Dear Community—today the air is gold with smoke and an ash tree across the street blazes yellow, bright lit from within. What follows are the practices and rhythms I’ve collected in this year of ceremony—begun at just this Samhain time one solar round ago. May they nourish and deepen your roots into the earth, the bones of your ancestors, the legacy your body carries, whole and here.
Beginning of the Dark Half of the Year
In the Germanic and Celtic calendars the year is divided into two parts—the Dark Half and the Bright Half, Skammdegi or dark days and Nottleysa nightless, Vetr—winter—and Sumr—summer.
The quarter days of Samhain/Vetrnaetr and Beltaine/Walpurgisnacht mark this sacred turning and are seen as particularly potent times for divination, saining/reocan (cleansing and protecting with smoke or silvered water), ancestor veneration and feasting.
I try not to get too caught up in specificity around the holy days. Every day is sacred, and there is a lot of synergy between the traditions of my ancestral lineages.
Winter Nights—Vetrnatr/vetrnætr
The calendars of my Germanic ancestors were lunisolar, with each month following the lunar.
In Old Saxon Uuintar-manoð (Winter Moon) was the October moon. “There is a celebration and blod on the Full Moon of Uuintar-manoð, seen as the beginning of winter, one of the two Heathen seasons of the year. Three full moons later would be Yule, or Mid-Winter. Winter Full Moon began the Saxon Year. Winter Full Moon blod would last three nights and three days.
Blod-manoð (Blood Moon). November-ish, pending the lunar calendar. Blood rituals during this moon: Slaughtering of the animals for winter meat and skins for winter clothing. (Swedish: Alfablot—see below)”(1)
In the Old Norse, lunar September-October was Haustmánaðr (from Haust, harvest or autumn and Mana∂r, month) and Winter Nights fell on the full moon of Haustmánaðr. (1)
Winter Nights mark the beginning of the Winter season in the Norse/Germanic tradition. Generally running for three days and nights over the quarter day of Samhain, it is a time of sacrificial offerings, feasting and honoring the ancestors. At this time all of the harvest should be brought in from the fields (with the exception of the Last Sheaf) as the land belongs to the spirits during the dark months.
Sacrifice Month/ Blōtmōnaþ
Offering and sacrifice are attested to in numerous sources. The Anglo Saxon word for lunar October-November is blōtmōnaþ, a time of honoring and appeasing the gods, land wights, house spirits, Dísir and Alfar in preparation for winter. The Old Norse word for the month was Gormánuðr from gor, “the cud in animals (3)” revealed during slaughter. It was considered the first month of winter.
In the Ynglinga saga Snorri Sturlson writes about the proscribed sacrifices in the annual round:
“Þá skyldi blóta í móti vetri til árs, en at miðjum vetri blóta til gróðrar, hit þriðja at sumri, þat var sigrblót.”
On winter day there should be
blood-sacrifice for a good year, and in the middle of winter for
a good crop; and the third sacrifice should be on summer day, for
victory in battle. (2)
The word Blót means “sacrifice, sacrificial feast,” blóta means “to worship” and “to worship with sacrifice” (3)
The Last Sheaf
The Last Sheaf is a pan-European tradition, ancient in origin. It is critically important, representing both ancestors and the spirits of the grain. First, it was also custom to leave some grain in the field. In an animist consciousness you did not want to be greedy or invite famine, so leaving grain for the spirits was essential. The Last Sheaf was not the last of the grain, it was the last of the cut grain—an important distinction. In the Gaelic the Last Sheaf is called the Old Woman or Cailleach, in Poland it is called Old Woman (Baba), Wheat Woman (Pszenna Baba) or Dziad (Old Man). The Last Sheaf was often given a procession from the field and ritually fed, then brought into the house where it might be dressed in ribbons or even fabric and given a seat at the table, in the corner or on the altar. It is sometimes fed for many years, or even generations. But in most folkways it is feasted through the winter then returned to earth in the spring.
In the Germanic tradition, the Last Sheaf was left in the field as a gift to O∂inn during Winter Nights (Everything Paganism). It was also a custom in all of my lineages to bake a loaf from the grain of the Last Sheaf, share it with the spirits and keep some to mix with the seed for planting in the spring.
Ancestors
Ancestor veneration is a cultural universal, and the quarter days were all times of occult influence and spiritual work. The Samhain season was particularly important for feasting the ancestors, and in the Norse/Germanic tradition there were two ancestral feasts during Winter Nights.
“Not only among the Celts but throughout Europe, Hallow’een, the night which marks the transition from autumn to winter, seems to have been of old the time of year when the souls of the departed were supposed to revisit their old homes in order to warm themselves by the fire and comfort themselves with the good cheer provided for them in the kitchen or parlour by their affectionate kinsfolk (585).” (4)
Dísablót
The Feast of the Dísir, the female ancestral guardian spirits, was possibly celebrated in the spring, or most likely at Winter Nights, or—as my gnosis says—likely both. The written sources attest to a woman presiding over this ceremony, and to it being held at night. It was also public, a community celebration.
This past spring I hosted a two week long Feast of the Dísir practice, and plan to offer it again this season as preparation for the Dark Goddess Project. All are welcome to join in this celebration of the ancestral feminine:
https://wildsoulschool.teachable.com/p/feastofthedisir/
Álfablót
The Álfar or Elves are the male ancestors of a lineage, an interesting etymological connection in the Norse/Germanic cosmology that parallels the assertions of Emma Wilby and Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz that the faeries were actually ancestors in the ancient UK cosmologies. The feast honoring the Alfar took place at Winter Nights, but unlike the Dísablót, the written records show a need for privacy at the feast. It was for the family only, where no strangers were allowed.
Reocan
I like to use smoke in my clearing and protecting work at the turning times. This fumagatory cleansing is called recaning, from the Old Anglo Saxon reocan, root of the word reek, to smell. It was also called other things by my European ancestors, is featured as a healing device in an Old English charm, number 17, against Ælfadle, Elf Sickness:
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"Take bishop's wort, fennel, lupine, the lower part of enchanter's nightshade and lichen...then put live coals in a chafing dish and lay the herbs on them. Smoke the man with these herbs before the third hour of the day and at night.”
There is more information on smoke cleansing and saining in the document below, and in my last September Patreon post.
Quarter Day Practices—rough notes, all information in common domain
These quarter day notes were created at the beginning of our Year of Ceremony ritual year, and I include them each quarter for awareness and honoring.
Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas in the Celtic calendar
On Quarter days occult influences were believed to be more potent, and magical rites more effective than at other times.
Kindling of the need-fire
Saining of cattle, home, crops, boats and buildings
Visits of the sick, maimed and barren to holy wells
Divination rites
Baking and dedication of sacred cakes
They were also lucky days for setting out on a journey, a new undertaking, drawing others together.
For charms and spells it was vital to rise before dawn
Magical workings were often completed in silence and fasting
An ancient Druidical idea held that the most sacred of all water forms was dew, particularly the dew of Beltane morning. Gathering the dew from the grass before sunrise on a quarter day and washing one’s face in it was a traditional beauty charm
It was dangerous to give out fire from the house as the recipient could take the luck of the house with them
Similar prohibitions were on loans of any kind, salt, flour, rennet, water
Not only on the quarter day but on the first Monday after, which was an auspicious day for making the frith or fret, an augurey of things to come.
The diviner would rise before dawn and fasting, with head or feet bared and eyes closed, would go to the door of the house and set one hand on each jam. Then with an incantation or prayer to the God of the Unseen to grant him his augurey he would open his eyes. In some areas he would peer through a circle made of his thumb and forefinger. Whatever he saw in front of him he would interpret as omens for the quarter ahead.
To protect against malevolence and guard the house and family in the quarter ahead, the house, land, byre and cattle were all sained with smoke, either from two bonfires, a coal walked sunrise about three times, or the application of silvered water (water drawn from a well or stream before dawn and added to it a silver coin). Smoke blessing and protecting was often done with juniper. Juniper must be pulled fron the roots, its branches made into four bundles and taken between five fingers.
Other methods of protection included binding two rowan twigs with red thread and placing them above the home or byre.
Amber or rowan berries strung on red thread might be worn to ward off negative influences which may be abroad on a quarter day.
Visiting sacred wells for healing and good fortune at the quarter days increased its potency when folks would approach bare legged and bare footed, walked thrice sunrise around the well, before drinking silvered the water, then left a rag or pin or a fragment of clothing at the tree or stone commonly associated with the well, symbolic of casting off cares or ills. All ceremony had to be silent and before dawn.
Beltane and Samhain are fire festivals, and traditionally one would gather nine sacred woods to kindle the fires of Beltane or Samhain. These might be any combination of willow, hazel, rowan, alder, birch, ash, yew, elm, apple, oak, holly or elder.
How do these practices translate into our modern lives?
This is part of the richness I’ve discovered, the joy of ancestral research and work: integrating rituals into my daily life to honor my lineage, both human and nonhuman, forward and back. Here are some of the things I plan to do to celebrate Samhain:
Rise at dawn to sip the dew/rain/mist and perform auguries
Create a sacred well in my yard with a bucket of silvered water, walk three times round it and make offerings before drinking and bathing in it before dawn
Saining my home with mugwort and silvered water
Walking three times around my property deosil with burning plants to sain
Baking oatcakes and making offerings to the ancestors, the fey and the land spirits
I also recommend the following books for more quarter day lore:
The Golden Bough by James Fraser
The Carmina Gadelica
Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition
The Silver Bough F. Marian McNiell
Healing Threads by Mary Beith
Opportunities for the Season
We will be revisiting the following practices in rhythm with the Dark Goddess Project this coming year:
The Journey to the Land of the Dead on Samhain—the Hel Road Journey, for patrons and by invitation (all admitted, send an email to laravesta@gmail.com if you wish to join without patronage), October 31st at 12 pm PST
Coven Invisible members and online participants in the Dark Goddess Project are invited to gather after the ceremony at our quarterly meeting.
The Dark Goddess Project Closing Ceremonies and Integration
The wheel turns and we conclude the Dark Goddess Project at Solstice, with a period of integration following and a final ceremonial meeting for participants at Imbolc. Please note: these practices are nonlinear (like all rites of passage) and may be joined at any time. All Dark Goddess Project participants will have access to the curriculum and community beyond the close of the project (indefinitely as of now…) so even if you are just joining us now, you can continue to explore. More information will be coming soon on Patreon and in an email to all participants:
https://www.laravesta.co/the-dark-goddess-project
Seasonal Ritual Talk in November on the Slavic Syncretic: Date and time TBA
I have been exploring the ancestral rhythms of my ancient Slavic ancestors, in conjunction with the Catholic faith of the most recent generation, and have found some beautiful synchronicities. I'll be sharing explorations and research in dual faith and syncretic spiritual traditions, and how these are supporting my own spiritual path. I’ll announce the details in my next Myth & Moon, and also on Patreon.
A Personal Note
I am having some health struggles yet again so am slow in all the ways. This is part of my personal rite of passage process, aligning with the nonlinear rhythms of body and healing. Thank you for your patience and continued support as I navigate these challenges.
Sending seasonal blessings to you and your ancestors in this turning time.
By this and every effort may the balance be regained—
With love—
Lara
Works Cited/Consulted
1. “The Saxon Year,” Aldsidu: Old Saxon Heathenry, Accessed October 4, 2021, https://www.aldsidu.com/membership.
2. “The Ynglinga Saga,” The Medieval and Classical Literature Library, Accessed October 4, 2021, http://mcllibrary.org/Heimskringla/ynglinga.html.
3. Zoëga, Geir. A Concise Old Icelandic Dictionary. Oxford: Benediction Classics, 2010.
4. Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion.US: Enhanced Media Publishing, 2015.
If these resources were helpful to you, or if you would like to learn more, consider joining the community that supports this work and become a patron! Patron donations support seasonal rituals in alignment with the luni-solar holy days, folklore research, myths and stories, resources, ritual talks, sacred art downloads and more.
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