A Bewitching Reflection on the Season

By Beth Schreibman-Gehring, Chairman of Education for The Western Reserve Herb Society unit of The Herb Society of America

Will you follow me? Yes, I know that the woods are dark, but isn’t the smell intoxicating this time of year? The leaves are wet and seductively sour, sweet ripe apples are still hanging on the cool bare branches and the musky scent of deer lingers all around us in the still night forest.

The winds are stirring tonight and if you listen carefully they will tell you anything that you need to know. Take a deep breath, notice the smells that come to you. Yes, we are in the deep woods and there are the familiar sounds of animals curling in the brush and the musky, sweet smells of wet leaves, mushrooms and windfall apples.  An owl flies past, wings strong and silent and suddenly the shriek of its prey breaks the still, dark night yet another part of the great dance among the strands of the web of life.

Come gather with me around this friendly balefire. The flames smell absolutely wonderful, burning brightly with the magical woods of apple, oak and ash and scented with fresh branches of lavender for peace, white sage for cleansing and purification, mugwort for protection and rosemary, for remembrance!  It’s a beautiful evening, cool and crisp and I’ve laid piles of fragrant fresh hay all around so we can sit.

I hope you’re hungry, because I’ve brought homebrewed hard cider  infused with nutmeg, fresh honey and apples. The cauldron is filled with steaming hot pumpkin soup, laced with golden sage, curry and cumin and the last of the season’s sweet corn is roasting by the edges of the fire waiting to be drenched in the melted butter that has been laced with the disarmingly robust flavors of earthy black truffles, chilies from the garden and salt.

The waning moon is hanging by a silvery, slivery thread in the sky and the woods are quiet, except for the disconcerting sense that we are not alone. We’re probably not. It’s All Hallows Eve or All Souls Night, also known as the great Celtic feast of Samhain, the gateway between autumn and winter in the Northern Hemisphere that draws us into the darkest time of the year.  This is the time of year when the veil between the worlds becomes especially thin and the place where all souls can meet is the easiest for us mere mortals to see. I love this time of year, because I always feel so alive and connected to the wisdom of those who have walked before me.

“Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all of my ancestors are behind me. Be still they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands. “Linda Hogan

Samhain is a special time for me because it’s a moment that I simply stop for a long period of quiet reflection. Samhain or as you’ll know it Halloween, is the Celtic New Year and I am definitely all witch, or all Rosewitch as my husband teasingly calls me! Don’t worry; I’m a good witch to be sure. I really do believe in magic. Samhain is my time for deep reflection and divination, the time to honor endings and a time for us all to cast powerful new wishes and create empowering dreams for the new year.

Tonight, witches all over the world will look to the night sky while casting spells for dreams of peace and a prosperous world for everyone. We’ll bless and say prayers of gratitude for our ancestors. We’ll give thanks to mother earth and her green blessings that sustain us and keep us healthy and vital. Our creed is to harm none; we are the keepers of the earth’s most magical secrets. For years we’ve been the healers, the quiet herbalists who walk unnoticed among you.  We tend the gardens. We mix and brew the teas that heal and the potions that make life just a bit more interesting. Our recipes are passed down to our children hidden in our cookbooks and on bits of paper tucked away in old books. They are hidden in old bibles and hymnals along with tiny bits of pressed herbs and flowers.

We are the keepers of the older ways, the wiser ways.

For years we’ve lived cloaked in secrecy, afraid to be known.

No longer. The world is clamoring for our juicy green magic.

Yes, sometimes I think that people are afraid of us simply because our very nature is so earthy. Magic for me is happiness, playfulness and tenderness. It’s also about knowing that there are some things that you can control and many things that you can’t. It’s about acceptance and taking care of others as you would want to be cared for yourself. It’s about living powerfully with all in the world, not being afraid to see all that the world has to offer. It’s about tolerance. It’s about being at peace with the dualism of creativity and destruction. It’s about creating your own reality, not waiting for it or someone else to create you. Our gardens do that naturally year after year. Mother Nature is our greatest teacher. She understands the nature of magic inherently. She alone can show us how to evolve or die.

Am I truly a witch? I’ve known these things about myself for my entire life, since the first time I lay in the grass and watched magic unfold as I blew on the seeds of a dandelion. Am I a witch because I seek out the herbal knowledge that this fast-paced world seems to no longer have time for? Is it because the change of the seasons quickens my blood?  Is it because I follow the rhythms of the earth, honor the turning of the wheel of the year?  Because I believe more in the energy and the potency of the green recipes handed down from all the wise women who came before me? Because I would always choose the old ways first? Because I will not quickly forget the knowledge and the wisdom of those who came before me?

Here is what I know to be true.   I am an herbalist who instinctively knows that regardless of how many positive strides are made by western medicine, that there will always be a need for green magic and nature in the healing process. I will be here holding the space of the wise woman. I am the kitchen witch who loves nothing more than to spend long days in my gardens tending the healing herbs, fruits and vegetables, promoting healing through herbalism, flower and gem essences, aromatherapy and Reiki, while brewing delightful herbal potions to help keep you healthy, gorgeous and sexy all over, inside and out!

I dream of a world where we are completely connected to our mother earth and each other again. I’m finally beginning to see it appearing, even among all of the current madness. There are farmers markets on every corner, where we gather together to buy our fresh foods for the coming week. I can’t walk into a bar without being offered the latest craft beer or mead, in fact I’ve even begun to make my own beer and cheese again because everything I need is available for me to do so. We knit, sew and weave our own textiles. We keep chickens and bees. We make candles, soaps, herbal medicines and perfumes. Backyard herb and vegetable gardens have sprung up everywhere and so have community gardens. Every city that I’ve been to recently has its own delightful distillery.

What’s next? Maybe the return of the community bread and stew oven? And why not? One fabulous by-product of the last 20 years is that so many of us are finally cooking again. My phone and more often lately my email is pinging constantly with questions about herbalism, Reiki and natural healing. It seems that we are begging for all of the older knowledge that is tried and true. The old ways may be slower, but there is no better prescription for health and wellbeing than the food that you put on your fork, the water that you pour into your glass or the magical microbes found in a spade full of rich brown dirt.

If that’s not magic alive and afoot, I don’t know what is!

So, come dance under the moon with me tonight.  There’s truly a little witch in every woman and here’s a copper mug filled with my favorite steaming brew to help you find yours!  It’s made from steaming almond milk and fragrant dark chocolate, raw honey, my homemade rose syrup for love and healing, allspice for a year full of good luck, cinnamon for health, chili to warm you, a touch of vanilla for creativity and a lusty shot of herb infused amaro to enable you see between the worlds. I’ve also grated the last bit of my contraband Tonka bean from Paris over the top because who wouldn’t desire more love and prosperity in the New Year?

Sip it slowly, savor its smoky aroma and make a wish. Now tell me, what spicy magic would you like to create in your life this year?

Blessed Be ……. Beth