Author: A Solitary Pagan

Over the years, Halloween night became an evening to entertain children while adults reflected on the year prior and made plans for the year to come. These parties served as small family reunions, but also played a role in matchmaking, giving the eligible men and women of the community a chance to socialize. Apples, nuts, and kale all figured significantly into Halloween/Samhain tradition, with th...

Trick-or-treating is a modern incarnation of old Irish, Manx, and Scottish practices that sometimes occurred over multiple nights leading to Samhain. In Ireland, the poor went door-to-door “mumming” or “souling.” They offered songs and prayers for the dead. As payment, the owners of the homes visited gave them soul cakes, cookies with a cross drawn on top, representing each soul detained in purgat...

As strange as it may sound, the Halloween tradition of pranks —even the obnoxious ones—has a foundation in Pagan tradition: blaming the faeries. While nothing on record speaks specifically to the logic or ritual of it, it seems that part of the holiday involved acting out a series of pranks either as a way of fooling the faeries or just because people might just blame the faeries, allowing the cul...

What began with the Druids and ancient Celtic villagers dressing as animals or as frightening creatures such as ghosts and wandering the edge of their settlements in groups evolved into the moving ritual theatre known as mumming. Along with singing traditional songs, sometimes those who performed also took on traditional costumes. In South Wales, men and boys would dress as women while singing of ...

Not all the fearsome things stayed outdoors, however. People took great care to prevent faeries from absconding with human children or livestock on Samhain night. Cradles and animals received a sprinkling with holy water or parents might hang a Parshall, a special type of cross, above the child’s bed. Parents placed a dead ember from the fire or iron in an infant’s cradle. Older children might hav...

In attempts to explain what prompted the legends of the Wild Hunt, scholars looked to natural phenomena for explanations. As storm gods, Odin/Woden represented natural phenomena and storms, especially storms common just before winter. Some scholars thought that early Pagans interpreted thunder and howling storms as the Wild Hunt breaking into this world and giving chase to its prey. Another theory...

Along with the Black Pig, folk might encounter the Dullahan, or sometimes ghosts, not always of the friendly departed. The Black Pig, often associated with the White Lady, served as a diabolic image. Irish families often considered this pig an incarnation of the devil. In one Welsh ritual, when the bonfires went out, those tending it ran away shouting, “The cropped black sow seize the hindmost!”Th...

This poppet will help you land a new job, get a promotion, or achieve that special goal. You will need to make a doll out of a piece of your clothing. Coarsely grind equal amounts of the following herbs: cinnamon, bay, marigold, orange peel, rosemary, witch hazel. Fill the poppet with the herb mixture and sew up the opening. Affix a full length photograph of yourself to the front of the poppe...

A poppet is a doll fashioned from cloth or clay to represent a person or persons at whom a spell is directed. The cloth doll is usually stuffed with Spanish moss, to give it form, and herbs that correspond with the primary intention of the spell. When clay is used, small amounts of the primary herbs are crushed and then mixed in with the soft clay. Photographs, hair, nail clippings, and clothing b...

Fashion small sticks of applewood into a human frame and cover with green cotton cloth to form the poppet. Fill with the following coarsely ground herbs: angelica, eucalyptus, ginseng, life everlasting, peppermint, spearmint, and wintergreen. Attach a photograph of the person to be healed to the poppet. Begin the spell during the waning moon. Place the poppet on your altar next to a black candle. ...

To the ancient Celts, Samhain marked the most important of four Celtic fire festivals. Located halfway between an equinox and a solstice, it is one of four cross-quarter festivals. Every year on the first frost after the full moon in October, families allowed their hearth fires to burn out. At this time, they brought back herd animals from grazing and completed gathering the harvest. After the fir...

Those who live in towns and cities can partake in the most famous Halloween tradition: trick-or-treating. Every year, usually during hours set by the municipality, parents or older siblings take costumed youngsters door-to-door to ask for candy. In return, the neighbours distributing candy get their very own costume pageant delivered to their door. Along with this tradition comes a tradition many ...