Samhain

I have written quite a lot of posts about Samhain over the last few years.

I thought I would collect them all into one post.

Halloween and Samhain

OCTOBER 3, 2018 / YVONNE ABURROW / 2 COMMENTS

The season of Halloween is fast approaching, and with it, the opening of several different silly seasons. It’s the season for racists to dress as caricatures of other ethnic groups. It’s the season for journalists to find the gothiest witches they can, and write dramatic articles about them. And it’s the season for spooky films … Continue reading Halloween and Samhain

Samhain and Remembrance

NOVEMBER 4, 2014 / YVONNE ABURROW

The Pagan festivals are less about a single day when we reflect on or celebrate a particular aspect of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, and more about the the high watermark of the ebb and flow of a tide of energy. But the season of remembrance is not at an end. The tide of Samhain ebbs until it rises again as the tide of rebirth at Yule. And on the way to the turning of the tide, there is Remembrance Day on 11th November. I don’t know how many Pagans actually do ritual for 11th November, but I am sure many of us will be wearing poppies – red, white, or mauve, or all three.
Continue reading Samhain and Remembrance

Beloved dead

OCTOBER 13, 2014 / YVONNE ABURROW

Why so few memories of my grandpa? Because my parents grew up in the Exclusive Brethren, and left that group in 1976. This meant that my grandparents were forbidden to have any contact with us after we had left. I only found out by accident in 1996 that my grandpa had died. I wonder what he would have thought of this blogpost.
Continue reading Beloved Dead

Ancestors

OCTOBER 2, 2014 / YVONNE ABURROW

There are different types of ancestors – family members, ancestors of spirit, ancestors of place, the Beloved Dead, members of your tradition who have passed on. We honour them because they shaped us and our world, and without them it would be very different.
Continue reading Ancestors

An inclusive wheel of the year

JANUARY 20, 2018 / YVONNE ABURROW / 4 COMMENTS

Some versions of the Wheel of the Year (the eight festivals of Wicca and Druidry) can feel excluding, particularly those that focus on the God and the Goddess interacting through the cycle of the seasons. This mythological construct excludes both polytheists and LGBTQIA people. Some versions of the story are uncomfortable for feminists, as they … Continue reading An inclusive wheel of the year

Paganism for Beginners: Festivals

JULY 15, 2015 / YVONNE ABURROW

Different Pagan traditions celebrate different festivals. Wiccans, Druids, and many eclectic Pagans celebrate the eightfold Wheel of the Year. Other traditions have their own cycle of festivals, often specific to the locality and ethnic tradition they work within. Pagan festivals have rich and complex symbolism rooted in folklore and Nature.
Continue reading Festivals

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