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Witchy Woman Walking
An immersive podcast experience for all the witchy people who prefer walking woodland trails to sitting behind a desk. These conversations are designed to infuse magic into the mundane, inspire a deepening of one's personal practice, and to remind us all that spirit is always there waiting to be rediscovered.
Witchy Woman Walking
Sacred Samhain ￨ Walking with Ancestors
Samhain is upon us! The veil is thin and our ancestors are waiting to be invited to the table. In this episode, we'll talk about the history of this ancient festival and how to bring these sacred practices into our modern lives. This episode may inspire you to carve a pumpkin (or creepy turnip!), host a dumb supper, and create an alter for your ancestors. Grab that pumpkin spice latte and let's talk Samhain!
What I'm Reading?
https://bookshop.org/shop/witchywomanwalking
Hester by Laurie Lico Anderson
The Illustrated History of Ghosts by Adam Allsuch Boardman
What's for Dinner?
Moroccan Red Lentil Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
Onion, celery, carrot, garlic
Coriander, cumin, paprika, cinnamon turmeric (1 teaspoon each), red pepper flakes (1/2 teaspoon, add at the end of cooking process)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh cilantro and flat leaf parsley
2 cups red lentils
8 cups veggie broth
1 can diced tomatoes
Juice of one lemon
Sauté veggies, add spices (cook 2 minutes), add lentils broth, diced tomatoes. Bring to boil then simmer 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, fresh herbs, and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
Harvest Scones
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/harvest-pumpkin-scones-recipe
Resources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Druid
https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain
Welcome to Witchy Woman Walking. I'm your host, Cate. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Samhain is upon us, and what better time for a walk? The air is crisp, the trees are wearing their fall colors, and the feeling of magic is palpable. If you're joining me for a walk today, can you feel that?
And if you're unable to walk along with me, are you ready to embrace this magical moment? Maybe with a spiced latte in hand, or a pumpkin waiting to be carved. Whatever you need to do to sink into your spooky vibes, do it, and then join me. I'll wait, because we're about to talk. Samhain. But before we get into that, let's talk about the magical scene around me.
So it is Uh, about a little before 8am on Wednesday, October 25th. This is an important day for me, um, because it's my son's birthday. I've taken the day off. He's sleeping in a little bit, and after I'm done recording, I'm gonna get us some breakfast, and we're gonna just spend the day together. Um, it's also, October 25th was also my maternal grandmother's birthday, and October 24th was my mom's birthday.
I actually went into labor with my son on October 24th, on my mom's birthday, but he wasn't born until the next day, my grandmother's birthday. So it's a very special, it's a very special time. So it's about 46 degrees Fahrenheit, I think that's about 7 degrees Celsius. Um, it is partly cloudy today. Um, the sky that I'm looking at right now is, it's pretty, it's, it's blue in some spots, but it's definitely a little cloudy in others, so it kind of just depends on where you look.
There is a blanket of leaves covering pretty much every surface and the woods just seems to be kind of folding in on itself. Like the trees are sort of arching over the path that I'm currently on. Um, it's beautiful. The air smells amazing. I even have a cup of tea in hand, which is not the easiest thing to have something else in my hand while I'm walking.
But if you're curious, it's a pumpkin roobois tea and I put this like cinnamon swirl, uh, oat milk creamer in it. It's quite good, I have to say. But I don't know if I'm going to be able to actually stop and take a sip, so... We'll see how this goes. So, as always, I'll point some things out as they catch my eye, but for now, let's get into, let's get into Samhain.
If you've seen this word written, you might have thought it was pronounced Samhain. Oh, it's muddy. It does look that way, but that is actually not the way it's pronounced. It is pronounced Samhain. And this is um, a Celtic word and it was Samhain is a festival that was celebrated by the ancient Celts occurring halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
Samhain was celebrated throughout ancient Celtic communities of Europe, including Ireland, Scotland and Wales. And it was thought to be a liminal time when the veil lifted between the human and spirit realms. I'm on a different part of the path, I just need to look around for a second to make sure I don't lose my way.
It's amazing how you can be in the same, the same paths, but they look so different from week to week. I also have a terrible sense of direction, so I should probably throw that in. All right, let me look back. Hmm. All right. Okay, so the ancient Celts, they divided the year into two halves, the lighter half and the darker half.
And they held four celebrations to mark the changing seasons. I love this because as humans, I think we really need these ritual touch points, if you will, um, that connect us to nature. So there's Imbolc, which is celebrated halfway between the winter solstice and the, uh, spring equinox. There's Beltane, which is halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.
Lunasad, which is celebrated halfway between the summer solstice and the fall equinox. And then Samhain, which, as I said, is halfway between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. Samhain was arguably the most significant, as it's thought to have represented the Celtic New Year. Hold on, it is super muddy right here.
Oh, and the leaves are kind of wet, so I don't think you're going to be able to hear them too much. I'm trying to think of when it even rained, I guess, I guess it rained a couple days ago.
So this, the Celtic New Year, the liminality, that in between, all of that was really central to ancient Celtic spirituality. Liminal spaces even, like the shoreline. Or, you know, where the, where the, the water meets the, meets the earth or times like dusk and dawn. They're, they're really important. And I don't know about you, but I've always felt drawn to those types of spaces and those types of, those times as well.
So, Samhain didn't just mark the change from summer to winter, but it represented this liminal period in between the two seasons. So this is why we call it a thin time. Samhain was also considered an auspicious time for the Druids, for them to practice divination, since the connection to the spirit world was stronger.
Um, if you're not familiar with the term Druids, the Druids were believed to be members of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They were priests, teachers, judges, um, but Druidism as a whole is shrouded in mystery because the ancient Celts didn't use the written word. So all of our accounts about the Druids actually come from outsiders, particularly the Romans.
And since the Roman church was looking to stamp out pre Christian religions, We have to question the validity of the accounts. So, in fact, back in 835 CE, in an attempt to depagonize Samhain, the Roman Catholic Church turned November 1st into a holiday to honor saints called All Saints Day. The evening before All Saints Day became All Hallows Eve and later Halloween.
Interestingly, the celebrations and practices really haven't changed much between Samhain and Halloween. So I guess they enjoyed the pagan practices, . So back to the Druids for a second. So they would start a ritual bonfire on salmon, and the light would call people across the land to gather and build their own, their own bonfires.
And around the bonfires there was dancing and feasts, and all of that took place so people could celebrate the season of darkness. And change my path for a second here. Get my bearings. Okay. Ooh. The sun is just shooting through this one section of the trees. Ooh. Okay. Don't stare directly at it. Note to self.
Okay, so some of the traditional stories said that people would disguise themselves as spirits to fool the real ones. Hmm, sounds familiar. During Samhain, people were also said to carry treats in their pockets, whoa, to give away as bribes, should they be caught by a dark spirit. They also held jack o lanterns, but theirs looked, uh, like...
hollowed out turnips, potatoes, and beets lit by candles to illuminate the night and scare away the spooks. So if you've ever seen a picture of like, like a turnip, like a jack o lantern turnip, it's, it's something. So I get a little thrill out of imagining people long, long ago celebrating the same sorts of things that we do today.
So of course, things have changed. Ancient Celts probably didn't have slutty nurse costumes, or Iron Man. I mean, that's just a guess. But they did come together in many similar ways. But one thing that Samhain embraced that some of us have forgotten is, uh, Ooh! Hold on a second guys. There is a big crater on the path that I just stepped into.
So one thing that they forgot is an honoring and connection to our loved ones and ancestors on the other side. Samhain is a time to embrace the inevitable reality of death. We will lose ones we love, and one day, we will also be gone. We don't have to think about this necessarily as a scary thing, but it is the cycle of life.
We often push this reality away, because honestly, who wants to think about it? But Samhain calls us to pay attention. This can be a special time to honor our ancestors, because the veil is thin, as we've said. So here are a couple ways that you might want to consider doing this. If you have photos of your loved one you can Gather them together and put them on an altar.
And I, I think I mentioned in the last episode, maybe I didn't, um, altars, I, I'm not going to go into big detail here, but altars can be any place that you create with intention. So an altar is not going to be a place that you drop your dirty dishes or you, you know, blow your nose and leave a tissue on.
Like this is, this is not what we do with altars. Altars are sacred spaces that we keep clean, that we place objects of importance, that we... You know, think of... Like a fireplace mantle, that could even be considered an altar. You know, you, if you, if you set up pictures of family members, you put some cut flowers, maybe some stones, um, a special crystal, uh, I mean, it can be, it can be anything, but you keep it, you, you keep it cared for.
It could be a window sill. It could be a little table. Um, an altar can look many different ways, but the idea is that you treat this space with intention and with care. Um, I'm going to pause for a second because I'm by another little stream. And it's just very gently, very gently flowing. You can actually see my breath, too.
It's, it's chilly enough and there is a bright red tree in front of me. It's like got dark red leaves on top, sort of pinker leaves. I'm a little bit closer to the road so you may be able to hear a car. The woods spills out into, um, like a public space with a little, um, with a little swimming hole, although I don't recommend it.
My kids like to call it Leech Beach. We went there when they were little and I think some, uh, some kid found a leech and that, that was it. That was our, that was our last time going there. Um, so I'm gonna go back into the woods. Get away from Leech Beach. So you could do that. You can set up, you can set up photos and create a little altar space.
Um, my, I actually have two spaces that are, that are special to me. So there's the, the altar by, um, where I have a fireplace and I have cut flowers. I have a piece of driftwood that my mom had found. I have, um, a few stones that are from a sacred space, sacred place. Um. in Scotland. I think I have one crystal.
I have a little, a little ceramic cauldron made by an artist that my mom had given me. Um, that's what comes to mind right now. Then I have another space in my bedroom and it's just a little chest that my mom had given me and I, that's where I place a, a very soft little mat and her meditation cushion.
And that's where I go to do my card pulls, to meditate, um, and that's where my cat knows as soon as I sit there, she's like, oh, I'm coming. Let's do this. So any space like that could be where you might set up photos. You could create an ancestor box or maybe you have one already. A box that just holds items that make you think of the person and you can bring them out and Really take time to look and feel each item, look at and feel each item.
And then another op, another option which is something I think I'm going to try this year and I haven't done it yet. It's called a dumb supper, kind of a funny name, but it's a custom that comes from Celtic culture where you eat a meal and leave a space at the table with a full plate for the ancestors.
This can be silent or not, but it can be a time to, if you decide not to do it silently, just a time to tell stories about the ancestors or talk to them.
So, in my experience, when you lose someone, you can either become obsessed with them, thinking of nothing else, or sometimes you push them away in order to learn how to live without them. I think that I did the latter when my mom died 12 years ago. We were so close that I couldn't fathom a life without her in it.
Everything felt wrong when she died. And yet the world kept spinning, even though mine felt like it was crashing down. If you've ever lost someone, you've probably experienced this. It seems utterly absurd that people could still be grocery shopping, or going to work, or celebrating anything, when something so cataclysmic has just happened.
You look around like, what the fuck? Don't you know that this amazing person has just died? They're not here. Are you paying any attention? It's it. What?
It's a real thing. I don't know that time always heals, per se, but it does change the way that things feel. For me, the loss and the ache is still present, but I finally feel like I can have a new relationship with my mom. A relationship free from her human limitations. Of course, I still have mine, but things...
Um, there are things that she carried that got in the way sometimes. Insecurities, traumas, fears. Now I don't think that she's burdened by those. And that's a comfort to me. And also an opportunity. Maybe. For years, I dreamed of my mom after she died. And the dreams were largely unsettling. She'd always be dead, or about to die, but she didn't know it.
And I'd ask myself, like, should I tell her? How does she not know that she's dead? This is really awkward. I don't want to be the one to bring up this upsetting news. It was like this weird way that I was trying to make sense of things. Like I was trying to convince myself that she was fine. Because it still seemed impossible that she could be gone.
Um, I think the dreams, like they never felt like visitations. It was almost like I was trying to keep her at an arm's length. But, while she was dying, in her last moments here, I asked her to come back as a hawk, which was her favorite bird, to let me know that she was okay. I have had many hawk encounters, one I'll actually tell you about shortly.
Um, in real life I've had them end in dreams, as have many of my close friends that knew and loved my mom. And those encounters always feel like a gift. But beyond that I haven't always fully sensed her around me. I've wondered is she just somewhere else? Is it me not tapping in? Maybe both? But as I've started getting more serious about my practice and connecting more with my spiritual self, I feel like things are starting to shift.
So this weekend my daughter was racing in a regatta called the Head of the Charles. It's held in Cambridge, Mass, and it's a huge event. It brings rowers from all over the world. There's about 11, 000 rowers. Um, so it's, it's a really, it's a really special event. So anyway, it happened to coincide with my brother's.
50th birthday. Um, and my dad had also had his birthday a few days before that. So October's a big, a big time. So my dad and my sister and I went up together and my brother and his wife and kids were there and then my husband was there and my daughter's boyfriend and As we're standing around, all huddled together, waiting for...
Just walking by the waterfall here.
As we're standing there, waiting for her boat to, to come by, my sister goes, Ah! Ah! She like exclaims and she's pointing, and I'm like, What? What? What? And, um, it takes me a while to find what she's looking at. And it was a giant hawk that landed in the tree above us. And it sat there and it waited until every one of us had noticed it.
And then it soared overhead towards the river. Maybe off to find my daughter. Um, that was pretty intense. I'm not gonna lie. And then after writing this, I had a dream. Um, the night of my mom's birthday. So it was, um, so it was, it was technically the 24th. Um, but I had gone to bed on the 23rd and I think I had the dream somewhere in the morning.
Before, obviously before waking up. And it was a really simple dream. My mom... was going to help me clean something. But before we started cleaning the thing we were about to clean, I started washing her arms. And under her neck with, um, this pumpkin sponge that my daughter and I had gotten from Trader Joe's.
It always comes back to Trader Joe's. So it was strange because she didn't need me to give her a sponge bath. Like, she was healthy and well, but that's what I was doing. It was simply an act of love and honoring, I think. Um. It was a very different dream experience for me. This is honestly the first dream I can remember having of her in the last over 12 years, where she wasn't dead.
So, I gotta process that one a little bit. So, after that, um, I decided, like I said, yesterday was her birthday, and I wanted to do a special card pull for her. I have another card pull for us, um, but I had to tell you about this. I wasn't necessarily planning on including it, but I had to. So, she would have been 72 this year, and as I was shuffling the cards, I invited her in, and I asked her if there was anything that she wanted to tell me.
And I asked her to show me, um, that she was around, somehow. And so one card literally jumped from the deck. And I've mentioned before that when I shuffle, I just, I just shuffle. I just shuffle until I feel complete. Until I feel like, okay, now it's ready to pick the top card. Or, if a single card falls from the deck, or jumps from the deck.
And this one... This one felt clear. Um, it, it really did jump out as soon as I asked the question. And I almost couldn't believe what I pulled. So I need to go find a spot, go back to the waterfall, so I can lean and take out the card. Um. But as I've mentioned, I am, I'm a skeptical person. I'm not, in many ways, I am a realist.
But I also believe in what we can't see. So, I'm both. So when this card jumped out at me, I couldn't, I couldn't deny it.
Okay, let me put my teacup down on this rock, and let me pull out my little book here.
So I'm still working with the Salon Oracle deck, The Seasons of the Witch, and the card I pulled is the Elements card, and it's for women. But the woman that's sort of leading the card, they're all different elements, and she looks like my mom. And she's the air element. And my mom was air, air, air all the way through.
And this woman with this long, my mom had long sort of platinum white hair. And this woman has this very light hair, she looks very ethereal, and right next to her is the fire element. And she's a redhead, like me, uh, carrying a flaming staff. Water and fire are the ones that I always, the elements I connect with.
And then the words below are Mother Earth, Harmony. Remember to feel the warmth pulsing through her womb. You are a child of Mother. True Harmony awaits you. And I was like, okay. Really? Um, the card is, I'll, I'll read, I'll read more of what it says. Okay. It says, Do you feel the heat of the fire, the dampness of water, the whip of the wind, and the weight of earth?
Imagine being Mother Earth dealing with all the elements. Somehow she manages to find harmony. The elements card represents harmony and the need to make room for all energies. by allowing yourself to be present. For example, if you feel sad, sit in the sadness and ask your sorrow what it needs to know.
The same applies for the different emotions that come up for you. You are being guided to find harmony, despite the various storms blowing your way. There is a reason for every symbolic storm, every quake, every fire, and every mudslide. You may not see the reasons behind these events. Nevertheless, these occurrences are happening so that you can release this energy, making way for healing to take place.
Each season in your life must have time with you. You must allow the abundance and bountiful color of spring. and the creativity and illumination of summer. But you must also allow the releasing and shedding of fall. Things must fall away once they've served their purpose. And do not forget the quiet hibernation of winter.
Don't fight against the seasons. Flow with them, embracing each one for the gift to offer. So, the card itself is beautiful and the message is beautiful, but the fact that it spoke directly of the mother and the womb and the two of the women on the card were very symbolic in look of my mother and I was, um, yeah, that was, that was something.
Um, so... What this tells me is that, during Samhain, try not to push away your loved ones. Invite them to the table in whatever way you see fit. Honor the love. Release the pain. And invite a new, more than human relationship to emerge. That's what I'm going to try to do. I think I'm finally ready to have a new relationship with my mom.
Wow.
But if ancestor work isn't calling to you right now, it's not the right time, or maybe you don't have someone that you're looking to connect with, then you can also use this time to consciously decide what in your life should be put to rest. What has reached its end for you? Through death can come rebirth.
So what needs to die in order for something else to be born? Maybe you can hold a little ritual for this. time It could be as simple as writing something down and then safely burning it, or burying it, or just sitting in meditation. Use this time to be mindful about the things that are hanging on and dragging you down.
And then you can even ask your ancestors to help you let them go.
Ah, it's so nice in the woods right now. The sun is just peeking through all the treetops right now. It's gotten less cloudy as I've been walking along.
So, even though I just showed you, or I didn't show you, I described the card poll that I did the other night. That was really for me. I also do one for you. And so, in the card poll, I ask Spirit. What, what my listeners need to hear. And the card that come up, came up, and it came up multiple times, um, was a card with the, uh, the heading of the card says rooted.
Now this was kind of interesting to me because the day I did this Um, I had just seen my spiritual director and the word that kept coming up in our session was rooted. We kept talking. She actually asked me to give her my definition of being grounded because it was a word that she struggled with. And so we talked about grounded and I heard myself say the word rooted multiple times.
And then this. A card came up in my poll and you know, I have not worked with this deck very much I don't know all the cards. Some people get a deck and they look at every card. I don't do that I kind of like to be surprised so I don't know what's in the deck Unless it's come up for me already And so this card I hadn't seen yet And then I I did the the I did the shuffle multiple times and this card came up three times So I was like, okay I think I have to read you this one, but now I got to go back to my spot.
I keep walking away, and then I realize, oh, I got to go back.
This episode, I think, might be a little longer today. We'll see. If any episode's going to be longer, it should be the Samhain episode, because there's a lot to say. Okay. So, let me pull out the card and tell you a little bit about what it looks like,
if I can find it.
So, it's a woman walking in the woods. She's got sort of dark auburn hair. There's just some bare trees around her. She's got a long, sort of light colored dress on. And it says, it's a pretty eerie looking card. It says, Grounded connection. May you never tear the living ritual that is magic, merged within the roots of your being, the soil of your soul.
And it goes on to say, we are often told to start with building intuition, which is undoubtedly true. Never underestimate the power of working with the spirit. You need to learn to ground the spiritual information into your physical life. To be flighty is to connect to spirit, but to be rooted. is to become a channel for spirit.
You become a vessel that allows the divine intelligence to spread its wisdom here on earth. A more familiar word is manifestation. Being grounded is about being present and aware of how things make you feel. You have to feel into your body. You are being asked to dig deeper. Maintaining deep roots is how you pull yourself from the darkness.
It's easy to get grounded or to do your spiritual practice when things are going well. It's an entirely different ballgame when you feel defeated and broken. But the darkest parts of your journey are when you need to be rooted most. The real gift of spiritual commitment is found when you feel like your back is up against a wall.
Don't give up when times are hard. Instead, find nourishment below the surface. Find your connection to your true self, your ancestors, your guides. And your instinct. Trust your instincts. Your situation is not hard so that you give up. It is a call to surrender to your practice. So.
I know several people that have been going through some hard stuff. And it's, it's hard not to feel, um, like you're being punished. And it's very easy to think that there's no one looking out for you. There's nothing supporting you and that there's no reason for any of this to be happening. Um, but sometimes,
sometimes, as I've said in a past episode, there are lessons to be learned. I would never say that to someone that's going through a struggle because sometimes the struggle is so painful that you can't ever see a reason for something like this to happen. And maybe, maybe you never do. Maybe it's something so horrific that you can't ever see why that would have happened.
But sometimes life is just hard. And we're gonna get through it. And we're just in a moment where things suck. They just suck. But that doesn't mean they're gonna suck forever. And when your back is up against the wall, and you have nowhere else to turn, you can turn inward. And upward and outward, downward, um, downward to root, you know, and upward and outward to open yourself up to, to guidance.
And spiritual. Support. If you're someone who's never done that before, it can feel weird. And it can feel like, oh, this isn't real. But you're the only one who knows that. You're the only one who knows for yourself if something is real or not. So don't, don't count it out. You don't have to be religious. You don't even have to call yourself spiritual.
You just have to be willing to open up to the things you don't understand. And it's okay to ask for help.
So, sit with that for a little bit and see kind of what comes up for you.
Okay. What am I reading? All right. I'm excited about this one. I'm reading a book called Hester by Lori Lico or Lico Albanese. So this book is fiction is about Isabel Gamble. who was a descendant of Isabel Gowdy, a woman who escaped before being hung as a witch in Scotland. Both of the women have what's called...
See if I can say this right. Synesthesia. Synesthesia? Something like that. It's a sensory phenomenon where letters and words are associated with colors. So like the letter A is seen as red, B is blue, C is yellow, D is green. It was considered very witchy, or it is considered very witchy, but definitely back in the day.
So Isabelle has a gift with the needle. Uh, the needle meaning, uh, stitching, embroidering. Um, and she wants to embroider and create amazing things. There's a definite magic in her craft. But she and her husband, um, who... is an apothecary, but who is sadly addicted to opium, leave Scotland because he's basically ruined them.
Uh, and they head for the New World. They head for Salem, specifically. And here, Isabel eventually meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the infamous Scarlet Letter. Isabel wears a cape. that has her embroidery, like secret embroidery, uh, stitched on the inside. And it tells the story of her ancestor, the accused witch.
Um, she feels protected by the symbols that are inside, um, but she, she does feel like she needs to keep it hidden. She is a woman looking to use her gifts to build a life for herself. I don't want to tell you too much. I don't want to give too much away. But I can tell you that she's not looking for anyone to take care of her.
She wants to live her dreams by working hard and honoring her magical talent. Even though she doesn't really claim it to be magical. Because that's, um, that's a, that's a dangerous thing to do. Um, I really respect her character. She's cheeky and strong. She shows anger and kindness and grit. Um, she's creative.
She just, she wants, she wants to create beautiful things. And she wants to do it her way. She wants to do it herself. And she's not asking for a handout. She's asking for a chance. She's just someone I'd want to know. So, she reminds me of many of my beautiful female friends that, um, that just have that strength of character, um, that they know what they want and they're willing to go for it and, um, They're just tough and I, I love, I love it.
I love her. She's great. So I would definitely check this one out. I'm gonna head to another little stream here.
The other book is nonfiction and it's called An Illustrated History of Ghosts. Ghosts by Adam Allsuch Boardman. So, this is not a book that I would normally pick up. Um, but given that it's a time for spirits, I felt it was appropriate. Uh, I grabbed this from the library where I work. Support your local libraries, they're the best.
And at the library we're actually holding these ghostly tours in the month of October. There have been reported... unexplained activity at the library for many years. Um, I have never experienced this. Sorry. I just saw a big white dog, but it's with a person. So we're going to hang on for one second.
Good morning. How are you? Beautiful dog.
Okay. So I have not experienced any, any of this activity, but, uh, It's been enough that we decided to invite a paranormal investigator group. And so they spent two nights at the library and determined that, in fact, yes, we are spirited. Not haunted. Haunted is bad, but we do have spirits. Not mo uh. Not, that's the word I'm looking for.
Um, What's that word? I want to say maleficent. That's not what I mean. Not, mmm, not bad. My brain, I haven't had coffee. I've only had tea, so my brain's not fully, fully firing. Um, No, no bad intent. Um, but they are, they are there. So I thought this book was, was worth picking up. So, um, so this book takes us on a tour through the world of ghosts, starting in ancient times through the 19th century when spiritualism was all the rage.
Remember, we talked about that, uh, in the book that I read, The London Seance. society that was set in that time, um, and then into the 20th century, mid century, breaks it down to post modern era, and then into the 21st century. So this book kind of looks like an encyclopedia meets a graphic novel. It's fun to look through, it's colorful, it's quirky, and it's quite informative.
Um, so if you're into phantoms, mediumship, ghost towns, enduring legends, historic hauntings, and the afterlife, this book might be for you. It's, it's quite clever. So check it out. I'm walking uphill. I'm out of breath. And I hear somebody behind me. Okay. So what? It's for dinner. So as I said, I think I want to do a dumb supper for my mom on Samhain.
So it seems quite rude to serve something that she wouldn't like to eat. So I decided I need to choose some of her favorites. But it also has to be autumnal in nature. So I think I'm gonna make a Moroccan red lentil soup. Um, my mom... Loved soup. She never met a soup she didn't like. And she loved the Moroccan spices.
Which, um, I feel like are very warm, warm spices. So this dish, it's um, Start with olive oil, onion, celery, carrots, garlic. Um, sauté that up, but it's the, it's the spices. So it's coriander, cumin, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon. Um, that cinnamon really, changes the whole, like, lentil soup is very common. That cinnamon adds a whole different component.
It's like, what am I eating? It just feels, it does not feel like your typical lentil soup. Um, salt and pepper and then vegetable broth, crushed or diced tomatoes. Uh, I think it's like two cups of red lentils, and then you do, um, one, uh, the juice from one lemon, some red pepper flakes, and then you can top it with a little cilantro, fresh cilantro.
Ooh, what did I step in? Oh, okay. Um, or, uh, and flat leaf parsley. It's, it's very... My mom used to make a Moroccan stew, which had, uh, it didn't have lentils. It was just different, um, vegetables, but it was that, uh, that spice profile. And so, since she also loved lentils, I decided let's combine the two. That would be something I think that she would really hummus.
Just bean it up, as they say. Nobody says that. Okay. And then I want to make her some scones, because that was one of my mom's favorite things to bake. She never met a scone she didn't like. So these are harvest pumpkin scones. So, um, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and then some pumpkin pie spice, some cinnamon, uh, maybe some ginger.
Well, let me rephrase that. If you're going to use pumpkin spice, Pumpkin pie spice, it has all of those things, but if you're just going to do individual spices, you'll want some cinnamon, some ginger, some nutmeg, some allspice. Uh, a bunch of butter, um, and then you could add, like, do add ins with like cinnamon chips or crystallized ginger.
I think my mom liked crystallized ginger. I don't love crystallized ginger, so I have to decide if she'd forgive me to just leave that out. Um, you could also do chocolate chips. I mean, cause what's not better with chocolate chips? And then pumpkin pu pumpkin puree. eggs and then a little bit of sprinkling sugar on top.
So I think those are going to be pretty good. Um, my kids were very young when she died. They were only four and six, but they remember making scones with her. Um, they were, they had these little. Uh, they're called learning towers and they're these towers basically that you put up against the kitchen counter or an island So they can stand in them and help with the kitchen prep And so they would stand in there and help my mom bake and that is Warms my heart to know that they have that memory.
So scones feel like the absolute right choice for um, for this meal. So I think, I think that about wraps it up for today. I really thank you for spending this time with me. I hope that Samhain feels extra magical for you this year. Take the time to slow down. Carve a pumpkin or a creepy turnip. Pick a costume that speaks to your spirit.
It could be a slutty nurse, if that speaks to you. It could be Iron Man. It could be something way cooler. Grab that pumpkin spice latte. And connect with one of your ancestors, if spirit moves you to do so. And then when you're all done with that, please rate and review the show so we can continue to have more conversations together.
That was a very shameless plug. I hope you'll forgive me for that. Happy Samhain, everyone. May you experience many blessings, beautiful walks, and sacred moments. Till next time, I look forward to seeing you. for episode seven.