WC-20

Monica Crosson

As October’s Blood Moon rose over cragged peaks, pouring ethereal light upon the ever-moving water of the Sauk River, my family and I filed down a winding path lit by the flickering jack-o’-lanterns and canning-jar lanterns that hung from skeletal trees. Autumn’s chill wrapped around us, and we shivered as we made our way to our altar tucked beneath the arms of a vine maple and decorated with mums, apples, walnuts, and pictures of loved ones who had passed on, to pay our respects.

Included among the photographs were pictures of my two Stellas, one my grandmother and the other my friend—two beautiful crones full of sage advice whom I’d had the honor to know. My grandmother had propagated my love of gardening and my friend had fertilized that love, allowing it to bloom. There were others, too: great aunts and uncles, friends whose time on Earth seemed much too short, and countless lost pets.

That year, among the old photos were three neatly crayoned portraits of my daughter Chloe’s chickens—Lavender, Maisie, and Sunshine—and a picture of my son Elijah’s cat, Salem. Ironically, as Chloe wiped away the salty reminder of her loss, she was petting the culprit in her chickens’ demise—a golden lab named Yeti. “It’s okay,” she choked out. “I forgive you.”

We lit candles for each and left a few sprigs of rosemary (for remembrance), then filed slowly to our family’s circle on the edge of the Sauk River—a threshold between worlds—as my eldest son strummed out a haunting tune. The music faded and the circle was cast. We all played a role, which made the ritual feel more magickal somehow. The Blood Moon rose higher and the moonlight seemed to dance as it flooded our ritual space. A breeze seemed to pick up as the cone of power rose, and I remember a lump forming firmly in my throat. I truly felt the presence of the God and the Goddess, and I hoped they were pleased.

Choosing to allow your children to be active in ritual can be a wonderful way to connect spiritually with them, help give them a solid spiritual base, foster deep bonds between family members, and provide structure and security. I do understand that there are many reasons practicing Pagans have for keeping their activities private and not involving their children. Some people live in an area where it might be dangerous for them to come out of the broom closet, so they feel they are protecting their children. There are others who feel they can’t be open because they are the noncustodial parent and fear repercussions from the non-practicing custodial parent. Still others believe that children should be kept open-minded and be free to choose their own spiritual path.

Though my husband, Steve, and I definitely feel that there are many paths to deity and would be fine if our children chose to follow another spiritual path, we still thought it was important to at least lay those first bricks to a sound spiritual foundation. Our first and biggest lesson to our children growing up was the Wiccan Rede, “An it harm none, do as ye will,” not just in our magickal practices but in our everyday lives as well. So it seemed a natural next step for us to involve our children in our practices.

When the children were young, instead have involving them in a circle, we sang to the moon and made fairy houses and blew horns at dawn at Yule to welcome the newborn sun. We made crafts and wrote plays and spent every second we could in the best temple there is: nature. As the children grew older, we began with simple rituals full of song and dance. When casting a circle, we used simple rhymes that were easy to remember and packed a much bigger punch for the little ones. By the time they were seven or eight, they seemed to have a pretty firm grasp on what it meant to be Pagan, and as teenagers, they could plan and write rituals on their own.

Ritual with Children

Here are some simple ways to make ritual with your children a fun and magickal experience.

Incorporate Lots of Singing and Movement

Kids love songs and movement, be it dancing, drumming, singing, or ringing bells. Shake, baby, shake!

Create Sacred Space in a Fun and Simple Manner

Casting your circle with simple rhymes makes it fun for younger children and helps to impart simple lessons about circle casting, the elements, ritual tools, and so forth.

Give Your Children Jobs

Empower your magickal little ones by giving them a sense of responsibility. Give them a role to play, whether it’s speaking a line or lighting a candle. The more active they are in ritual, the better they will understand the sacredness of the event.

Keep Magick Simple

Don’t involve your children in spells that are not age-appropriate or that they have little or no understanding of.

Incorporate Seasonal Crafts

If you have children who love to express themselves artistically, arts and crafts are a fun way to instill spiritual lessons and get them involved with sabbat preparation. My children were big into making masks and acting out plays that they would write to coincide with our sabbat celebrations. If you need ideas for artsy projects, Pinterest is a wonderful site for craft ideas (warning: it’s addictive!).

Involve Older Children in Planning

As the kids get older, empower them by having them plan a ritual. You might be surprised at what they come up with. When she was fifteen, my daughter, Chloe, and her friend Hannah planned our Midsummer ritual, and it was absolutely wonderful! It’s a real confidence booster for the kids, and as busy adults, it’s nice to have the extra help.

Serve Kid-Friendly Cakes and Ale

Remember to keep the cakes and ale kid-friendly. Cookies and juice or hot cocoa are nice alternatives. Better yet, turn your little ones into Kitchen Witches by letting them help choose and prepare the cakes and ale.

Keep Ritual Short

Smaller children have short attention spans. A ritual for a preschooler might include singing and dancing under the full moon, followed by a cookie and some hot cocoa. Speak at your child’s level. Nothing bores children more than having to stand still while someone recites pages and pages of script. Let ritual grow as they do.

Keep the Ritual Area Safe

Before involving kids in ritual, make sure all candles are secure in proper candleholders. If performing ritual outdoors, pick up any sticks, rocks, or debris that may be a tripping hazard. Any fire should be built in a fire pit or cauldron and kept small.

Hold Separate Rituals for Adults and Children

Especially when your kids are small, it’s sometimes easier to have separate rituals—one geared toward the kids and one for the adults. As families grew within my coven, we did just that. As near as possible to the sabbat celebration, we planned events for our kids. On the evening of the sabbat, it was just adults.

Let Magick Happen

Don’t muffle children’s natural magickal abilities because they interfere with the script. In fact, when it comes to kids, you might want to throw out the script. Your script may say one thing, but if just dancing is working for the kids, just dance. Choose a simple outline for your ritual and always be prepared for the unexpected. Go with the flow.

A Moon of Many Names

Every family ritual is important to me, but there is something about our Blood Moon ritual that seems particularly poignant, and it has become my favorite. October’s full moon is known by many names. The days are becoming shorter, and as the leaves fade, the veil becomes thin as we pass into the dark half of the year. This was the time of the hunt for ancient (and some modern) people, so October’s full moon is sometimes called the Hunter’s Moon. To some, when the full moon in October falls closer to the autumn equinox, it is called the Harvest Moon. To others it was known as the Blood Moon, for it was also a time of butchering domestic animals Although my family celebrates the Blood Moon, it really has nothing to do with butchering livestock. It has deeper connotations for us, roots that reach far into the soil and spread across North America and into Ireland, England, Germany, and Scandinavia. Blood for us means “family.”

I bet I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, duh, Monica. That’s what October’s Samhain is all about: our ancestors.” But as parents of young children, we realized quickly that we couldn’t juggle the sacredness of a Samhain ritual and the excitement of trick-or-treating and Halloween parties for the kids all in one evening. Our solution: a Samhain-like ritual just for our family on the night of October’s Blood Moon. We used it not only to venerate our ancestors but also to celebrate our nuclear family. That way, on the night of Samhain, after an evening of haunting the town with our family, I was free to spend much-needed adult time with my coven at our Samhain ritual while Steve stayed home and put our little goblins to bed.

If you’re interested in performing a Blood Moon ritual with your family, here is an example that includes a fun craft idea and some recipes. You will need to begin this craft a few days before the ritual. Older kids could do this by themselves, but younger ones will need assistance from a parent or older sibling.

Remembrance Besom

You will need:

• An interesting stick (found on the ground and not taken from a tree) or a dowel 3 to 4 inches long and about 1 inch in diameter to use as a handle

• Straw or other herb stalks

• Twine

• Rosemary twigs (for remembrance)

• Sage (for wisdom of the crone)

• Scissors

• Charms (such as moons, stars, skulls, etc.)

Soak the straw or herb stalks overnight in lukewarm water. When ready to make your besom, pat dry the straw. Place your stick or dowel on a table, and line straw along the handle approximately three inches from the bottom. Bind tightly with twine. Gently bend the stalks over the binding. Before securing, lay a few pieces of rosemary and sage onto the straw. Wrap with a couple inches of twine to secure. Let dry for a couple days. Decorate the handle by drawing or painting symbols of your choice. String a couple charms on twine and tie around the base of the broom. Before your Blood Moon ritual, let the kids use their new besoms to sweep away negativity from the circle.

Samhain Cider

1 orange

2 quarts apple cider

3 cinnamon sticks

¼ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 apple, sliced, with the slices studded with cloves

Maraschino cherries

Slice the orange and place half in a large pan (or a slow cooker—this just takes much longer).

Add the apple cider, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, vanilla, and apple slices studded with cloves. Warm the mixture (do not boil) for about half an hour. Remove the oranges, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Place a slice of reserved orange, a few cherries, and a fresh cinnamon stick in large mugs and fill with the hot cider.

Soul Cakes

½ cup butter

½ cup baker’s sugar

3 egg yolks

2 cups flour

Cinnamon to taste

½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup raisins

Milk

Cream butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat in egg yolks. Sift the flour and cinnamon into the butter mixture. Add the vanilla. Stir in the raisins and enough milk to make the dough soft. Shape the dough by hand into flat, round cakes about the size of a biscuit and place them on a greased cookie sheet. With the point of a sharp knife, cut a spiral circle into the tops of the cakes. Bake at 350°F for about ten to fifteen minutes or until brown.

Blood Moon/Samhain Ritual

Kids love to dress up, so before the ritual, let the kids go crazy with facepaint and costumes. Paint symbols in black, orange, and red on their faces and hands. Have them dress as fairies or in one-of-a-kind cloaks that they helped decorate.

Next, bring on the besoms. While the kids sweep away all negativity from your sacred space, beat the drums or sing fun songs.

Set up your altar with traditional Samhain decorations, which may include apples (for the divine), hazelnuts (wisdom), rosemary (remembrance), and sage (wisdom of the crone). Also have photographs and drawings of those you would like to remember and tealight candles for each.

Cast your circle in your own way. Then have one parent say the following:

The end of summer is upon us, and as we face the darkness, let us remember, we do not do it alone. For the veil is thin this night and the love of those who have crossed over shines upon us. Because we remember, they live on.

Then one by one have each family member go to the altar and light a tealight for the family member (or pet) they would like to remember. Have them pick up the photograph and share a story or fun memory of their loved one.

When you are done, close the circle in your own way.

Enjoy traditional soul cakes and hot apple cider for your cakes and ale. While doing so, play a few divination games or tell some good old-fashioned ghost stories.

This year we will celebrate yet another Blood Moon. We will file down that same winding path we have followed for almost two decades. The trees that rattle their skeletal branches in the cool autumn breeze are a little taller and the salmonberry and Indian plum have become overgrown, but the power that is raised by us, the Crosson Witches, is strong. For we are a family bonded by blood and secure in the knowledge that we will always have each other. We will always have memories of those nights under a full Blood Moon. Thank Goddess for family!

Monica Crosson is a Master Gardener who lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, happily digging in the dirt and tending her raspberries with her husband, three kids, two goats, two dogs, three cats, a dozen chickens, and Rosetta the donkey. She has been a practicing Witch for twenty years and is a member of Blue Moon Coven. Monica writes fiction for young adults and is the author of Summer Sage.

Illustrator: Tim Foley

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