Happy Samhain, by Dawn Kinsella

by | 29 Oct 2018

Here on the Isle of Avalon, we at the Glastonbury Goddess Temple are preparing for Samhain and welcoming in the Goddess Kerridwen. This is also known as the Souls Night and Festival of Remembrance.

The Temple Dressing Team have re-dressed the Temple in dark delicious fabrics, candles, pumpkins, seeds, and ivy, giving the visitor a deep sense of entering a space between the worlds.

Samhain is one of the major festivals of the Wheel of the Year. It is the third and final harvest festival of nuts and berries and a fire festival. All the harvest is in, all is complete, it is the end of the cycle of birth and growth, it is the point of death. The seeds of the harvest have fallen deep into the dark earth. Mother Earth is in her finery of the many colours of Autumn, as she dances one final time in her splendour before the long sleep of winter’s chill.

The Goddess, now as Crone, is Kerridwen, she who holds the cauldron of rebirth and transformation.  This is the time of the descent into darkness, of pre-conception, out of which new life, new ideas, will eventually emerge.

The veils between the worlds are at their thinnest at this time of the year. Boundaries dissolve and all is laid bare. It is time to honour and remember our dear departed and ancestors.

At Samhain, the dark half of the year commences. It is a truly magical time. Death is always followed by rebirth and while this is the end of the old year, it is the beginning of the new year. With the beginning of this dark phase comes the opportunity to rest and reflect on the past and to dream of new beginnings.

Samhain is a wondrous and magical time for Sacred Marriages in the Goddess Temple, as this marks the beginning of the Celtic year, and so the energies of new beginnings for your marriage.

The Temple is ablaze with candles and dark luscious fabrics of purple and black, and for those of you with a gothic flair, this is the most sublime setting for your Samhain Wedding. Contact us for more details for your 2019 Samhain Wedding!  Combined with one of our wedding packages and pre-marriage ceremonies, this will be an unforgettable and memorable experience.