Posted: Apr 13, 11:39 pm | Category:

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, at my Place, Autumn is making itself clearly present. I feel some relief as the leaves turn, the weather cools and the darkness grows. The Samhain (Halloween)/Beltaine Moment is at 12.55pm on the 5th May EST. Other global times can be found at archaeoastronomy.com . It is quite easy for most of us in the Southern Hemisphere to remember that both Seasons are co-incidental on our spherical Planet … aware as many of us are of Northern Hemispheric ancestral heritage, and the continuing pre-dominance of the stories of that part of Earth in our daily lives.

For an article on the Beltaine/Samhain cross quarter Moment – written six months ago (Northern Hemisphere Samhain) see: Beltane/Samhain @ EarthGaia (Note that I have changed the way I spell “Beltaine” since then.)

For us here in the Great South Land of Australia, and in other Southern countries, we will be experiencing the descent into the darkness of the year. The traditional date for ritual celebration of Samhain here is April 30th, though the actual date varies from year to year: but we will celebrate the ritual for Samhain/Deep Autumn at our Place in the Blue Mountains on 10th May at 7pm. The invitation goes like this:

Earth’s tilt leans us further into the Dark – this is the time of the New Year.

You are invited to celebrate
SAMHAIN

In this Moment, between the old and the new,
all is possible.
The veil is thin that divides the worlds.
We remember the dead, let go of the past,
conceive the Not-Yet.
We remember that we are More, much More.
We meet to transform the old into the new,
in the Womb of the Dark Shining One, of our own bodyminds.

There is Samhain and Beltaine story to be found in Appendix F as well as by doing a search of this site – as it will be found throughout PaGaian Cosmology. If you have a paper copy there is an Index for references. The story being told is one that has its roots in traditions of Old, but is linked to story of the Unfolding Cosmos as we know it more recent times: thus I call it PaGaian. Chapter 5 might be a good place to look for more on that.

There are ritual scripts offered in Chapter 7 . There are various groups within Australia (and perhaps other countries?) that use these as a basis for their own rituals. On the forum there are also Samhain/Deep Autumn reflections (2007), Samhain/Deep Autumn S.H. 2008 reflections and Beltaine/High Spring S.H. 2007 reflections to which anyone is welcome to contribute.