Autumn

Our local coyotes were in fine song last night. They started up around 1 or 2 am. There are few things quite as blood curdling as a pack of coyotes howling and yipping - I love it! They tend to be quite active here in the fall, especially the month of October. I strongly suspect that it is the waning of the summer fields that sets them off, as they don't mate until February. I think as the fields die down and are harvested, they have better hunting. I think I need to research that. They scavenge a lot of their food - but they do hunt mice and other small critters.

I have a lot to prepare for in the month of October, which, as it appears, is not too far off. Samhain is an important holy day for me - it is my patron god's day of birth as well as a day for tending to the comforts of the ancestors and those who have passed. I have a major gripe with pagans who "celebrate" Samhain. It is not a day for celebration, unless you are celebrating the birth of Aengus. It is a day for calm and peace and quiet reflection, a day for underworld journeying and world walking and a day to remember one's roots, the ancestors and the ones who have passed, and to offer them comforting thoughts and gifts and a light in the window as they pass the boundaries of worlds. We do not "celebrate" Samhain, we observe it. AS well, we most certainly do NOT celebrate Halloween. I think costuming is appropriate for Samhain ceremony, as it is a tradition that disguises us from the faer folk who have journeyed through the thin veil. It is a welcome to the ones who aren't hostile and a disguise to those who are. It is an honor to them all.

For myself, at the season of Samhain, always a difficult one, I have a number of things to take care of. I undertake, almost every year, the Rite of Aisling, which is a rite I learned in honor of my god - it is a vision quest, if you like that term, involving dreaming and journeying the otherworld in a sacred manner. It is shaman's work, for want of a better term. I also have, usually before or after Samhain (I actually prefer to do this at the Winter Solstice), the Ritual of the Cups, which is a cleansing, rejuvenating ceremony that I wrote for group work, but which I also use solitary. Samhain, for me, culminates in the celebration of the day of my god's birth. A nice Irish cake, a belt of whiskey and a gift of flowers at the altar are all part of that. Though, that is not a ritual for most druids. As I said, it is my own patron god's birth I am celebrating.

That's what is going on for this month! I have to get back to the housework, before the baby wakes :)

Love, Honor and Respect,
Niamh sionna'dubh

Memoriam

I regret that as I return to Aisling, that I must do so to write in memory of Steve Irwin. Steve and Terri Irwin are two of my personal heroes. They have educated and fought for wildlife and conservation and shown great courage and compassion when it comes to this Earth and its creatures. The loss of Steve Irwin in this world, is the loss of an outstanding ally to nature and to those of us who love the wild things and places which are so much in danger in this day and age. Our house mourns the loss of this hero of the Earth. Steve - Blessed be your journey, safe into the arms of your gods and the spirits of nautre and the ancestors. Find rest and peace and know your impact on this world that so sorely needs all its heroes.

Love, Honor and Respect