Samhain's SirensDay 12, October 14

Happy Monday! 

Why does it seem like October is flying by? Have you decorated for Samhain/Halloween yet? Do you make a big deal of it at your home? We'd love to see some pictures of your yards/homes!

Are you ready to have some fun? You're going to love today's blog and giveaway and we're announcing the winners of our weekend giveaways!



Once you've taken the time to peruse this blog and enter yourself into the fabulous giveaway, head on over to Pagan Culture to jump in on Magaly Guerrero's fantastic week of fun called All Hallows Grim!

Remember, if you need anything or you'd like to send us those Halloween decoration photos, email Serena or use the contact form at the top of the page.


Now, on to the Celebration!

Today, we honor John Lennon

Meet Sharon:

Sharon is a 43 year old British Witch, living in Yorkshire in the UK, with two Witchlets (one of each variety), two cats, one husband, and too many pieces of Lego. She can generally be found cooking up a storm in the kitchen, up to her armpits in compost in the garden, foraging (and rampaging) around her beloved local area, crafting salt-dough and clay gifts, or fishing out Lego from under the sofa. Proud to be slightly mad and most definitely odd, she is not worth speaking to unless she's had the requisite amount of coffee in a morning. Her husband occasionally speaks frog. He's got used to it.  Oh, and in the photo, she’s the one on the left.  Honest.

When the Ancestors Tug On The Family Chain

by Sharon Grimshaw

This is not the blog post I was intending to write.  I was intending to write about honouring the Spirits of Place in this time when the veil thins.  Every Samhain before this, I honoured my direct-line matriachal ancestors who have left this plane, but I did not know them well.  Aside from my beloved Nana, of course, but she had never ACTUALLY left, and was generally to be found wafting around my kitchen whilst happily critisising my cooking, baking, preserving and brewing efforts (constructively, I might add - I will grumpily admit she was generally right) and scaring the crap out of the cats. So a huge part of my Samhain routine is honouring the spirits of the place I've come to call home.  

I was going to try to paint you a picture of my well-worn and familiar Samhain rituals, offerings at places of power, libations to the Grumpy Old Man who presides over 'my' woods.  This has always been the strongest focus of my practice at this time of year.

And then my Grandad died.  Nana's husband.  The man who emptied his greenhouse so his two-year-old grandaughter could have a swing and a sandpit to play in even when it poured with rain.  The man who, without knowing he was doing it, taught her to plant by the moon, how to save seeds, to plant double the number of lettuces that you want because the snails will eat half of them.  That a nap at lunchtime should have "The Archers" as a soundtrack and that the best way to eat runner beans and peas is sitting in the middle of the vegetable garden, picking them off the winding stems and chomping them down raw.  The man who taught her that blackbirds were first up in the morning, and last to roost at night.  The man who would tickle her until she howled for mercy, whilst Mum and Nana would shake their heads, smiling, and collectively declare "It'll all end in tears," which it usually did!

He lived to see that little girl grow up, get "edumacated", get into all sorts of trouble, but finally settle down and give birth to the only great-grandchildren he would get to see.  He lived to see them reach school age.  He lived for ninety-six years - and then, in the middle of a sentence, he collapsed, and was gone.

After I got the news, I found myself watching the rain, and thinking that he wouldn't see this first day of Autumnal weather.  It got to lunchtime, and I realised he wouldn't be carefully munching his noon meal.  As the sky darkened, I realised he would never see another sunset.  Never see another sunrise.  He was no longer living. 

I should have known.  Nana wasn't whispering in my ears the day before when I was picking haws, rowanberries, blackberries and elderberries (normally I would be getting all sorts of suggestions about precisely HOW I should be making my hedgerow jam this year), but I didn't even register she wasn't there.  Until the phone call.  And I searched for her, called for her, and she wasn't there.  I know she will have been with him, telling him off good-naturedly for making her wait eight years.


A thread in the weave of my life has been tied off.  There are memories that I shared with my Grandad that only I now have.  So this Samhain, there won't be a Dumb Supper.  There will be a Samhain Story Supper, as the Hubster and I relate stories to the Witchlets about their Great-Grandparents from both sides of our family.  Stories to make them laugh, to gasp in disbelief, and maybe to shed a tear or two.  Then I will write down those tales stories in our Family Book of Memories.  Perhaps, when I am gone, the Witchlets will tell these stories to their children and grandchildren, and they will laugh and gasp and maybe cry too.

This year, as I sit in front of my Ancestor Altar, I won't just be calling to the shadowy prescence of ancestors in name only.  I will be calling to my Nana and Grandad, together once again, and hoping I feel them stand with me as I tell them our news, ask for their blessings, and honour the memories I am now the sole guardian of.  It will be done with laughter and tears.  It will be done with love.  With meaning.  With pain, and loss, and gratitude.  This year, Samhain will mean more than it ever has before; there is a connection between this world and beyond I have simply never felt before.

Sharon Grimshaw
Come check out her site on Facebook: Kitchenwitchery

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 small can pumpkin

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350*

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.  Add oil, sugar, pumpkin and eggs and mix well.

Pour into a greased jelly roll pan.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 mins

Cool.

Make cream cheese icing while it’s cooling

3 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 stick of butter, softened

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tb milk

Blend well.

Ice Cake and Enjoy!!    Refrigerate what hasn’t been eaten.
Blessings
Autumn

This giveaway is for a OOAK handcrafted "I'm a Samhain Siren!" plaque in a personalised handmade presentation box, lovingly created by Kitchenwitchery.

Here’s how to enter:
You have until 6am EDT tomorrow to enter.

Drawing is held by random number generation and winner will be notified in email (that's why you have to have an email address listed).

Announcement will be made on the October 15th blog post at 9am EDT.

Note: These giveaways are open to the U.S., Canada and where allowable. Void where prohibited.

Canadian residents, please pay close attention as by law, you have to use a different set of rules. Not to worry, we have you covered :)

You MUST provide a valid email address to enter the contest.

1. Go to the The Kitchen Witchery page. Find your favorite item, come back here, and tell us about it in the comment section. (1 entry)

2. Like the Kitchen Witchery page and let us know you did. (1 entry)

3. Blog about this giveaway (make sure you link back here), come back and leave us a link to your blog. (1 entry)

4. Tweet about this giveaway (link to us, please), come back, and leave us a link to your tweet (1 entry)

5. Like the Samhain's Sirens Page.

6. Be a follower of this blog.

Note: If you want your entries to count as separate entries, you must post them separately. If you post 1 comment with all three on it, it will only count as 1 entry.

Canadian residents, by law, instead of the above, you must answer the following question to be eligible:

What is 9-3?

What's cool about being a Canadian? You automatically get 6 entries per giveaway for just answering 1 question! We still need your email address, though.

The Winner of Friday's Giveaway from RLC Creations is:

La'Trice Lott

The Winner of Saturday's Giveaway from Sosanna's Closet is:

Lynda B

Tune in tomorrow for more of our Siren Celebrations! See you then!