New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
| Merry Samhain! This ancient Pagan holiday is one of the most preserved in the modern Western calendar. To honor this sabbat, my community burns poppets to represent the banishing of our own unwanted dark sides.
Though the dark is not anything to be afraid of, everyone has habits, thoughts, and emotional experiences that they are not proud of. Samhain is the ideal time to send these things to the Underworld, never to return. Simply stitch a black poppet (a small human-shaped dolly) out of black fabric. Leave the head open, and fill the body with autumn leaves and herbs for banishing, such as nettles, black pepper, red peppers, clove, garlic, and onion. Put scraps of paper in the doll that list all of the things you wish to banish from your life forever. Dedicate this poppet as a representation of those things in life that you wish to banish. In a sacred ceremony, carefully burn the poppet to ashes while you focus on sending all these negativities away from your life forever. Be careful for what you wish for, and always be sure to leave offerings of food and flowers to the ancestors on Halloween. |
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