Ritual Poetry: Call to the Ancestors at Samhain

Here are some words I wrote to be used to honour the beloved dead at Samhain - or at other times. This call to the ancestors could be used as part of a solitary observation or a ritual with a larger pagan group. If you are on your own you could simply light a candle and say the poem, pausing in the middle to remember loved ones who have passed.

Call to the Ancestors

By memory I call to thee
Bloodlines of my ancestry
Beloved friends and family
Or distant names upon that tree

By memory I call to thee
Those I can no longer see
Veiled beyond mortality
Harken to this liturgy

By memory I call to thee
On this night please visit me
That we might reunited be
And talk again in harmony

[Pause for silent meditation on the ancestors]

By memory I called to thee
Beloved friends and family
Now bid you reverentially
To rest in peace and blessed be.

Copyright Lucya Starza October 2023

You can find more ideas for seasonal magic and ritual in my book Pagan Portals - Rounding the Wheel of the Year, published by Moon Books. Copies can be bought from Treadwell's bookshop at 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London, or from online sellers such as Waterstones and Amazon.