LATE HARVEST (SAMHAIN)

	
	The following ritual is adapted from a number of Neopagan Samhain or Hallomas rituals 
	and does not follow the House of Sacrifice formula.  Its twin purposes is to act as a memorial 
	for those who have passed from this life and to remind the participants of the ever-turning 
	Wheel and the parts that they too must play out in its course.

Calendar time: Nov 1 or so.

Recommended velocia or planetary time: Monday or Saturday, Velocia of Water.

Color charges, tools, special notes: Violet with yellow trim ought to predominate.  
	A large Ankh Cross or other symbol associated with the mysteries of Death and Rebirth 
	should be present, as should a candle and a silver bell.

Place from which to start: The point of the moon is preferred, but this may easily be held 
	anywhere, with or without a magickal link.  If a magickal link is used, this would be an 
	excellent opportunity to "dance the glyph" in the manner of a balanced circumambulation 
	beginning and ending in Luna.

Method of circumambulation: none required



								       LATE HARVEST	

(The ankh is attached to a pole which allows it to be thrust into the ground at about the level 
of  the head or a bit higher,  at about the center of the working space. There is a basket filled 
with sweet cakes and an amount of red wine (or absinthe) sufficient  for a toast.  Celebrants 
gather in a circle around it, facing outwards, each holding an empty cup.) 

Battery: 4-1-4 where they are given in a manner of ascending, then descending tempo, slow 
to fast to slow again.

 	Voice #1: "Here there is great mystery--isn't that always the way?"

	Voice #2 and others: "Tell us." "Speak of the mystery" "Yes, tell us."

	Voice #1: "It is a puzzle.  Here today, gone tomorrow, we are no different from the waving 
grasses or the passing stars in the sky.  Yet we dream the Big Dream.   We awake in a fury of 
star-fire and fall to the mud only to rise and crawl, later to walk, then to hurtle headlong down 
this blood-spattered way.   Our feet stride the centuries…"

	Voice #2 (or any another):  "How many centuries?"

	Voice #1: "As many as it takes to learn…" 	

	Voice #2 (or any other): "Learn what?"

	Voice #1: "That we must bow unto others to conquer ourselves. That we must serve in 
	order to exalt, die in order to truly live." 

(silence for a pace) 

"Behold the mystery…" 

(All turn to face inwards.  The candle is lit by its bearer, then held up such that it illuminates 
the Ankh) 

"In hoc signo vinces!  Let us give thanks that we are allowed to participate in this 
	Great Mystery, that our souls were judged worthy to continue onward, running to take 
	the Light.  And let us remember the names of those who've gone before, honoring them 
	in our hearts heedless that our own might never be so honored."
  
(A short silence, the candle is lowered, then extinguished.   Sweet cakes and wine are 
passed among the circle.  When all the glasses have been filled, a silent toast is made 
raising the glasses to the Ankh, clicking all together in the customary manner.  The 
contents are drunk and the cakes are eaten without a word. 

Battery: 3-5-3

(All depart without looking back, the last one taking the sign of the ankh down from its staff, 
which may just as well be left in place, if desired.  None should speak until well away.)

(From the Book of the Glyph.)

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