The Samhain Host:
Remembering the Dead
From MoonWeb
Recognition of the Dead at Samhain is a traditional festival of the Western Mystery Traditions. Samhain night encompasses the simultaneous destruction and recreation of the world—a time when the veils between the worlds are thinnest—a time when passage to and from the Land of the Dead is possible. Here we expand this idea to include not only human ancestors and friends but nonhuman species as well.
The ritual involves a Celtic goddess, the Morrigan, the Great Raven whose cry echoes over human battlefields as She carries the spirits of the dead into the Summerland. Guidance is sought from species near extinction, or extinguished entirely from this world. The Dumb Supper—a formal setting of a place at the table (or Circle) for the dead—honors the spirit presence of plants and animals with whom we can no longer have communication in this world. Take time during this Samhain to think about how many more species will have to be invited to the dumb supper next year, and what we each can do to make this world more hospitable for nonhuman beings.
Summoning the Samhain Host
For this ritual, you will need a dish of salt or earth, a bowl or flask of water, and incense, to represent Wind, Sea, and Stone. You will also need a plate and goblet set in the West of the ritual area, draped with a black cloth. Since this ritual includes a sacred meal, you should also have cakes (cookies, bread, or pastries) and wine (or other liquid refreshment—apple cider is quite appropriate for this ritual), and a chalice and blade with which to bless them. For the dumb supper, you will need food for animals—bird seed, dog food, or whatever strikes your fancy will suffice. Lastly, you will need three straws drawn from a broom, preferably made of broomcorn. You may also wish to have such tools as you normally carry into circle.
On Hallow's Eve, make your way at twilight to your circle area. As the darkness falls, ground and center according to your tradition. A color-guided meditation begins the pathwork, if you'd like to use it to ground and center.
When you are relaxed and centered in your ritual space, cast a formal circle if it is your practice to do so. If you haven't cast a formal Circle, consecrate the ritual space now, creating about you a space between the worlds, out of time, and bounded only by your will.
Take up the bowl of water and walk to the East of the Circle or ritual area. Close your eyes and mentally image the sea surging against the shore, the foam riding the waves, the salt spray in the air. Feel the power that water represents pulsing in your hands. Walk around the Circle clockwise three times, sprinkling the water around the perimeter of the ritual area. On the fourth pass, stop wherever the feeling of water is strongest to you and set the bowl down. This is the Domain of the Sea.
In similar fashion, take up the bowl of earth or salt and walk to the East of the Circle. Close your eyes and image the naked stone of mountains, the bones of the earth, thrust up over plains and deserts and rolling hills. Feel the chill of stone against your hands and catch the smell of damp earth after the plow has passed. Hear the roar of avalanches as they hurtle down into the valleys. Feel the power that earth represents pulsing in your hands. Walk around the Circle clockwise three times, sprinkling the earth or salt (very little salt if you are outdoors, as a large quantity is toxic to plants) around the perimeter of the ritual area. On the fourth pass, stop wherever the feeling of earth is strongest to you and set the bowl down. This is the Domain of the Earth.
In similar fashion, take up the incense from the center of the ritual area and walk to the East of the Circle. Close your eyes and feel the rush of wind against your face, the cool breeze of dawn. Hear the howling of wind in a storm; smell the fragrances of flowers, oils, baking breads on the air. Feel the power that wind represents pulsing in your hands. Walk around the Circle clockwise three times, wafting the incense over the ritual area as you do. On the fourth pass, stop wherever the feeling of air is strongest to you and set the incense down (taking care to keep it from setting fire to leaves or wood if you are outdoors). This is the Domain of the Wind.
Return to the center of the Circle and feel the interplay of Wind, Sea, and Stone. Know that all three are present, and that your work can now begin.
Walk to the Domain of Wind and invoke the spirit presence of the vulture, whose great wings rule the wind as it rides effortlessly on thermal currents in the sky. Use this invocation or one of your own devising:
Vulture,
Bald-eyed, from the fires of heaven,
The crucible of your gaze distills the earth!
I summon you, creature of sky.
Bless us with your vision,
That we may bear witness to the destruction of our World.
Walk to the Domain of Sea and invoke the spirit presence of the gull, whose haunting cry calls us each to the Ocean. Use this invocation or one of your own devising:
Gull,
Cloud-covered, you shriek against surf!
I summon you, creature of shore.
Bless us with your voice,
That we may keen the destruction of our World.
Walk to the Domain of Earth and invoke the spirit presence of the raven, whose haunt is the craggy fastness of the mountains. Use this invocation or one of your own devising:
Raven,
Great obsidian maw, your beak peels flesh, ravening!
I summon you, creature of cliffs.
Bless us with your hunger,
That we may feed upon the destruction of our World.
Return to the center of the Circle and invoke The Morrigan, the dark Raven who feeds on the flesh of death and carries souls into the Underworld. Invoke the spirit of The Morrigan into yourself or into one who will speak with the Raven's voice during the Circle, using this or a similar invocation and charge:
Invocation of the Raven
By wind and sea and stone I summon
The Morrigan,
Dark Raven of the Underworld,
Messenger of Death and
Guide of Souls—
By the sea that is Your blood,
I summon you!
By the stone that is Your bone,
I summon you!
By the wind that is your breath,
I summon you and speed you here!
Now, as The Morrigan, speak this charge or one of your own devising:
The Charge of the Morrigan
I am the Morrigan;
My talons rend the veil between the worlds.
I am the Morrigan;
I am the bird that appears before the storm and feeds on its destruction.
I am the Morrigan;
My cry has summoned armies to slaughter for My own pleasure.
I am the Morrigan;
My nest is the cauldron of eternity and My egg the rebirth of fear.
I am the Morrigan;
I drop your bones from the heights and suck out the marrow.
I am the Morrigan;
My voice is the silence where a bird's wing has been,
The empty shoals,
The fields of dust where herds once thundered.
I am the Morrigan.
Look upon My black feathers and see into the abyss!
If you are doing a group ritual, the one who has drawn the aspect of The Morrigan into himself or herself should take up the three straws and walk with them to the three Domains, pausing briefly at each to consecrate the broomstraws to Wind, Sea, and Stone. She leaves a straw at each Domain, each time drawing an invoking pentagram over the broomstraw while saying this old folk rhyme:
Straw, draw
Crow, caw
By my Life
I live the Law!
Those present should hold in their minds the image of the straws metamorphosing into crows in the starlight, winging their way into the darkness to summon the Samhain Host.
Take time now to feel the arrival of the host of the dead. Meditate or scry—maybe using a mirror, bowl of water, or a candle—allowing one among the dead to come forward and communicate its message to you. Write down in your journal what is told you. When ready, thank the spirit and ask if any others would like to come forward. Repeat as long as you and the spirits wish to continue.
The Morrigan should now walk to the West of the Circle, where a plate and goblet containing animals' foods and water have been set up and covered with a black cloth. Drawing an invoking pentagram in the air over the dumb supper, She removes the black veil from the plate and goblet and invokes:
Hordes of Death—from land, sea, and sky—whether the pattern of your ways, the pulse of your thoughts, the current of your dreams lives in the world or dwells forever in the realm of the dead—I call you to the Samhain feast!
Take some time to feel the presence of the Samhain Host, as they impart wisdom and learning about how to avoid driving other plants and animals to extinction. Thank them, and bid them eat.
Now turn to your own sacred meal, consecrating the food and wine you have brought for yourselves to whatever deities you wish. Use these or similar words while plunging the dagger into the chalice of wine:
As the athame is to the talon, so the cup is to the nest;
Together they bring forth the life of the world
And prepare the freefall of death.
I consecrate thee, O creature of wine,
To the Great Bird of Hell, clever Morrigan of the crows.
Sprinkle a few drops from the blade of the dagger over the cakes, and draw an invoking pentagram over them. Also add some of the consecrated wine to the chalice on the dumb supper in honor of the Morrigan. Each person present should make a toast to the gods before drinking, and should crumble part of a cake onto the earth in remembrance of the source of all food. Rest now, and share stories or memories of those who have gone already into the Summerland.
When you have eaten and are rested, thank the Samhain Host for returning this night and bid them safe journey back to the Summerland. Scatter the dumb supper to the winds.
Thank the Morrigan for Her presence, and feel Her great wings raise from the one who has been Her physical host during the Circle as She speeds away into the darkness.
Walk counterclockwise around the circle. On the first pass collect the bowl that symbolized the Domain of the Sea. Thank the sea and scatter the remaining water. Repeat, collecting the bowl of earth and then the incense. Take care not to poison the area with salt or burn it with live coals. When you feel that the Circle has dissolved around you, scatter any remaining food for the creatures of the forest.
Pathworking
Stand in a place where you can feel the breeze, close your eyes and feel the center of gravity within you. Plant your legs firmly at shoulder width and let your arms relax at your side. Breathe deeply, exhale completely with each breath; feel the energy of the universe filling you as you breathe in, feel tension and anxiety dissolve. Breathe deeply for the space of fifteen or twenty breaths.
Now, as you breathe in, you are breathing in crimson light and crimson energy. You feel the crimson light filling you, your body radiates the red light. On the third breath, you breathe in orange light, an orange light that fills you and brings healing to all parts of your body. On the next third breath, you breathe in golden yellow light, the illumination of the Sun and deep yellow of harvest. On the next third breath, you breathe in green light, the color of forests and grass and rich ocean waters; the green light fills you with tranquillity. On the next third breath, you breathe in a rich blue light, the blue of a cloudless autumn sky; the blue light fills your body and your emotions are in balance. On the next third breath, you breathe in the violet color of twilight; the deepening purple shadows relax you, the landmarks in your mind's eye fade into the dusk that the purple shadows bring; everything around you is calm and peaceful and quiet in the violet darkness.
Into the darkness comes the flapping sound of wings beating against the air. You cannot see the birds except as large dark shapes flying past you in the twilight; from time to time a wingtip touches your cheeks, your arms, your bare legs. Where the wingtips touch you, an intense itching begins to build—the itching travels across your face, down your throat and across your chest; along your arms and down to your fingertips; from your legs to your thighs and belly and down to the soles of your feet. The itching intensifies, becomes tiny pinpricks piercing your skin; your flesh is rough to the touch, goosebumps cover your body. Each bump grows - you think they will pop with the pressure. You shiver violently as the itching racks your body.
Suddenly, each bump bursts into a feathertip that grows into a full feather—some long and full and powerful, others warm and downy. All are black, black as coal, black as midnight. You are covered head to foot with sable plumage; the world beneath your feet drops away and you are flying through the violet night. Other black birds are flying around you. You are rushing through a night that knows no day, you are flying through the night of the Underworld, and you may visit anyone or anything you choose while you are there. In the purple shadows of the Underworld, no destination is more than a few wingbeats away. Choose carefully, and remember what you see and hear.
When you begin to tire, you notice that the violet darkness is becoming lighter, more blue than purple. You know the dawn approaches and that you must return to the land of the living before sunrise. Around you, other birds are winging their way back; you rise to join them in the early dawn. Feel the place where you began calling to you, beckoning you back; plunge out of the darkness in a great swoop and land again on solid ground where you started this journey. The light grows stronger; breathe deeply and regularly as the light grows to blue, then green, then pale yellow. In your mind's eye the sun rises over the horizon, golden yellow—the feathers on your body curl and shrink, a few fall off. The sun is a huge fireball on the horizon; your feathers slough off in great black heaps around your feet; your skin glows in the red light of dawn. Feel the breeze against your skin, and open your eyes to waking reality.
This ritual is from MoonWeb, a occasional mailing of rituals and pathworkings designed to be worked simultaneously by Pagan solitaries and groups across the U.S. and Canada. MoonWeb is not copyrighted, and they encourage sharing this ritual as long as its parentage is acknowledged. Circle Cithaeron is a collective of Pagan scholars following the Eldrytch Tradition of work with wild nature. | 
