Samhain 2012 - Signs and Portents

I try to maintain a Mythopoeic world-view - that the world we live in is part of a larger, interconnected, vibrant and alive place. With ancient stories to guide us and spirits and Deities and Who Knows What Else roiling around in a froth of activity and living. With all this hubbub around us, it just makes sense to be sensitive to what's about, and use divination tools to make sure we get a sense of things and grab any message that might be directed at us. 

So I tried not to be overly worried about the Samhain ritual that we were missing due to me needing to go to Ohio to be with my father.  Who, in his declining years, had a semi-serious medical emergency that ended him up in the ER. (It turned out to be, uh, a physical blockage of his digestive tract so was dealt with - but there are some lifestyle changes due in his future. I know, I know, TMI.)

But it got me to thinking, how funny/odd/weird it was that for our Grove's traditional "Ancestor" rite I was wending off to be with one of my Ancestors - albeit one that was still alive and kicking. (Ask me one Yule - our "storytelling" rite - about frantically received texts from me after the rite. Sorry for the scare Caroline!) One of the things about Our Own Druidry (in fact, most religions strive for this I think) is that we believe that Our Religion should inform our daily lives. Not just a Full Moon or Cross Quarter kinda thing.

So, was it a Deity speaking to me or just a weird twist of fate? Omen or Pizza? However kewl it might be that Someone Spoke to me, ultimately what matters is my reaction to it.  One more holiday and attendant story to help me remember what Ancestor means - and how I sometimes fail at honoring them while alive, or their memories when they've moved on.

Samhain 2011

As is our tradition, we held Samhain under the U.A.O.D Druid monument in Forest Home cemetery in Forest Park. The weather is always a bit of a gamble this time of year and there have been some very coooold Samhain celebrations but this year the weather was mild but very windy! The altar objects were arranged not as much for their aesthetics but as a way to anchor the altar cloth and lighter items! (and I brought far too many things for the altar anyway which I suppose was fortuitous as they made handy paperweights if nothing else!)

The Deity of the Occasion was Pwyll Pen Annwfn and the Blessed Ancestors. Since this was a sort of Welsh rite, we had Manawydan fab Llŷr as the Gatekeeper, and Taliesin for Bardic inspiration. Again we used the Triple Triads to invoke the Ancestors, Nature Spirits and Shining Ones. The main aspect of the rite was honoring the Ancestors and so Colleen honored her Grandfather with appropriate offerings, I offered some McVitties that Jack and Chris brought me, and others told stories or made offerings for their ancestors. Colleen sang The Reaper and the Flowers which is something of a Samhain tradition. We read our Ancestor Prayer and offered whiskey, ale, apples, hazelnuts, and of course our food donations.

Colleen  sacrificed some Whiskey and cookies to Pwyll and Janet and I took the Omen and the sacrifice was accepted. Chris then asked for blessings and we shared sesame cookies and ale. For the takeaway, Jack made some Ancestor Triptychs printed on vellum for people to record their own ancestor and place on their shrines. He chose vellum so people could place photographs and such behind the triptych so they would show through. (Anyone who missed the rite can print out their own copy if they like.) Towards the end the wind was really picking up (a branch fell off a tree right near us!) so we hastily made out farewells and packed up before we blew away. We reconvened at Khyber Pass in Oak Park to feast with delicious Indian Food and warm companionship with friends old and new. All in all the rite went well despite the wind, I'm still not convinced we shouldn't do Samhain indoors but so far I have been outvoted. Yule of course will be indoors at LFACs new location, which is much smaller than the old space but the parking is free on Sundays!  Yule is now going to be at a private residence so please RSVP for directions if you are planning on going! The rite will be dedicated to Odin and there will be a potluck afterwards so bring something yummy to share! Highlights will include a Chicago Wassail, Yulekake, and of course Runes!

The other important news is that we have a new phone number (312) 489-8610, which we figured we needed so people can get a hold of us if they get lost or just want to talk to an actual person about the Grove, events etc (or when Caroline messes up.)  Also due to the fact that December is usually a crazy time even for Pagans we will resume working with the Forest Preserve in January, there might also be some blanket making in our future as well....

Blessings on you and yours and Happy Thanksgiving!
Caroline
Your humble Scribe, Wild Onion Grove ADF

Litterbusters! Giving back to the Nature Spirits

We had been talking for a while about doing something for the Nature Spirits and the land around the city, but we hadn't really done anything about it. However at Autumn Equinox the Nature Spirits called us out on it during the Grove Omen so we finally got our butts in gear and volunteered with the Forest Preserve of Cook County. Our first task was litter removal and we chose Evans Field in Jerome Huppert Woods where we do a lot of our outdoor rituals (Beltaine in particular as well as Autumn Equinox this year.)

We arrived around 10am, coffee and breakfast sandwiches in hand, on a beautiful late Autumn day. We met up with Jennifer, finished breakfast and grabbed our plastic bags and gloves, made some offerings and headed towards the little side grove where we hold our rituals.  The Forest Preserve can and will provide gloves and bags if you need them but Jack and Chris had some heavy duty bags and gloves left over from the flood so we used those instead. The offering was a squirrel feeder of corn that we thought the deer might enjoy. Ironically we had to break it up to get the plastic piece out of the middle (it's designed to sit on a pole) so we wouldn't litter! Jennifer also brought some offerings but we saved those for the end.

We each took a bag and split up, and even though the woods didn't seem  too littered soon we were finding all sorts of things. Mostly beer and booze bottles and junk food wrappers, but we got some strange and frankly gross things like used maxi pads (!). I found a nice metal pole that I used to tease bits of trash out of hard to reach places that Jennifer took home to stake her plants in her garden (see we recycled too!) While foraging for trash I explored parts of the woods that we never had time to explore on High Days, and in the woods on the far side of the field, I found some swamp land and a small spring!

Even though it seems I spent most of my time taking pictures, I actually did pick up a large bag of trash, we all ended up with a good sized bag each. After we had pretty much scoured the place of trash we grabbed Jennifer's offerings and headed to my newly discovered spring. She offered, honey, an apple, a banana, corn, and oats. We are pretty sure the trees around us were filling up with hungry squirrels eager for our departure so they could feast! Afterwards we headed to Jack and Chris' house for yummy Guinness stew and to plan our Samhain ritual.

All in all it was a fun day, the weather was great and it feels good to help the land and the Nature Spirits. We plan on doing something monthly from now on. It will vary by season, but will include things like invasive species removal, more litter busting, and anything else they want to train us for. Anyone who wishes may join us, you can RSVP (which is really helpful since the Forest Preserve likes to know how many people to expect if they have to give us supplies or training.) Anyway have a blessed Samhain and Happy New Year! :)

-Caroline

More Samhain with pictures :)

As Jack said, This Samhain was bright and sunny but bone chillingly cold, we sort of ended up speeding through some things so we wouldn't freeze, which is a shame but we did make sure Janus was properly honored as well as the Ancestors, and we had a brief eulogy for Isaac. We invoked Mercury  as the Gatekeeper and Vulcan as the Bardic Deity, and gave tootsie rolls to the Outsiders. Jack read a prayer he wrote and Chris read from Ovid's Fasti.

For the Sacrifice Coleen offered a loaf of Jack's soda bread. The omen was very favorable, we had Janet Berres as a guest and as she is the Tarot queen we asked her to pull the Omen and she pulled the Ace of Swords.  A good start for new beginnings and the ability to cut through the BS, yup that's the Onions through and through! :) Janus seems very pleased to be honored as the Deity of the Occasion and not just the bouncer! I did the Grove Omen and we got the Three of Pentacles, the Page of Swords, and the Two of Rods, I then blanked completely on the Three of Pentacles but did remember the other two! So our Grove Omen was equally good, mastery of skills, direct communication (again very Onion!) and success, power, attainment of goals and collaboration and  I think this does reflect how far we have come as a Grove.

We then made a special sacrifice of incense, rosemary, and apples to the Ancestors and said a prayer and eulogized Isaac and other beloved Dead. We then shared the blessings with mulled wine (very good especially in the cold!) and oatmeal cranberry cookies and quickly handed out the Janus heads.We even more quickly transferred the Senior Druid title from Jack to Chris and then wound the ceremony down to the end. Almost everyone left quickly at this point, people were shivering and hands going numb, but some of us decided to stay as we wanted to find the Haymarket Martyrs monument and Emma Goldman's grave. Which we did and we left a cookie for both.

All in all the rite went well, not quite as elaborate as I had hoped due to the weather, and the fact that we were late, partially due to traffic and partially due to my getting the time wrong. We Onions aren't known for being on "Pagan Standard Time" (i.e. late for everything) but we have found ourselves running behind the last two rites. Hopefully with the resumption of indoor rites at Life Force Arts Center, our on time-ness will resume :)  The only other thing we forgot was as it was a Roman rite, to honor Vesta first and last! That might explain why our fire went out halfway through the rite (facepalm!)....we (or at least I) will probably do a special piacular-type rite for her before Yule.

Hope Everyone had a joyous and blessed Samhain!
Caroline, Webmaster, Wild Onion Grove

The rest of the photo album

Honoring Janus

On a chilly but sunny Chicago afternoon, Wild Onion Grove and friends gathered together in Waldheim/Forest Home cemetery to honor Janus with a Roman-styled rite. I'd like to thank everyone who attended, especially our first-timers (thanks, Regina, for taking a role!), and Janet Berres for offering to read the omens for us.

My apologies for the brisker-than-normal weather. Our Yule rite will be held indoors, we promise!

Special thanks to Artisans Guild Chief and Wild Onion Grove member Caroline Farrow for her fantastic Janus trinkets! And congratulations to Chris Sherbak, our new Senior Druid, Colleen Evans (Treasurer) and James Gordon (Secretary)!

Happy Samhain and Pagan New Year to all,
-
Jack
------------
Senior Druid Emeritus - Wild Onion Grove Chicago

Samhain with a Wild Onion Twist

The amazing thing about this time of year in the Upper Midwest is how varied, and often beautiful, the weather is. We've seen a ton of sunny, cool days this Autumn, some cloudy gray days foreboding a bit of what's to come, a three-day wind-fest (dubbed a Chiclone) and even a heat wave or two.

So, too, is Wild Onion's Samhain celebration - varied throughout the years. Sometimes it's a solemn occasion, sometimes a true celebration of the lives of the Ancestors who've passed on, and even a little experimental. One year we used a single deity (Hecate) for all the rite's invocations...Gatekeeper, DotO, Bardic Deity...everything. I think we took Her by surprise. Our omens weren't bad, per se, but it was as if we gave Her a fruitcake for Valentine's Day. A kind of, "Why are you giving this to me now?" kind of answer. It all worked out, thankfully, and we plan to work with her again soon.

This year we decided to ask Janus to be our DotO. We've asked a number of deities to add their magic to ours to open the Gates Between, and Janus has been our Go-To Deity for Roman rites in the past. We wanted to take a look at our traditional Gatekeepers, though, and honor Them as DotOs rather than functionaries. Wild Onion's last rite was to Mannanan mac Lir, and this Samhain it is Janus' turn to be honored.

We're also honoring our Ancestors as is traditional for this feast, and installing new officers -- busy, busy rite. Caroline, Chief of ADF's Artisan's Guild, is making Janus heads for the rite so that everyone can take a remembrance home of Him with them afterward. He looks back to the past from certainty for inspiration and lessons, and forward to the unknown for hope and progress. The Veil between Worlds may be thin, but so too is the Veil between Times. May Samhain grant us all quiet time to reflect on what was, and plan for what will be.

-
Jack
Senior Druid - Wild Onion Grove

We have a new blog!

At long last the Onions have a blog! Here you will find website updates, upcoming events, cool things we made, food, information about Paganism, ADF, polytheism etc, and general philosophizing from members of our Grove.

To start with, we have Samhain coming up. Every year we go to the Druid Monument at Forest Home cemetery in Forest Park to have out rite. You can find out more information about Wild Onion's 2010 Samhain celebration here.

Secondly, the website has had a complete redesign. Hopefully it is more functional, and we have added new songs, poetry, and crafts with more being added all the time. There is now a Book of Omens chronicling our relationship with our various deities as well.

Next up will be a review of our Samhain rite, and some musing on plans for the future...