Midsummer is my favorite sabbat. It is special to us because we celebrate the faeries during Midsummer and take a Faerie Walk on Midsummer Eve. Here is more information on my favorite witchy holiday!

Midsummer (called Litha) is a celebration that has been observed for centuries, in one form or another. It is no surprise, then, that there are plenty of myths and legends associated with this time of year! (information from about.com)

• In England, rural villagers built a big bonfire on Midsummer’s Eve. This was called “setting the watch,” and it was known that the fire would keep evil spirits out of the town. Some farmers would light a fire on their land, and people would wander about, holding torches and lanterns, from one bonfire to another. If you jumped over a bonfire — presumably without lighting your pants on fire — you were guaranteed to have good luck for the coming year.
• It is believed in parts of England that if you stay up all night on Midsummer’s Eve, sitting in the middle of a garden, you will faeries.
• Residents of some areas of Ireland say that if you have something you wish to happen, you “give it to the pebble.” Carry a stone in your hand as you circle the Litha bonfire, and whisper your request to the stone — “heal my mother” or “help me be more courageous”, for example. After your third turn around the fire, toss the stone into the flames.
• Astrologically, the sun is entering Cancer, which is a water sign. Midsummer is not only a time of fire magic, but of water as well. Now is a good time to work magic involving sacred streams and holy wells. If you visit one, be sure to go just before sunrise on Litha, and approach the water from the east, with the rising sun. Circle the well or spring three times, walking deosil, and then make an offering of silver coins or pins.
• Sunwheels were used to celebrate Midsummer in some early Pagan cultures. A wheel — or sometimes a really big ball of straw — was lit on fire and rolled down a hill into a river. The burned remnants were taken to the local temple and put on display. In Wales, it was believed that if the fire went out before the wheel hit the water, a good crop was guaranteed for the season.
• In Egypt, the Midsummer season was associated with the flooding of the Nile River delta. In South America, paper boats are filled with flowers, and then set on fire. They are then sailed down the river, carrying prayers to the gods. In some traditions of modern Paganism, you can get rid of problems by writing them on a piece of paper and dropping them into a moving body of water on Litha.
• William Shakespeare associated Midsummer with witchcraft in at least three of his plays. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and The Tempest all contain references to magic on the night of the summer solstice.

Tomorrow is Samhain and we would usually be having a big family witchy-fest but unfortunately my sister-witch Lisa has come down with an awful cold. We are pretty bummed about this and will have to scale back the festivities considerably without her presence in the circle.

Thus my plans are for my casting (I always do a Halloween spell), then the Samhain ritual itself, the dumb supper (to celebrate the dead) and finally the bonfire to close out the night.

It’s been so cold at night too it should be a lovely night for a fire. The frost is on the pumpkin, as they say!

This is my first Samhain as a widow so it will be interesting to see what kind of feelings I pick up on. I will actually relish the silence during the dumb supper and I hope all of my loved ones who have passed on are there in spirit. Especially one of them.

I love all the witch sabbats but none more so than Samhain. This is the one sabbat where I pullout all the stops!

I love to decorate the house, prepare the dumb supper, add spooky music to the festivities, have a big bonfire and eat tons of candy though I doubt that was part of the traditional pagan Halloween.

Last year we had a great time, three witches at the feast (or feastival as we called it) and this year we might even add an additional bit of fun to the holiday by sharing it in the woods with other witches at the following celebration:

Florida Pagan Gathering Samhain ‘08

When: Nov. 6th. 2008 - Nov. 9th. 2008
Where: Altoona, Florida

Dance with the Ancestors

Event Details: Join us at the Florida Pagan Gathering in 4 days of Pagan Community Spirit. FPG is hosted in the heart of the Ocala National Forest at Camp Ocala. Held twice a year at Beltaine and Samhain, the Florida Pagan Gathering is a place of Spirituality, Imagination, Growth, Learning, Rambunctious Good Times, Artistic Revelry, Perfect Love and Perfect Trust where Pagans, young and old, new and current, Solitaries, Covens, Eclectic and Traditional can enjoy a community free from the mundane worries of modern society.

Other Events and Activities at FPG include:
* Workshops hosted by our Headliners and local Pagan teachers
* Nightly Drum and Fire Circle
* Friday Night Concert featuring Wendy Rule
* Main Ritual hosted by Belladonna of Iron Oak
* Bardic Circle
* Sweatlodge
* Men’s Lodge and Women’s Tent
* Labyrinth
* Kid’s Crafts and other Activities
* Celtic Games
* Swimming and Canoeing and much more!

Send me an email if you are local and think you might be attending and you can meet up with me and my sister-in-law!

Note: this entry was written the day before Beltane. It was posted later but could not be back-dated.

May 1st is Beltane and in this witchy household it marks the beginning of the summer season as well as a huge excuse to feast!

This is our first Beltane with our new family member (my soon-to-be-sister-in-law) and I’m thrilled to add another witch to the family coven. When we can’t all be together (which fortunately this Beltane we will be) it is always good to have back-up.

Here is some interesting information on Beltane and then I will tell you how we will be celebrating:

Beltane has long been celebrated with feasts and rituals. Beltane means fire of Bel; Belinos being one name for the Sun God, whose coronation feast we now celebrate. As summer begins, weather becomes warmer, and the plant world blossoms, an exuberant mood prevails. In old Celtic traditions it was a time of unabashed sexuality and promiscuity where marriages of a year and a day could be undertaken but it is rarely observed in that manner in modern times.

In the old Celtic times, young people would spend the entire night in the woods “A-Maying,” and then dance around the Maypole the next morning. Older married couples were allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. May morning is a magickal time for wild water (dew, flowing streams, and springs) which is collected and used to bathe in for beauty, or to drink for health.

Think of the May pole as a focal point of the old English village rituals. Many people would rise at the first light of dawn to go outdoors and gather flowers and branches to decorate their homes. Women traditionally would braid flowers into their hair. Men and women alike would decorate their bodies. Beltane marks the return of vitality, of passion. Ancient Pagan traditions say that Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desires the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite. The Goddess becomes pregnant of the God. To celebrate, a wedding feast, for the God and Goddess must be prepared. Let Them guide you! Breads and cereals are popular. Try oatmeal cakes or cookies sweetened with a dab of honey. Dairy foods are again appropriate; just make a lovely wedding feast and you are sure to enjoy yourself! An early morning walk through a local park or forest could be fun for everyone. Gather up some plants or flowers to display in your home. Mom and daughter could braid their hair, and weave in a few tender blossoms.

How we will celebrate:

We’ll get together the day before to weave our chaplets (flower crowns) and create our May Day baskets. Traditionally we use the colors of red and white. I have a maypole staff that we use for the ritual that I have used for over 20 years. It has ribbons and flowers and bells hanging from it.

The May Day baskets are made with fresh flowers and traditionally we leave them on the doorsteps of our neighbors homes. This will be the first time I do this in this neighborhood, so I am excited to leave our springtime gifts.

The women in my family wear white and we have ankle ribbons with bells on them. We jingle like mad which creates an even more festive atmosphere. The men in my family (currently only my brother) usually participate only in the feast and merry-making. That’s actually better though, since when the women get together and start weaving flowers we can be pretty silly!

On Beltane we will light the fire pit at sundown and have our feast followed by the ritual.

Our feast this year will include homemade breads (I have been learning to bake bread and will make a cranberry raisin pecan bread and a sun-dried tomato herb bread), oatcakes with honey and almonds, a slightly non-traditional spring risotto with peas and prosciutto as well as fresh fruits and nuts for dessert. Ale and mead are always served of course.

Since ours is a family celebration it is rather tame. We just celebrate the season, enjoy the great weather and feast.

Can it be that Samhain (pronounced sow-in) was almost half a month ago?

As I put away all the decorations from this years holiday I was struck how wonderful it had been to be with my family including a new member of the family; my brother’s girlfriend.  Everything seemed that much more exciting because she had never been part of such festivities before. It also made it brand-new for me too.

In my life as a witch I have been through many Samhain celebrations. Next to Yule (which is a part of the Christmas celebration) it is our biggest holiday. It has always held a great deal of meaning to me, because it was a month of being a witch very publicly and I always enjoy that opportunity. When you can walk into the local Barnes & Noble and see witchcraft books on display, front and center - it is a GOOD thing.

I’ve been to enormous celebrations deep in the woods where a bonfire would rage in a clearing for three days! I have been to huge parties in cities that took place in a hotel ballrooms. I’ve been to every manner of Halloween party and just dressed as myself - a witch!

This year I chose the theme of the Goddesses three incarnations: Maiden, Mother, Crone. Since we were welcoming a new female to our circle it seemed appropriate. There is immense power in the number three; and our celebration reflected that.

We dispensed with some of our regular traditions in order to have a bit more of a party atmosphere. Some things were the same - the spells I cast, the ritual to celebrate the sabbat, all the decorations, candles, abundant feast, candy, dressing up like witches (always fun for the kids who come to my door trick or treating) and the toast to the Goddess with our sweet honey wine.

We didn’t do the dumb supper this year (where we celebrate our ancestors who have passed on with a silent supper) or communicate with the dead. I felt a little raw on that, since someone I had a great affinity for had passed on the day before. I felt far too close to their passing and knew with so much energy being pulled by the witches present that it would be too much to call upon the dearly departed. Also when someone dies you want to give them time to cross over. In Buddhism it is three days. There are many stories about monks and bodhisattvas who die in meditation and they are not moved physically for three days. The body does not degrade during this time, either.

Thus without the death component to Samhain we celebrated life and in doing so we had a rip-roaring feast!

We had Scottish meat pie (a recipe from the Highlands), Colcannon (a Celtic specialty of mashed potatoes and cabbage - the most authentic of all the dishes prepared), maple glazed baby carrots and pumpkin cheesecake. Usually we have Soul Cakes too but this year we just had shortbread. Soul Cakes are also very traditional to the original Samhain holiday. They were the “treat” that was given to beggars as they passed from house to house on Halloween night. They would sing this song: