Samhain 2022 Newsletter
Samhain Greetings
Greetings….
Welcome to this months, late, newsletter.
As many of you will know, end of August - beginning of September did become a bit challenging with things COVID related. However, all seems to be coming (slowly) back to normal and we’re now catching up with things.
It is the season of harvest and review, so it’s interesting that our life-paths are reflecting that seasonal focus.
How are YOU doing?
I truly hope that you are enjoying the harvest season; reflecting on the seeds that you have sown and what they have produced.
This months moot is THIS FRIDAY (21st), I hope to be able to catch up with many of you then.
As usual, I will remind you of the Zoom Link on Friday Morning.
Advance Note;
I hope to be able to go back to the regular “second Friday” in the month for November band December.
In November, the Moot will be on Ogham, some call them the Celtic Runes, or the Tree Alphabet.
Samhain
Samhain is believed to have Celtic origins and some of the Neolithic Passage Tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise at the time of Samhain. It is first mentioned in Irish literature from the 9th century. This early literature says Samhain was marked by great gatherings and feasts and was when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld.
It seems that the Celtic peoples venerated their ancestors and this festival marked a time when the “veils between the worlds” was at it’s thinnest; a time when the ancestors could be invited to return.
This is, arguably where the link between Halloween and “ghosts’ started.
According to Irish mythology, Samhain (and Beltaine) was a time when the 'doorways' to the “Otherworld” opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; while Bealtaine was a summer festival for the living, Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead".
The Otherworld
The concept of ‘The Otherworld” is an interesting one. In Celtic mythology it is a place that is accessible to humans under certain circumstances. You’d didn’t have to die to get there.
The Otherworld is usually elusive, but various mythical heroes visit it either through chance or after being invited by one of its residents.
They often reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going under water or across the western sea, where the sun sets.
Sometimes, they suddenly find themselves in the Otherworld with the appearance of a magic mist, supernatural beings or unusual animals.
An otherworldly woman may invite the hero into the Otherworld by offering an apple or a silver apple branch, or a ball of thread to follow as it unwinds.
It was a place where mortals could not can stay for long and where time passed differently.
Irish myths contain several names for this otherworld.
Tír nAill ("the other land")
Tír Tairngire ("land of promise/promised land"),
Tír na nÓg ("land of the young/land of youth"),
Tír fo Thuinn ("land under the wave"),
Tír na mBeo ("land of the living"),
Mag Mell ("plain of delight"),
Mag Findargat ("the white-silver plain"),
Mag Argatnél ("the silver-cloud plain"),[
Mag Ildathach ("the multicoloured plain"),
Mag Cíuin ("the gentle plain"),
and Emain Ablach (possibly "isle of apples")
In Welsh mythology, the Otherworld is usually called Annan or Annwfn.
Greco-Roman geographers tell us about Celtic belief in islands consecrated to gods and heroes. Among them were Anglesey (Môn), off the north coast of Wales, which was the sacred isle of the druids of Britain; the Scilly isles, where archaeological remains of proto-historical temples have been found; and some of the Hebrides, which were, in the Gaelic tradition, home to ghosts and demons: on one of them, Skye, the Irish hero Cúchulainn was taught by the warrior woman Scathach.
The Gauls divided the universe into three parts: Albios ("heaven, white-world, upper-world"), Bitu ("world of the living beings"), and Dubnos ("hell, lower-world, dark-world").
According to Lucan, the Gaulish druids believed that the soul went to an Otherworld, which he calls by the Latin name Orbis alius, before being reincarnated.
One of the differences between later, Judaeo-Christian and Celtic cosmology was the idea of immanence.
Whereas Heaven or Paradise were places where souls, for example, transcended to (“up to Heaven”), the Otherworld(s) as far as Celtic peoples were concerned were immanent. They were planes of existence that run parallel to the everyday world. We can this catch glimpses of them and access them - they are places seen fleetingly in the corner of your eye.
Maybe, this Samhain, if you sit quietly and pay attention to what you sense in the shadows you may be gifted with a glimpse of The Otherworld.
Accessing ALL Previous Moots
Recordings of our past Moots can be accessed by Members of the Schools Community on the Elyn Bres website
Membership to this community gives access to 20 hours of videos; a growing collection of eBooks and resources for £5 per month,
I know some of you have not been able to upgrade from the FREE Elyn Bres membership to the School of Mystery and Magick membership.
Hopefully this short video will help.
Until next time…
With every best wish and kindest regards
Alan /|\