Samhain Thoughts & Updates-October 2024
New Course on Sacred Spaces, The Fool's Calling Tarot Course, Writing Updates, & so much more!
Please continue to send light to the folks in the mountains and foothills of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. While there has been a tremendous outpouring of help in these early days after Hurricane Helene, it is important to note that needs will continue to change as recovery continues, in some areas for years.
I spent a few days this month on a lovely isolated island twenty-five miles from the mainland that was hit hard by Hurricane Dorian several years ago. I had a wonderful ferry ride and wrote and walked the beach and watched the sunset and the moon rise and ate delicious fresh-caught seafood. And then I wrote some more, and then some more. At this point, I may have too many projects in the works! The island bookstore was doing a fund-raiser for western North Carolina writers who have been affected by Hurricane Helene, and I was happy to contribute a little.
Here’s a picture I took of a sunset on the island. That sky was electric!
AND I spent time meditating about my plans for Samhain. Below, I share with you two traditions for my celebration on October 31.
Celebrate Samhain with a Silent Dinner
Are you ready for Halloween? Do you enjoy ghost stories and the spookiness of the season? Do you adore the costumed children at your door, asking for candy? I do! But there is so much more than candy and costumes to this season, and I love the history and symbolism of the holiday. In agrarian Celtic cultures, this holiday was – and still is – called Samhain, meaning “summer’s end.” Samhain is the third, and final, harvest celebration of the year as our ancestors, and we, offer gratitude for the gifts in our lives and prepare for the dark days of winter ahead.
It has become a tradition in this newsletter for me to suggest that on All Hallows Eve you host a “Dumb Supper.” I hope you’ll consider this very old practice.
All Hallow’s Eve, called Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sah-vin) in Celtic cultures, is a night for honoring and connecting with our loved ones who have crossed the veil. I invite you to consider creating a Silent Supper at Samhain at your home. In old days, this was called “a dumb supper.” (“Dumb” in this context meant “silent.”)
Here’s what you do:
Prepare a meal with foods that celebrate the season. Include a dish or two that were favorites of your departed loved ones. Set the table with flowers, candles, and holiday decorations. Add one additional place setting and chair that will represent a place at the table for your departed loved one(s).
Bring food and drink to the table, being sure you have everything you need so that no one has to leave the room after you begin. (Remember matches for lighting the candles!)
Create a circle of energy around the table by offering prayers or good thoughts, and inviting those guests from beyond the veil who you are willing to have join you. Simply holding hands around the table and speaking your desire is a lovely way to do this.
Light the candles. From this moment forward, not a word is to be spoken. As dishes are passed around the table, each person serves him/herself, with the person nearest the empty place setting putting a spoonful of each food on the plate reserved for the departed.
Eat in silence, meditating on kind thoughts of those who have crossed the veil, and listening for their communication with you.
At the end of the meal, hold hands again, offer thanks for the visit (whether you sensed someone or not), and thanks for the time together. When the circle is opened, someone should take food from the plate that was set for the departed one(s) that is safe to do so outside for the four-legged, winged, and crawling people.
I’m so happy to connect with you and I’m grateful that you have taken a course with me and subscribe to this newsletter! If you missed my last newsletter, you can read it here.
Sacred Spaces & Peeling Onions- September 2024
Creating a Samhain Altar
Of all the altars I create throughout the year, my Samhain altar is the most cluttered, and often the most colorful. It contains many candles, symbols of the five elements (air, fire, water, earth, spirit), the directions (east, south, west, north, above, below, within), symbols of the season (leaves, acorns, nuts, gourds, apples), a bell for marking the passage of time, incense, essential oils for anointing candles, matches, and books from which we share passages we love.
Usually, a pomegranate graces the altar, reminding us to honor the Greek goddess Persephone, as she descends into the underworld for the winter, and her mother Demeter, as she lays waste to the land in her grief. Also on the altar are photos and precious reminders of departed loved ones.
The candles are lit, prayers are said, and passages from beloved books are read. We meditate and invite our relatives to join us. We laugh and tell stories, and sometimes we cry. Sometimes we sing. There are soul cakes and a pot of tea nearby.
We begin our Samhain celebration with a silent supper, then create the altar. We offer thanks to honor the season, our ancestors, and speak our commitments for the coming year.
I hope these ideas are helpful to you as you plan your own celebration of the turning of the Wheel at Samhain!
See the course information below if you’d like to learn more!
New Course!
How To Create Sacred Space, Altars and Rituals
https://debbowen.com/product/how-to-create-sacred-space-altars-and-rituals/
As a writer, I cherish and fiercely protect the sacred space in which I work. In this self-paced course, you'll learn how to use tools that guide your deeper connection to the Sacred. You’ll learn ways to create sacred space, gain ways to develop the structure of ritual, and ways to build altars that speak deeply to you throughout the year. Here are some of the highlights of what you'll learn in this information-packed course:
You'll come away from this course with a deeper appreciation for sacred space and the choices you make in creating it, as well as a framework for developing rituals and bringing altars into your life.
Develop a plan for creating a sacred space
Clarify definitions and setting intentions for your altars and rituals
Work with symbols from nature, world beliefs, deities, and your personal story
Explore the concept of transcendence
Work with the elements and compass directions
Create altars that work from your senses and intuition
Define ritual and discover them within your life
Develop a structure for ritual
Create rituals that speak to you and your intent
"How To Create Sacred Space, Altars, and Rituals" is delivered to your email inbox! You receive the handout as a PDF document, with the link to the course video embedded in the handout. You can take as much time as you'd like to view the video and read the handout.
Self-Paced Tarot Course Registration Deadline!
Thank you so much for the overwhelmingly positive feedback I’ve gotten from people enrolled in this course! I’m honored to know that the information touches you in many ways - it is a joy to write these weekly lessons for you. In writing the material for this course, I am also gaining new insights about Tarot, and most important, about myself. If you seek to understand yourself and the world around you in new ways from ancient esoteric knowledge, this course is for you!
The Fool's Calling:
Your Personal Myths and Archetypes in Arcane Symbols
A Self-Paced Tarot Course About YOU and Archetypes!
THIS is the in-depth, self-paced Tarot course you requested me to create!
*Registration Closes
Friday, November 15 at 5 pm Eastern US time*
https://debbowen.com/product/the-fools-calling-your-personal-myths-and-archetypes-in-arcane-symbols/
The first of 38 weekly lessons is sent to you on the Monday after you complete the registration steps. I hope YOU will join us on this quest! DEEP gratitude to the many of you who are already enrolled!
For hundreds of years, Tarot symbols have been a gathering place for world beliefs, and a source through which we can discover common ground among us and within aspects of ourselves. Tarot offers an exploration of myths and legends, and of cultures and beliefs, that are as old as time and as modern as this moment. For many years, the symbols of Tarot have guided my travel to the world around me, and to myself. Tarot can guide you too on your journey to self.
Venture deeply with me into the myths, legends, beliefs, and cultures of Tarot in this exciting self-paced 38-week course! Tarot wisdom guides your path to your deepest self, while this esoteric knowledge hides in plain sight on the 78 keys of traditional Tarot.
NEW to Tarot? No problem! This course lays the foundation for a deep exploration of the knowledge that supports the meaning of Tarot. This course is not a course in divination or using intuitive skills, but rather grounds you in the underpinnings of the time-honored meanings of the keys.
*Registration Closes
Friday, November 15 at 5 pm Eastern US time*
Recommended Substacks:
Pease subscribe to Substack newsletters written by these friends who are writers and artists.
Trackless Wild, and The Rhizosphere by author Janisse Ray
Art Studio Sketchbook, by artist Marybeth Bradbury
The Flowers Are Speaking, by author Mary Porter Kerns
Feelings From The Garden by Tony Goncalves
Nature Calls by Amy Grisak
Writing Update NEW!
I’m honored to have a piece I wrote published in PersimmonTree’s recent Forum section. My comment is the ninth one down in the Forum. You can read it here:
https://persimmontree.org/fall-2024/v-day-hope-and-fears-election/
Click on the links below to read my most recent works in Salvation South:
“Let No One Turn You Around”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/let-no-one-turn-you-around-joan-baez-essay-deb-bowen/
“Sunday Fatback”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/sunday-fatback-essay-deb-bowen/
“The Coyote’s Journey”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/the-coyotes-journey-nature-essay-deb-bowen/
“Takin’ Up a Poundin’”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/takin-up-a-poundin-christmas-story-deb-bowen/
“Tidal Wave Terror”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/ground-truth-from-the-climate-reckoning-janisse-ray/
“Where I’m From: Seven Decades in Seven Scenes”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/where-im-from-seven-decades-in-seven-scenes-deb-bowen-poem/
“Mending Nets”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/mending-nets-north-carolina-barrier-island/?mc_cid=c4bb217ffc&mc_eid=fae2a9a622
“A Talisman for Poseidon”
https://www.salvationsouth.com/a-talisman-from-poseidon-hurricane-donna-1960/
Podcast
Deb’s Facebook Pages
Another way you and I can connect is through my Facebook pages. I’d be honored if you’d follow my pages. They are a great way to see up-to-the-minute news! I so hope you’ll LIKE and FOLLOW and feel free to comment and share posts!
Deb Bowen, Author
PsychicTeachers
Please note: I will never send friend requests or offer services through Facebook comments on any of my Facebook pages. If you have any questions regarding our communications, please contact me through my email. deb.bowen.crone@gmail.com
Just One More Thing Before You Go
As the Wheel of the Year spins as it always has from one season to the next, may we remember to honor the simple things in our lives.
-Deb Bowen, author
Thank you!
Awww thank you ☀️ love this time of year. My altars are continually changing and shifting places.
I always enjoy your emails and social media posts.
So be it 💫
Love learning about the Samhain celebration. I too have many rituals, traditions, and altars but did not know about this hallowed eve recognition of loved ones gone before us. I will definitely put this one on my list. Thank you and happy Fall and Halloween!