Samhain
Prompt #1: Samhain (sow-wen) is a time to honor the change in seasons. What fall rituals do you preform?
Prompt #2: Halloween in the US is a favorite holiday for all ages. Think about your past Halloweens. Engage your five senses to feel that child-like joy again.
Prompt #3: Celebrating those that have passed from this plane is also part of the celebrations this time of year. Write a letter to a love one who has passed on; remembering your artistic, spiritual, or intellectual lineage.
My Journal Page
Prompt #1
I love the term ritual. Since expanding my religious beliefs, I have instilled new energy into seeing and experiencing rituals. I can transform showering or cooking or creating an alter of hope and love for this world, into a ritual. Ritual is defined as the established form for a ceremony (Merriam-Webster). Anything you want to experience with greater awareness can be ritualized.
In my childhood, one of the rituals we shared as a family was raking and burning leaves in our massive backyard. The ritual was usually performed on a cool day in late October or early November. With rake in hand you would be given a plot that was yours to rake. The soft swishing sound of metal prongs dragging along the earth was as healing as the sound of a waterfall. The satisfying feeling of the rake against the grassy ground as you moved more and more mounds of mostly dried leaves was mesmerizing. There was the occasional pause to pick up and study a multi-colored leaf or to trace the veins of a large maple leaf with your finger. If you found a “perfect” leaf, you’d run it to the house to be later ironed in wax paper as a future book mark. Just as the blisters were taking shape, pink and tender on your inner thumbs and palms, the joy of merging piles began. The work was hard, but the anticipation of what was to come was worth it: a giant pile of leaves. You would taking turns running before jumping into the towering leaf pile. For a second, it felt like you were flying then —crunch! You were buried in the sweet smell of earth and grass. You were covered in the same leaves that had protected you from the sun and the rain just months before. As you popped up for air, dried leaves stuck to your hair, your sweater, your shoelaces.
Later, came the distinctive smell of autumn leaves burning as we sipped warmed cider. The smoke lifted upwards, matching the gray of the clouds. This was the signal that fall was becoming winter when everything would soon sleep and rest.