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Samhain [sa-ven or sow-en] is the Wiccan New Year, always celebrated on October 31st. This is a time to remember and honour those who have passed before us. We invite the spirits of our deceased friends and family to join in our rituals and Circles at this time. Because it is the New Year, it is taken as time to do away with practices and behaviours, bad habits, that inhibit out growth. The Crone is present now, to assist in taking that which is unhealthy out of our lives. Any contact with ancestors who have passed on should be done within a cast circle. They are never to be harrassed or commanded- only invited to participate if they so wish.

Pumpkins are carved into Jack o'lanterns and set out- an evolution of the ancient practice of lighting candles and setting them in our windows to guide spirits to the afterlife. This is the best time to perform divinations for the coming year, with tarot, runes, i ching, or some method of scrying, as it is also the time when the 'veil' that separates our world from the next is the thinnest, and premonitions can be obtained more easily.

Apples and pomegranates are eaten to represent the opposites of life and death. Bonfires are often built at this time, and celebration held around them (this is another sabbat where fire-jumping is quite in the ordinary).

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::aka::
Samhain, from 'summer's end'
All Hallows Eve
All Saints Day
All Souls Day
Day of the Dead
Halloween

::goddesses::
the Goddess' Crone aspect
Hecate

::energies::
transformation
death (change)
new year (a new beginning)

::colours::
indigo
orange
black

::stones::
onyx
hematite

::plants and herbs::
pumpkins
apples
nuts
chrysanthemum
nightshade
catnip
broom
mandrake
straw

::objects::
cauldrons
divination tools (the tarot, i ching, runes, scrying-bowls, -mirrors, and -crystals)
jack o'lanterns
pumpkins
candles

::incense::
applewood
hemp
wormwood

::activities/rituals::
scrying in moonlight
'fortune' telling
understanding death and rebirth
honouring passed ancestors
releasing old and accepting new
divination
inviting the spirits of the deceased to participate in the sabbat and be present within the Circle
fire-jumping