A scare at Samhain marks a return to the Celtic old ways

A FRISSON of excitement is sweeping through West Cork as communities gather to celebrate the feast of Halloween on October 31.

BY AISLING MEATH

This was known by our Celtic ancestors as Samhain, a very important date as it marked the start of the Celtic New Year.

Conor O’Buachalla runs Gormú Eco Adventures with one tour - A Scare at Samhain - as part of the Leap Scarecrow Festival.

He recalls how trick or treating used to unfold in times past in Castletownshend where he grew up.

“In our grandparents’ time they were given potatoes at the door, and in the earlier part of the 20th century it was teenagers and people in their early 20s who used to go out collecting,” he explained.

“They would bring the potatoes back to a house where a big dish of Colcannon was prepared. The woman cooking it would then drop her wedding ring into the pot. Whoever found the ring in their bowl would be the next to be married. “Samhain was historically a time when you could divine what would happen for the year ahead, and of course these days the ring is hidden in the barmbrack.”

Samhain was known as a time when the veil between the two worlds, that of the living and the dead, was thin, coming just before All Souls Day on November 1. Dr Karen Ward unpicks some of the threads of the history of Samhain and why it still resonates today. She is a counselling psychotherapist, lecturer, and author; familiar to many for her work on The Health Squad series on RTÉ. Since 2005 Karen and her husband John run a school of Irish Celtic Shamanism, Slí An Chroí, regularly hosting events on nature-based spirituality.

She lives on the rugged and beautiful Beara Peninsula, which in ancient Celtic tradition is known as the land of the `Cailleach’ - The Hag of Beara, a wise Celtic goddess whose lore and legend is woven into the landscape. Karen explained that Samhain actually started with another goddess called Tlachta, pronounced ‘Clock-ta’. “As a Goddess of the Fire Festival of Samhain, the Celtic New Year, Tlachta is at the heart of the festivities at the start of the pagan calendar,” she elaborated. “Her story is centred around the Hill of Ward… 12 miles from the Hill of Tara where the Druids used to light the sacred fires, and the modern Halloween bonfire has its origins here. “At Samhain, people used to extinguish their hearth fires and come to the Hill of Tara to rekindle them from the Druidic fires thus rekindling the New Year. This fire ceremony continues on to this day in sacred places with Halloween bonfires still being lit all across Ireland in the tradition of our ancestors.”

Karen also facilitates Moon Mná women’s healing circles, where women come together on specific dates of the lunar calendar to share and support one another, an unbroken tradition practised throughout the generations since ancient times. These gatherings give women the opportunity to connect and tune into the healing energy of Sean Mhathair Gealach, or Grandmother moon who controls the tides, and the cycles of their bodies.

“My mother Dell always told her six children that if we were away and ever felt homesick all we would have to do is look up at the moon in the knowledge that it would be the same moon that she would also be looking at. Our ancestors before us would also have looked at it, which has always given me a sense of comfort and protection,” said Karen. During medieval times lunar gatherings became associated with witchcraft. The Catholic church sought to eradicate the wisdom and power of women and their innate knowledge of healing derived from the natural world using herbs and plants. This gave rise to brutal witch hunting when thousands of European women were killed.

The negative associations with witchcraft still live on today, and Halloween is a time of year when we can observe how much has been appropriated. “It’s interesting that the number 13 was feared and associated with witchcraft. This is because there are 13 lunar phases when women traditionally gather in their circles,” explained Karen. “The black clothes associated with witches came from the time of the witch hunts when the women feared being caught and tortured, so they wore dark clothes in order to be less visible at night.

“While making their healing potions with herbs gathered from the hedgerows and cooking food for the family, women would have stirred them in a big cauldron. The wooden spoon used to stir the pot was turned into their magic wand. “The brooms used to sweep their houses became their magic broomstick, all these everyday things used by women were presented in a different context turning wise women into people to be shunned and feared.” The Woodsman’s Realm in Skibbereen is a shop dedicated to Paganism, Wiccans, Druids and lovers of all things mystical and magical. Here aspiring wise women and men can find all the tools needed to assist with divination and magic including tarot cards, potions, candles, esoteric books, artwork, special oils and many other beautiful hand crafted objects.

The window display changes to reflect the turn of the wheel of the pagan calendar marking the different festivals including the current one dedicated to Samhain.

Owner Marie Pedroz, along with Kerri and Stacey, a tarot card reader, can often be found sitting on the couch chatting with people over a cup of tea.

“A lot of people are returning to the old ways. People are craving what is real, and turning their backs on all the superficiality of curated online lives,” said Marie.

“The weather and the cycles of nature are real and are the biggest influences on our lives, people want to reconnect with those cycles and adjust their lives in order to live more fully and in tune with the seasons.

“More and more people are coming together in meditation and holding healing circles, not just for themselves but for the planet as a whole, sending out much needed love and intentions for peace.” As people tune into the natural rhythms of nature just as our ancestors did, there is a growing realisation that the New Year beginning at Samhain is the perfect opportunity to put down the phone, to observe the beauty of the natural world around us, and just like the earth, to rest and reset for the new year ahead.