Welcome! Siren Celebration Day 1

Welcome to the 5th annual Samhain's Sirens Celebration!

Cool nights, cozy blankets, sweatshirts, candles, incense, bonfires, pumpkins, spooky decorations, mulled apple cider... it's finally here! Samhain-time! The veil is thinning, and soon, we'll be honoring our ancestors and communing with the dead. This is our time, dear Witchy family! Welcome back, honored guests and playmates, and welcome to our first-time visitors!

Samhain’s Sirens is a gift of love to you from us. During the Samhain season (October 2- October 31) we’ll be treating you to blogs, giveaways, craft ideas, recipes and music to help you celebrate this holy and happy time in honoring the thinning of the veil and our ancestors.


We have lots of great fun in store for you this year. 

For those of you who are new, here's how our giveaways work:

We will feature the giveaway with the ways you can enter. You will need to provide us with your email address. You do not have to give us your email address in the comments. You can send it via email to kallan.kennedy@gmail.com, if you prefer. The reason we need your email address is that by law, we must notify you that way before we announce it publicly.

Canadian residents, you have different rules per your country's laws. We must give you an opportunity to 'earn' your entry. So, we'll give you a question to answer. One question will give you the same amount of entries as anyone else (you lucky person!).

If you want more details, please see our Official Rules and Prizes page.

Now, let's get on with the fun, shall we?

Today's Music: Season of the Witch by Donovan

How could we resist opening with a song that celebrates our time of year?

Today's Recipe: Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake 

by Autumn Earthsong

Happy October friends!  I’m so happy to be back with Samhain’s Sirens again this year.  I know so many of you missed it!  It’s going to be a lot of fun as always and part of it is the inclusion of delicious recipes to enjoy during this most wonderful time of year!  

My first recipe is an easy and delicious cake..perfect with a cup of coffee or spiced cider sitting by a fire!

Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake
1 3/4 cups butter, softened and divided
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed and divided
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
5 apples, cored, peeled and diced (recommend Granny Smith or Cortlands)
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 325*  

Beat 1 1/2 cups butter, one cup sugar and one cup brown sugar in a large bowl at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  

In a separate bowl, combine flour and the next 4 ingredients (1/2 tsp salt saving 1/8 for glaze)   Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture with a wooden spoon to form a very thick batter.  Stir in apples, pecans and vanilla, mixing well.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 13” x 9” baking pan.  Bake at 325* for 50-60 mins.  Test with toothpick to be sure it’s done.  Cool cake in pan on wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

Caramel Glaze

Melt remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add remaining sugars and remaining salt.  Cook, stirring frequently for 2 minutes or so.  Stir in cream and bring to a boil.  Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.  

Poke holes in cake over entire top surface with end of wooden spoon.  Pour warm caramel glaze over cake. Serve warm or cooled.  Yum!! Enjoy, Autumn Earthsong 

Autumn Earthsong is a wife, mother, grandmother and a Witch! She’s been the Kitchen and Herb Witch for Samhain’s Sirens, The Sunday Stew and Imramma magazine for a few years now. Her Craft revolves around the kitchen, garden, hearth, altar, Mother Earth and Grandmother Moon. She feels Goddess blessed every day.   Autumn is also a healer as a Master Reiki practitioner and she’s knowledgeable in herbalism and crystals for healing as well. Autumn is the founder of her Coven and you can find her blogging at autumnearthsong.com.  Autumn is her favorite time of year as you may guess by her name,  and she especially loves sharing her favorite seasonal recipes!  She hopes you add them to your own  recipe files and enjoy them!  Blessed Samhain to all!

Today's Giveaway: Honor Themed Jar 

by Touch of the Goddess

If you've never seen these stunning creations by Sharon Rawson, you have been completely missing out! This beauty was made especially for the Samhain's Sirens Celebration and retails for $150.00. We know you can't wait to enter for a chance to win this, so let's get right to it!


US Residents:

First entry:  Go to Touch of the Goddess shop, peruse the amazing creations, come back here and tell us which is your favorite in the comments.

Second entry: Share this giveaway on your Facebook page (note: Facebook in no way endorses our giveaways). Come back, tell us you did in the comments (share the link, please).

Third entry: Share this giveaway on Twitter or Instagram (your choice). Come back, post the link to your share in the comments.

Fourth entry: Like the Touch of the Goddess Facebook page. Leave a comment on her Facebook page telling her you're visiting from Samhain's Sirens. Come back here, and let us know you did.

Fifth entry: Like the Samhain's Sirens Facebook page. Leave us a comment below letting us know you're a follower (hint: this is going to be a gimme if you do it now or if you've done it in the past. It'll be one of the entries for all of our giveaways).


Canadian Residents:


For five entries into this prize, please correctly answer this question in the comments section:

Canada falls under which one of these categories?
Republic
Dominion
Kingdom
Commonwealth


You have until 11:59p EDT to enter. Winner will be announced in tomorrow's post. Good luck!!


That's all for today! Tune in this week for music, recipes, crafts, and giveaways!

Happy Samhaining!