When is the Festival of Samhain?

Every day I try to put up some interesting magical or occult info related to the date on my Facebook page. And I must admit that this post was inspired by a lady who was extremely critical that I had put the 16th of November as Hecate Night, as she told me that this festival is timed by the Moon and made it quite clear that I was wrong and as she put it 'facts are facts'.

    So I thought I would write about something every Witch and Pagan is aware of, the date of the festival of Samhain. The simple answer to this question is that the festival of Samhain is: the evening of the 31st of October, known today as Halloween.

    But Samhain is a Celtic festival, and the Celts used a lunar calendar, based on the New and Full Moons. this is one of the reasons the the Full Moons have been given names through the centuries, and these names vary depending on the beliefs and farming practises used by different cultures and at different times in history.

    The Full Moon nearest to the Autumn Equinox is still known as the Harvest Moon and the full moon which follows it is the Hunter's Moon. And the Hunter's Moon marks the feast of Samhain.

    Now this is all well and good but Full Moons fall on different dates each year by our current solar, Gregorian calendar. So the nearest Full Moon to the 31st of October could be up to a fortnight before or after this date. So that gives you a whole month (moonth) when you could choose to celebrate the festival of Samhain.

    There is also the added complication when we take into account the change of our calendar from the Old Style Julian Calendar to the New Style Gregorian Calendar.

    These two calendars were and are massively out of sync with each other. To move to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, was done in the UK by simply printing calendars with Wednesday the 2nd of September, being followed the next day as Thursday the 14th of September. This meant that it looked like 11 days had been excised from the calendar and did lead to rioting in the streets of London, with mobs demanding the return of their 'lost' days'.

    Now actually the UK was quite late in adopting this calendar and it had been in use on the Continent for some time. So if you were a merchant passing between Europe and Britain, you were used to swapping between calendars as they were being used in the different countries.

    So to return to our question: When do we celebrate Samhain? If we celebrate on the 31st of October, by the Old Style Julian Calendar the 31st of October would fall 11 days later on the 11th of November.

    So the answer to the question is: we can celebrate Samhain on a full Moon that falls between around the 15th of October and the 14th of November, or the 31st of October, or the 11th of November.

    But hang on a cotton picking moment! Many modern covens and magical groups have set days of the week when they hold their meetings and rituals, for example on a Friday or Saturday night, so they may well celebrate Samhain on a Friday or Saturday night nearest to the 31st of October, or the 11th of October, or the Full Moon nearest to one or other of those dates.

    In fact there are some Witches and covens who deliberately do not celebrate Samhain on the 31st of October. This is because they do not want their preparations and rituals interrupting by children out 'Trick or Treat'ing. Instead they may well hold a 'Trick or Treat' party on the 31st of October and pick a quieter night for their rituals.

    We have to also bear in mind that on the astral planes there is no 'time', there are no 'dates' and no 'calendar' so the spirits will come whenever they are invited to.

    Some time in the far distant past someone, or some group decided that this time of year was the right time to hold a celebration which became Samhain. This is how all celebrations, festivals and saints days were allocated - and are still being created and allocated.

    We can each decide when we will celebrate and there are many reasons why we might choose a specific date.

    There is nothing 'wrong' or 'incorrect' about any of the dates for Samhain, or for any other festival.

    The important thing is that we hold these celebrations.

    

I've Got That Samhain Feeling!

 Ever since I was tiny wee, I have looked forward to Hallowe'en.

    The darker nights, the feeling of magic, the idea of Witches and Ghosts.

    These days Halloween (note the new spelling!) is a much more widely celebrated night than it was when I was a child. The best we could hope for as far as entertainment went, was to hope that one or two of the children's tv shows did a Hallowe'en special. 

    We did not trim up at home, there were no Halloween decorations in the shops. Trick or Treat was unknown.

    I remember one year asking my mum if I could make a swede lantern - pumpkins had not yet reached rural Lincolnshire, so I had to go the traditional rout.

    My word! Have you tried hollowing out an uncooked swede?! After a good half an hour of serious work, I had a tiny hollow in the top which would not even take a night light. My hands were aching and fingers were developing blisters.  So no Hallowe'en lantern that year.

    It wasn't until Graham and I got together that we were able to really celebrate the festival, and boy have we made the best of it ever since!

    

Samhain is the most important festival of the Witch's year. In Celtic times it was a day that belonged neither to the old year nor to the new, so it was literally a day that is not a day, a time that is not a time. Any time which is on the border between things happening, eg the twilight time between sunset and full dark, is known as a crack between the worlds. But Samhain has a full day between the worlds, which gives spirits of all kinds the chance to cross over from their world to ours, and also allows us to make spirit journeys to other worlds too.

    Many old stories and songs speak of strange meetings happening at this time of year. This is the time when the Faery Court, the Seelie Court, rides out. They are looking for people to carry back to elf land with them. They might be looking for lovers or servants, wet nurses for Faery babies, or musicians, or seers.

    This is also the night when those who have been carried off can make their way home, or be rescued by the brave ones.

    This is the night when the Devil rides out too. And when Witches have their special meetings.

    This is always a night to try some divination even if it something simple like peeling an apple and throwing the peel over you left shoulder. See if it forms the initial of your future lover. Or try the art of mirror gazing, when spirits will peep over your shoulder to show themselves in your mirror.

    You could cast the runes and see what the year ahead has in store for you. Or draw a Tarot card from the pack and see the theme of your next few months.

    This is always the time to welcome friends and relatives whether they are in this world or the next. Light a candle and raise a glass to 'absent friends', and give them a little nip of wine or alcohol too - the spirits enjoy those vapours.

    Whatever you do tonight, make it fun.

Dogs Don't Understand English

The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. And it is certainly a lot darker in the mornings when Graham takes Tallulah out for her morning walk.

    Graham does go out at 6.45 am, which is a bit early for most folks, but he gets back at around 7.30 and then we have breakfast.

    He has been having to take his torch with him recently though, as when they hit the woods, if it is cloudy then it can be pitch dark in there, and he needs the torch to follow the path. Tallulah seems to be fine though, she obviously has better night vision and is enjoying wandering about in the dark.

    A couple of mornings recently he has missed the turn off he usually takes to bring him back out of the woods and has found himself on unfamiliar ground. This is a combination of the darkness plus the fallen leaves which cover both the path and the surrounding areas so it is more difficult to tell which is path and which isn't.

    This morning he got properly lost. In a woodland which he has walked for years. But it is a time when all sorts of creatures are making their presence felt, including the Fairy Folk who like to lead travellers off their known routes.

    He shone the torch around, but there was nothing familiar about where he was. He could have wandered about for hours until it became light enough to actually see where he was. Nor was Tallulah anywhere to be seen.

    Graham called for Tallulah and she quickly appeared and ran to him. Graham spoke to her and said, 'I know you don't understand English, but daddy is lost, so if you know the way to the path can you show me?'

    Of course Tallulah does not understand English at all, she is just a dog.

    So she went about ten yards away, then stopped to see if Graham was following. When he reached her, she went another ten yards or so and waited again. They continued in this way for only a short time and they were back on familiar ground.

    So our very clever dog, who of course is just a dog, and knows no English, had shown Graham how to find his way out of the woods and home.

    

Mandala Recipes

 On my last blog I had managed to find the photos of some Mandalas I have been crocheting, but as it was a spontaneous thing, I didn't have the info on the mandala recipes to hand so here we go:

Now, I have two choices about which recipe this one is. Both of the recipes are nice and easy for anyone to have a go at, but I am not sure which recipe I used here. It could be 'A Small Mandala' by Karin Ashammar from Virklust. 

Alternately it might be Crochet Mandala by Annie Design Crochet. I know I have tried both recipes and they are lovely little Mandalas, one only has 8 rows and the other 11.

This one is a recipe by Attic 24 and is simply called Mandala. This lady does a lot of interesting small projects and I find her recipes easy to follow. Rather than videos these tend to be photos accompanying the recipes, but she does explain nicely what she is doing.

Rats I put the wrong info down for this one! I know I should have put labels on them while I was doing them, but I got carried away. 

This is a really easy pattern which uses seven colours and a size 6 hook. The video is Mandala Stitch Along with Mikey, from The Crochet Crowd. It has 50 rows, but the stitches are really easy and you don't even need to worry about how to put the colours together as he gives a couple of different colour combinations you can try.

Of course, I rarely have the recommended colours, so I use whatever appeals to me.

This is the biggest of the Mandalas and is called Crochet Mandala Madness (which it really is!). The recipe was created by Helen Shrimpton, but I used a series of videos on You Tube by Esther Dijkstra from 'itsallinanutshell.com' I really would recommend looking at the videos to help you follow what is going on.

This is a series of 18 videos, and to be honest I only got to row 87 of 111. But I had started with a 4.5 hook when a 3mm was recommended and it had already got so HUGE that if I had carried on I think we could have carpeted the house with it!.

I really enjoyed doing it as it taught me all sorts, for example the white spiky star bits you have to carry the white yarn along the blue row, to the next spiky star, rather than cutting off and rejoining. Esther Dijkstra demonstrated and explained how to do this very carefully, so I was able to do it (and felt really chuffed that I managed it too!).

Hope some of this info is helpful

I am sure I am not the only person who appreciates all the free recipes, videos and instructions you can find on the internet. 

I love experimenting with the colour combinations and finding new stitches to try out, but I've also found that you can make some really interesting pieces using a few basic stitches, but combining them in different ways.

Back to the Blog !

 Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. There have been a couple of reasons for that.

One: Tallulah was mated back in August and we had been hoping for the patter of many tiny paws. But unfortunately it was not to be.

    I was a bit more disappointed than I'd expected, especially as Tallulah was showing all the signs of being pregnant. But when the due date passed and nothing happened I rang Angela, our breeder friend, to let her know and she told us that once they have been mated, their hormones make their bodies act as if they are pregnant, whether they are or not. So it is very difficult to tell whether they are or not.

    Another reason is that I have been doing lots of crocheting - but most of the stuff I have been doing is for christmas pressey's for various people. So even though I am really chuffed with the stuff I have been doing, I can't show it to anyone online, in case someone who will eventually get one for christmas sees it!

    And another reason is that we have a problem with photos, in that I have them on my brand spanking new phone thingy, but I don't know how to get them from the phone onto the computer or into my blog, or facebook etc.

    I think I shall have to ask Mike for another masterclass in this aspect of phone ownership.

    Now, I have managed to send all the photos on my phone ....... somewhere.

 

Ye Gods! I found one and inserted it!

Hang on let's try that again!

I have been doing mandalas, but I started small, and then got carried away

Of course the first two should have been the last two in this sequence, as that is the sequence I made them in. Sorry I am totally disorganised because I didn't know I could do that inserty thing!

    Right now I know what I am doing, watch this space, there will be MUCH MORE blogging going on very shortly!

    

The Joys of Phone Ownership

 A week or two back it was our wedding anniversary and Mike's birthday. So we decided to go out 'en famile' and have a meal out at a local pub.
    Mike and Cherise picked the Fox and Coney at South Cave, which was a good place for a decent meal before lockdown. We, me and Graham, haven't been out for a meal since before lockdown, so this was to be our first meal out for over two years, so, to be honest, we weren't sure what the protocol would be.

    Anyway, to cut a long story short: we couldn't find out how to get into the pub carpark, and, not having a mobile phone, had no way to tell Mike and Cherise that we were in the village, but couldn't get to them.

    After hanging about for over half an hour, in the hopes that we would see them either arriving, or Mike would pop out of the pub and see us parked up the road, we gave up and went home. We rang Mike as soon as we got in and told him what was what, and he told us when he visited next that they had had a very nice meal.

    

    Graham and I had a free and frank discussion and decided that it probably was about time we gave in and bought a mobile phone, for such emergencies and if the car broke down etc. Also as our digital camera had also recently given up the ghost (which is why I have been unable to show you my Mandala crochet projects), the phone would also act as a camera too.

    So Mike came last Sunday and between him and me and various bits of bank paperwork, we ordered a mobile phone which we were told would arrive the next day. At the same time Mike ordered a nice case for me to keep the phone safe.

    The next day the phone case arrived, but no sign of the phone.

    At around five pm I had a phone call, supposedly from the company who were supposed to be supplying the phone, who told me, 'Sorry, you can't have the deal, or the phone you signed up for, but we can offer you a worse one at £10 more.' - 'Oh and can you give me your credit card details now....'

    I replied that: I was unhappy about the new deal, and uncomfortable with giving out my card details to someone I did not know.

    I rang Mike to let him know the state of play, and as I was telling him he said 'F**k that! I'll come round tomorrow and we'll have another go, with a different company!'

    Anyway suffice it to say that today Mike and me have spent the morning in Curry's, with a very nice and helpful young man who has sorted me out with basically the same phone and a cheaper deal than I was being offered on Sunday.

    It would seem that the problem was my credit history. I have bought most things over the last 30 odd years through the business, or with cash and I suspect if I had bought this phone through the business account there would have been no difficulty. But I decided that we should buy it using our personal account, which we are only just starting to use, as it now has a regular income of Grahams pension.

    So, tomorrow Mike will be back to try and teach this old dog the new tricks of using a mobile phone - I suspect I will have to take copious notes! 

    

Death and Life

     Very often things don't happen as you expect.
    We all hope that things will run along smoothly without too many hiccups. But sometimes life just goes 'HERE YOU ARE!' and you get a whole load of stuff in your face all at once.

    Earlier this year Bridie had a bout of illness, not eating, panting, heart pounding. We were really worried. Then we realised she was having a panic attack because she had nibbled at one of her feet until it bled, and surprise surprise, it was hurting!

    So she spent the next week or two wearing a sock on the offending foot, got better and we thought no more about it.

    Until she had another episode. Which we also put down to a panic attack - Bridie is a nervous dog, any sudden noises and she will shoot off like a greyhound.

    But we also noticed she was getting slower when walking, and even avoided going out for a walk on a couple of occasions. 

    Anyway the not moving, not going out, and also eating less and having to be tempted to eat .... I think you can see the way this was going.

    In the meantime Tallulah is the life and soul of the party, full of life and curiosity, and at the begining of this week we noticed that she was coming into season.

    I rang Angela, our friend and collie breeder for some advice about the possibility of having a litter from Tallulah, as we had spoken about this a couple of years ago (pre-Covid) when we collected this lively puppy from Angela.

    Angela gave me a master class in 'how to spot if a collie might be ready for mating' - apparently there is a four day window of opportunity and you have to be ready to grab it. Now normally Angela would have Tallulah to stay with her, so that Angela could be ready to seize the moment of greatest opportunity. But as luck would have it Angela had a mother collie and puppies in the house and another in the puppy house, and was also preparing for a dog show this weekend, so I was given detailed instructions in what to look out for and ring Angela when things started to change with Tallulah.

    At the same time, Bridie was getting worse. At first we put it down to the heat, as we have suddenly had a temperature jump of around 10%, and gave Bridie a lukewarm bath, which she seemed to enjoy and perked her up a bit. So much so that she had a couple of slices of chicken breast, but no more.

    We had to face the fact that Bridie was nearing the end of her time on Earth. And finally this morning we made that last trip to the vet with her.

    And at the same time when we got home we realised that Tallulah was showing the signs of the door of puppy opportunity opening.

    So I rang Angela to tell her of Bridie's passing, and Tallulah's readiness (we think).

    So this time it really is one door closing and another one opening and spirits passing in both directions.

    Life and death, death and life, two sides of the same coin.

    Of course we are mourning Bridie, how could we not?

    But really the cycle of life death and re-birth could hardly have been pointed out to us more graphically.

    

Wicani White Lace and Promises - Bridie