Samhain Quotes

“I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.”
― Carolyn MacCullough, Once a Witch

“I should add, however, that, particularly on the occasion of Samhain, bonfires were lit with the express intention of scaring away the demonic forces of winter, and we know that, at Bealltainn in Scotland, offerings of baked custard were made within the last hundred and seventy years to the eponymous spirits of wild animals which were particularly prone to prey upon the flocks - the eagle, the crow, and the fox, among others. Indeed, at these seasons all supernatural beings were held in peculiar dread. It seems by no means improbable that these circumstances reveal conditions arising out of a later solar pagan worship in respect of which the cult of fairy was relatively greatly more ancient, and perhaps held to be somewhat inimical.”
― Lewis Spence, British Fairy Origins

“I feel the nights stretching away
thousands long behind the days
till they reach the darkness where
all of me is ancestor.”
― Annie Finch, Spells: New and Selected Poems

“At Bealltainn, or May Day, every effort was made to scare away the fairies, who were particularly dreaded at this season. In the West Highlands charms were used to avert their influence. In the Isle of Man the gorse was set alight to keep them at a distance. In some parts of Ireland the house was sprinkled with holy water to ward off fairy influence. These are only a mere handful out of the large number of references available, but they seem to me to reveal an effort to avoid the attentions of discredited deities on occasions of festival once sacred to them. The gods duly return at the appointed season, but instead of being received with adoration, they are rebuffed by the descendants of their former worshippers, who have embraced a faith which regards them as demons.

In like manner the fairies in Ireland were chased away from the midsummer bonfires by casting fire at them. At the first approach of summer, the fairy folk of Scotland were wont to hold a "Rade," or ceremonial ride on horseback, when they were liable to tread down the growing grain.”
― Lewis Spence, British Fairy Origins

“Samhain is the threshold to the Season of Death.
The fertile fields of summer give way to the bare forests of autumn. As crops slowly die and winter takes over, the cycle of life is once again approaching
a renewal.”
― Dacha Avelin

“Autumn has arrived. I hear it in the whispering of leaves.”
― Anujj Elviis

“Halloween is a celebration of the inversion of reality and a necessary Gothic hat-tip to the darker aspects of life, death and ourselves.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Yea, she hath passed hereby, and blessed the sheaves,
And the great garths, and stacks, and quiet farms,
And all the tawny, and the crimson leaves.
Yea, she hath passed with poppies in her arms,
Under the star of dusk, through stealing mist,
And blessed the earth, and gone, while no man wist.

With slow, reluctant feet, and weary eyes,
And eye-lids heavy with the coming sleep,
With small breasts lifted up in stress of sighs,
She passed, as shadows pass, among the sheep;
While the earth dreamed, and only I was ware
Of that faint fragrance blown from her soft hair.

The land lay steeped in peace of silent dreams;
There was no sound amid the sacred boughs.
Nor any mournful music in her streams:
Only I saw the shadow on her brows,
Only I knew her for the yearly slain,
And wept, and weep until she come again.”
― Frederic Manning

“We weren't so much oil and vinegar as a lit match and napalm.”
― Lola Dodge, Temptress

“Across a golden Autumn tapestry appear the spirits of our ancient selves demanding recognition and reward for one haunted night. Sated, they retreat from winter’s onslaught and retire to subconscious hibernation for another twelvemonth.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Samhain was considered to be a moment when the veil between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest. Old gods had to be placated with gifts and sacrifice, and the trickery of fairies was an even greater risk than usual. This was a liminal moment in the calendar, a time between two worlds, between two phases of the year, when worshippers were about to cross a boundary but hadn’t yet done so. Samhain was a way of marking that ambiguous moment when you didn’t know who you were about to become, or what the future would hold. It was a celebration of limbo.”
― Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

“From moment one, you were the wildest thing I've ever seen. ll I do is imagine how you'd taste.”
― Lola Dodge, Ivory

“Halloween is a great holiday for any actor if you think about it. It's all about dress-up and playing characters. So yeah, it's always had a special place for me.”
― Nicolas Cage

“It was hard to judge a man's full character by his bachelor party etiquette.”
― Lola Dodge, Temptress

“From moment one, you were the wildest thing I've ever seen. All I do is imagine how you'd taste.”
― Lola Dodge, Ivory

“The position of sun and moon on the Feast of Beltane" is one, with a list if two hundred paired figures laid out beneath. Similar tables existed for Hogmanay and Midsummer's Day, and Samhainn, the Feast of All Hallows. The ancient feasts of fire and sun, and Beltane's sun would rise tomorrow.”
― Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber

“There were things that Pumpkin Head—now not Pumpkin Head anymore—had to do to be a girl. He had to be careful how he dressed, and how he acted. He had to be careful how he talked, and he always had to be calm. He was very frightened of what would happen if he didn't stay calm. For his face was really just a wonderful plastic one. The real Pumpkin Head was still inside, locked in, waiting to come out.”
― Al Sarrantonio, 13 Horrors of Halloween

“Leaves crumble under my feet as I walk, the scent of fallen apples and damp soil in air, the shadowlands felt in the mist hanging over the fields, ancient whispers awaken the night.”
― Solstice

“Good thing I was covered in chicken drippings, frosting and powdered cheese. I always did know how to impress a man.”
― Lola Dodge, Belle Fury

“The Phantastic Phantasms by Stewart Stafford

Halloween Henry sitting on top of a pumpkin he made

Eyes are ablaze

Morbid Melissa breastfeeding strychnine to all of the babes

Her smile never fades

Don’t you see that darkness creeping?

It’s a nightmare without sleeping

Trick-or-Treat Trevor knocking on doors with no head to display

It’s his headless way

Emmet The Clownface

Haunting the grounds of an old children’s school

He’s nobody’s ghoul

On a carpet of Autumn leaves

They’re around every All Hallow’s Eve

Sam O’Terry counting the bones of his earthly remains

None of them lame

Simon-Whose-Head-Hurts taking his 920th overdose

Chemically verbose

They will always do their worst

On October the 31st

©Stewart Stafford, 2018. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Why did I have to look like hell when he looked like he just stepped out of a comic book?”
― Lola Dodge, Temptress

“I had a party to plan, reminders to send, some positive PR to get out, L.A. travel plans to take care of and now a bit of a conspiracy to start unraveling.
For starters.
Just another average Sunday with the M10.”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“He shrugged and slipped the glasses on. "Do I look like a bodyguard now?"
With his solid muscle, that suit, and those shades? More like a hit man. But that would work. I needed people to keep their distance from the testy panther, and no one was going to come close when he looked perfectly capable of masterminding a mob hit.”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“Yeah. I was grinning. Running my tongue over my teeth, I felt the familiar jab of fangs. Shifting wasn't in my plans for the day, but it was hard to stop a little cat from slipping through when I was having such a good time listening to Angel eviscerate kids.”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“The moment Quan crossed a line with me, I'd have to shut him down, but either he hadn't crossed one yet or my lines weren't where I thought they were.”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“The modern world did have a few advantages.
Nice threads. Juicy steaks. Little black dresses...”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“When everything went wrong at once, it felt like folding origami in a hurricane.”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“My stomach rebelled at the thought of more food, but a scoop wouldn't hurt. There was always room for ice cream.”
― Lola Dodge, Angel

“But realistically, I could not kill my brother-in-law.”
― Lola Dodge, Ivory

“Pomona's Feast by Stewart Stafford

Home from aggressive begging on November Eve,
A horror movie that won't be finished in the background,
The pirate's booty or robber's swag is examined.

Face in the bag, a cornucopia of scents in the nostrils:
Oranges, nuts, burnt popcorn, chocolate,
Toffee apples, crisps, Liquorice Allsorts, and Rice Krispie cakes.

A smörgåsbord Pomona's feast begins,
As a maternal voice advises frugality,
To no avail.

Noses in the trough,
Nothing eaten bears any relation to the thing eaten before or after,
Aching gums, jaws, and bellies swiftly ensue.

To bed to sleep it off,
The next morning, it's déjà vu,
The maternal voice again advises eating breakfast first, to no avail.

© Stewart Stafford, 2021. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford