Wednesday 1 October 2014

October, Samhain and a Month of Celebrating Death


I'm going to be celebrating death on A Bad Witch's Blog over the next few weeks. Well, it is October, the month that culminates in Hallowe'en - or Samhain - and that's followed in early November by the Day of the Dead and then Remembrance Sunday.

The signs of death are all around us as autumn deepens and the leaves fall from the trees to rot on the ground. Soon the world outside will seem cold and lifeless.

Death can seem scary, but it is also something to be respected, honoured and celebrated as part of the natural cycle of life and the seasons. And to do that I'll be visiting burial sites, examining the Death card in Tarot, looking at deities associated with death, telling ghost stories and examining our attitudes to death and ways of remembering those who have died.

I will, of course, be writing about some of the events taking place in London on the theme of death. To start with, here's a plug for the London Month of the Dead, which runs until 2 November with tours, talks and private views on the subject of death and London cemeteries. It has been curated by a Curious Invitation and Antique Beat. To find out more information and to book tickets for the London Month of the Dead, visit: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

A bit later today I'll be posting a write-up of Seriously Spooked, the ASSAP ghost convention I went to last weekend, and  here are also a few links to some of my previous posts on the subject of death, funerals and burial sites:
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/03/book-dead-good-funerals-book.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/03/we-are-all-made-of-stars.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2012/07/review-journey-to-dark-goddess.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/03/eulogy-for-life.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/10/demeter-persephone-love-and-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/10/london-necropolis-highgate-cemetery.html

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