DAY 1119: Samhain Blessings

Merry meet my friends, family, and followers.

I chose to stay on my grandmother's farm so that I can honor my ancestors on ancestral grounds. The weather has become a challenge that will haunt me as I travel north and then south, but the connections I made keeps my heart warm. (North to Fishkill, NY because I won't cross the Hudson at Bear Mountain ever again, and I want nothing to do with the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge and its twin cables that replaced the Tappan Zee Bridge. Then a beeline to Virginia.)

This morning was my last wound care visit. It is so very much better. I feel confident all will be well as it continues to heal. Two nurses approved of how I dressed it this week, and I've invested in about $50 worth of supplies to take with me. What I didn't buy were little Bandaids, "witch" is what I needed when I cut my finger wiping off my scissors with an alcohol pad before cutting the advanced antimicrobial dressing to cover the wound.

The warm, cozy sweatshirt from my cousin Sue will be my Halloween outfit, worn with a pair of leggings ... or just maybe, the  black velvet skirt I have worn in years and years of rituals and when participating in Women In Black events.

(Photos on FaceBook)

The other photo is of my Samhain altar. Several items have already been returned to their storage, but this will stay out for the night. Everything has meaning. From left: in the top corner are the bottom of a bunch of bay leaves Sue gave me that are drying, below that is a small vase of field flowers, behind which is a small bottle of Liquore Strega (an Italian brew of 70+ herbal ingredients) in honor of my mother's side of the family, a pumpkin the color of bones, behind is the salt shaker my mom kept cinnamon sugar in, and behind that is the sewing notions box with little drawers that is one of my most prized possessions. It holds funeral flowers, birth certificates, religious medals and rosary beads. Hung on it are more momentos including some of my mother's jewelry my dad's Red Cross blood donation pins, more medals, and rosary beads. The back is decorated with prayer cards. Above that are large keys in honor of Hecate, the goddess of magic and witchcraft, and part of my mother's wedding veil. To the right of that is the cross that was in the flower arrangement on my dad's casket. Moving forward are two statues of Hecate, a bone from a Mabon turkey, a turkey claw holding a malachite (for protection and safe travel, in this instance, for the afterlife) ball, shells and stones from my trip to the beach Saturday. The orange bottle of bubbles is the last one of three I had from a ritual to commemorate the 49 people shot and killed at Pulse, a gay nightclub, in June 2016. This one is for Christopher "Drew" Leinonen, 32, who along with his partner, died that night. In front of the cross is a crone goddess statue given to me at my croning my one of the crones who mentored me, a black candle with a photo of my parents on their wedding day standing with their parents, another ancestor candle a sister witch asked me to burn, two cards from the Seasons of the Witch: Samhain oracle deck, and behind that, my Everyday Witch tarot cards. I front is a prized Tibetan Buddhist meditation bell representing the female principle of wisdom and emptiness that is still waiting for me to find the Bajra, representing the male principle of action and compassion. I think that's everything.

I will begin my Samhain ritual after dark (and continue it until astrological Samhain 11/7). I am going out soon to get a few German and Italian food items for offerings, and a last few things for the trip.

Merry part, and merry meet again.