Samhain Ritual, honoring the Morrigan

Detail of a color illustration: a black crow flies out from behind an outstretched spear and shield, against a pink and yellow streaked background

Date: October 29, 2023 3:00 pm

You’re invited to join Three Cranes Grove as we celebrate Samhain at the Spring Hollow Lodge at Sharon Woods Metro Park! This ritual is free, public, and open to all.

This year, our Samhain ritual honors the Morrigan, an Irish deity who is often known as a goddess of a number of scary things — death in battle, for example — as well as a goddess of sovereignty. As part of the working, we will each be approaching our own fears, taking them on, and invoking the Morrigan to strengthen us against them, to help us face our fears and transform them. (See our note on shadow work below.)

This rite will be held hybrid — all are welcome to join us in person, but we will also stream over Zoom. We strive to weave all attendees into our magic, no matter how they join us, and we invite all remote participants to pray at their home shrines along with us if they have them, or in the shrine of their heart if they do not, and to join with us in offering.

Schedule

While our ritual activities begin with conviviality at 2:30pm and continue with potluck after the rite, ritual is scheduled for 3:30 sharp (or as close as we can manage).

2:30 — Social hour/gathering
3:00 — Zoom meeting begins
3:15 — Pre-ritual briefing
3:30 — Ritual begins
Potluck to follow ritual

If you can’t make it in-person, we’d love to see you via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 337 362 382
Passcode: 477818

A note on shadow work

Working with our fears is not always comfortable, but it can be terribly valuable. We don’t want to scare you away, but rather to help you participate thoughtfully. Please come into ritual aware that the work may be hard, but equally aware that we are doing the work together (in person or in virtual space), and that the ritual team is here to support you in it.
 
All that said, consent is also central to our work, both among ourselves and between us and the gods, and we recognize that not everyone may be safely able to face their deep fears in this context — and that’s okay. If during the ritual you decide not to do this work, we invite you to step out of the space (or away from the computer, for virtual attendees) during the working. In doing so, you honor the Morrigan and all the gathered spirits by your self-knowledge and self-protection.

What should I have with me?

If you’re new to all this, check our information for first-time attendees!

Our working for this ritual involves facing our fears and asking the Morrigan to help us transform them into strengths, and we’ll be doing so through the medium of masks that are decorated to represent various fears. For in-person attendees, there will be painted physical masks available, but if you’re attending remotely (or if you’ll be attending in-person but have a specific way you would like your fear represented for your own purposes), feel free to download our mask outline template and use it, printed out or digitally.

Otherwise, there’s not much you need to have. Zoom attendees are welcome to give offerings at their home shrine, or in the shrine of their hearts. In-person attendees are welcome to bring offerings to give into the fire or well, or to scatter by the tree. If you’ll be joining in person, we also invite you to bring a dish to share at potluck. Not sure what to bring? Anything will be welcome, but hearty main dishes are always especially welcome. Many people have dietary restrictions, so if you’d like to be especially hospitable, it’s great to have a label for your dish, especially if a dish may be appealing to a particular population (vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.).

Location

Sharon Woods Metro Park: Spring Hollow Lodge
1069 W. Main Street
Westerville, OH 43081

Sharon Woods Metro Park is located in Westerville, to the northeast of central Columbus. The Spring Hollow Lodge uses a different entrance (off Main Street) than the main park entrance off Cleveland Ave. Use the lodge’s street address for GPS navigation — and/or see the park map [PDF].

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