Samhain, or Samhuinn a Gaelic Celtic festival is my favorite, not unlike El Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, equally as as difficult to eradicate. Many of those festivals honoring the ancestors and the dead were built around community Spirit, Nature, Seasonal changes and harvests. Rather than early Christianity trying to remove them they absorbed them into their own festivals like we see with All Souls and Saints day. Samhain is the origins of All Hallows Eve, Halloween, when the veil is said to be thin and Spirits, ancestors or Hungry Ghosts walk in this world, thus the need to guise and mumming to trick of malevolence. Mumming and guising was done door to door reciting verses for exchange of food, apple bobbing and games so let it be a time for your gatherings of community, your wellwishes for the Winter Solstice approaching.
This was a time of blessing the last of the harvest and asking Nature to see you through the Winter and this Winter will be tough for many. So let us keep those in our intentions for warmth, and safety this Winter as we are more connected than ever. This was also a time to peek into the Otherworld, of Daoine Sith, the people of the Fairy Mound and our Burial Mounds. A time to make offerings for all to make it through Winter. My hope is that new innovations through Open Source sharing creates economical heating for all as a necessity rather than a luxury.
So as we open our doorways and gateways to our own ancestors, the Spirits of the Underworld that are benevolent as this Samhain we ask for them to trigger resilience, courage and tenacity to ease us through much turmoil and change in the physical world. This evening will be informal as we toast the ancestors with a very special quaich I had made a few years ago as I wish you all a very sacred Samhain blessing. That your ancestors whisper sweet messages and hold you heart in abundance of Spirit. Grab your favorite whiskey to pour a libation as the gaelic word for whiskey is Uisge beath, the water of life and maybe a wee nip for yourself.
On Zoom.
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