Archive | October 31, 2014

Owl Cookies – our Halloween family favourite cookie

Oct31

Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess

Ali makes these now and mom made them when we were small. If I can con Ali into making them I’ll take pictures.

Owl Cookies 
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter ( 1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
chocolate chips, about 3 to 4 dozen (or use other candies for eyes)
cashews, about 3 to 4 dozen
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar; beat in egg and vanilla, beating until smooth and creamy.

Gradually blend in dry ingredients. Remove about 2/3 of the cookie dough to a floured surface. To the remaining dough, add the cooled melted chocolate, blending well.
Roll out half of the…

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I honour

Oct31

This Samhain night I honour those who came before me

I honour the ancestors whose features I bear

I tread in your footsteps

I gain wisdom from listening to you

I honour my teachers

You give me hope

You give me direction

You give me purpose

I honour Hecate

Guardian of the Crossroads

Shower of the way

I honour Ceridwen

I pass through her cauldron

Having gained knowledge

I honour the Green Man

Who gracefully gives way to winter

And in whose arms will I rest.

I honour the Raven

Wise one, laughing one

Dark one

I honour Vulture

Who cleans away the dead

To make way for the new

I honour Death

Whose passage we all feel

And will someday meet.

I honour you

I honour you

I honour you

A Samhain Prayer

Oct31

A Samhain prayer

I give thanks for the abundance of the last harvest

For root vegetables, for nuts, for the gift of animal lives to nourish us

I give thanks to my ancestors. You are the reason I exist

You gave me knowledge and intelligence

You gave me the face I wear and the talents to do the things I can do

I give thanks for the coming of winter

Time for contemplation and learning

I give thanks on this new year begun tonight

I thank you in advance for the adventures I will have in the next year

Hecate, guide me through the dark times

Brighid, light my way to see my path.

I give thanks for candle flames that burn and cheer

I give thanks for the fires that cook my food

I give thanks for the early setting sun and the late rising on the day’s return

I give thanks for Samhain’s spooky winds and breezes

Sweep us clean

I give thanks for the closing of the year at Samhain

And ask your protection and guidance in the new

The Samhain Dances

Oct31

A Samhain playlist from a few years ago

Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess

For some unknown reason the holiday of Samhain is a dancing holiday to me. But not just dancing to dance, dancing to express in movement what I can’t in words. So I give you the Samhain Dances playlist.

1. 25 Years – Blackmore’s Night
2. The Mummer’s Dance – Loreena McKennitt
3. Just Call My Name – Blackmore’s Night
4. The Rede ( An It Harm None) – Gaia Consort
5. Samhain – Heather Alexander
6. Morrigan’s Quest Laura Powers
7. Village Lantern – Blackmore’e Night
8. Samhain Madrigal – Laura Powers
9. The Masts of Morrigan – Maddie Prior
10. Faerie Queen – Blackmore’s Night
11. Samhain Chant – Moonstruck
12. I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore – Blackmore’s Night
13. All Soul’s Night – Loreena McKennitt
14. World of Stone – Blackmore’s Night
15. The Circle is Cast – On The Wing’s of Song
16. Samhain – Steeleye…

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Samhain is one of the between times

Oct31

Another I wrote last year

Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess

I love threshold times. I think the Gaels were right about these times being magical. There is something about twilight and being up in the morning twilight and at the evening twilight where you can feel your are tiling into something else. Right now I walk to the bus in the not quite dawn light. Things are quiet and hushed. The birds are just starting to sing and greet the dawn. The air is clean and things smell fresh. It somehow feels like you are walking between worlds. It’s not light and it’s not dark, it’s between.

Twilight at evening is the same way. The energy of the day is dissipating. The squirrels and the birds are settling into their nests with an occasional coo from the doves and if you are lucky a far off owl is waking up. If you are lucky enough to live where there are…

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Blessed Samhain

Oct31

From last year

Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess

Blessed Samhain, Samhuinn, & Hallows!

Originally a celebration of 3 nights to a week to allow for travel time and the moon to move since this festival was originally determined by the moon. The idea of months is relatively new to the Gaelic peoples. The Gaelic words for the months are a new addition to the Gaelic language. They went by seasonal names and groups of days not a day at a time on the calendar. The word weekend for instance is an American invention from beginning of the last century. In Britain, fortnight and sennight instead a week or two weeks spans. So Samhain is simply the word for Summer’s end. There is no Lord Samhain some nitwit with no knowledge of Gaelic made that up and now Christians use it in tracts to defame pagans. Repeat: THERE IS NO LORD SAMHAIN! And by the way it is not…

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