Samhain, also known as the Celtic New
Year, is the most profound, important, and best-known of all pagan
sabbats. Samhain is perhaps the pagan’s favorite high holiday of all.
After all, it is the witches’ New Year celebration and the time to honor
and commune with your elders and family members who have passed on to the other
side, as well as the time to celebrate the passing year and set intentions for
new blessings in the coming new pagan year.
Plus, it is the season to become your most bohemian in a glamorous
costume!
Supplies:
Altar space
3 candles
Powdered incense
Bread
Salt
Wine
1.
Prepare
for this most holy night and rite by setting up an altar. Place the three candles on a stone altar to
represent the Triple Goddess and five to represent the points of the pentagram. The star of the pentagram should be drawn
with powdered incense to be lit later.
Gather together bread, salt, and wine for the sacrament.
2.
After
you have made your preparations for the altar, ready yourself by bathing and
meditating. Anoint your body before
dressing in a robe or gown befitting this night when the veil between the
worlds is the thinnest. As you ready
your body, mind, and spirit, consider what has taken place in the preceding
year. Cleanse your mind and heart of old
sorrows and most especially of angers and petty resentments. Bring only your best into this night. After all, this is New Year’s Eve for
witches, and you want to truly connect with those who have gone on to the other
side.
3.
Walk
alone to the place of the ceremony and kneel before the altar. Before lighting the candles on the altar, say
aloud:
This candle I
light for the Maiden’s brightest glory.
Light
the candle and bow to the Maiden.
This
candle I light for the power and passion of the Lady, the Queen.
Light
the candle and bow to the Queen.
This
candle I light for the unsurpassable wisdom of the Crone.
Light
the candle and bow to the Crone.
4.
Light
the incense and then place the candles on the altar, saying:
These do I light
in honor of the Triple Goddess on this sacred night of Samhain
I create this
holy temple in honor of the Goddess and the God
And all the
ancient ones.
From time before
time,
I pay my tribute
and my devotion
In love and
greeting to those behind the veil.
5.
Now
light the candles that represent the power of the five-pointed pentagram. Rap three times on the altar with your hands
or with your wand. Then say:
This is a time
outside of time
In a place
outside of any place.
On a day that is
not a day
Between the
worlds and afar.
6.
Pause
and listen to your heart for thirteen beats, then hold your hands in
benediction over the bread, salt, and wine.
Now say:
For this bread,
salt, and wine,
I do ask the
blessings
Of our Maiden,
our Queen, and our Crone
And of the God
who guards the Gates of the World.
7.
Take
the bread and sprinkle a bit of salt over it, saying:
I ask that I and
all whom I love
Have health and
abundance and blessings.
Eat the bread, and hold up the
goblet of wine, saying:
To
a spirit that remains strong and true!
Drink the wine and declare:
By
the Triple Goddess and her godly consort, so mote it be!
8.
At
this point, a danse macabre to any dark folk or Gothic music of your choosing
can end the ritual – I suggest any music by the band Dead Can Dance. You should also spend time meditating or
allowing yourself to ease into a trance state to communicate with your beloved
dead. Hear the messages they have for
you and let them know you.
9.
When
you feel the ritual has ended, quench the candles, and then say:
Though these
flames
Of the material
world
Be darkened,
They shall ever
burn
In the world
beyond.
This rite is
ended.
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