Well, I haven't blogged much lately, but Samhain (or Halloween) is fast approaching. As a solitary pagan I have to ask myself what this means to me and how I will celebrate it. One of the 'problems' with being a solitary is that there is no set ritual, you have to start from scratch and build it up for yourself. But it's only a problem if you make it so - view it as an interesting exercise, a challenge even, and you see it in quite a different light.

I love this time of year, there is something very special about it. You can feel the changes in the air. A week or so ago everything still had a golden sheen, now it's darkened, like copal varnish on an old painting. THe original colours are still there somewhere, but they're harder to see now.

So how to approach Samhain? Divination tends to be easier - or at least different - at this time of year. That's because the veil thins out between this world and the other worlds that seem to co-exist around us. All sorts of possibilities open up, if only we are brave enough to look for them.

Apples are cheap and plentiful. Many of the Halloween games of my childhood seemed to involve them. Bobbing for apples, ducking for apples, toffee apples... and yet apples also signify the masculine life force (and pears symbolise the feminine.) At this time of year many Pagans believe that the Sun god - or god of light (or Oak King) finally dies, to be reborn at Yule (the Winter Solstice). Conversely, on the opposite side of the year, Beltane (May 1st) the Dark Lord, or Holly King dies, to be reborn at the Summer Solstice.

At this time of year, when the long dark winter nights are fast approaching, it pays to remember that the long bright summer evenings are just half a year's cycle away.

My world is all about finding the balance in life. I may not always succeed, but I'm always trying. :)