Part of why I absolutely love Samhain is the duality of it. Consider my last post. Its focus primarily rested on the concept of the dead and our reactions to them. Samhain is a lovely time of year to remember, to honor, and to grieve. Then there's the New Year part of things.
In a Samhain circle I love writing down all the crap that's buggin' me, pissing me off, and generally keeping me from the happy. I've always found it intensely therapeutic to follow the acknowledgement of the dead with the cleansing of the bane. That list of craptastic muck gets burned in the cauldron's fire. You offer up all that you feel pressing down on you and watch it burn. It goes away in a lovely display that is greatly satisfying. Fire's transformative power on nature to emerge from devastation to begin new life empowers you! Furthermore, asking your loved ones for a little cosmic bump in the pursuit of contentment really helps you remember them at their absolute best. You draw on all that made you love them and admire them and call on that aspect from within yourself. Your blood is their blood and it gives you strength.
And there's candy.
