Samhain

Freeing Ourselves in the Death of the Year God
– Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada

This ritual requires an outside space with 4 distinct areas -
1.Main Grove. preferably with a western gateway out;
2. another grove to serve as the Anti-chamber to the Underworld, preferably with some kind of gateway accessible from the Main Grove;
3. a relatively long ‘walkway’ to another grove or circle area which is the ‘Underworld’; and
4. a Bonfire/dancing area (preferably close to the Main Grove)
– all 4 areas, preferably making a circle.

It was written to be led by two wymyn representing the Crone and Midwife ‘faces’ of the Goddess, and a man acting as the Dying God (who did not want a large speaking part). Other helpers are a Handmaiden or Robin (HR), two participants to anoint the participants, and 4 to carry elements around circle, plus a Singer (could be one of the leaders). I encourage you to change the ritual to suit your own needs and ritual environment.

I have given (sung or spoken parts in Arial font: instructions in your default font)
a) the main body of the ritual first, so that you can assess the main theme and purpose
b) an overview of the whole ritual path.

Also available upon request are
c) the beginning of the ritual (Grounding, Smudging, Casting, Purifications, Quarter WellComes, Invocation, and Wine/Cake Blessings – which go before the main body);
d) the ending (FareWells to Godde and Quarters, and final closing/blessing – which go after the main body)
e) a list of tools and instructions for the set-up for the ‘groves’
f) a list of all the chants (though given in the ‘body’ as well)

Standard ritual parts are from the Kairosean Kithen tradition. Please feel free to contact Pashta (Rhyannan) at wc586@victoria.tc.ca if you wish copies of parts c/d/e/f or clarification/advice on doing or revising the ritual. All blessings with your own Samhain (death and transformation) celebrations.

Suzanne’s personal experience

The New Year is always the most important Sabbat of the year for me. It is this particular night of ceremonies that holds the most weight with me, particularly on a personal level, no matter if I celebrate in a public ritual or a private one. I found that as the ritual processed, I began to move deeper and deeper into my psyche, looking into who I am, where I come from and who I come from. I also explored ideas of who I want to be and where I want to go next. I found that the words of the chants we sung were very helpful for me to focus on the work I was there to do. The fact that we moved around, literally through dancing and walking, also kept my thoughts flowing and mind working. Even in the most literal sense, as well as spiritual, did this apply; instead of standing there and watching life go by, I want to take an active part in its shape and formation, including making conscious positive thoughts and choices to aid that process. So by reflecting on the past, and all that can be learned there, and with the love and help of all who I come from, I move forward and continue to grow in a conscious manner.

Each year as I celebrate the turn of the wheel, I ponder these questions, but never more so than at the New Year. As we journeyed through our ritual, I was able to reflect on my questions, connect with my Dead, and gather a sense of renewal for the next turn of the wheel. Whenever I come away from a ritual with this sense, I feel as though it was a personal success. This particular ritual was very good for this as it was very well directed, aiding us to truly focus on the work we were there to do.

A) MAIN BODY OF RITUAL (the work)

MAIN GROVE (after Grounding, Smudging, Casting, Purifications, Quarter WellComes, Invocation, and Wine/Cake Blessings)

Last of the Harvest –-intro Midwife

He who sprung upwards at Spring’s rebirth
He who has suckled from the deep breast of Earth
He who called the Sun’s rays with the lilt of his flute
He who danced the elements into ripening fruit

He whose body is the vine and the grain
And hoof, wing,, claw and tooth’s domain
He who wanders in the rhythms of the Sun
And falls to the Earth when His time is done

He is the harvest whose life-line lies low
As it bends back to the Earth and the world below
In Mercy and Wisdom, do we cut the last cord
With sharpened knife and scythe and sword
"Release" He cries in His final passion
"Release Me now to transformation".

- First, Crone; then God’ then Midwife - cut stems of final harvest (squashes at foot of bale of hay) with statement –

Crone - For the sake of Wisdom, I cut this thread

Destiny of the waning year - your old form now shed

(God falls to knees Crone puts her squash on hay)

God - For the sake of Mercy, I cut this vine
Life-force of the waning year – all suffering now resign
(God puts squash on hay; dies –

Midwife For the sake of Transformation, I cut this cord
Harvest of the waning year – back into the Dark Womb, be now absorbed
(Midwife puts squash on hay )

***

Death of God - Crone/Midwife cover God with cloak as he lies on ground - all participants chant a ‘goodbye/thanks’ to Him - chant "ALL THAT WAS."

Here is all that ever was - None are forgotten
Nothing fades forever - All that has passed comes around again.
For here, all that is remembered lives (2xs)

- Midwife and Crone remove ‘horns’, help God up, God goes to back of altar ad puts hood over His head

***

Lb of Flesh - intro Crone

His flesh, he has given as sacrifice -
For release of the old is the life cycle’s price
For renewal, re-birth, and re-incarnation,
For Evolution’s continuing transformation.
What rises and falls must be naked and raw
As it is passes through the doorways of the life-cycle law.
His body, he offers back to the land -
From whence it came, from soil and sand -
That the earth be nourished by composted flesh
For nothing is lost in Life’s winter-rest.

And even we, who live through the years,
Must sacrifice much of what we hold dear
If Life’s cycles are to be honoured, and our own cycles freed
From restraints of the past - past hope and past deed -
That we may fulfil each year’s destiny wrought
By the Godde within and Godde without.
What then have you lost or cut away this year
By you own choice or not – in joy or fear?
What have you sacrificed. what ‘flesh’ do you give,
In time and effort, that others may live?

Crone/Midwife go first in ‘cutting out lb of flesh’ (pre-cut triangles), each participant follows cutting their own (organic ‘groups of three’)

Singer (alone) "WHO AM I NOW" (as others cut)

When all else is gone in the winter of the land
And there’s nothing ‘or my shoulder, and naught in my hand
When the seasons and sorrow take all I hold fast,
And abundance is a memory, hidden deep in the past
CHORUS
Who am I now? Who am I now?
In the heart of the Goddess, in the hand of the God,
And the Dark Womb enfolds me – naked and raw
Who am I now?
When all else is gone in the midnight of my days
And the armour has fallen, and the mask from my face,
When I look in the mirror and see all the flaws
And yet the beauty there shimmers, naked and raw Who am I now?
(written by Rhyannan)

Seeds of Experience- intro Midwife – as cornucopia full of squash seeds is pass around widdershins from person to person, each taking the number of seeds they want to

Nothing is truly lost as the Wheel of Life turns,
And All - to Earth and Underworld - returns.
Energy does not die - only its form -
Like a cloak discarded, tattered and worn.

Sacred Life lives, in the hidden germ of the seed:
The re-birth of Spring, its promise decreed.
And Sacred Life lives, in the hard lessons learned
In Joy or in fear – in the seed of wisdom earned
Through experience – of heart and hand,
And the ever-changing horizon of the Upper-land.

Our dying year God, on His last whispered breath,
Carries these lessons into the depths beneath;
Crossing the river into the Underworld tomb -
Which is also all Life’s eternal Womb.
Lessons, experience, and energy unbound
Churn in Its cauldron, twist round and round:
Melding the Past with the Future It seeks,
Weaving new out of old, but always unique.
The seeds of experience are Its yeast, Its loom,
Engendering Transformation – Tomb to re-birthing Womb.

What then have you gathered from the past year’s lot?
What lessons have you learnt – by you own choice or not?
What seeds were you given, in joy or in pain.
In which experience may be enfolded and returned again?

- Midwife lead moment of silence at end to focus into seeds

Arms-length cord of Attachments - intro Crone

We, who live through many turnings of the Wheel
Weave our lives into Tapestries, that secretly conceal
Threads long forgotten, or perhaps never seen,
That bind us to fates – caught betwixt and between
The choices of others and not our own,
Or the dreams that we dreamed but have never outgrown,
Or mistakes that we made but were never forgiven,
Or hurts unhealed, or faults unshriven.

Knots in our tapestries that hold us apart
Each from one another and the will of our heart:
From the purpose of the Goddess and God expressed
In the world and in our lives – and our choice to say ‘yes’
To ALL of Life’s creativity, riches and promise –
Of Its eternal transforming, evolving genesis.

Here as the veils between the worlds thin:
Here as the dying god loosens all that has been:
What then are you still tied to, knotted and bound,
Yet choose to cut its thread, as the Wheel turns round?

- Crone moves widdershins stringing cord between the outstretched arms of the participants; Midwife follow, cutting between participants with scissors – participants keep their ‘thread’

God to the Underworld - God now hooded walks slowly to Underworld Anti-Chamber Grove - participants watch and wave to Him, chanting "GONE BEYOND

Gone, gone, gone beyond Gone beyond, beyond – Hail the goer

" - God lights 3-wick candle and turns on recording, then goes to Underworld, lights pillar candles, and begins ringing chime

The Ancestors – intro Midwife

Tonight is a night of change---we leave the light and enter the darkness.
Yet we are not afraid—we do so willingly for it is one more segment of the Wheel of the Year.

At this time of the year, the veil between the worlds grow thin,
and the gates that separate us from those who have passed over are open
We call upon our ancestors, our loved ones, to pass through and join us this night in celebration.

This time belongs neither to the old year nor to the new.
Reach out---each in your own special way---
and feel the presence of those you have known and thought lost to you.
Know all of you that there is no ending and no beginning.

The year is a never-ending cycle that we all share.
Samhain is the sacred festival marking the end of the summer and the beginning of winter.
A time to celebrate, to welcome the God as he starts his journey
down the path into darkness that bears the light of our Lady at it’s end.
The beginning of a New Year of the Wheel of Life.

– Crone/Midwife then move to gateway to Underworld Anti-Chamber grove - Crone take ‘lb of flesh’ cauldron – HR leads participants slowly to the ‘gateway’

UNDERWORLD ANTI-CHAMBER GROVE – Crone/Midwife as guardians at hedge gateway – Crone hold ‘lb of flesh’ cauldron (participants put their own into cauldron), Midwife hand out small candles and send each participant on their walk to the Underworld

Crone - A pound of flesh is the price
Midwife For a light into the Underworld

- participants walk through and light candle from 3-wick one continuing walking the path to the Underworld

UNDERWORLD CIRCLE - - God at circle, ringing chime as participants enter circle - everyone puts candle on altar, silence except for chime – Crone/Midwife come in last with cauldron of ‘lb of flesh’, place on plate on altar
- once all gathered, Midwife ask for another minute of silence (no chime) for honouring the ancestors/etc.

Seeds to Composting Cauldron - intro Midwife

Sacrifice and Life, Death and Re-birth -
Are forever linked in the cycles of the Earth;
Dependent on one another as the Wheel turns again
For continuance and renewal – Life itself to sustain.

Rotting flesh becomes nourisher, dried seed, the new life:
Experience becomes innovation, unexpected joy, from strife.
Deep in the cauldron, one transforms into its other
Deep within the winter womb of the Mother.
The flesh that we sacrifice, the seed of lessons learned
We offer now to the cauldron – released and returned.

– participants come forth to offer their seeds to the composting cauldron of ‘lb of flesh’
– Midwife gives final blessing

In the depth of Life’s Cauldron, by the dark winter’s spell
The purpose of the Godde now be fulfilled.
That one become its other, transformed anew
That Sacred Life return to us - its promise, true. Blessed Be

BONFIRE - Crone lead participants, walk to bonfire gently chanting and drumming - spoken chant "ASHES TO ASHES" (drummer immediately behind) - keep walking around fire holding hands until all have gathered there – Midwife follows at end with God ( takes off hood as no longer the Underworld ‘God’)

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Release and renewal - in the Goddess we trust

Final Release in Fire - participants continue chant as God lights Fire at 4 corners
- intro Crone –

While the deep dark cauldron of Transformation churns
Its son, the leaping flame - also burns
Its own Transformation – as all form must
Return ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Deep in our life tapestries – measured piece by piece -
Threads have been cut, but not fully re-leased.

All the dancing energy that weaves our fate
Into form and experience - what we give and take -
Is only ‘leased’ from Life and its cycles each year :
It is not ours, in truth – but Gaia’s, forever.

So into the flames of Transformation we throw
The threads of our lives that we chose to let go.
The threads of fear and pain and hate
That have buried our souls under their weight :
Threads of the Maypole, and heart’s desire
Of the year gone past, must also end in the fire.

All these we surrender to the bright flame’s power,
As we dance its magick, in this darksome hour.
Form relinquished, and energy freed
That it be leased again - for love, for need.
Into the fire – like the dying God’s passion -
"Release us now to Transformation".

- participants offer their ‘thread’ to the fire individually (then join up again, holding hands)
- God and HR/R bring in Maypole when all finished and puts it on the fire
- Power-releasing with spoken chant - end with energy into the fire
Fire burn – cauldron churn – seasons turn – Transformation!
- Midwife final blessing, as all release final power to fire – palms to fire
Gone threads of fear and pain and hate
Gone threads of error and ill-wrought fate -
Form fall as ashes and dust to the earth
Energy, by fire’s blaze, freed to re-birth
That the cycles are renewed, that the cycles are just -
In the Tomb/Womb, the Cauldron, the Goddess, we trust. So Mote It Be.

– drummer and Crone/Midwife/God lead way back to Main grove

MAIN GROVE AGAIN – all participants gather in circle

Prayer for the World Stage - Crone

Eternal Goddess of the Universal tapestry,
Bright God who dies and is re-born, as the Wheel turns;

Precious Gaia who lives and whirls within the dark womb of Space;

Wise Ancestors, who have walked the paths of Life, again and again;

We call to you, spirit and soul,
In this moment before the midnight of humynkind’s journey within Gaia’s embrace.

We have brought the world to the edge between Life and Death

For all Gaia’s children, and even Gaia Herself.

And kind of death will it be?
One that leaves a barren wasteland spreading across a dying planet;
Where war, pollution, and greed blind our eyes even unto the next generation?,

Or a death of the ill-wrought tapestries we have imposed upon the Earth -
Released to a new birth of our own kind, and a true renewal for Gaia and all Her children?

Will we learn the lessons of experience that rage like storms in our face –
Or hide in the concrete graves we have built as our homes, hands over our eyes?
Will we dis-empower the demons that our arrogance has given birth to
Or call them Gods, and lend our hand to their Armageddon?

Be all the powers of the Goddess and the God channeled through us..
Grant us courage - to speak the truth - that air, fire, water and earth are as sacred
As any of Gaia’s children, including ourselves, - for they are what allows Life to be.
To stand against the bulldozers, and the ‘;’weapons of mass destruction’
And the blind kings in their fortified towers,
For Life Itself is more sacred than any one body, any one choice.

Grant us the mercy to make the sacrifices –
Each in our way - that allow true transformation –that allow Gaia to evolve in Her own destiny:
To remember – day to day –
that what we sacrifice, what we give willing to the composting cauldron,
Is the very nourishment required for Life’s renewal?

Grant us the wisdom to plant the seeds of sacredness
By every choice we make, by every thought and deed.
Make of our lives, a doorway, to our own dawning adulthood as caretakers of Gaia.

As the Wheel twists and turns on this night,
Great Trickster, work your magic upon the world
Your greatest trick of all, turning the highways of death into pathways of life.
As the year settles into the cradle of renewal and rebirth on this night
Great Cauldron, work your magic upon the world
Your greatest transformation of all, turning painful experience into true inspiration.

Be within the rich and the poor, the powerful and the disenfranchised,
the nation and the individual -
That we each make the choices that affirm all Life as sacred once more.
By all that is sacred and true, So Mote It Be. (moment of silence)

(followed by the ending of the ritual – part D)

******************

B) OVERVIEW OF THE WHOLE RITUAL PATH

MAIN GROVE - all casting/etc. done widdershins until FareWells

Grounding/Smudging, Casting, Sweeping – All Chant "I O EVOE.", while
Crone – smudge inside of circle, then
Midwife – cast Main Grove first, then full ritual area, while
Crone - smudges outside of circle, and HR sweeps inside circle

Two participants – anoint all participants

Purifications –Crone say Kairosean standards at altar – 4 participants carry around circle

Quarter WellComes – Crone sing standards from centre
– Midwife at Quarters Samhain additions; God pentagram in -

Seal - Crone

Invocations – behind altar (God holds script and light for C/M) both call God (G between C/M, crown him at end)

Wine and Cake blessings - in centre –
- Crone ‘embrace’ (L hand under, R hand over) and speak, while Midwife and God do - Wine blessing first – then Cake blessing
- HR pass out glasses– M/G pass around wine and cakes
- all chant "LISTEN TO MY HEARTSONG" as wine/cakes pass around
- HR gather up used glasses – Midwife libate last of ‘Wine’/cake to ‘lb of flesh’ cauldron

Last of the Harvest - -intro Midwife - cut stems of final harvest with statement – Crone first: God falls to knees Crone puts her squash on hay – God second; puts squash on hay; dies - Midwife third, puts squash on hay

Death of God – Crone & Midwife cover God with cloak as He lies on ground - all participants chant a ‘goodbye/thanks’ to Him - "ALL THAT WAS." – Midwife removes His crown, God gets up and cover head with hood, then goes to back of altar

Lb of Flesh - intro Crone – Crone & Midwife go first in ‘cutting out lb of flesh’ (‘cut ‘ pre-cut triangles), each participant follows cutting their own (organic ‘groups of three’) - Singer (alone) "WHO AM I NOW"

Seeds of Experience- intro Midwife- pass around horn of plenty full of seeds widdershins from person to person, each taking the number of seeds they want to - Midwife lead moment of silence at end to focus into seeds

Arms-length cord of Attachments - intro Crone - Crone go around widdershins with cord strung between outstretched arms (in hands); Midwife follow with scissors cutting ‘double arms’ length’ between people

God to the Underworld - God now hooded walks slowly from Main Grove to Underworld Anti-chamber Grove - participants chant "GONE BEYOND" – God lights 3-wick candle in Anti-chamber Grove and turns on recording, then goes to Underworld and begins chiming

The Ancestors - intro Midwife – Crone & Midwife then move to gateway to Anti-chamber grove gateway - Crone take ‘lb of flesh’ cauldron – HR leads participants slowly to ‘gateway’

UNDERWORLD ANTI-CHAMBER GROVE – Crone & Midwife as guardians at hedge gateway - Crone takes ‘lb of flesh’ (participants put theirs into cauldron), Midwife hands out tea light candles and send each participant on their walk to the Underworld
- participants walk through Anti-chamber grove, pick up glass holder from the candle altar and light their candle from 3-wick candle (put candle in glass holder) - continuing walking the path to the Underworld

UNDERWORLD CIRCLE - - God ringing chime - everyone puts candle on altar as they enter, silence except for chime – Crone & Midwife comes in last with cauldron of ‘lb of flesh’, place on plate on altar
- once all gathered, Midwife ask for another minute of silence (no chime) for honouring the ancestors/etc.

Seeds to Composting Cauldron - intro Midwife - participants come forth to offer their seeds to the composting cauldron of ‘lb of flesh’ - Midwife gives final blessing

BONFIRE - Crone lead participants, walk to bonfire gently chanting (spoken) and drumming - chant "ASHES TO ASHES" - keep walking around holding hands until all have gathered there – Midwife follows at end with God (takes off hood - no longer Underworld/dead ‘God’)

Final Release in Fire - participants continue chant as God lights bonfire at 4 corners
- intro, Crone - participants offer their ‘thread’ to the fire individually (then join up again in circle, holding hands) as fire grows
- God and HR bring in Maypole (from Beltaine) when all finished with their threads and puts it on the fire
- Power-releasing with chant "FIRE BURN" - end with energy into the fire
- Midwife gives final blessing
– drummer lead way back to Main grove

MAIN GROVE AGAIN – all actions done doesil now –all participants re-gathered into circle

Prayer for the World Stage – Crone

FareWell to the Godde –- behind altar (God between Crone & Midwife)

FareWell to the Quarters – Midwife says FareWells, God pentagrams out

Final Blessing – Midwife releases broader circle of ritual (but not Main Grove) with fire candle, while participants chant "WE ALL COME FROM THE GODDESS"–
- Crone gives final blessing
- re-arrange altar for food offerings to Ancestors (large bowls out, altar tools packed)
- uncast Main Circle the following morning