Samhain – The Northern Witch' s Blog

Or perhaps a better head line would be The Wheel of the Year, as I follow the changing seasons with Sabbats and the phases of the Moon.

The Sabbats are all special to me, Samhain, however, is my favourite, because it was on the night of Samhain, I almost 3 years ago initiated and dedicated myself as a witch.

98 Yule
99 Imbolc
100 Ostara
101 Beltane
102 Litha
103 Lammas/Lughnasad
104 Mabon
105 Samhain
106 Sabbat Altars
107 Cakes And Ale

Yule : Winter Solstice. The longest night of the year. The shortest day. The beginning of the new year. Celebration of the return of the Sun.

Imbolc : Candlemas. Planning, preparation of seeds to sow, literally. Celebration of light and the promise of Spring.

Ostara : Spring Equinox. Equal day and night. Balance workings. Fertility spells for the garden. Celebration of the beauty of Spring.

Beltane : Walpurgis Eve. Handfasting. Divination. The thinning of the Veil between the worlds. Celebration of the month of love.

Litha : Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year. The shortest night. Growth spells. Celebration of the Sun´s farewell.

Lammas/Lughnasad : Before Harvest. Prosperity rituals, cleansing spells and thanking Mother Earth. Celebration of the bounty of the Earth.

Mabon : Fall Equinox. Harvest festival. Equal day and night. Balance workings. To give thanks. And to let go. Celebration of the beauty of Fall.

Samhain : All Hollows Eve. Initiation and self-dedication. “New Years Eve” to me as a witch. The veil between the worlds is thinnest. Shadow work. Divination. Celebration of the Ancestors, the Crone and the witches.

Sabbat Altars : Here I keep track of my altar setups and plan to place photos of them as well.

Cakes And Ale : This is a new place to learn and to be creative. I research traditions, but I also plan to make my own recipes with a modern twist.

The reason I like the Sabbats so much is that they together with the phases of the Moon give me the pleasure of getting to work with a lot of different tools and ideas for altar setup and decorations.

However many tools I use, I always try to keep things simple. There may be quite a few ingredients in my magickal workings, but they all play an important part of my rituals. If not, I do not include them. With herbs, essential oils and flowers I use what I have at hand, because I´m living on a budget and don´t always have the money to buy these often pretty expensive items.

I also like the idea of following the changing seasons and to be in tune with Nature. Especially in this modern world of stress and millions of impressions to handle, I use the ritual part of the Sabbats to follow a more natural rhythm in my daily life around the year.

I have the opportunity to do it on a full time basis, because I´m early retired. But even if you don´t have much time, it´s still possible to have a magickal everyday life. The key is to make the small rituals even more important than the bigger ones and integrate them in everyday activities. It has a lot to do with self-care to e.g. light a candle and some incense before e.g. doing the dishes.

This I will post a series about in November 2019.

In the weekend I´ll be preparing for the Lammas Sabbat. And on August 1 2019 I´ll post before and after the ritual as I did with the New Moon ritual on July 2nd 2019.

Good evening, dear reader. Tonight I´m going to present myself as a witch. My name is Henriette Pedersen, and I´m nearly 50 years old. I live in a small town in the Southern part of Denmark with my husband, a funny little dog and 3 philosophical cats.

My journey as a witch has been life long, but it was not until about 3 years ago that I felt that it was the right path for me. I´ve always searched for an alternative way of life, because I do not believe in any sort of conformity whatsoever. And there has been many occasions where I felt that I almost got it.

Now, witchcraft is in everything I do. I have the possibility to do so, because I´m early retired because of stuff like arthritis, bipolar disorder and anxiety. All very mundane things to consider on a daily basis too, but possible, if you take good care of yourself with the right prescription medicine, cognitive therapy and a positive attitude towards concentration on getting better every day.

At Samhain 2016 I found my inner witch and dedicated myself with a small simple ritual consisting of holding a pentagram and gazing into the flames of 2 lit candles. I was alone, my husband was asleep, and there was only me to experience what this new something felt like.

2 weeks earlier my world was tumbled over by a major incident that hit me straight in the heart. My beautiful classic car, 31 years old, was stolen and burnt to ashes. Luckily, no people got hurt that night.

Life was chaotic with many, many hours trying to get back in the saddle. In witchcraft I found inner healing, inner peace, inner happiness.

Because magick is everywhere, if you only dare to believe it.

In the beginning, I was very insecure about what witchcraft was to me. Today, there are many ways to learn about witchcraft. But as well as I encourage thorough research with a critical outlook, I also recommend that your own path truly is yours. Don´t be afraid to write your own spells and perform your own rituals. Do immerse yourself in whatever niche that speaks to you.

The common ground, however, is the wealth of positivity that witchcraft can generate, if we do know how to communicate together, dare to share the joy and pure life force, will respect the old ways and keep silent about the most beautiful moment of all in witchcraft, in my opinion, the personal experience that cannot be reborn quite in the same way as we felt it, when it happened.

I call myself an eclectic, cottage with, because I do quite a lot of research in many different directions, I do not follow any other path than my own, and I do use herbs and crystals in my magick workings.

Tomorrow is a New Moon, and it´s time for new intentions, new beginnings, new projects etc. I´m going to take you by the hand and show your how my day before a ritual is.

Right up to the part where I draw the curtains into my witch´s den, where I perform the bigger rituals with all the good stuff put on the altars, only lit candles, only a cellphone, because I often use music in my workings…

So I hope you begin to feel at home here. That´s my intention for the atmosphere on this blog.

See you tomorrow, now a long day behind the laptop, dancing with technology and practical matters is about to be ended with some reflection on tomorrow´s New Moon ritual.

Blessed Be.