Food of the Dead

Although it's customary in many traditions to spend time at the grave site, cleaning, caring, and sometimes bringing offerings of food and drink, particularly during Day of the Dead celebrations, a more direct method was used in ancient Greece....

... I'm so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com and can be found in it's entirety here: Nourishing the Dead

The Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico and other countries can be traced back to the indigenous peoples such as the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Mexican, Aztec, Maya, P'urhépecha, and Totonac. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2500–3000 years. In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.

The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. ...

I'm so sorry to do this to you,but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar and can be viewed in it's entirety here: The Day of the Dead

Five Ways to Celebrate Samhain

Magick is in the air, and it's important to just let things happen.

Keep good fun thoughts in your mind, with hope for the future. These positive thoughts will turn into Magick energy and be released... that is the power of Samhain!

Here are 5 ways to celebrate Samhain....

I'm so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved and can be found on my new website, The Pagan Calendar, along with more info about Samhain. Here's the link: Samhain.

Old Stories About the Devil

When the devil appeared to Cuvier, the great man looked at him nonchalantly and asked curtly: "What do you wish of me?" "I've come to eat youl" said the devil. But the great anatomist's shrewd eye had already examined him. "Horns and hoofs !" he retorted, "granivorous. You can't do it!" Whereupon, outfaced by science, Satan departed.

Plinius Secundus remembers a house at Athens which Athenodorus, the philosopher, hired, and which no man durst inhabit, for fear of the haunting devils. Hesperius, the tribune's house, at Zubeda, near the city of Hippos, was also thus haunted; and he was so much vexed with these demons and ghosts that he could not rest....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Widdershins, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in its entirety here: Old Stories About The Devil

What is Samhain?

The celebrations on the eve of All Souls Day, called Halloween, stem from the Celtic New Year celebration called Samhain. When the Sun goes down on this eve, there is a time between the old year and the creation of the new. Specifically, this occurs at sunrise.

In this twilight of the years, the veil between this world and the world of the spirit is thin. It is a time when ghosts and spirits can interact with the living, and a time when divination is most effective. This is a sacred time when all warriors were to keep their swords sheathed....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website The Pagan Calendar hosted on shirleytwofeathers.com and can be found in it's entirety here: Samhain

The Hunter's Moon

The Hunter's Moon is so named because plenty of moonlight is ideal for hunters shooting migrating birds in Northern Europe. The name is also said to have been used by Native Americans as they tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the winter ahead....

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar, and can be found in its entirety here: The Hunter's Moon

Moon Names

According to the Farmers Almanac full moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred.

This means that the name given to each moon applies to the whole cycle of the moon, from its dark beginning to its dark ending. There was some variation in the Moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior.

European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year.

What follows is a list of links to each Month's moon names based on the month in which the full moon occurs. I find it helpful to know the names of the upcoming moon as this gives me focus and ideas for ways to celebrate Grandmother Moon as she moves through the wheel of the year.

What follows is a list of links to each month's moon names:

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

October Moon Names

What follows is a list (in alphabetical order) of the names given to the October moon. Also listed is the tradition and/or origin of that moon name:

Blood Moon ~Mediaeval English, Neo-Pagan
Blood Moon Falling ~Janic (full)
Corn Ripe Moon ~Taos Falling Leaves Moon ~Arapaho...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Pagan Calendar, and can be found in its entirety here: October Moon Names