Materials Needed:
half sheet of paper for each participant
small pencil for each participant
fire

Priest:
"I want each to you to take moment and calm yourself
Take a deep breath ... then another
With each breath, you will take in calmness and a sense of the serene
With each exhale, you will push away the mundane world and its problems
No more fear....
No more worries....
No more noise and light and fury
There is just you ... in your right place in the universe
Floating free and calm ... ready for anything that may come."

"I want each of you to think a moment about this time ....
Feel the season fold its arms about you
The crisp air ... the coolness... the changing colours of the leaves
But most of all, I want you to be aware of the sense of mystery in the air
As if there are secrets just beyond your reach
Perhaps with help, we can bring those secrets into the light."

"As the Sun bleeds through the murk,
Tis the last day we shall work
For the Veil is thin and the spirit is wild
And Crone is carrying Harvest Child.
Burn the fields and dry the corn...
Feel the breath of winter born
Stow the grain against season's flood
Spill the last of the lifestocks blood."

"Here we 'stand'.... reaching out to each other
Our desires ... our wills ... connect ....
the energy leaps ... it flows ...
we are standing here .... one people in one place
A place that exists not in the worldly plane, nor in the realm of the gods
It is a place that is between worlds, safe for all."

Call to the East:
"Spirits of the East, air, intellect and reason,
we invite you into this place through this thinnest of veils,
and to charge us with your power."

Call to the South:
"Lord of the South, Guardians of Fire,
we ask you to join our Circle and be welcome!"

Call to the West:
"Spirit of the west, spirit of water, intuition
and the deep mysteries of the sea. Be with us now."

Call to the North:
"Guardians of the North, warders of earth, gateway to
death... and rebirth. Guard and protect us now in this time of Samhain."

Priest:
"Lady of Mystery ... cloaked in darkness blacker than night.
Giver of rebirth, join us now.
Pierce the Veil and allow those who have gone before to attend us."

"Shadow Lord, Guide and Protector.....
Pause on your journeys between the worlds of the living and the dead
and join us. Keep your Lady company as we probe the mysteries of the season."

"We are the first ... We will not be the last
We are not the river's source ... nor are we its end.
Life flows on ... from the ancestors ... through us ... and beyond.
Today, we turn and look upstream and honor our source...
Today we remember our ancestors.
Gone, but remembered.
Left but revered.
Away but near our hearts.
That which is remembered is always still alive.
That which we hold in our hearts never dies.
Those we remember are with us till.
We honor their names ... and remember."

"Take a moment now to remember the ones who have passed before us.
Remember the ones who have walked the path before time.
Remember the ones who have joined us in our journey, if even only for a short while.
Take a moment to remember."

PAUSE

Priest:
"Ancestors going back into the darkness, forgotten by history, your lives unrecorded...
Don't be afraid....
You are not forgotten.
We remember you.
And we invite you to join us in this circle and help us celebrate the mysteries of the sacred cycle
Birth, death, and rebirth."

"Samhain is the end of our year.... that makes it a good time to take stock of what the year has brought us."

"I want each of you to take a moment and look at your life....
take a look and see if there is something that you might want to be rid of.
Some habit or feelings that you wish gone.
Write it down on the paper."

PAUSE

"Fold the paper slowly. Fold after fold. With each fold, envision yourself growing further and further apart from what it is you want to rid yourself of.."

"One at a time, come up and toss your paper into the fire. And with it, toss all energies associated with it."

Everyone puts paper in fire

Priest:
"I want each of you to reach out ...
feel the energy flowing between us... It is there ... like a stream
Reach for that togetherness that made it possible for us to create this place between universes.
Let that energy become a river ...."

"With this energy, imagine those who may need healing. Those involved in recent tragedy, those involved in sadness or grief, or maybe those who have fallen ill."

"Repeat after me..."

"I have a wish
A wish to be
I reach out
Set the energy free"

"I have a wish...
A wish to be
I reach out
Set the energy free"

"I have a wish...
A wish to be
I reach out
Set the energy free"

"I have a wish.... a wish to be.
I have reached out .... AND THE ENERGY GOES FREE!"

"I thank all that have attended... both mortal and not ... go if you must ... stay if you wish..."

"What we have done here will not disappear with the circle. It will last as long as we remember."

"Merry ye meet and merry ye part and merry ye meet again. So Mote it Be!"