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
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
posted by Niamh sionnachdubh at 9:46 AM
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