Sunday we want to highlight some of Ingrid's favorite books!

Her taste in books ranges from horror to fantasy to books about witchcraft. She's the witchiest of the three leads.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The background is dark woods with greens, purples, and blacks. In green font, it says "Ingrid's Book Recommendations" with a skull and cross bones in a pink heart next to it. Ingrid's headshot is off to the right with 5 star rating above her head. There are four boxes with the titles of four different books and their covers. They are My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork, and Samhain: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Halloween by Diana Rajchel & Llewellyn