Samhain
Hi all,
I’ve been quiet here for a while, and here we are at the time of Samhain with yet another turn of the Wheel. There has been a lot going on here in Ireland, with the controversial Mother and Baby Homes Bill passing just before Samhain. As someone who is directly impacted by this issue, it became inextricably intertwined with my Samhain Ceremonies and Remembrance.
For me, and for many other Pagans here, Samhain is a season beginning on the 31st of October, as many the world over celebrate Halloween, the modernised social re-packaging of one of our ancient Irish Fire Festivals.
Here in Ireland, for many of us, “real” Samhain takes place on the Cross-Quarter day, halfway between Equinox and Solstice. This year, that falls on the 7th of November, when I and my family will light a ceremonial fire and hold ceremony. So, for me, Halloween, on the 31st of October, as Samhain Eve (the month of November is called Samhain in the Irish language, meaning “the end of Summer”), is the entry point into this season of the Cailleach and of remembering the Ancestors and our beloved dead. This year, for the first time in 40 years, we were blessed with a Full Moon on Samhain Eve, which was in fact a Blue Moon, being the second full moon of the month.
This Samhain, I am particularly focusing on the women and children who lost their lives in Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes, industrial schools, and Magdelene Laundries; and those survivors who have passed on without finding peace, and the answers they so desperately sought. The Cailleach, who is the Veiled/Hidden One, is also the Hag of Winter. She reigns over this time of cold and hardship. As we go into the Dark of the Year, we must remember that this Dark is not to be feared. It is part of the cycle of life, and within that darkness is time for reflection, preparation and the germination of that which we wish to see put forth green shoots in the Spring. As the seeds grow under the earth, or the child grows within the womb, this is nourishing darkness within which we, too, can grow and develop.
On the 29th of November, I will be holding an online mini-workshop: “From Samhain to Solstice: Working with the Cailleach”. See Classes and Workshops section for further details.
Video of my contribution to National Ancestral Family Healing Day, hosted by Dermot Shaman O’Hara, and including a journey with the Cailleach:
https://www.facebook.com/110388343676368/videos/379523149857337
Lady's Island is a very special place, close to where I live in south Co. Wexford. Although now a site of Christian pilgrimage, dedicated to Mary the Mother, in pre-Christian times it was also sacred and special to women, as indicated by its name in Irish, "Cluain na mBan", meaning "The Meadow of the Women". It is said to have been a site associated with women druids. It is a place of peacefulness, reflection, and healing.
The video records the lighting of candles in memory of the women and children who died in Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes.
