What an amazing Samhain Blue Soul Circle we had on November 2nd. Our event celebrated Samhain, which among other things, are the Celtic roots of Halloween. Few are aware of its ancient Celtic roots from the renowned Samhain (Sow-wen) Festival.
The name comes from the Gaelic “Samhuin,” but depending on who you talk to, it could represent the end or beginning of summer. Why? It is noted that when summer is ending here on Earth, it’s just beginning in the Underworld. That said, most celebrate it as “Summer’s End”, the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year.
The Black Crow symbolizes both dark and light, disguise and luck
Samhain is pagan in nature and although its origins are from ancient Europe as a Celtic Fire Festival, Samhain is now celebrated worldwide, especially among Wiccans, Witches, Pagans and those with Celtic heritage. Rituals surrounding Samhain include bonfires, healing, dancing, thanksgiving, and honoring of the dead.
Because it’s around Halloween, it’s also considered a liminal time, when the veil between life and death grows thin. Because this time also celebrates “the dead,” many rituals around Samhain include setting food aside on an altar for ancestors and protective spirits. We decided to do a circle to honor our Celtic and Pagan friends and the inner witch in all of us, aka those who resonate with healing or have a healing nature.
Setting up the altars and tables early morning on November 2nd.
Above and below: the beginning of our Samhain and Harvest Blue Soul Circle
We kicked it off with a more traditional Pagan circle with the Black Crow on the altar right next to the Goddess of Witches Morgan, as we call her, although Celtics refer to her as Morrigan, the Goddess of War and Death. You see, the crow often symbolizes both death and rebirth and is often used by many shamans in rituals as well.
In addition to the Lady and the Lord, you’ll notice pumpkins, the black crow and Morgan (or Morrigan) on the altar.
As a spirit animal, the crow represents mysteries and magic, and can be a sign of good luck while also resembling a symbol of deceiving appearances. We like to think of the black crow as the spirit animal of sight, vision, intention, rebirth, transformation, alchemy and connection with the magic that life has to offer in our everyday lives. It is said that the crow also carries the power of prophetic insight and symbolizes the void or core of creation.
Sweeping and saging the room at the circle
In addition to the more traditional and classic ceremonial rites we performed, we cleared the circle, saged the room and gave energy and healing through out intentional crystal grid, something we do at every Blue Soul Circle. Our crystal grid for this Harvest celebration was powerful indeed, as it was also surrounded by other large and rare crystals and gemstones elsewhere in the room.
The Crystal grid with the intention of clarity, abundance, connection and love.
In addition to our crystal grid which we always have, we added a Harvest altar and four tables each honoring a different direction with the archangels watching over them: Uriel representing the North, Raphael in the East, Michael in the South and Gabriel in the West.
Goddesses came through from Celtic & other realms and dimensions, as did the elementals, Gaia and Priestesses from ancient times. A couple of guys (brothers) we had never met showed up who randomly found our event on EventBrite while searching for Ayahuasca ceremonies, which we found ironically amusing.
The truth is that even though we talk to our Spirit Team in advance of an event and they even suggest ideas we may not have thought of, we never really know what will come up because every circle has new people, each with their own soul stream & history.
Even for souls who return to our circles, the dynamics change because it is a different blend of personalities and lineage each and every time. We ended up with near 20 people including a couple of volunteers and a photographer.
There was also a profound healing, assisted by people from the circle. Our Spirit Team decided who to pull into the healing and where to place them — they rightfully included a couple former witch and shaman energies as well as two from the angelic realm and myself. We are learning that for physical healing, more often than not, ancient shamanistic techniques are used.
If you’re willing, could you please send our friend Dr. Juan healing — he needs all of our strength, energies and powers now as he goes through uncertainty and stress from a recent cancer diagnosis.
After the circle, we celebrated in typicall Autumn Harvest style — wine, pumpkin ale, Apple cider (of course), sweet potatoes, Quinoa, gingerbread, fruit, sauteed carrots with cinnamon and raisins, two green salads, pumpkin puree, chick pea & red bean salad, sauteed beets, chicken fried rice and cheese & feta on our infamous Salt Block were all served.
As some of you know, we love to cook so love preparing feasts and have created many a’ feast in our San Francisco hearth with the glorious view.