Samhain: A Time of Magick and Mystery

[L]ate October/early November [has a power] over our collective psyches. There’s something spooky and marvelous about Samhain-time, something that was expressed by the Celts and by more modern peoples afterwards. Christians moved holidays to lay witness to the magick and mystery of late Autumn. Fear, coupled with the possibility of supernatural intervention, has remained a part of the holiday since its beginning and is still being celebrated today. The Irish-Celts may not have believed the “veil was thin” at Samhain, but they obviously believed that some sort of border between human and the other lifted in the Fall. There’s an irrepressible spirit in the air this time of year. It lived with our pagan forbearers and lives within us.

– Jason Mankey
Excerpted from "Samhain Past: History, Myth, and Mystery"
Patheos
October 16, 2014

Samhain Blessings!

May Samhain bring you the endings you need
and the beginnings you desire.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• At Hallowtide, Pagan Thoughts on Restoring Our World and Our Souls
• The Pagan Roots of All Saints Day
• Halloween Thoughts
• An All Hallow's Eve Reflection
• A Hallowtide Reflection
• "Call Upon Those You Love"
• All You Holy Men and Women
• Our Sacred Journey Continues: An All Saints and Souls Day Reflection
• An All Souls Day Reflection
• "A Dark Timelessness and Stillness Surrounds Her Wild Abandonment"
• Gabriel Fauré's "ChristoPagan" Requiem
• Advent: A "ChristoPagan" Perspective
• Magician Among the Spirits

Related Off-site Links:
Halloween – Summer’s End, a Feast for Remembering – Kieran Bohan (A Brave Faith, October 31, 2015).
If a Druid Rings the Doorbell – Michael Tortorello (The New York Times, October 30, 2013).
How the Dead Danced With the Living in Medieval Society – Ashby Kinch (The Conversation, October 29, 2017).
Witches and Class Struggle – Silvia Federici (Jacobin, October 31, 2018).
What Ancient Cultures Teach Us About Grief, Mourning and Continuity of Life – Daniel Wojcik and Robert Dobler (The Conversation, November 1, 2017).
"Remember You Will Die" – and 11 Other Tips for a Better Death – Stephen Moss (The Guardian, October 30, 2018).

Opening image: Artist unknown.
Autumn images: Michael J. Bayly.