Samhain

[Lilith]

It's that time of year again and here is a very good Planxty track - 'The Praties are Dug and the Frost is All Over' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYW5dwZJRA

Us Pagans think of our dead, like the Christians on All Souls' on 2 November. Christians used to bake soul cakes to give to any comer ... hence the modern trick or treat and the dressing up as ghosts and skeletons.

Playfulness apart, it's an emotional time of year.

I'll be remembering my Emily, who died on 6 August this year, and there are many members and readers on here who are still thinking of their own lost cats. Special hugs to them.

For those of us who have lost a cat, or cats, in the past twelve months or so, and written about them here, let's not forget that they live on in these pages, as they do in our hearts and the afterworld. We shall see them again someday.

And many good Samhain wishes to those who have successfully nursed a cat through a crisis or problem and to everyone on here and their furries, featheries and smoothies - good health and prosperity and luck.

Blessed Be from Emily, Mouse, Molly, Shahi-python and Lil x

[Ruth B]

And a good Samhain to you too.

I dislike Halloween with all its commercialism and the feeling of being blackmailed by Trick or Treaters, for me it's a time of remembering those we have lost, reflecting on all that has happened, as well as hope for the future. They say the walls between the worlds are thinner today, but that shouldn't be anything scary, it just means that those we have lost have a chance to be closer to us again.

As for this evening the standard joke,
'You doing anything at Halloween'
'Yes, hiding in my backroom with all the lights off and hoping no one rings the doorbell'

Tomorrow will be spent eating all the chocolate you got in just in case the whole town turned up on your doorstep.

I've no problem with giving things out at Samhain, I used to take cakes into work on both Samhain and Beltane, but the reaction from people when you explained why you had brought them in, rather put me off doing it, working for myself is just so much easier at times.

If people time it wrong it could look as if i was taking part this year, answering the door in a ripped, blood spattered T Shirt, with blood running down my arms, 'don't worry, i was just giving the cat her tablet'.

[MarySkater]

When I was a child in Scotland, many years ago, if children went "guising" at Halloween, the standard phrase, if someone opened their door to you, was "Please for my Halloween." The child was then expected to do some kind of "turn," maybe sing a song or tell a joke, to earn the sweets or fruit that might be on offer.

I see "trick or treat" as "demanding money with menaces," a repulsive American import.

[Lilith]

Yeah, it makes me mad when anything 'supernatural' or whatever you care to call it is called 'scary'. Definitely it isn't. Only very very rarely have I known hostile happenings but I reckon that that person was hostile in life and death never changed them. Or else they were just narked at having their territory disturbed - understandable.

Ten years or so ago there was a great bunch of kids in this neighbourhood and I knew most of them; Halloween was a 'happening'; I dressed up in long black robes and Witch's hat (the rest of me looks the part, he he) and my genial tomcat Finn played the part of Witch's Cat, running to the front door at each knock. Kitaro's music and a plastic cauldron of goodies completed the scene. But now I don't know anybody and there are very few kids; I rarely answer the door anyway unless I'm expecting someone. And there have been no knocks on the door tonight. Sad, really, but I too dislike the implication of 'trick or treat' unless it's just a bit of fun and you're ready to provide the treats.

When I was little there was a custom called 'mischief night' - the night before bonfire night, when the local kids ran amok. I remember hearing an almighty din of whooping and banging dustbin lids. But they did it anyway and no promise of sweeties bought that lot off. I was too well-brought up (ha!) to have ever joined in and never knew of trick or treat until I was grown-up. Well, lol, if I ever did grow up (he he he!)

Ruth you made me laugh - hope Madam didn't shred you too much!

Mary, Emily and I thank you again for help with the avatar photo - always much appreciated and great to see her little face every time I post

Again happy Samhain everyone

[Ruth B]

Tiggy didn't actually shred me at all in the end, she isn't exactly accepting it but it doesn't seem to be quite the fight now. i get everything ready in advance and just leave it out until she comes down in the afternoon rather than waking her up. I'm actually finding it easier to do it single handed before my OH comes home than to try and do it together. The vet advised us to make sure she had something to eat afterwards or to syringe a couple of mil of water into her to make sure the tablet was swallowed, if it gets caught in the esophagus it can give problems, so the bisolven gets mixed with the water in the syringe, and then she gets some food put down afterwards as well. Hopefully we will get the swab results tomorrow and can take it from there. She may seem better now but it has come and gone before so I'm not thinking we are in the clear until she has had a month with out snuffling.

I've heard of mischief night but never experienced it either as a child or an adult, if its harmless fun and noise I don't mind, but you hear of the 'tricks' getting out of hand and actually damaging property, particularly cars, having to pay hundreds, or even thousands of pounds to repair a paint job because the children don't think, is no joke, even the old eggs and flour thrown at a house would be no fun for an elderly person to try and clean off in November weather. As for what you remember them getting up to, there's no good sound to be had out of a black bag or a wheelie bin. If the kids just turned up in good costumes to wish people a happy Halloween I would happily part with some chocolates or similar, same as with carol singers at Christmas, its the threat part i don't agree with.

I suppose when it comes to hauntings, and I do believe in ghosts, it is quite possible that it is the evil people that are more likely to hang on to this plain too scared to move on. People like my Mum are ready to move on, she told me she wasn't scared to die so I have no reason to expect to see her around, by my beliefs she is probably back somewhere in the cycle by now. An interesting note, if paranormal things occur in the UK we are likely to attribute it to ghosts, in the US they are far more likely to go for a demonic option.

[Lilith]

I once heard it said - 'you've more to fear from the living than the dead' and I think this is very true. Yes, superstition and puritanism have a lot to answer for. There is a person living with me in this house and as far as I'm concerned, there's enough room for us all ... it bothers me more that my damn books will crowd us out lol.

I've been meeting 'ghosts' since childhood and I don't think this is anything special. I think it's a normal human intuition, only fear and superstition can get in the way. The worst experiences I had were in the 'family' house. Some 'family' - dysfunctional was an understatement. That house was hostile. I was very young and scared stiff.

What does fascinate me though is that live beings can leave traces of themselves in places they live in. There's the famous story of the poet/artist DG Rossetti who stayed in a Scottish castle. Every evening he would go upstairs to his room and, in the ponderous Victorian fashion, read out loud to himself. In the rooms below he could be heard, reading. The thing is though, that even after he left, alive and healthy, every evening he could be heard, reading ...

This sounds pretty fantastic, but once I experienced something similar with my first Siamese litter. Three were playing upstairs, as the whole lot often did. Jacinth (mother) was on the front room hearthrug with the other two. Dog and other cats were in big dining room at back. Next door neighbour out. All doors closed. Continuous gallop of little feet overhead. It was only at bedtime and after reminders from A (ex-husband) that we found no kittens upstairs, but peacefully sleeping in their basket in the corner of the front room. And still, gallop-gallop of little feet overhead ...

During my career as pub cleaner I noticed this too. One day the landlord (I thought) walked into one of the sections of the bar; I put my head round the corner to say hello; no way could anyone have left that room as there was no exit ... nobody. Ah. Turned out many people were startled by the appearance of a person walking past them where no person could have been ... well, you expect to find spirits in pubs, don't you?

I wonder if this was simply a trace of someone's habitual routine, years before, perhaps even before the pub was built.

It's interesting.

Hope Tiggy keeps improving, Ruth - all paws and tails crossed here

[Mayday21]

Hi Lilith, Mrs Skater & Ruth, Samhain I’ve not heard of. I too am not a fan of the trick or treat. Haloween is not part of the Oz culture but has gained momentum in the last 15yrs. I kept my doors locked. Never heard of Mischief Night. Lilith I hold on to the thought that there is another door to go through. Hope everyone survived your last night of October. We were a tad before you. Vivian
P.s. Ruth The Famous Five from Oz send meows of good health to Tiggy.