Samhain

This weekend is the last weekend before Halloween - the eve of All Hallows - the Christian feast of the soul.

It's more ancient name is Samhain - the time when the veil between our world and the next is at its thinnest and when those who have gone before us can pass the barriers that separate us and visit for a time. It is a time of earth magic when forces merge and a time of transition as the year winds down to a time of darkness and reflection as the winter casts its cloak over the land.

It is said that the 'little people' (or the faery) would come in the night and if food had been left for them and the spirits then they would bless or 'treat' the house and if not, if they were ignored then they would play a 'trick' on the house and mark it as a house that did not fulfil its noble responsibility of hospitality to all.

Autumn is my favourite time of the year. The most beautiful and the most changeable. It is a time of bounty as nuts and fruit would be harvested here at this time. As I child we used to pick apples and blackberries from the road-side bushes. However, it was important to pick them before Halloween or the witches would have peed on them that night!

It is always in times of change that we learn most - we take the time to reflect on our lives and the events to-date. What has been done and what is left to do. Those who have left us and those who remain. Change is constant and a person with an attitude that embraces it and rides the waves of its storms is one that will always triumph and find their way to the blessed shore.