Oh no!  Covid-19 has put group rituals on hold, and what about the kids?  There are plenty of good options to have a very sacred Samhain (and celebrate the rare Samhain Blue Moon!), while keeping yourself – and others- safe.  Here are some of them, for both Rituals and Trick-or-Treating.

OK, the pandemic has been here for half a year, and in many ways, we are learning how to cope better.  At the same time, the turning of the Wheel of the Year brings us new challenges as we find that different approaches are needed to address the different activities which make up our year.  For me, Samhain is one of the most sacred parts of the year (well, it’s all sacred, but still…) – so what confronts us now?

Here I’ll offer some ideas for two widespread Samhain activities – rituals and trick-or-treating.

Rituals

Back in April, we saw how the pandemic had already changed so much, with both good and bad impacts.  One good impact has been the huge increase in online meetings, drastically cutting the environmental impact of air and car travel, while also allowing meetings of dispersed groups (such as Pagans and especially the even more rare Naturalistic Pagans).

Now, that trend has continued, with plenty of rituals available for Samhain! (and undoubtedly more than these, too, can be found with a websearch).

These all look good – though of course I don’t know the details of any of them.  I tried to pick ones which seemed likely to be mostly naturalistic, though ones with mentions of the supernatural can also be good – we are always free to see these as metaphors.  Probably one of the most important aspects is how emotionally powerful each one is, and that’s of course very hard to guess ahead of time.  Many require pre-registration, so don’t delay in looking them over!  One of them (Earthspirit) is today, in fact.

Circle Sanctuary

SAMHAIN 2020 ONLINE – REGISTRATION CLOSING SOON!
Friday, October 30, 7 PM CDT and Saturday, October 31, 10 AM – 5  PM CDT

Register by noon CDT on Wednesday, October 28th to join us for our online Samhain festival. We have wonderful things planned for this celebration, including a silent auction from October 25 – October 31, an exclusive concert by Damh the Bard on Friday, October 30, and a full day of rituals, workshops, and activities on Saturday, October 31.

SAMHAIN RESOURCES

• Looking for ways to celebrate Samhain? Circle Sanctuary’s online guide features articles, rituals, workshops, chants, and more!
• Tune in to Nature Spirituality with Selena Fox on Wednesday, October 28, for a workshop on Spirits of the Dead. Learn all about connecting and communicating with the Beloved Dead during Samhain time. The audio podcast will play here. Technology permitting, the workshop will be livestreamed on Selena’s main Facebook page: SelenaFoxUpdates.
• Subscribe to Selena Fox’s YouTube channel to hear Samhain chants and more!

BLESSED SAMHAIN!

Under the Ancient Oaks, John Beckett

URL is:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHXTJUOwyqM&feature=youtu.be

A Samhain ritual in the UK:   https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/samhain-online-ritual-tickets-123443507855

https://www.meetup.com/LondonWoodlandWitches/events/272246798/

Three CUUPS Samhain Rituals:

The Mystic Grove Samhain 2020: https://www.facebook.com/events/the-mystic-grove-at-first-unitarian-church-of-orlando/online-samhain-2020-ritual/1733059456843147/

https://uucf.org/events/samhain-full-blue-moon-online-ritual/

This one is tonight (Saturday October 24th)!  https://frederickcuups.com/2020/10/

Several more:

http://www.earthspirit.com/earthspirit-virtual-samhain

https://www.northbayreclaiming.com/rituals.html

https://www.facebook.com/druidsofthelight/

Trick-or-treating?

But for those of us who keep the kids excited about Samhain with Trick-or-treating, is that safe?  That will vary depending on your own situation.  Many parents are planning on augmenting the evening with additional, very safe, candy which they will supply themselves, and may or may not be going out with the kids, and assessing each house before approaching it.  In addition to that, I’ve seen several ways to more safely hand out treats to neighborhood kids.  One way to help is by setting out a table with dispersed candy so they don’t have to all reach into the same bowl.  Prebagging candy helps as well, and of course wear gloves and mask at all times.

In addition to those, there are also some fun ways to hand out the candy.  This Michigan man set  up a ghost on a pulley to hand out the candy – I plan to set this up too, it looks easy with only a little planning.

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/coronavirus-michigan-woodworker-creates-zip-line-ghost-deliver-halloween-goodies/4DYBW2V5GBBPXOGSIXAJP5YWN4/

It’s also easy to set up a PVC tube to slide the treats down.  That was my initial plan until Heather heard it and thought we should do something “more exciting”.  Both seem exciting to me!

More ideas are at this site, which include hanging treats separately on a wall/hedge or around a “graveyard” in your yard.  Have a wonderful Samhain!

Starstuff, Contemplating by Jon Cleland Host

We are assemblages of ancient atoms forged in stars – atoms organized by history to the point of consciousness, now able to contemplate this sacred Universe of which we are a tiny, but wondrous, part.

Dr. Jon Cleland Host is a scientist who earned his PhD in materials science at Northwestern University & has conducted research at Hemlock Semiconductor and Dow Corning since 1997.  He holds eight patents and has authored over three dozen internal scientific papers and eleven papers for peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the journal Nature.  He has taught classes on biology, math, chemistry, physics and general science at Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University.  Jon grew up near Pontiac, and has been building a reality-based spirituality for over 30 years, first as a Catholic and now as a Unitarian Universalist, including collaborating with Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow to spread the awe and wonder of the Great Story of our Universe (see www.thegreatstory.org, and the blog at evolutionarytimes.org).  Jon and his wife have four sons, whom they embrace within a Universe-centered, Pagan, family spirituality.  He currently moderates the yahoo group Naturalistic Paganism.

Heather is a parent and a scientist raising her four children to explore the world through scientific understanding and with spiritual appreciation of the Universe. She has a Master of Science degree in Physics from Michigan State University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in English Literature, also from the University of Michigan. She teaches physics as an adjunct instructor at Delta College, runs the Math Mania program at a local elementary school, has worked at Dow Corning as an engineer and at NASA as an intern, and she has led science outreach workshops for K-12 students through joint programs between NASA and the University of Michigan. She is a naturalistic non-theist, whose faith has been shaped by her childhood within the Episcopal Church, her adult membership in the Unitarian Universalist church, and through Buddhist meditation.  She has a passion for bringing science and spirituality to everyone in a fun way, both for her own family and for the wider community of the Earth.  She is a co-author with Jon Cleland-Host of Elemental Birthdays: How to Bring Science into Every Party.

See Starstuff, Contemplating posts.

See all of Dr. Jon Cleland Host’s posts.