Red Pixie’s Elements of a Magickal Life

Samhain Traditions & Folklore.

Its almost here, the best holiday of them all, in my opinion at least, I love Samhain (pron Sow in – for those unsure) I remember even as a small child Samhain was a celebration for me of people who has passed over, I am still unsure to this day where I gained that knowledge from considering my own parents are far from Pagan and really never spoken about religion or the history of the holiday, to me at least.

I have, to this day, certain traditions that I will always carry out and pass down to my own children, should they wish to follow them of course.  I think for me ‘Halloween’ is much more commercialised than I’d like it to be, more about ‘the kids’ or ‘candy’ or in some cases ‘money’ can you belive it!  But I am not going to focus upon the negative aspects that I can pin point instead I’m going to focus on the joy and happiness that fills Samhain.

One of the traditions I have been doing over the past couple of years, is an age old folk tale of ‘feeding the dead’ I take an apple, no particular type just an apple, I take mine from the apple tree in my garden but you can use one from your fruit bowl, and under the moon, bury the apple in the ground, it is said to nurish the souls of the dead that roam the earth at this time.  Another popular folklore tale is that if you bury thirteen leaves from a harvested apple tree on Halloween you would be guareteed a bumper crop the following year.  How fantastic is that. Another one I follow is to eat a full apple on halloween night before you go to bed as it is said that you will not suffer any illness within the next twelve months, and eating a slice from three apples on halloween night also ensures a year filled with good luck.  These are all folk tales but seriously why would you not try them out, thinking back to last year I did all of these and the results are very good indeed.

Another tradition we have is pumpkin carving, it’s great to do as a family and the pumkin can be then used for soup or pie so there’s no waste and if you dry the seeds out you can plant them next year and grow your own pumpkins.  Even better, free pumpkins for next year and just think of all that lovely soup you can make and freeze for throughout the year (pumpkin soup has been my favourite since I made my first batch about four years ago).

I heard about some ‘Moon Omens’ that I want to share with you  – If the Moon is New on Halloween  it indicates that the coming year will be firtile ground for new beginnings to take place such as a new project, career or a new way of thinking.  If the moon is Waxing on Halloween it means good luck throughout the coming year it also indicates growth and an increase of all things that are of a positive nature.  A Full Moon on Halloween could mean a wish made at midnight will be realised within the coming year, it also insures that the powers of all forms of magic and divination practised will be at their greatest.  A Halloween Waning Moon this can be an indication of an omen of good or bad consequences.  If the moon is in its ‘Dark Phase’ on Halloween its believed to be a very negative omen, advise for extreme caustion in all your endevors over the coming twelve months and it wouldn’t hurt to protect yourself by carrying a talisman designed to ward off bad luck and misfortune.

I love the folklore that surrounds Samhain, I can just imagine sat around the fire in a field surrounded by good friends  toasting marshmellows and telling folktales, what a perfect Samhain that would be.

Do you guys have any traditions that you follow?  Maybe trick or treating with you children or something else, I ould love to hear from you and what your traditions are.   Whatever you do celebrate this festival with love in your hearts and smiles on your faces but above all be safe and look after eachother.

Brightest Blessings