Happy Samhain, Happy Halloween and an Ancestor Ritual for the Full Hunter's Blue Moon

THE MOON

This Saturday's Full Moon is a very special one indeed. The moon cycles every 29.5 days, and so most calendar years have 12 moons, each with its own cultural name. Approximately every 2.5 years there will be a 13th Full Moon that does not fit with the naming tradition, a Blue Moon. The October Full Moon is known as the Hunter's Moon. Like the Harvest Moon, the Hunter's Moon is also particularly bright and long in the sky, giving hunters the opportunity to stalk summer-fattened deer and fox at night.

Blue Moons have been mistakenly attributed to any month that has two Full Moons, but by that definition, not everywhere in the world experienced the same number of Blue Moons in a year, due to the different time zones. Even more remarkable, a Full Moon on Halloween occurs roughly once every 19 years, known as the Metonic Cycle. The last full Halloween Full Moon was in 2001 and the next will not take place until 2039. No matter what ritual you follow, make time to gaze and be amazed by the Moon, because tonight will be the first Halloween Full Moon that will be visible across the whole world since 1944!

OFFERINGS

Whether you celebrate Samhain, Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos, or just stay in, on this remarkable night the veil between the material and the spirit world will be at its thinnest! For this reason, I encourage you all to make an offering to the spirit world. These offerings are both for the guides we choose to work with and those that we would rather not invite to stay. Offerings can include wine and spirits, rye bread, marigolds, pomegranate, sweets, and candles in autumn colors like black, deep red, and orange.

HALLOWEEN

The ritual celebration of Samhain is different than the tradition of Halloween, but they are closely tied. Halloween offers the opportunity to transform into the forbidden shadow identity on without consequence. Children become superheroes, hobos, princesses, and goblins. Adults become political figure spoofs, villains, and "sexy" versions of heroines, animals, and legends. Though the young woman wearing a "sexy" nurse or goddess costume may not have consciously articulated that she is repossessing the full power of goddess energy, she is. What could possibly be more radical than a woman unafraid of her own sexuality in the uniform of a healer?

If your Full Moon looks more like a traditional Halloween celebration (please stay safe, masked, and socially distanced) I invite you to open the door to becoming some element