Ancestor's Dinner

Our Samhain celebration was last night. It was understated and simple since I have an almost two year old and a non-pagan to please. We had a feast of lasagna, Caesar salad and apple crisp with yogurt. And we set out a place at the table for the spirits to join us.


Before we ate I read this blessing:

Tonight we honour our beloved dead. As a family we honour those that came before us, whose blood runs through our veins. Those who toiled, who laughed, who birthed, who hunted and who cleared the land. We remember the ancestors we have had the pleasure to know, the one's whose faces we can picture and the one's whose names we have spoken: (insert names of family members here) ....and the many others.

We welcome you to our table with thanks and respect. You are with us in our hearts,
what is remembered lives.

Unfortunately death is very present with us this year. The mists are covering a dear one and will soon bring her away, and another has already moved into the next stage. This has made this time very poignant for me and very emotional. After my Spiral Dance trance I didn't feel that more magical work was necessary last night. Instead I did a simple chakra cleanse before sleep while imagining what the full moon must have looked like behind the shroud of the clouds. Today on our walk Kyan and I will spread the food from the ancestor plate in the woods and we will continue to burrow into our little nest as the nights get longer and longer. Blessings.