If you find you cannot handle the power of this rite, courteously end the visit. If an evil entity arrives by accident, end the visit, either with courtesy or rudeness, whichever is safest and most effective.

Do each numbered step before going onto the next.

1.Focus on the darkness of the mind's eye, the darkness that's automatically there when your eyes are closed.

2. See that darkness filled with a glowing green, a Faerie green, a magic glow.

3. Feel that magic, green, Fey glow start swirling around you, bathing you in its beauty, bathing you in its magic.

4. Enjoy drinking in that magic for a minute.

5. Let that Fey power feed you, cleanse you, and give you things you need. Let it work its magic on you.

6. Into that green mist, call out for a Faerie friend. Don't demand a visit, for we do not control the Fey Folk. Invite with warmth, courtesy, good will and good cheer.

7. Greet and welcome your visitor with dignity and courtesy. Ask his/her name and his/her need of you. If no name is given you, usually you should end the visit. When you meet someone on the physical plane who will not tell you their name, there is usually something awry, right?

8. Never lightly make an agreement with a Faerie. They take commitments seriously. And are tricksters, who often have an unusual view as to what life should be like. You may not want the same goals as they.

9. Visit. Then do the following steps. If you fall asleep, your visit might be happening on an unconscious level so you will still need the following steps upon awakening.

10. If you would like, ask your visitor for something you need.

11. Make thanks for the visit, and for any help you were given. At this point it may be appropriate to give or promise a gift, eg; a bit of food and drink left out at night.

12. Perhaps this spirit will become your friend for a while or even a lifetime. You can use this ritual to visit with him/her again. But for now say 'Farewell.'

You may feel very sharp and alert, and think there is no need for the additional steps. Please do them anyway. For one thing, alert as you are, you might be alert only to the Spirit plane.

So after you finish step twelve, do the following two steps:

Instruments of divination may be placed within the Circle perimeter for use during the ritual if you wish. Arrange the altar as usual, and decorate with Autumn leaves, pumpkins, etc.

The Circle is cast and purified the Circle in the usual manner.

Dancing around the Circle in a shuffle step (deosil), all chant three times:

The Moon is bright, the Crone is old
The body lifeless - the bones so cold
We all live and pay our dues
To die in ones and threes and twos.

Death, dance and play the harp
Piercing silence in the dark
The Woman's old with withered limbs
Death beckons Her to dance with Him
As She accepts the Dance of Death
The Earth is cooled by ghostly breath
To lie in dormancy once more
To have Her strength and life restored

Go to the Western Quarter and draw an invoking pentagram with the athame to open the gate.

Then evoke the dead by saying:

All ye spirits who walk this night,
Hearken, Hearken to my call!

I bid you in our Circle join.
Enter, Enter ; one and all!

Come ye, spirits of the dead:
Be ye spirit of plant or pet
Or human being who still roams,
Into this Circle you are let,
Speak to us of things unknown,
Lend your energies to this rite,
To speed your journey, we have joined
On this sacred Samhain night,
All ye spirits who walk this night
Hearken, Hearken to my call,
I bid you in our Circle join,
Enter, Enter; one and all.

Bestow blessings upon the dead, saying:

Oh Mighty Pan of the Summerlands:
Guardian of the beloved dead
We pour forth love on those you keep
Safely, in your peaceful stead
We bless those who have walked the path
That someday, we as well, shall rove
We offer peace unto their souls
While resting in your arms, below

Now is the time for divination (Ouija Board, pendulum, cards, etc.) and communication with those who have gone on before us. Allow plenty of time for this.

Note: I have found that it is helpful to have a tape recorder handy within the Circle for recording any communications that may be 'channelled' during this time. Some people disagree with this suggestion, saying that the metal of this electronic device causes scattered energies in the Circle. However, if the recorder has been cleansed and purified as the rest of the ritual tools, the problem seems to be resolved.

When the divinatory processes are completed, the Priestess goes to the Western Quarter and draw the banishing pentagram, saying:

Blessings be upon thee, oh wondrous Spirits of the
Summerlands. We humbly thank thee for your presence in our
Circle and honour you in celebration this sacred night. We
beseech thee, oh Pan, keeper of the sacred dead, embrace
once again those souls within your keep and hold tightly
to your breast those which have been lost and wandering.
Grant them safe passage to the Summerland, where they may
rest peacefully in your strength until they are refreshed
and reborn again in perfect love. We bid thee all a fond
farewell.

So mote it be.

The gate is now closed.

The Priestess goes to the altar and hold up the pomegranate, saying:

Behold the pomegranate, fruit of Life...

The athame is plunged into the pomegranate, splitting it open to display the seeds. She says:

Whose seeds lie in the dormancy of Death.

The Priestess eats one of the seeds, saying:

I Taste the seeds of Death.

The pomegranate is then passed hand to hand through the participants of the ritual, each eating a seed and saying to the next person:

Taste the seeds of Death.

The Priestess then holds up the apple, saying:

Behold the apple: fruit of wisdom, fruit of Death...

She then cuts the apple crosswise, saying:

Whose symbolism rewards us with life eternal.

She holds up the apple, displaying the inner pentagram, and says:

Behold the five fold star; the promise of rebirth.

Consecrate the fruit and wine.

Each person then tastes of the apple and sips the wine, saying to the next person:

Taste the fruit of rebirth, and sip from the cup of wine of Life.

After libation, the Priestess presents each member of the group with a small pot of earth, planted with three seeds (preferably rue or lavender). She briefly explains to the group that this is the season of the seed, it is a time of dormancy, but also a time of re-generation for growth.

Further, as the seed rests in the earth, they should also take time to rest and re-evaluate their lives, metaphorically planting only those values which will enrich and enhance the growth within the Divine Self.

She then instructs them to name the seeds within their pots with three values they wish to incorporate into their lives, knowing that as the seeds sprout with new life, their lives will be new, as well. After the presentation, all join hands and hold them skyward.

Priestess:

Thus is the Circle of Rebirth.
All pass from this life through the great god, Pan
But through My love you are all reborn
In the cycles of nature; through the Cosmic Plan.
In living we die; in dying we live
The fruit is first seed, yet seed comes from the fruit
In the mystery of life and death and rebirth
The Circle turns ever, and I am its root.

All Respond:

The Sun conceived in Darkness, cold
In the Shadow of Death, a Life unfolds
A shred of Light begins to burn
From Death comes Life; the Circle turns.
Dismiss Quarters and Dissolve Circle.

Priestess:

The rite is ended.

All:

Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again.
Outdoor libation to the Lord and Lady,
and the spirits of the dead.