Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Samhain Blessing for the Dead





 

Wishing all a merry and magickal Samhain!  Tonight we honoring the dead and our ancestors.  To honor and welcome those who have gone before light a candle and say:

 

“For all those who have gone before,

Who dwell upon that farthest shore,

 

To you we drink and pray this night,

To you we call without fear,

Your voices again we would hear”

 

-Blessing of the Phantom Queen and blessed Samhain all!

 

 

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gwyn ap Nudd on Samhain


                             
 
 
                                  Gwyn ap Nudd on Samhain


   The hounds whine and nip anxiously at the mare’s feet.  She knickers at them and pounds pale hooves against the cold ground, impatient as the hounds for the hunt.  Deep within the mound we wait, silent as the grave, for the last lingering strands of day light to vanish, for darkness to fall and the doorways between this world and that other place to open, to swing wide for the Host of Gwyn ap Nudd.  It has been so long since last we rode, and I find am as eager as the hounds to step upon mortal soil once more.

   And then I feel it.  As gentle as a lovers caress the veil moves past us, parting for a single night, and we are off.  Hooves and claws and cloven feet touch the soft greenery of the mound momentarily, before taking to the sky.  Below me the pale mare moves like lightning, her milky eyes long since blind, look back at me with another sort of sight.  Behind me I hear the calls and shrieking of the Host and smile.  Some ride skeletal mounts, others beings with wings and scales, and yet others creature to horrible to describe.  It is the night of the dead, and we will hunt and feast on the souls of the wicked.  And when we’ve had our fill the just and brave we will gather.  Across battlefields we fly, atop steeples and grave stones we alight.   A choice to be made, join our ranks, turn spirit to faery flesh, live again, or be ferried beyond this world to everlasting rest.  So if you hear our howling on the wind as we ride a’ hunting, do not tarry.  Whisper a prayer to Gwyn ap Nudd and lend your thoughts towards living well, for all must bow down to the god of death one day.  But will you be my quarry, a rabbit for my hounds to rend and chase?  Or will you ride on the winds with me, wild and free.... 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Samhain Book Contest!


 
 
 
   It’s almost Samhain and magick is in the air!  During this time of year I re-bless and add to the altar I have dedicated to the Morrigan.  So to celebrate one of the Morrigan’s most sacred nights I thought it would be fun to have an altar contest.  You can enter by going to my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Celtic-Lore-and-Spellcraft-of-the-Dark-Goddess-Invoking-the-Morrigan/216279705149670?ref=hl#!/pages/Stephanie-Woodfield/262507577096053  and replying to the contest thread with a picture of your altar dedicated to the Great Queen or a Samhain altar dedicated to Her by Nov. 5th.  The winner will receive a signed copy of Celtic Lore and Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess: Invoking the Morrigan!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Little Something...




   Just a little something that came to me while meditating today. I normally don't include Nemain in Her trio (usually seeing her as Anu/Macha/Badb) but feeling Nemain pulling at me and trying to get my attention lately....

 
I am the Morrigu,

Anu the bringer of life,

Nemain the sword that sweeps it away,

Macha the seed in the soil,

I am strength when there is no strength,

I am valor where there is only dishonor,

It is my path you must trace,

Down, down through the dark,

Down to the heart of all things,

Until you accept my embrace there is no peace...