Samhain Gathering 2012
Swede lantern
As the first frost froze windscreens and noses and as the fog lifted to reveal a golden sun in a blue sky against blazing autumn colours, the Wood Sisters gathered to mark the turning year: Samhain, summer’s end. Traditionally celebrated on 31st October, but also associated with the Pleidies, the Seven Sisters, being bright in the sky and with the dark of the moon, the Celtic New Year is when the veil between the worlds is momentarily opaque, and when we remember our ancestors and those we have lost more recently.
Crossing the veil
The sharing around the circle as we lifted the lid of the wisdom pot for the first time was as varied as the autumn colours dancing outside the window. Women spoke straight from the heart of great blessings and of great sorrows. Fear and shame were named and stirred into the brew along with love, sexuality, family, opportunities and more. For me (Sue) the extraordinary thing about these simple sharing circles is that, although we have a wide range of ages and situations in the circle and although each person who speaks has a unique voice and circumstance, what each woman says never fails to strike a chord, often deep within, until there are many threads woven between each of us of shared experience, shared knowledge, shared wisdom. We nod and affirm and witness. Just to be heard saying those things we don’t normally acknowledge to others as part of our existence has a profound and healing effect. It allows us to relax into our authentic selves with a sense of support, smiles and sisterhood. Thank you to all of us wonderful women in the circle on Saturday who shared so bravely.
Hearth
After some reviving tea and biscuits, we settled down for our first trance telling at a Wood Sister’s Gathering (although Sam has been developing trance telling since the very beginnings of the Wood Sisters and brought one to the Westcountry Storytelling Festival in the summer). Sam led us through relaxation and meditation into the story of Ceridwen and Taliesin, the Celtic tale from the Welsh Mabinogion of the Great Goddess who brews a cauldron of Bright Knowledge for her own son.
But young Gwion, who is hired by Ceridwen to stir the pot, licks the scalding liquid off his thumb and receives its blessings….the scene of the shape-shifting chase, as the goddess pursues him in her fury, ends when he becomes a tiny grain of wheat and she a great hen who eats the whole pile until he too is ingested. This of course is not the end of the tale, it is the beginning of Taliesin’s journey but many of us spoke of that moment when Gwion “gives up” and allows himself to be eaten by the Great Goddess. He surrenders and that moment is his triumph and new beginning. In a trance telling, it is even more possible to inhabit the characters of the story and know their experience from the inside and this moment of surrender was one that we knew we often strive to avoid, but within the safety of a story we allowed ourselves to know and feel, gaining insight and sometimes revelation!
The spaciousness of the trance telling was much appreciated, even by those who drifted off at points and came back to later parts of the story. We can rarely enter into the whole of an ancient story – each time we hear it, different aspects will stand out and take out attention for they are the places we are currently inhabiting. Another time, we might dwell on quite different characters and moments. And who knows what enters in when we think ourselves to be unconscious or asleep?!
Samhain feast
It was a glorious day to go outside and we had a rich sharing after our quiet time, followed by a veritable Samhain feast including delicious soup and curry, tasty quinoa and beetroot and tomato salads, seasonal colcannon and roasted chestnuts with hidden oracles, a mediaeval herb salad and more. Replete, we spent the early aftenroon carving turnip and swede lanterns as we chatted. These are slightly more subtle than pumpkin lanterns, with designs that are carved into the skin but not right through it and with the natural purple, orange and white colours of the winter root vegetables creating landscapes of the imagination. They are an invitation to our ancestors to commune with us rather than fearful images to scare them off.
Creating lanterns
Carving
We held a simple ceremony in the darkness where we each lit our lanterns and remembered, wished or held an intention. Izzy had brought the Ancestors song for us to sing together. Then over a final cuppa, we each had the chance to draw a card from the Druid Animal oracle to see what the year ahead might bring.
Lit lantern
It was a full rich day and a demanding one and yet I, for one, felt more energised at the end than at the beginning for having shared a day with sisters and touched back into our authentic selves. We had slowed down and found the source that is always there if we can allow ourselves to connect with it.
Glowing lanterns
The wheel turns full circle and a new year begins. For the Wood Sisters it is our third year of following the Celtic Cycle of the seasons and gathering to celebrate the eight festivals. The wisdom pot has been well-brewed over that time, just like Ceridwen’s cauldron, with many ingredients from far and wide, brought by many different women, and it contains collective wisdom, knowledge and inspiration.
Lanterns
Turnip and swede
Our next gathering will be to celebrate the Winter Solstice on Saturday 15th December from 9.30 – 4pm. The early finish is to give time to set up and to go home and change into our party clothes for an evening fundraiser for the Red Tent with shadow puppetry, story, scrumptious food, oracles, poetry, parlour games, wishing wells and more. Tickets are limited and will be on sale soon – watch the website and newsletters for details. This is an evening open to all – men folk, young people, neighbours, relatives and friends. We hope to see many of you there. For now Samhain blessings – may the year ahead hold your heart’s desire.
Raw material – Riverford Farm swede
Samhain lanterns