The Witches' New Year: Samhain.

Samhain is the third and final Harvest. The dark winter half of the year commences on this Sabbat.

It is generally celebrated on October 31st, but some traditions prefer November 1st. It is one of the two "spirit-nights" each year, the other being Beltane. It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the Thin Veil between the worlds is lifted. Communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is easy at this time, for they journey through this world on their way to the Summerlands. It is a time to study the Dark Mysteries and honor the Dark Mother and the Dark Father, symbolized by the Crone and her aged Consort.

- Credit

Samhain is one of my favourite Sabbats, and I'm sure many other Witches feel the same way! There's just something about October, y'know? It's also an incredibly easy Sabbat to celebrate because so many Halloween customs are derived from it!

♥ Carve jack-o-lanterns and place them on your porch or in your windows to ward off evil spirits.

♥ Practise any form of divination, as the veil between the worlds is thinnest on this night.

♥ Samhain is the Witches' New Year, so write resolutions for yourself!

♥ Gather fallen nuts, leaves, pinecones, etc and create a beautiful mantlepiece for the autumn months.

♥ If you'd like to celebrate Sabbat with your kid or little sibling, try these fun children's activities!

♥ Decorate with colours and symbols of the season; Autumn leaves & vegetables, the colours black and orange, etc! These are all easily found in the Halloween section.

♥ Invite some friends over for a bonfire.

♥ Make candleholders out of mini pumpkins.

♥ Samhain is a time for honouring the dead. Pay a visit to the graves of any loved ones, or spend a few minutes remembering them.

♥ Eat a pomegranate, one of the symbols of Samhain.

Blessed Samhain!

Faula.

October's Full Moon Goals Link-up ☆

Hello everyone! I apologize for the lack of posts this month. Here is the link-up for the Blood Moon! Remember, you can join the Full Moon Goals link-up from any blogging platform; Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr...!

How did you do on last month's goals? I didn't do too well...

☆ Celebrate the full moon tomorrow. I did =)

☆ Put together a fabulous Samhain package for Vyctoria and maybe share photos of it here. Well, it was fabulous, but I didn't take many photos of it!

☆ Start doing yoga regularly again. Not done =(

☆ Re-organize the witchy bookshelf. Not done.

☆ Get all of my herbs put away for the colder months! Not done...eep!

Oh well! October has been a busy month for me work-wise and witch-wise! For this upcoming month I want to focus on devoting time to self-care and my witchy life. Here are my goals:

☆ Read my Samhain books & write up an awesome Samhain post on the blog! Sadly I didn't have a chance to grab the latest Llewellyn's Sabbats Essentials, but I do have two Samhain books that I can use as references =)

☆ Spend lots of time getting acquainted with the new oracle deck Fenny gifted me, the Faerie Oracle by Brian Froud. Firstly, Fenny is a stinker who spoils me. Secondly, this deck is beautiful! Expect a full blog post on the box of Samhain goodies that Fenny sent me =)

☆ Plan a relaxing week for my five-day sick leave. I'm taking time off to hopefully heal my ravaged arms before the holiday season at work. I plan to drink green smoothies every day, get in a few gentle yoga sessions, and

☆ Get my witch boxes ready to sell on the Faolan Girl. I'm pretty sure I said this a few moon cycles ago....

☆ Do a few Tarot & oracle readings and start recording them in my beautiful new journal.

Hopefully these goals won't be too difficult to achieve! I hope to blog about most of them here on the Faolan Girl.

Full Moon Goals Link-up Rules

1. This link-up is specifically for full moon goals. Any links that are unrelated to the theme or that direct to your homepage will be deleted. Please note: This is a link-up for Pagan bloggers, so please make the majority of your goals Pagan-related =)

 2. Paste this button into your Full Moon Goals post to link back here so everyone can join the goal-making fun. [Very important part. This is what makes it a 'link-up'!]

<div align="center">
<a href="http://thefaolangirl.blogspot.ca/search/label/full%20moon%20goals" title="The Faolan Girl"><img src="https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12042650_10207801372459215_5307114152068420298_n.jpg?oh=2c07868c83e1f7b36db7da2274231349&oe=569C132E" alt="The Faolan Girl" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

3. Visit the other links [at least one or two!] and leave encouraging comments for our fellow bloggers. This link-up is meant to motivate us to reach our goals....and hopefully we'll make a few friends along the way!

Once you've read & understood the rules, feel free to add your Full Moon Goals blog link below!

September's Full Moon Goals Link-up ☆

Hi everyone! Are you as excited for this upcoming full moon as I am?!

I didn't do so well on my goals from last month...

☆ Search for my pendulums. Okay, not exactly done....I bought a new pendulum instead. And then I bought three more online. Ha ha!

☆ Play with my beautiful candy cane quartz generator! Kinda done! I meant to do a blog post about it but mostly I've just been setting it beside my candle spells.

☆ Sew a lovely stone bag for my niece. Not done =(

☆ Make an effort to dedicate more time to self-care this month. Also not done =(

☆ Create a fantastic herbal recipe for Tiff! Done! I sent her my favourite recipe for a sore muscle herbal bath soak =)

☆ Work on protecting myself from negative energies. Kinda done. I meant to make a spell bag but I really just threw a bunch of stones in my purse.

Yeah, I've been slacking! I'm going to put more effort into achieving my goals for this month~

☆ Celebrate the full moon tomorrow. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do...

☆ Put together a fabulous Samhain package for Vyctoria and maybe share photos of it here.

☆ Start doing yoga regularly again. 

☆ Re-organize the witchy bookshelf.

☆ Get all of my herbs put away for the colder months!

Wish me luck!

~

Would you like to join this month's Link-up? If you're new to link-ups, here's a great how-to post!

Full Moon Goals Link-up Rules

1. This link-up is specifically for full moon goals. Any links that are unrelated to the theme or that direct to your homepage will be deleted. Please note: This is a link-up for Pagan bloggers, so please make the majority of your goals Pagan-related =)

 2. Paste this button into your Full Moon Goals post to link back here so everyone can join the goal-making fun. [Very important part. This is what makes it a 'link-up'!]

<div align="center">
<a href="http://thefaolangirl.blogspot.ca/search/label/full%20moon%20goals" title="The Faolan Girl"><img src="https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12042650_10207801372459215_5307114152068420298_n.jpg?oh=2c07868c83e1f7b36db7da2274231349&oe=569C132E" alt="The Faolan Girl" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

3. Visit the other links [at least one or two!] and leave encouraging comments for our fellow bloggers. This link-up is meant to motivate us to reach our goals....and hopefully we'll make a few friends along the way!

Once you've read & understood the rules, feel free to add your Full Moon Goals blog link below!

Mabon Blessings~

Ceridwen by UnripeHamadryad

"Let us give thanks from our hearts 

for the blessings of all our good harvest 

for the hard-won lessons of life 

for the people who bind us together 

making joyful warm hearts out of strife."

Brightest of Mabon blessings,
Faula.

Celebrating Mabon: Activities for the Autumn Equinox.

♥ Use carrots and potatoes to make a yummy Mabon soup!

♥ Collect colourful fallen leaves on a nature walk and use them to decorate your altar. You can simply scatter them around, dip them in paraffin wax to make them last longer, or try a more timely craft.

 ♥ Make an offering of grains at your favourite tree.

♥ Honour the birds and small animals around your home by filling a birdfeeder.

♥ Get your garden ready for winter by giving it one last tending. Remember to thank your plants for their abundance this year.

♥ Bring a basket on your nature walk and fill it with pine cones and the like to decorate your altar with.

♥ Choose a delicious, fruity wine to enjoy during your Mabon feast.

♥ Peruse your witchy library and decide on a subject to study during the colder months. A new form of divination, or perhaps meditation?

♥ Write a gratitude list in your BoS, journal, Facebook, or wherever you choose. Write down everything you've been thankful for over the past year.

♥ Share your abundance by donating food/clothes/books to a local charity, or simply baking a few too many cookies and sharing them with your neighbours.

♥ Perform spells for security, protection or prosperity.

♥ Meditate on the obstacles you'd like to overcome.

♥ Harvest gourds and dry them to make ritual rattles. Once dry, paint them with magickal symbols and fill with rice or dried corn.

♥ Fill a cornucopia to make a centerpiece for your altar or Mabon dinner table.

Blessings,
Faula

A Bit o' Witchy Shopping~

A few of my latest witchy buys....



I bought this book at a used bookstore a while ago~ I've just paged through it but I've really enjoyed what I read! I can't wait to start journaling with it.

My BEAUTIFUL candy cane quartz generator~ and some freebies! 

New crystals...unakite, angelite, malachite, covellite and epidote.

A HUGE fluorite I picked up a few days ago. Check out that sparkle!

We've been getting in SO many witchy-themed shirts at work. This one is my fav so I bought it on Sunday =3

I had a hankering for a pendulum the other day...Eventually it got so bad that I made my mom & sis pick me up from work so I could go get one, ha ha! This pendulum, ruby in fuchsite, called out to me right away.



Meet Mac the unicorn! [And Fred the seal, who's been around a while.] 

I have a few more witchy goodies in the mail =D I can't wait!

Brightest of blessings,
Faula.