Ritual and Samhain

Yesterday I added a new page outlining a new sample ritual that Naturalistic Pantheists can choose to use if they wish. There is also a suggested Altar layout. It is an evolving ritual and will change over time. The aim of the ritual is to promote reverence for, awareness of and connection to Nature.

On Wednesday evening Samhain begins. I will do a new post with more detail about that time but I wanted to write this one to explain that bits I add to the ritual I do at sunset on that evening.

When it reaches the “Explanation” section I do the following: –

Say: “I stand here on this celebration of Samhain, the sacred wheel of the year continues to turn and now the dark time begins. As my forebears did, I do now, and so may my descendents do in time to come. Crops have been planted and I have watched them grow. Now the harvest is in from the fields and they lie empty. The leaves have fallen from the trees and the animals are preparing for the winter. All is at an end. Summer is gone, winter is coming, the cold nights wait on the other side. the earth has died and gone dormant. I thank the earth for all it has given me this season and for the abundance of the harvest. I look forward to winter, a time of sacred darkness, of death and dying, a time to meditate on the cycle of death and rebirth.”

Say: “Tonight, on this feast for the dead, I honour those who have died, my ancestors and loved ones. With the gift of remembrance, I remember all of them. They are dead but not forgotten. They live on in me and within those yet to come. Those who are dead are never gone. They have become one with the earth. They are in the elements around me and one day I too will become part of the earth again. I remember all life that has lived and died during the vast history of the earth and remember that death is vital in evolution to allow the new to come forth.”

When it reaches the section for “Workings” I do the following: –

Say: “On this holy night of Samhain, I come to remember and celebrate the lives of those I have known and lost. I drink this cup of remembrance now in their memory.”

Drink from cup of Remembrance.

Say: “For each ancestor I light a candle now in thanksgiving for their lives.”

Light candles for each relative lost this year and any others you wish too, stating each name as you do.

Say: “In the silence I now stand to honour my ancestors.”

Stand in silence for one minute, head bowed.

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