The ….ber months have arrived!

Posted on by witchosity

Hi again!

It’s that time of the year…the best part of the year, the ber months. The wheels is turning, the calendar moves along, the days grow shorter and the nights longer. The temperature drops….although looking at the weather today and the forecast for the next few days, it’s hard to believe we are in September!

Anyway, I had the opportunity to go through my local park without the canine which meant I could forage properly without trying to juggle the lead, not trip over the dog while he stands there scoffing whatever it is I am picking or keeping an eye out for other people and/or dogs as the canine goes into protect mode while I am stood in bushes, my attention on berries.

The sun was out, the air filled with the buzz of lazy insects, butterflies flitting in and out of the dappled light and birds in the bushes above me…not sure if I was being scolded for picking or if they were shouting at each other!

Large swathes of brambles had been trampled by people getting into the pick the big juicy blackberries but there is still plenty left, if you look under leaves or not directly at eye level. As long as you are also not looking for the Instagram picture perfect berry, there was oodles to harvest and as mine haul is either going to be turned into jam, winter medicinals or boozy stuff, the general good looks of each berry isn’t that important!

I got another lb or so today of blackberries, there was a suitable amount of blood exchanged with the brambles too. Can only be considered a successful forage if blood has been exchanged for fruit!

I also collected a big bag of nettle seeds and once these are dried they will see me through winter, either added to food or cakes for a little health boost.

I went deep into the overgrown borders of the park to find the little crab apple tree, once again it was weighed down with fruit which practically jumped off the branches as soon as your hand was near, I normally leave these until too late and they are mostly on the floor but not this year! Got me a good load of them, some of them will have a long soak in whiskey…crab apple whiskey is soooo nice! Some, along with bigger apples from a not well used orchard, will go into jam and winter medicinals along with the blackberries. It’s too early for the rosehips I need and I need to go to another park to get the elderberries needed for the medicinals.

All in all, it was a lovely couple of hours and I have made a start on foraging the bounty that is on offer at this time of year…..did I mention I love this part of the year?

Samhain

Posted on by witchosity

It is here…Samhain is here, the air is charged and magick is afoot!

Samhain means ‘Summers End’ and marks the end of a Pagan’s year and the start of a new one.

The veil between the world we live and the world in which our ancestors live is at its thinnest making it the perfect time to honour them and invite them to join you in your celebration.

The death of the year, the dying of the plants are all part of the cycle of life, the wheel of the year, death in itself is a fact and therefore not to be feared. We acknowledge that on this day more than any other. Many Pagans believe that light follows darkness, that we cannot have the light without the dark so the new year starts with the dark part of the year and we move through it towards the light again.

There is the area of Paganism that acknowledges the Goddess in her Crone phase, there are witches whose deities are Heckate and Cerridwen,  again working with darkness, birth, death and rebirth. There are Druidic and Celtic ways of marking this day along with many others but the same theme runs through all of these practices, it marks the end of the old and the start of the new while honouring those who have come before.

As the veil is thinner it also allows easier passage for tricksome spirits and the Fae so to appease them you leave an offering of food, unsalted bread and a libation of one variety or another.

Alongside the loaf of bread I have made for our family, I have made a smaller unsalted one for the Fae,

I have my altar set for tonight, with photographs of my grandparents and my great aunts, uncles and great grandmother.

I may also have a fire outside tonight after I come back from a Samhain gathering in a local park. A simple ceremony I will do if I have a fire is to collect some small sticks from the park, write a simple word or phrase for something I want to get rid of, that I don’t want to take forward into the new year and then throw into the fire to be removed from my life.

This is what I wish for everyone I know and love today, may you have a wonderful and blessed Samhain!