Samhain blessings...

To all in the northern hemisphere (and to those in the southern, beltaine blessings). The wheel turns and we are entering the darkest time of the year. It is a time for calling on our dead and remembering them. Here, in Hungary, it is a time when families come together and go to the cemeteries to visit those who have died. If tomorrow had fallen on a weekday, it would have been a holiday and people would have gone into work on the nearest Saturday. This tradition was one the first big differences I noticed from the UK. There are many more that I noticed later - and many more, I am sure, to discover.

Samhain is also the time for descent into the underworld of our own souls - to discover the jewels that lie hidden in the dark and repressed areas that we have been taught to hide from others and from ourselves. Tomorrow, we will again be enacting Inanna's descent into the Underworld as part of our ceremony. It is now a year since I began a journey which led to the edge of despair. There were times when I did not know if I would survive but as a result have discovered my own strength and power and a very real feeling of the presence of Inanna in my life. I do not believe I could have found this without taking the risk of non-return.

In a post a few days ago, Andy wrote of the labyrinth of initiation.

The journey of the labyrinth isn’t easy, because as one spirals in, so one spirals into death. At the centre of the labyrinth resides Cerridwen’s cauldron, and this is the cauldron of transformation, knowledge and rebirth, but before rebirth and knowledge can be bestowed, there has to be a death. There’s no shortcut, this process cannot be avoided, and although it may happen over many stages and on many levels, happen it must.

This description cannot be improved upon. Neither does it need expansion. I have been trying to do both but deleted each attempt. I only suggest that you go to Andy's site and read it for yourself. And I will close by repeating:
a very wonderful and magical Samhain to you all!.