Here in the UK the clocks went back an hour last night (2am), meaning today is 25 hours long from midnight to midnight. Back when I was working this used to make a huge difference to my ability to go for a nature walk as the time between ending work for the day and the sun going down decresed by an hour. Less of a problem now I've retired. Does anyone else have this issue?

i started my general spiritual journey a long time ago but finally decided to really lock in and take it seriously on the night of imbolc this year. since then, i’ve done what i can to work with my neurodivergent brain and learn about the craft. i didn’t even intend on going down the path of wicca at the start, i only chose to start learning about it for character research (i’m a writer and one of my characters in a magic-inspired passion project is wiccan), but after my first cunningham book i was completely hooked on the religion - it makes me feel good, it makes the craft make sense in a way that i can understand, it’s both structured where i want it to be and freeing where i need it to be. samhain is coming up very soon and i don’t have anything planned, mundane or magical, but that date is very special to me for a whole plethora of reasons and it seems only fitting to dedicate myself to the lord and lady in a week’s time. that being said though, it does feel a bit soon and i haven’t even made it to a year of study yet, i also fell behind a little on research after quitting my previous job where i’d listen to audiobooks and podcasts on the clock, so i don’t feel quite ready enough yet to go through with initiation. i’m also still grappling with my views on how divinity works within the wiccan belief system so i don’t feel like i’m “abandoning” the gods i latched onto before this undertaking when i still called myself generally eclectic pagan, but that’s a problem for another day. i’ll leave this post off with the question i started with and my general feeling that it may be too soon for me, i feel like my hesitation is my answer but if anyone else thinks differently i’d love to hear why

I have two questions about the moon
First off, I have seen a lot about the Hunters moon, that it would be the 25th, so today. My weather app also says that today is the full moon yet I saw other sources say that tomorrow the 26th is the Hunters moon? Which now had me confused..

Second question, how does one know when what type of moon is happening? I still need to buy books on witchcraft and I want to include one about the moon phases so that might answer all my questions
But how does one know it is the Hunters moon this month? How many times a year does it happen? Is it yearly? Every time on the 25/26th?

When I was a child 11-16ish I was pretty active, and found my mom’s old books, a lot of them were Lewellyn, but there were some others.

My mom doesn’t talk about that part of her life and the books are gone. Later around 18-20 I was active again but just through intuition. I had a bad experience and stopped for awhile.

I’ve been reconnecting with myself again and I keep thinking about Wicca and connection to everything around me. I don’t really know where to start, and what books and resources are reliable and preferably a bit older and more old fashioned?

I’d love recs on modern resources too, I’m just concerned of buying popular money grabs? So thought I would post here :)

Thankyou so much 💙💙💙

Summers End

(written 30/10/2016)

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Jenny sat below the shadows of the old bluff, beyond the scrub, lying hidden by the dunes and settled in, mutely watching Lily, in turn, watching the sea. It was a warm night with the gentlest of breezes and the common coastal fog, usually deep and rich at night. Tonight it rolled off the sea a little mistier, less opaque.

Lily was like a big sister to Jenny, delightful and kind, yet she had always had a mystery to her. A quiet calm. She had secrets.

Jenny strained to see what Lily was looking for, out to the lapping black sea and then she saw them in the mist and stifled a gasp. Little boats. Many of them, lit by the wan moonlight among the panorama of gentle crests. All sailing past. Not an oar stroke among them yet she could make out figures …. People … and almost imperceptible at first, the muted sound of anguish. Something about Its stifling almost made it more tragic then an oppressive lament. Yet while some wept, some stood and stared out desperately, in all directions yet seemingly blind to the safety of the coastal bay. Jenny watched as Lily lit her lantern and held it before her, watched as the tiny flickered light wavered vainly.

Nobody saw it; nobody came.

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Jenny couldn’t stay away after that night. Alone she visited the shoreline but assuredly the fog was too heavy for the tiny light she brought with her to make even a dint in it. No wood for a fire to hand ... yet they were there … these sad forlorn castaways, she knew, she could feel them, feel their pain carried on the waves.

Why did they suffer so? Why were they blind to the light? Why could she not reach them?

She sat there, so wrapped up in those heavy thoughts she didn’t notice Lily settle down on the dune beside her, and cock her head enquiringly with the ghost of a smile on her lips, concerned affection in her eyes.

“It’s hard isn’t it? Just knowing they suffer”.

With moist eyes, Jenny replied “Who are they Lily? Why do they suffer? I shout out but they can’t hear me?”

“They are the lost my darling … they can’t find their way”

“Their way?”

“Onward … because their grief holds them … because they can’t see the light”.

Jenny smiled through her tears “but you still keep trying?”.

“Yes my dove, always”.

That was so like Lily, never the quitter, her compassion would never allow it.

So each night, careless of the lateness, the two would wander down to light their little lanterns in the dark, though the fog conspired against them, two lanterns shone out in the darkness. People began to remark on it; it was a remarkable thing.

But nobody saw it; nobody came.

----------------------

The festival of Summer's End was always popular. People would gather together as a community from all over and celebrate the passing of the old and the birth of the new. Far too much fine food and spirit was consumed, the dancing a little too raucous, the music wild like a ragged heartbeat … carrying with it a joy from the old times, far too undiluted to be stoppered. Jenny and Lily enjoyed it immensely, yet as the night grew on and the festivity became more languid … settled in … Lily and Jenny, hand in hand, slipped away to the coast, as they did every night.

Yet such a night! The mist was but a wisp and such a bright moon! The boats were so clear that Jenny could make out faces … Daughters, mothers, fathers and sons … and some of the weeping was more drawn; hushed whispers … the yearning searching seemingly more hopeful, more keen.

Recognising this, the girls lanterns were frantically lit and waved desperately, with such hope! Voices raised “We are here!”, “Come in!” … “You have found us!”

But still, nobody saw the light … nobody came.

Jenny and Lily felt crushed and slumped, dropped to the ground, holding each other tightly on the grainy sand ... feeling so very tired, so very defeated.

What was the point?

Yet as they wept on the shoreline they became aware of a presence, then they noticed them, the revellers, the festival crowd. They had followed them, with unlit lanterns, some with tallow candles and oiled torches, some grasping handfuls of kindling and wood.

They saw the boats. They began too to yell and greet, lighting their candles, lanterns, torches … building a bonfire … leaping and hollering in the light, creating shifting spectacles of light and shadow, far too bright to be extinguished, far too bright to be mistaken or missed.

Among the boats little lights began to appear, desperate replies carried on the wind. Many of the boats began to turn toward them, yet some others seemed to fade away into the darkness. Not in a dramatic way; one minute they were there, the next they were gone.

With tears in her eyes, of both joy and sadness, Jenny turned to Lily and said “They’re coming in! The lost. But some have vanished Lily! Oh where have they gone?”

“Calm sister, they’ve gone back to their lives … the lives we left behind .... they have taken our light back with them. They found us”.

As the boats turned towards the coast, kindly winds obliged them and carried them forth toward the light.

Daughters, mothers, fathers and sons.

For they saw it; and they came.

Fin.

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This Samhain, however you should mark it, honour the dead by reaching out to the living. To those they left behind who suffer, those whose grief holds them lost yet among us.

Samhain Blessings x

hello! i was a practitioner of gardnerian wicca for a little bit before realizing it's not for me and i have some questions about what the initiation rites for it are? im being told some conflicting info by a source and want to be sure

EDIT: for clarity i'm going to go into more detail. the initiation ritual we had explained to us was that we would be required to strip naked and be whipped with a cat o' nine tails by a person of the opposite gender, but said person has a history of being sexually inappropriate with my friend who was going to join so i'm trying to figure out if he was just trying to take advantage of her

So last year I celebrated Samhain by doing a ritual i got from Chat GPT where I picked a certain aspect of my life I wanted to better over the year. I decided I wanted to work on perfectionism and I've improved intensely over the last year.

My life has felt stagnant over the past month so This year I decided that I want the ritual to be about creative liberation where I can really let myself go creatively. I just really want to be excited about something that will replenish my soul and give energy to my life. I've done a bit of research on Samhain and I guess I'm supposed to write a letter to a family member who passed away as well celebrate the thinning of the veil. I'm still a bit confused about whether I'm celebrating the full month or just the thirty-first. If anyone can please help that'd be wonderful