I was frustrated by
my Samhain rite this year, because I had set up for a full ritual, I had
scripted the whole thing, memorized the central prayer, planned a working to
introduce myself to the spirits of my new house and welcome in by name some
particularly dear patrons and ancestors.
And then I moved and
I realized none of those ambitious plans were going to happen.
So rather than skip
the holy day because my plans had gone awry, I mustered my powers of
improvisation and went with a "two bowls and a stick" method. My
usual altar tree is too delicate to pack away, so I had that. A coffee cup
formed a sufficient well, and I took (forgive me!) the scented candle out of
the bathroom to serve as fire. We didn't have our internet connected yet, so
locating a simpler liturgy was out of the question. My liturgy was extemporized
from my Core Order outline in my druid journal. It was awkward and halting, but
I was determined, and it was heartfelt. My offerings were the things I could
find. Oatmeal for the Earth Mother, olive oil for the gatekeeper, beer for the
ancestors, milk for the nature spirits, and for the deities incense (miracle of
miracles, that I could find.) For the central sacrifice I offered my memorized
prayer and a handful of coins (scattered into the woods).
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| image via Pixabay.com |
The deities honored
were Danu, as Earth Mother and the River. Nemetona kept the gates, the deities
of the occasion were Sucellos and Nantosuelta. Certain beloved ancestors were
also honored by name: My college roommate Joyce, my grandfather Douglas, and my
great grandmother Ada. I pledged to leave their candles on my altar until
Imbolc, because they're going up late and won't have the whole Samhain-Yule
season.
The omen was taken
with the Hanson-Roberts Tarot (a mini deck I keep in my purse). The first card I pulled was the Two of
Pentacles (Ancestors), then the Tower (Nature Spirits), then Strength (Shining
Ones). After some thought and
discussion, I interpreted this as the ancestors and deities being relatively
pleased although both seemed to acknowledge that the ritual was rocky, but the nature spirits were downright unhappy. Not surprising since I was in a
new place, kicking off my new relationship with the spirits in this area with a
slapdash hasty ritual. I am planning to
try and remedy this with a few special offerings and hopefully an outdoor
shrine before the snow falls.
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