Samhain
2016 Samhain Memories
Traditionally it is a day of memories. A time when, as a
Shaman and active Pagan, I and my brothers and sisters on our various pathways,
spend time remembering.
I remember with great love my Father and Brother. I include
in those far-off memories the thoughts and the emotions I developed in the
loving care and familial connections of my Great Grandmother Ada Fisher; my
Grand Father and my Aunts and Uncles who have long since passed. My Aunt Sal
whose gentle nature has inspired so much introspection on the fate of so many
whose lives were affected by the second world war. I remember friends who have
passed. My dearest Frances Reilly a character and one of the staunches friends
one could hope to enjoy and many others.
No life lost has been forgotten deliberately or put in a
memory box to ease my own sense of sadness. I remember, because those people
gave me a sense of who I am. They loved me, they cared for me and they taught,
led, defended and a thousand other gifts to me, unstintingly throughout their
lives.
Now I am in the last leg of my life journey, at 64 I cannot
see a hundred years of life ahead of me, yet my grandchildren may well exceed
that age, quite naturally, through the extending life expectancy of better
health care, better food. That I have lived through so many changes in my life
time, pales into insignificance when I compare my Mothers journey through life.
I am so very blessed that Mum is still with me, that her long years have been
spent gathering me to her heart and caring, loving. Born in 1928, Mum has seen
far more changes and much more devastation than my own journey.
Her life began in a time where the horse drawn vehicle was
still commonplace, where her own life was in jeopardy because her mother died
in childbirth…where doctors cost money and midwives were few and far between.
But for a grandmother who refused to let a baby die, I would have never been
born. Even though she had nursed her own daughter through to her untimely and
sad death..Gran ‘bought a goat’ and milked it and gave my Mother life. An
in-dominatable woman my great Gran.
I am writing about my family for a huge website containing
our Genealogy but for today, for Samhain, I remember with gratitude my origins,
and those who have influenced me greatly. My great Uncle Fred died in the first
world war, one would think, as he passed well before my birth, that his
influence would be small, would be negligible. This isn’t the case. My Mother
reveres his memory to this day, continues to support the Poppy Appeal and every
year buys a small wooden cross to be placed on his grave in Flanders. His life
story and the tragic early demise, an heroic death, was never the less a death
and one which cast its shadow for the next fifty years. His widow remarried Fred’s
older brother and between them, they kept his memory and his sacrifice alive.
It remains a family memory. My Mum helped polish the medals and the horse
brasses (the poor horse died with Fred ) and traditionally those medals and
brasses have been passed down through the male side of the family and are
currently my cousin Roberts property.
Gran remains my inspiration, she not only raised my mother
for the first five years of her life but helped look after her 6 brothers and
sisters and at the same time nursed her dying husband. In a time when morphine
was extraordinarily expensive and the only help for someone dying of cancer,
she remained Gran…I was lucky to have Gran in my life until I was nearly 12
years old, she passed away at the age of 96 a diminutive little lady who had
shrunk to just 4 foot 6 inches in height and whose kindly face is fixed firmly
in my memories.
I shan’t continue writing about individuals, I find it
rather painful, even now after so many years, but I do remember, in my heart,
in my soul the love of my Dad and my brother, the care and the kindness of
friends. Samhain has not dark and mysterious rituals, it is a day and an
evening to remember with love, to be thankful and to be grateful Lighting a
candle is perhaps the most ritualistic aspect of Samhain. It is a little
gesture to the Light of life and love, that is all, and simple enough to do for
anyone, no matter what their religion.
Oh there are those who fill the day and night with rituals,
some of them apparently ever so complicated, and there will always be the
showman/woman and the ‘give me some recognition’ types around, they do harm to
themselves when they forget the use of this day, this special time. It is the
eve of the New Year for me. Tomorrow is the start of my personal new year.
Winter is the beginning, from the cold and dark of preparation. When winter is
the nest we come from, the time when seeds prepare, hibernating until spring,
awaiting the first warm days, the gestation period of birth.
Spring is looked forwards too, winter is endured, and summer
is enjoyed. Today is the final day of autumn, the time of gathering, of harvest
and making sure everything is ready for the new times ahead.
The next huge festival is The Winter Solstice, a time of
gratitude for life, and for celebrating the cycle of life……..right now, I shall
tuck in to a nice warm blanket and curl up by the candle light and spare some
time and energy in gratitude for the many loved ones whose lives have ended on
this plane and now enjoy the eternal life of peace. The final adventure to
which, one day I will take my first steps. Not yet, not wished for yet………..I
want time to celebrate this life if it is possible. In the meantime,…say hello
to your ancestors and be grateful for their immense strength and fortitude in
living long enough to ensure you had life. Blessed Samhain to you all.
