365 Days of Legends, Folklore & Spirituality for Oct. 30 – Punky Night


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October 30

Punky Light

 

Around Hinton St. George, Somerset, just before Halloween, comes Punky Night. A punky-derived from pumpkin-is a hollowed out mangold-wurzel, with shapes cut through the sides of a lighted candle place inside of it to form a lanter. The local children paraded the streets with their punky lights and collect money as they chanted:

It’s Punky Night tonight.

It’s Punky Night tonight.

Give us a candle, give us a light,

It’s Punky Night tonight.

The parade ends at the Victory Hall for the judging of the best pumpkin. After the best design has been picked, the Punky King and Queen are choosen–usually the two who have collected the most money for charity.

It seems that long ago, the menfolk of the village went to the Chiselborough Fair, where they got drunk off cider and could not find their way home. So their wives made punkies and set off together to gather them home. Since then, Punky night has been an annual event.

Samhain Bits & Pieces


~Halloween

“Fire has always played an important part at Samhain. It was very important to the Celts as it was to all early people. In the old days people lit bonfires to ward away evil spirits and in some places they used to jump over the fire to bring good luck. Samhain was a fire festival to the Celts and in Ireland, originally all fires were put out save the sacred one which was kindled by the old rubbing sticks method, branches were then taken to light all fires in the land. Pagans today include a fire outside if possible for our celebrations, or indoors a candle in a cauldron is used to signify this. Bingley in West Yorkshire used to have a reminder of Celtic customs at its October Fair, Parkin pigs were sold. The boar is a symbol of the Sun in Celtic myth and so the symbol originally honoured it at the time of going into the light. Apples are traditional at this time and if you cut an apple crosswise you will see the centre displays a 5 pointed star or pentagram, the symbol used by many pagans as a sign of their beliefs.”


–
Samhain – Cauldron Corner

 

Samhain Bits & Pieces


~Halloween

“The eve of the New Year or Oidhche Shamhna was a gap in time. Thus, the spirits from the Otherworld could enter into our world. Rituals on Oidhche Shamhna include providing hospitality to the dead ancestors. They welcomed the dead with food and drink and left the windows and doors of their homes open for the dead to enter. But all spirits from the Otherworld were not good; there were evil spirits too. To keep evil spirits away from their home, they carved images of spirit-guardians onto turnips and placed them at the doors of their homes. As part of the festivities young people wore strange costumes and moved around the village, pretending to be dead spirits visiting from the Otherworld. The Celts believed that on the eve of New Year not only did the boundary between this world and the Otherworld dissolve, but the structure of society dissolved too. Boys and girls would dress up as members of the opposite sex and play pranks on the elders.”

– Celtic New Year

 

The Witches Correspondences for Friday, October 30


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The Witches Correspondences for Friday, October 30

Day: Friday (Freya’s day)

Planet: Venus

Colors: Light Blue, Green, Pink, Copper Hues

Crystals: Jade, Lapis Lazuli, Rose Quartz, Coral, Emerald, Malachite, Copper

Aroma: Rose, Yarrow, Cardamon, Venus Oil, Strawberry, Sandlewood, Saffron, and Vanilla

Herb: Thyme

The day of Venus, Friday takes its name from Frigga, the Goddess of Love and Transformation. She rules the spiritual aspects of people as they manifest on the physical. Because of this, Friday is sometimes thought of as unpredictable.

Magical aspects: love, friendship, reconciliation, and beauty. Friday has often been associated with relaxation as it is at the end of the week, but the good feeling that comes with Friday also has a lot to do with the fact that it is ruled by the planet Venus – The Goddess of Love. Lusterless relationships and disputes may be settled on Fridays with the aid of a spell to Venus and perhaps a small personal sacrifice.

Friday is also associated with Caribbean wealth spells and has been known to improve friendships, Platonic love and increase your desirability. Be careful what you wish for on Friday, Venus’ eyes could be smiling!

This is the proper day of the week to perform spells and rituals involving love, romance, marriage, sexual matters, physical beauty, partnerships, friendships, social activities, strangers, pleasure, music, incense, perfumes, nature, and arts and crafts.

Samhain Bits & Pieces


~Halloween

“To many ancient people, the waning of the light signaled death. For example, in Welsh mythology, this is the day of the year when the God of Darkness, Goronwy, defeats the God of Light, Llew, and takes his place as King of the world. To this day in Japan, the equinox is celebrated by visits to the graves of family members, at which time offerings of flowers and food are made and incense is burned. The three days preceding and following the equinox are called “higan,” or the “Other side of the River of Death.”


–
September Folklore

The Witches Almanac for Friday, October 30th


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The Witches Almanac for Friday, October 30th

Friday (Venus): Love, friendship, reconciliation and beauty.

Meiji Festival (Japanese)

 

Waning Moon

The Waning Moon is a time for study, meditation and little magickal work (except magick designed to banish harmful energies).

Moon phase: Third Quarter

Moon Sign: Gemini

Gemini: Things begun now are easily changed by outside influence. Time for shortcuts, communication, games, and fun.

Incense: Yarrow

Color: White

Samhain Bits & Pieces

~Halloween

Thoroughly clean, dust, tidy up, refreshen, improve, and add appropriate seasonal decorations to your home altar. This should normally be clean and tidy, however an extra cleaning before the Samhain celebration is a way to express your reverence, create a visible reminder of your thoughts and devotional practices, and to offer hospitality to the nature spirits, ancestors, and Shining Ones. If you don’t have a home altar, read some books and webpages about setting one up in your home or garden, and then establish one this holiday season.

 

Samhain Bits & Pieces


~Halloween

Bury offerings in the ground such as apples, pomegranates, nuts, or valuables. Dig holes for the November planting of trees and shrubs in Zone 9. Participate in a underground sweat lodge ceremony. Explore a cave. Going into the ground, burial, entering the underworld, submersion in the earth or deep waters, spirit beings rising from graves, leaves decaying into soil, etc., are all part of Samhain Lore.

 

Must Do’s For Friday


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Must Do’s For Friday

 

Fridays are days of loving enchantments and passionate emotions. See how many ways you could add a little loving enchantment into your life and the lives of your loved ones. If you wish to explore the topic of love and romance witchery even further, then check out my book How to Enchant a Man: Spells to Bewitch, Bedazzle &Beguile. If cat magick has tickled your fancy, then for further study read my book The Enchanted Cat: Feline Fascinations, Spells &Magick. In the meantime, try sharing red berries with your partner some enchanted evening. Work that meditation, and see what other mysteries Freya has to teach you. Wear a Venus planetary color and call on the Goddess for a little inner sparkle. Burn some floral incense, light up some rosy candles, and set a romantic mood. Try wearing a little copper jewelry, and see how it affects you and your Friday magick. Get those potpourri and philter recipes going, and see what you can conjure up.

Advancing your magickal skills takes drive, ambition, and passion. Work with Eros to discover just how much enthusiasm, inspiration, and drive he can bring into your days, for the imagination is a place where dreams flourish and ideas come to fruition.

Call on these fertile and romantic powers, and create your own unique spells and charms. Just think of all the magickal information that you can now add to your repertoire of witchery. Lastly, remember this: when you combine imagination and a loving heart with magick, you’ll succeed every time.

Book of Witchery – Spells, Charms & Correspondences For Every Day of the Week

Ellen Dugan

Samhain Bits & Pieces


~Halloween

Add some appropriate Samhain, Halloween, October songs, chants, prayers, invocations, or poems to your Neo-Pagan Craft Journal, Book of Shadows, Ritual Handbook, etc.. Write in your personal journal. Many keep a Neo-Pagan notebook, journal or log as part of their experimental and experiential work.

Friday’s Witchery


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Friday’s Witchery

 

Love magick is a perennial popular topic. However, there is more to this topic than meets the eye. There are many enchanting layers here for us to explore on this day of the week. What about creating a loving home, or producing a loving and nurturing family? What about keeping your intimate relationships vital and on track? How about promoting happy, healthy, and enduring friendships? See, there is more to be considered than just the “You shall be mine…” type of fictional love spell.

Don’t forget that many of the deities associated with Fridays are also parents. So, yes, while this is the day to work on romance, sex, and love spells, there is additional magick to be considered here, which makes Fridays a more well-rounded and bigger opportunity for witchery than many folks ever truly realize. The truest, strongest magick always comes from the heart.

Book of Witchery – Spells, Charms & Correspondences For Every Day of the Week

Ellen Dugan

Samhain Bits & Pieces


~Halloween

This is a time for remembering the Ancestors, honoring deceased members of your family, and remembering the cherished dead. Gather together a few pictures of your ancestors and place them on or near your home altar. Set out some offerings of food, drink or valuables to honor the dead. Visit and clean the gravesites of those who have passed away. Say some prayers for the souls of those who have passed into the Otherworld. Talk with your ancestors and bring them up to date about what has happened since they died on the earthly plane.

Friday


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Friday

Friday: Is associated with Venus and the colors of – Green, Pink and White

Friday is the best time to deal with such matters as: Affection, Alliances, Architects, Artistic Ability, Artists, Balance, Beauticians, Beauty, Change , Chiropractors, Cosmetics, Courage, Courtship, Dancers, Dating, Decorating, Designers, Engineers, Entertainers, Fashion, Fertility , Friendship , Gardening, Gifts, Grace , Harmony, Herbal Magick, Household Improvements, Income, Luck, Luxury, Marriage, Material Things, Music, Painting, Partners, Peace, Physical Healing, Planning Parties, Poetry, Prosperity, Relationships, Romantic Love, Shopping, Social Activity, Soul-mates, Success

Practical Magick for the Penny Pinching Witch

Carol Moyer

Wishing Everyone A Very Mystical & Magickal Samhain Eve! Feel It In The Air, The Veil Thins!


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“Twas the Night Before Samhain”

Twas the night before Samhain and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, except for my spouse.
The incense, it burned in our cauldron so black,
For Witchcraft and Magick we’d a wonderful knack.

The circle was drawn with the athame of power,
The guardians were called to each quarter tower.
The Lord and Lady attended our rite,
In wonder and glory and power and might.

The dearly departed came as our guest,
To live once again, after their rest.
We bid them goodbye with a tear in our eye,
Such a lovely presence of loved ones so nigh.

The candles danced in the flickering light,
With the Great Rite we bid them all a good night.
The guardians, thanked, have all sped away,
The Lord and Lady, thanked for the day.

The night before Samhain, Gods bless this house,
A circle of wonder ’round me and my spouse.

by Marjenna Gittings, 1992

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 29th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We have often heard it said that God never closes one door unless He opens another. It is a great comfort to know we never really lose when we believe, for any defeat can be turned to good if we will absorb the lesson in it.

And yet, how often we refuse to go through that door that has been opened for us. It is so much easier to stand back and wail about the closed one. There seems to be a certain amount of glorification in defeat. It is a subtle something that hides in us and keeps us from doing well that which we know we are capable of doing. If we show strength, we are afraid we will have to stand alone.

Sometimes a door will close for us because that particular one would have caused us more unhappiness, but it never closes for punishment. God is love and love does not punish, nor does it have any power but to give what is right and good for us. With this knowledge, we can by grace walk through those doors that open to us and know it is right.

___________________________________________
Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – October 29

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – October 29

“Mothers must protect the lives they have helped to bring into the world.”

–Haida Gwaii, Traditional Circle of Elders

Every child is subject to the seeds each adult plants in his/her mind. If we plant praise and “you can do it”, the child will grow up with certain predictable behavior patterns. If we plant ideas that there’s something wrong with you or you’re good for nothing, the child will grow up with predictable behavior patterns. We need to honor and respect the mothers who protect the children and plant positive seeds for their growth.

Great Spirit, bless each mother and give her courage and faith.

October 29 – Daily Feast

October 29 – Daily Feast

Something new is always an exciting prospect. It can be anything that changes the face of daily life and brings it into a new pattern that makes us feel better. Drudgery can take over our thinking and then our actions. Sticking too close to one routine and never having a change is an obvious sign we are heading for drudgery. If renewal is to come there must be change – even if it is to walk a short distance, talk to someone out of the ordinary, and do something for someone. These things sound simplistic but if they turn our thinking to more creativity or more relaxation, it is worth doing.

~ I felt that I was leaving all that I had but I did not cry. ~

OLLOKOT – NEZ PERCE

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The Daily Motivator for October 29th – One hundred percent you

One hundred percent you

by Ralph Marston

Your life is what you decide to make it. Though you are pushed, pulled, bumped and disrupted by outside influences, whatever you nurture inside wins the day.

Your life unfolds according to what you value, love, admire, emulate and commit yourself to. That doesn’t mean merely what you say you care about, but what you truly care about with your actions and priorities in every moment.

Go ahead, activate your confidence in your own unique life. Admit to yourself and proclaim to the world what matters to you.

Read the full message at http://greatday.com/motivate/151029.html

The Daily OM for October 29th – Paying Attention to Red Flags

Paying Attention to Red Flags
Warning Signs

by Madisyn Taylor

Red flags often come in the form of feelings urging us to pause for a moment, listen to our intuition, and reconsider.

Just as the universe wants to provide for our needs, it also seeks to protect us from dangerous situations, destructive relationships, and even minor inconveniences. Frequently in our lives, perhaps everyday, we encounter psychic red flags warning us of potential problems or accidents. We may not always recognize the signs. However, more often than not, we may choose to ignore our intuition when it tells us that “something just isn’t right.”

Red flags often come in the form of feelings urging us to pause for a moment, listen to our intuition, and reconsider. We may even experience a “bad” feeling in our bellies. This is a red flag letting us know that there may be a problem. We may not even know what the red flag is about. All we know is that the universe is trying to wave us in a different direction. We just have to pay attention and go another way. We may even wonder whether we are paranoid or imagining things. However, when we look back at a situation or relationship where there were red flags, it becomes easy to understand exactly what those warning signs meant. More often than not, a red flag is not a false warning. Rather, it is the universe’s way of informing us, through our own innate guidance system, that our path best lies elsewhere.

We may try to ignore the red flags waving our way, dismissing our unease as illogical. Yet it is always in our best interest to pay attention to them. For example, we may meet someone who outwardly seems perfect. They are intelligent, attractive, and charming. Yet, for some reason, being around them makes us feel uneasy. Any interactions we have with them are awkward and leave us feeling like there is something “off” about the situation. This is not necessarily a bad person. But, for some reason, the universe is directing us away from them. Red flags are intended with our best interests at heart. No harm can ever come from stopping long enough to heed a red flag. Pay attention to any red flags that pop up. The universe is always looking out for you.

Source:
The Daily OM