Remembering my Ancestors by Sharing Their Stories

When I first accepted Gwynn ap Nudd as my patron deity and took his mark, he had one condition for me: "You must work with the dead."

Illustration by Yuri Leitch

This made sense to me, as he is the Welsh god of the Underworld and leader of the Wild Hunt at Samhain.  He has also made it clear to me that he is titled Lord of the Dead, though I don't believe that title is found in what little written mythology there is.  He didn't provide me with any explanation or further details on what working with the dead meant for me, though.

That was a number of years ago.  He had largely remained silent on the matter - I assumed I wasn't ready to take on the responsibilities of the task, particularly in the time after I was forced from my coven and needed a significant amount of fallow time with my spirituality.

This autumn, I felt a growing pull to start collecting the stories and photos of my family, namely those who had passed.  As I approached Samhain I came to understand that this is the beginning of my obligation to Gwynn - my work with the dead starts with my family, telling their stories to keep their memory alive.

Because what is remembered, lives.

I started with a request in a private Facebook group for my father's side of the family, and have begun saving digital copies of the stories and photos I've collected so far.  While I was at my parents' for Thanksgiving, I also scanned a number of documents they had, including a family tree that goes back to my 3-times great-grandparents!

This is probably going to be a multi-year project, and I'm kind of excited about that.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other interesting stories and revelations about my family I discover along the way.  Maybe I'll even take a trip to research my family's lineage!  (Or maybe I've been watching too much Who Do You Think You Are? and am overconfident in my ability to afford such a trip!)

I'm not sure what I'll do with the findings - perhaps an ebook to give to my family, or maybe even a fancy website?  So many possibilities!

Have you done any research into your family's lineage or stories?  What revelatory discoveries did you make?

The Most Important Harvest

Happy Thanksgiving!  I have a chant to share with you all.  It is both a Samhain chant and a Thanksgiving chant that I wrote it several years ago as part of a Sabbat series.

Nom nom pumpkin bread!  It's a traditional part of Thanksgiving dinner in our family.

The words for this chant came straight out of a dream, in which I was saying the mealtime prayer at Thanksgiving dinner with my family - because, you know, my traditional Catholic family would ask a female neopagan to say the mealtime prayer :)  The idea of family and its love being the "most important harvest" was key to the dream.  Samhain is the last harvest - my dream (and, I am sure, Hecate, who gave me a serious chant-writing kick in the butt at that year's Hecate ritual) was telling me that all the crops and other things we harvest in the autumn are not nearly as important as the love and fellowship we "harvest" in our family (however we choose to define that family).  Since Samhain, for me and seemingly for many others, seems to be about ancestors/family, this kind of chant seemed very appropriate for the holiday as well as for Thanksgiving.




Most Important Harvest

Look around,
Holding hands - feel the connection between you.
We are all bound by blood and by choice.
This family is the most important "season,"

And its love is the most important "harvest."

Please let me know what you think!

You are free to share my post and use my chants in ritual - and I would love to know that you do!  But please do not reproduce my chants in any way without permission. 

Blessed Samhain

I hope everyone has a blessed Samhain.  As I do every year, I will share a shot of whiskey (or possibly a glass of wine) with my ancestors and light a candle to help them find a way.  I think I will also journey to speak to my patron, Gwynn ap Nudd, as he is Lord of the Dead.  He's been poking me to do that.

What are you doing for Samhain this year?

Santa Muerte

Source: https://www.facebook.com/SantaMuerte.DiaDeLosMuertos

I know it's not Dia de los Muertos, but Motown Witch shared this awesome photo of Santa Muerte on her Facebook, and I am so in love with it and wanted to share outside of Pinterest.  I am fascinated by the blending of Dia de lost Muertos and Baron Samedi imagery with Santa Muerte.

If you don't know who Santa Muerte is (I didn't before I looked it up), she is the "Mexican Death Saint" or "Holy Death."  Although she has become associated with the drug cartels, her presence is much older than them - probably a blending of Mesoamerican reverence for death, and Roman Catholic saint imagery.  Santa Muerte is usually depicted as a skeleton, often wearing a robe and holding a globe or scythe.

Hope you all are having a great Saturday!

Samhain blessings

Blessed Samhain and happy new year to all my fellow pagans in the Northern Hemisphere! For those in the south, happy Beltane!

Right now I am drinking tea, watching cheesy Halloween movies like Teen Wolf and Queen of the Damned (later on I will watch Hocus Pocus), and giving out candy to trick-or-treaters. So far, only one kid has come costumeless - as is my policy, I gave her a hard time but gave her a piece of candy anyway.

Ah - I spoke too soon. A whole gaggle of teenage boys just showed up with no costumes. Seriously, is it so difficult to even put on a little spooky make-up? Borrow your sister's eyeliner if you have to. Sheesh.

Jack told me he's never seen Hocus Pocus and has no interest in watching it with me. Say what? It's like, practically a Halloween tradition to watch it. Bette Midler, Sara Jessica Parker ( "Amok! Amok amok amok!"), and Kathy Najimy as 3 sister witches running... well, amok in modern-day Salem - what's not to love?

Later I will raise a toast to my ancestors and departed loved ones, and leave a shot on the mantle for them. Hopefully we have some whiskey to leave for my Celtic ancestors. If not, I get the feeling both my Celtic and Germanic roots would appreciate the glory that is tequila. Hail to the ancestors!

What are your Samhain traditions?