So here I am at Samhain-tide again. Like many Pagans this is the "big one", our month when we get to be as witchy as we want and it goes mostly unnoticed because everyone out there in the Western world is hanging up skeletons and foam cut outs of owls and black cats.

It's also the month where I find myself running from pillar to post, organizing and priestessing all sorts of Samhain-related events. As is often the case, I'm part of the organising team for the 35th annual Reclaiming Spiral Dance in San Francisco. I'll be part of North Bay Reclaiming's Samhain ritual and this year I'll be at a four day retreat in the Mendocino Woodlands called "Mysteries of Samhain". I'm fortunate to be a busy witch.

For me though,  Samhain is a tide rather than a one day event or even just a few weeks in October. It runs from right after the Autumnal Equinox, through Yule, and ends somewhere before Imbolc. Those months where there's less light and less daily hub-bub. That time of year when I'm much more likely to want stews and fires and over-sized sweaters. That time of year when I sound like a badly written personal ad "I like long walks on the beach in silence, and staying in bed listening to the rain." It's also a time when I'm acutely aware of my Ancestors.

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A word about ancestors - There are many types of ancestors. There are my family members that have come and gone before me and have contributed to my DNA. A few I know, some I have old pictures and stories of, a handful are names dating back several hundreds of years, but most I'll never know. Then there are Ancestors! Those who I am spiritually inclined towards. These might include huge swaths of groups throughout history like those from the ancient tribes of Britain and Wales or those that have practiced the Craft before me.

So what do i do to ritually and devotionally honour my ancestors of blood, ancestors of spirit and Ancestors of the Craft?

  • I build - I set up an ancestors altar in a prominent place. Actually, I have this up year round, but I clean it off, re-arrange it, add mementos, pictures, slips of paper with the names of by beloved dead and decorate it with flowers and other offerings.

 

  • I eat - I know. It's my favourite part of ritual too! I make foods that my ancestors liked. In the case of my beloved grandmother, it's shepherd's pie and marrow fat peas. I encourage the baking of bread in the house (my partner bakes, I burn!) as my grandmother always had fresh baked bread.

 

  • I read - I'm fortunate to know where many of my ancestors are from. I read up on where they lived, what was happening in the world at that time. I immerse myself in the politics and practices that would have had an impact on their lives. In the case of ancestors of the Craft, I re-read the books they wrote or their biographies and look at what they contributed to the Craft as I know it today.

 

  • I remember - "What is remembered lives." It's something we pagans say when someone passes. It's a practice I really work to uphold. My dad was a great singer, guitar player and he loved chess. When I play my guitar or whip out the chess board I think of him. I speak his name and I thank him out loud for the ways  in which he enriched my life. I tell stories or pass on wisdom or recipes or explain why this witch or that ancestor was so special to me. I speak their names. I recount their stories. I remember them.

 

What are your practices at this time of year? How do you honour those that came before you? 

*Pictured above are my grandparent's, George and Lilian on their wedding day, September 30th 1944 and my great grandmother Florrie, Romany traveler and all around wise woman.