I've gotten increasingly fond of celebrating the time of Samhain/Halloween. Allthough most people think of it as a consumerist tradition from America, it is also deeply rooted in European traditions which have been mostly lost to us. It feels good to recreate the old traditions again and give them a new personal meaning. Personally I always celebrate the seasons as our planet circles the sun. I want it to feel fun, creative and purposeful. I find it important to celebrate the fruits of our labor, as life easily turns out to be all work and no play. For people wanting to live off the land and practise homesteading, earth based spirituality brings a richness into daily life.
For me Samhain means a conclusion of the season, when everything we have grown has been harvested, our land is made ready for the winter, and it is time to let go and just breathe a little bit. A time to reflex inward into the dimensions of the mind and the psyche. To gaze up at the moon and the stars, and to appreciate all those who were before you. To say goodbye to the autumn and all the richness of color. To dance with the fairies around the campfire. In Norway we call this time of the year Alfablot, the Sacrifice to the Elves, the “elves” in Norse not meaning Faerie but referring to spirits that are both of nature as well as the souls of our ancestors who live on in mounds, where they can still be sought and communicated with. Read more here: http://freya.theladyofthelabyrinth.com/?page_id=339
This year I decided to pumpkin carve the Elven star (also called the faery star or the septagram), because it has been our little family's personal symbol for most of our life. I guess the symbology and personal meaning of this is best described in a later blog post, but for now, it was fun and a bit time consuming to carve.
Life retreats into the bulbs and the roots,
The time has passed for the flowers and the fruits,
As leaves fall thick and carpet the ground,
The Dark Mother waits in silence profound.
The veil grows thin at the time of the dead,
As we honour our long-gone ancestors,
In whose footsteps we tread.
Now is the time for the apple feasts,
Time stands still for humans and beasts
Seek the wisdom of days gone by,
To deal with the past and let it lie.
Face your shadow and accept your faults,
Look now to the future to seek your results.
All pictures are, as always, mine, and I choose to enter them into the "Hallosteem Photography Contest" held by @aaronli, because why not? :)
My kind of wild Halloween party: With my cats, books, magical atmospheric vampire music, pumpkin soup and pie, cinnamon tea, campfires, fairylights and lanterns. Welcome to my hermit life.
Do you mark this time of the year?