Place apples, pomegrantates, pumpkings, squashes, and 
    other late autumn fruits upon the altar. Write on a 
    piece of paper some aspect of your life that you would 
    like to get rid of. The cauldron or some similiar tool 
    must be present before the altar as well. A small dish 
    marked with an eight-spoked wheel should also be set 
    upon it. 

    Prior to the ritual, sit quietly and think about 
    friends and family that have passed away. Do not 
    sorrow. Keep in mind that the physical is not the 
    absolute reality and that the soul is eternal, that 
    those you have known have only passed on to greater 
    things and other lifetimes - new and rewarding 
    experiences whatever they be. 

    Arrange the altar, light the candles and censer, and 
    cast the circle. 

    Recite the Blessing Chant given in the Yule ritual. 

    Invoke the Goddess and the God. 

    Lift one of the pomegrantates and with your freshly 
    washed white-handled knife, pierce the skin of the 
    fruit and remove several of the seeds. Place them upon 
    the wheel-marked dish. Raise your wand, face the 
    altar, and say these or similiar words: 



    On this night of Samhain, 
    I mark the passing of the God, 
    and all who have gone before 
    and all who will go after, 
    from the sunset into the Land of the Young. 
    O Goddess, teach me thy secrets. 
    Make me aware that even in times 
    of greatest darkness and despair 
    there resides the greatest light. 

    Taste the pomegranate seeds, bursting them open in 
    your mouth so that you may taste their sharp, 
    bitersweet, flavor. Look down upon the eight-spoked 
    wheel on the plate; the symbol of the beginning and 
    end of all creation, the cycle of the seasons, the 
    Wheel of the Year. 

    Light a fire within the cauldron, a candle is fine, 
    and gaze at it. Holding the piece of paper on which 
    you wrote earlier, say: 



    Wise One of the Waning Moon, 
    Goddess of the starry night, 
    I create this fire in thy cauldron 
    to transform that which plagues me. 
    Let the energies be reversed! 
    >From darkness, light! 
    >From bane, good! 
    >From death, birth! 

    Light the paper in the cauldrons flames and drop it 
    inside. As it burns, know that your ill diminishes, 
    weakens, and is finally consumed within the Goddess' 
    fire. 

    Scrying or any other forms of divination may be 
    accomplished now, as Samhain is a very good time to 
    take a look into the past or future. It is also a good 
    time to try to remember past lives. Leave the dead in 
    peace. Honor their memory in love and peace and draw 
    forth from yourself the pain of their passing. Do not 
    call them to you. Release your feelings of pain and 
    loss into the cauldron's flames. 

    ONLY very neccessary works of magic may follow. This 
    is a time to remember and honor those who have gone 
    before, and to honor the God and the Goddess, not to 
    take selfish advantage of the powers inherent in this 
    night. 

    Celebrate the Simple Feast. 

    Release the circle. 




    Samhain Traditions 

    It is traditional to leave a plate of food outside the 
    home on Samhain for the souls of the dead. (A 
    contradictory practice if reincarnation is the true 
    answer.) A candle in the window guides them to the 
    lands of eternal summer, and an apple buried in the 
    hard-packed earth feeds them on their journey. 

    Foods appropriate to Samhain include: beets, turnips, 
    apples, corn, nuts, gingerbread, cider, mulled wine, 
    pumpkin dishes and meat dishes (if you're not 
    vegeterian, ick, sorry.) 
Samhain Ritual #8