Romantic and erotic fiction writer Honey Black is currently working on several upcoming paranormal romance e-books, and mainstream romance books. Inspired by publishers such as Llewellyn, she is trying her hand at pagan fiction and non-fiction, as well as a handful of Tarot card decks. Feel free to contact her directly with questions, stories or comments at honeyblackbooks@hotmail.com
It's the cool, smoky month of October and I'm in love. I'm counting down each
day until my favorite night of the year: All Hallows Eve. Since I can
remember I've loved Halloween. Now, I know you've heard that before, but I am
absolutely crazy over it. To prove it, my goal is to coax every reader of
this article do something to celebrate.
The feeling usually begins simmering for me in late August when there's one
or two crisp, cool days mixed in amongst the usual heat. That's when I crank
up one of my classical-music-mixed-with-creepy-sounds CDs and start planning
what to wear Halloween night. The anticipation is fuelled by the sound of
fallen leaves crunching wonderfully underfoot. Magazines bring out their
Halloween issues, boasting decadent cakes, cookies, and cupcakes decorated
with spiders, pumpkins, skeletons and little, pointed-hat-witches. Then comes
the delight of heading to the mall and suddenly seeing racks of costumes,
masks, candles, lights, and makeup neat and tidy before people have started
rummaging through them.
Halloween just makes me feel good. Most everyone seems to lighten up around
this time. I'm no longer pestered for my "strange" metaphysical
interests. Instead I'm asked to whip up costume ideas, apply makeup, share my
Halloween recipes or decorating ideas, and make just one more of my shrunken
apple head dolls. All those who thought it childish before suddenly delight
in having their runes or cards read. The curious allow themselves to use this
time of year to indulge.
All Hallow's Eve, as with other holidays, is a perfect time for feasting. Yet
this year it falls a few nights after the full moon. Karri Ann Allrich offers
up ideas to accommodate this in her book Cooking By Moonlight. Allrich says
the full moon is great for eating "anything chocolate," but the
waning moon is a time to finish leftovers. So why not tuck into a bag (or
bags depending on how brave your waistline is) of miniature chocolate bars a
couple of days early? Then make all the dishes hiding in your fridge and
freezer a buffet, and give away that last bit of candy to trick or treaters,
cleaning away the old.
Or, if you already have a squeaky clean fridge, tackle making some homemade
goodies. One of my favorite treats to make is "Candied Love Apples"
from Silver RavenWolf's book Halloween! Just that heady, succulent scent of
apples brings the holiday instantly to mind. And what more appropriate
homemade confection for Halloween? A sweet treat to bring more love into your
life.
To head back in time and bring back the Celtic flavor with you, check out
Joanne Asala's recipe for mead in her book Celtic Folklore Cooking. I really
admire the idea of serving favorite foods of relatives who have passed on to
honor and celebrate them. Certainly someone amongst our ancestors undoubtedly
enjoyed mead once. Get outside in the yard, enjoy a fire (if you have a safe
fire pit), dress up however the mood strikes you. Also try displaying your
buffet of food on a long wooden table, turn on your favorite music, then
dance, eat, drink, and be merry!
I'm all for decorating the outside of your house to delight trick or
treaters, or simply to give visual pleasure to those driving or walking past.
Yes it is campy. Yes some purists will point out the stereotype of witches is
left to flourish here. And they're right. At the same time, I would hope that
even the most serious of Wiccans have enough playfulness in their hearts to
throw themselves into the enchanting silliness of it all. Halloween as it is
celebrated in North America is -- in the world scheme of things -- like a
trip to Las Vegas, or Mardi Gras. It's campy, yes, but so much fun. And just
dark enough to make you take it a bit seriously ...
Since I was a toddler, I've always dressed as something for Halloween until
about ten years ago when I just started dressing as a more fantastic version
of myself. That's when Halloween really took hold of me. I wasn't disguising
myself anymore. It's the time of year where I can really indulge myself, and
get to feel especially "witchy." The veil between the worlds does
become gossamer sheer on Halloween. I can feel it shiver over my skin.
As a child I stumbled upon my sister's old record collection, which included
two records of Halloween stories, music, and chilling sounds. Several times
before the big night arrived, I could be found scaring myself silly listening
to them on a rickety, portable turntable in the dark. The slight scratchy
sound to the records just added more creepy feelings to their original
intent.
One of the simplest, but most effective ways to celebrate Halloween is to get
a few people together, light candles, and tell your spookiest stories. It
seems so many people have at least one "I don't believe in ghosts, but
this one time I think I saw one," stories. Just saying these aloud in a
small group can bring out the most amazing eerie feelings.
I feel Halloween is a very powerful time to do spells as it is so final --
being the Wiccan New Year's Eve. This year, Samhain is during the waning
moon, so I would concentrate on spells which clear obstacles, sever ties, and
sweep your life clean. A favorite spell of mine is the following from Silver
RavenWolf.
SEPARATION SPELL
You will need:
2 mini pumpkins
A black marker
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
14 tea light candles
Seven days before Halloween hollow out the pumpkins. Write your name on the
bottom of one pumpkin, and the other person's name (or troubling situation)
on the other. Sprinkle all the pepper, and salt, in the other person's
pumpkin. Vent both pumpkins with a small, carved design. Set the tops in an
open, plastic bag in the fridge. Set the pumpkins 3 inches apart on your
altar, hold your hands over them. Say: "Pumpkin light, witches fright,
send (the situation, or person) away this night." Keep repeating until
your hands tingle or feel warm. Put a tea light in each, and burn for one
hour.
Each night, change the candles, move the pumpkins another inch apart,
repeating the charm. On Halloween at midnight let the candles burn until 3
a.m., put them out, and close up the pumpkins with their lids. Bury each
pumpkin across a river, creek, or railroad crossing from each other. Throw
the spent candles into a dumpster, away from your house. If the pumpkins
collapse in a few days you don't need to continue, just do the final disposal
of pumpkins.
All single people out there could try this well-known trick for divining your
future mate's first initial. Peel an apple in one, long piece at midnight on
Halloween. Then toss it over your left shoulder, or into a bowl of water.
Study the shape until you can recognize a letter. There's your answer!
Supposedly this must be done at that specific time to work.
To set the mood in your house on the big night, you could try a fragrant mix
I came up with that reminds me instantly of Halloween in a dark forest. Take
a clean spray bottle, pour in one cup of spring or filtered water, then add 3
drops patchouli oil, 10 drops sandalwood oil, 2 drops of vanilla for
sweetness, and 5 drops of clary sage. Cap bottle, shake, and spray into air
lightly.
One of my favorite Samhain memories is when I was dressed as one of those
pointy-hat witches. I didn't go as an ugly witch, discarding that part of the
sterotype. I was as pretty a witch as a nine-year-old girl-built-like-a-boy
could be. Maybe I came off as a little drag witch, who knows. But I was so
happy with my costume. My mother helped me plan a Halloween party, the first
one I ever had. I invited several kids from school, we trick-or-treated, then
went back for cake, popcorn, and the scariest movies we were allowed to
watch.
There were about ten of us at the party. All hopped up on sugar and scary
movies, we decided to explore the neighbor's back yard. They had this broken
down old guesthouse. We spied it before on one of our crabapple picking
treks. This time, we wanted a closer look. It was a washed out, pale green
structure -- door half off the hinges, window glass smashed out. Every adult
in the neighborhood had at one time or another complained about it, demanding
it be torn down. But we saw it as the closest we were going to get to a
haunted house.
We carefully opened the front door, pushed it back, and gingerly stepped
inside. What a disappointment! There was absolutely nothing to give chills --
just a sad, old house. Kids can be fickle, and suddenly I felt my
"awesome" party had turned into a flop. I kept chanting in my head
for something scary to please happen. I just didn't want to casually walk out
of this house, but instead wanted to run off shrieking happily. Please, I
begged. Just then, amazingly, this huge owl swooped down from what must have
been a hole in the attic. It was probably more scared than we were, but we
still started stampeding all over each other to get out the front door,
screaming . We exited with the most perfect timing I could ever ask for; as
we all ran out of the little house, we found ourselves faced with the
neighbor's teenage son wearing a hockey mask and brandishing a fake ax in his
gloved hands.
Terrified beyond words, we all ran back to my house, finally calming down and
realizing it was just a coincidence … and then a prank. But for two years
after that, I heard various stories about what happened that night --
sometimes from kids who weren't even there, but thought it was the best
Halloween party ever. I just let people think I had planned it that way. And
maybe I did have a little hand in it. Every year since, I make a Halloween
wish so earnestly that they always come true.
No matter how you spend your Halloween, Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, make it
just a little bit wickedly witchy. There's less than a week for you to plan
what you can do on the big night. Being crazy about Halloween, I've already
had everything planned for ages … like those much-maligned Yule shoppers in
July.
When I was a tiny five-year-old, my grandfather came to wake me for
kindergarten on October 31. He was surprised to find me already awake,
sitting up in bed.
"What are you doing up?" he asked with his sweet chuckle.
I broke into a huge smile, stretched out my arms, and said happily, "I'm
waiting for Halloween ..."
RECOMMENDED TITLES:
HALLOWEEN:
Grab a flowing cape and journey through the history and magickal practices of America's favorite scary holiday!
HALLOWEEN TAROT SET:
This lively deck offers the enchantment and spooky perspectives of Halloween! Contains 78 cards & 148-page book.
HALLOWEEN: FROM PAGAN RITUAL TO PARTY NIGHT:
A history of the popular holiday.
PAGAN BOOK OF HALLOWEEN:
This guide to the pagan background of Halloween includes the origins and meanings to Halloween festivities, descriptions of ancient legends, recipes, and more.
CELEBRATING THE SEASONS OF LIFE: SAMHAIN TO OSTARA:
Lore, rituals, activities and symbols for Samhain, Yule, Imbold and Ostara.
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