Castlerigg Stone Circle earlier this year. 

Castlerigg Stone Circle on Halloween Night

After picking R. up from the train station, B. and I decided to call by at the stone circle to see if there was any activity there, as it was Samhain night, and the waning moon was still quite bright. When we arrived, it was as still as the grave, and walking up into the circle, with the moon shining silver on the cold stones, was an incredibly humbling experience. For a time, we stood and soaked in the atmosphere - I felt like the stones were charging themselves, or the Land, in tune with the season, or the Moon, or all of that! It actually seemed like we were the ghosts - the circle was the real, vibrant, everlasting event, and we were just guests, visitors passing through a brief spell of time. At times this sensation grew oppressive, perhaps scary, and at moments it felt like the energy of the Earth was passing right through me, re-aligning me to some deeper mystery, a more ancient track.

I really don't understand why everyone troops up for a party at the stone circle for the Summer Solstice, when the stones seem quiet and inactive, and then misses this awesome time when the veil is indeed for a while drawn back, revealing our shallowness in the hidden depths under the earth.

Hecate Ritual at Samhain

Fate conspired to provide me three priestesses this Samhain, so I wrote a suitable ritual to recognise the three faces of Hecate, and ask her grace in watching over us through the darker winter months. It was interesting and very effective having three voices whisper-chant the lines below (in nine rounds) as the invocation was read:

Heaven, Earth, the Underworld,
Past, Present, Future,
Three Points of the Triangle,
Three Faces of the Moon,
Spirit, Soul and Body,
Three-in-One, One-in-Three,
Three Torches, Three Directions,
Guide us in our Choices, Guide us in our Ways.

Our Samhain (Halloween) Pumpkin. B carved it as a "scary owl" as it had no mouth ... LOL. 

Altar for Hecate Ritual. 

Hecate, Triple Goddess. 

Brina's Site at Paws4Thought

Brina, my wife, now has her site regularly updated at http://paws4thought.blogspot.com/ and her personal site is live at http://www.brinakatz.com .

Her Blog has lots of photos too, and details of our walks, and her personal site has her writing interests, samples of her work, and stuff for her writing projects.