The “Wisdom of The Woods”™ Oracle Deck has recently received the "Naquadh Seller" accolade from TheGameCrafter team!

I am glad to share good news with you!.... My “Wisdom of The Woods”™ Oracle Deck received its third accolade from the GameCrafter team in recognition for it's remarkable number of sales....The WOW Oracle is presently assisting people all over the world in countries such as U.S,, England, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico. Thanx to the latter U.S. buyer from West Point, IA and to each and every all time supporters...  Bright blessings to you all!☼

Celtic Full Moon Blessing

Oh, mighty Goddess of the Moon's pale glow,

We gather 'neath thy silvery light, to know

Thy power, thy beauty, and thy gentle might,

Illuminating all, in this sacred night.

# Invocation

By the power of the Triple Goddess, we call,

Maiden, Mother, Crone, one and all,

We invoke thy presence, in this sacred space,

And ask thy blessings, in this lunar place.

# Blessing

May thy light illuminate our path,

Guiding us through life's joys and aftermath,

May thy gentle beams bring peace and rest,

And fill our hearts with love and quiet best.

May thy cycles remind us of life's flow,

Birth, growth, decay, and rebirth's glow,

May we honor thy phases, and thy might,

And dance in harmony, through day and night.

# Offering

We offer thee, dear Goddess, our gratitude,

For the tides, the seasons, and thy gentle attitude,

We offer thee, our love, our praise, and our song,

May it rise to thee, like incense, strong.

# Closing

So mote it be, dear Goddess, we pray,

May thy blessings shine upon us, every day,

May thy light in our hearts, forever stay,

And guide us on, come what may.

Blessed be, dear Goddess, blessed be.

© 2025 Eliseo Mauas Pinto

The “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game : "The Banishing or Neutral Zone"

 There are a couple of inspiring passages in connection with “Fidchell” on Irish literature. In the tale of "Eachtra Airt meic Cuind ocus Tochmarc Delbchaime ingine Morgain", Art is playing with Becuma, and the fairy-folk are stealing his men. He then exclaims, "The men are stealing the pieces from me, girl. It is not you who are winning but they." 

Art was at Tara playing with Cromdes, his father's druid. In the course of the play, the druid exclaims, "a move of banishment (bent indarba) on thee my son. Because of the women thy father marries, thou art being banished." 

The teller of the tale has worked in a pun on Art's own banishment and a winning move of some sort in “Fidchell”.

 This magickal banishing move, inspired me to create a "Banishing Zone", (like the Neutral Zone of the German "Weltkriegsspiel" board game). You will easily recognize it since it is the only one with light brown- and red-colored squares.

·       Only one Attacking piece is allowed to enter the "Banishing Zone" at each turn. Only four “Attacker's” pieces are allowed, (just the same or less number as “Defender's pieces are left on the board). For example, if the "Defender" only has five pieces remaining on the board, the "Attacker" may only have four pieces in the Banishing Zone. However, if the "Defender" only has three or two pieces left, the "Attacker" may only have three or two pieces in the Banishing Zone.

·       Defenders cannot enter the “Banishing Zone”,”Attackers” are allowed to enter the Annwn by jumping from the space next to the Banishing Zone. “Remember that within this zone no Attacking pieces shall be captured. They are safe and invisible here.”

·       Once in the "Banishing Zone", Attacking pieces can leap over and seize a sideways opponent's piece, landing on the vacant square on the opposite side of the same ring. As an Attacker, you can only jump a single opposing piece per turn. Remember that you cannot land over any piece, but only over an unoccupied position.

·       Captures or jumps are never mandatory.

Related Sources: 
 

The featured information and artworks belong to the “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game  , a creative and inventive chase and battle game that retains part of the spirit of the ancient Irish "Brandub" and "Fidchell" board games.

One of its main features is that you may not only play it as a battle game, but also as a way for divination... You play as Gwydion, the bard and magician. “Lord of Knowledge” and “Lord of Trees”, and you will be responsible for animating the trees of the forest on their final quest.

 For further information about this game, I wrote a whole eBook as an extended version of the companion handbook, comprising the complete information upon the context and basis of “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game, and now available on Kindle format at Amazon

Place an Online Order at its Official Site

“Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game 

The “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game : "The Board"

 

As I commented on previous posts, I always wondered why the Celts were so fond of adopting square board styled games even when their cosmogony whirled around the spirals and labyrinths as sheer symbols of the never-ending circle of life, of nature, and the Sun God.

 The presence of spirals and labyrinths were the reason for my decision to choose a circular board design. Labyrinths are different from mazes. Labyrinths are unicursal, which means that they have one well-defined path that leads us into the center and back out again. There are no dead ends or paths that divide. 

A maze, on the other hand, is a puzzle to be solved: a left-brain task that requires an active mind, logic, analytical skills, and problem-solving abilities. A labyrinth is a right brain task involving intuition, imagery, and creativity. With a labyrinth, there is only one choice: the choice to enter or not. This was the reason for my decision to choose the maze as the center of my circular board design.

 The board is composed of four concentric rings. Compared with the byzantine chess board, the black squares here have an ebony wood layout, while the white ones have a holly wood layout. 

In the center of the board lies the Central Maze of Annwn where the three creatures of the Underworld are kept hidden. 

The third inner ring highlights the frontiers of Annwn, the Celtic Underworld. “Defenders” take up positions on the third and fourth inner rings behind this barrier to protect themselves from any attacks. 

The light brown- and red-colored squares of the board mark the "Banishing Zone". It is a "safe" or "neutral" zone from which “Attackers” can access the Central Maze by jumping from the "Banishing Zone" area close to the Maze.

Related Sources: 
 

The featured information and artworks belong to the “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game  , a creative and inventive chase and battle game that retains part of the spirit of the ancient Irish "Brandub" and "Fidchell" board games.

One of its main features is that you may not only play it as a battle game, but also as a way for divination... You play as Gwydion, the bard and magician. “Lord of Knowledge” and “Lord of Trees”, and you will be responsible for animating the trees of the forest on their final quest.

 For further information about this game, I wrote a whole eBook as an extended version of the companion handbook, comprising the complete information upon the context and basis of “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game, and now available on Kindle format at Amazon

Place an Online Order at its Official Site

“Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game 

 

The “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game : "The Three Creatures of the Underworld"

 

Inspired by the Welsh "Cad Goddeu" poem, the object of the battle game is to capture the three creatures of the Underworld as follows: -The White Dog, a red pointy-eared one, who is the guardian of the secret. -The Dear, who hides the secret. -The Sea Parrot, who disguises the secret.

 These creatures are hidden within the Annwn, represented on the game by the Central Maze at the center of the board. One player shall lead the forces of Arawn, King of “Annwn” (The Celtic Underworld). The other one, shall attack under the guidance of “Gwydion”, magician, hero and trickster of Welsh mythology, whose name may be interpreted as "Born of Trees". He will be in charge of animating the forest's trees to battle as his army.

 To steal the three creatures, the Attacker will need to enter within the Central Maze and reach the center three times.

 Based on the "Fidchell" concept, and unlike the "Brandub" and other "Taff" games, both forces are equal, consisting of 15 pawns each.

Related Sources: 
 

The featured information and artworks belong to the “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game  , a creative and inventive chase and battle game that retains part of the spirit of the ancient Irish "Brandub" and "Fidchell" board games.

One of its main features is that you may not only play it as a battle game, but also as a way for divination... You play as Gwydion, the bard and magician. “Lord of Knowledge” and “Lord of Trees”, and you will be responsible for animating the trees of the forest on their final quest.

 For further information about this game, I wrote a whole eBook as an extended version of the companion handbook, comprising the complete information upon the context and basis of “Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game, and now available on Kindle format at Amazon

Place an Online Order at its Official Site

“Battle Of The Trees” ™ Celtic Board Game 

THE "MAGICKAL WHISPERS™" DECK - A Unique and Rare Norse Gael Oracle

Branawen Deck & Board Games

 

I am glad to announce my new 

"MAGICKAL WHISPERS"™ DECK

A Unique and Rare Norse Gael Oracle

 AVAILABLE NOW IN PRINT at "TheGameCrafter.com"

Place an ONLINE ORDER on its 

OFFICIAL SITE at
"THEGAMECRAFTER"

It is more than simply yet another oracle.
 It is a synthesis of elementary runic combinations of wisdom and tree lore drafted from the common grounds between the Vikings and Celtic people.

The "Magickal Whispers" elemental characters consist of runic combinations, where a Norse and an Irish rune seemingly fuse together to form a symbol. The runes that make up the spell have an added benefit in this context.

 *

The power of the runes is archetypal and has the same influence on our lives as it did during mythical times, and the synergy posed by the linked rune magnifies the three aspects of the glyph: body, soul, and spirit, which are translated into its sign, its secret, and its sound. 

*
We can activate, unite, interact, and direct the energy that runes convey using bind runes.Simply focus on their shared devotion to trees and runic alphabets, a topic that inspired me to create the present oracle in which Celtic and Viking sacred trees, deities, and kennings, take part whenever they share similar common ground. 

*

Component	Quantity	Photo
Quad-Fold Mat Set	1 set of 1 quad-fold mats
Circle Deck	1 deck of 24 cards
Circle Deck	1 deck of 9 cards
Jumbo Booklet	1
Parts Bag, Large, Blue	1

 I'd really would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the artisan, Mari Johansson (https://etsy.com/shop/TrollTovaDesign),

and the photographer, Beata Wagner (https://beatreez.wixsite.com/darkfolio),

whose pictures provided me with more inspiration than I could have dreamed of for the cover and mat artwork designs for this oracle.

The "Celtic Spirit Guides"™ - Uncovering Your Allies” has recently received the "Red Stone Seller" accolade from TheGameCrafter team!

I am glad to share good news with you!.... My "Celtic Spirit Guides"™ - Uncovering Your Allies” Oracle Deck received a Red Stone accolade from the GameCrafter team in recognition for it's remarkable number of sales....The CSG Oracle is presently assisting people all over the world in countries such as U.S, England, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland. Thanx to the latter Swiss buyer from Dornach, Solothurn, Switzerland and to each and every all time supporters... Bright blessings to you all!☼

 

Celtic Spirit Guides"™ -Unveiling Your Allies - Oracle Deck is AVAILABLE NOW IN PRINT at "TheGameCrafter.com"

Place an ONLINE ORDER at its OFFICIAL SITE
"Celtic Spirit Guides"™ -Unveiling Your Allies

   The "Celtic Spirit Guides"™
 -Unveiling Your Allies - Oracle Deck

comprises:

Jumbo Booklet	1
Square Deck	1 deck of 12 cards
Large Square Mat	1
Parts Bag, Small, Purple

Plus Bonus Downloads

    Celtic Spirit Guides Wallpaper (free)

    Sample Layout 1 (free)

    Sample Layout 2 (free)

    Grounding Tree Meditation (available after purchase)

    Calendar Chart (available after purchase)

    Divination Ethics (available after purchase)

    Spirit Guides Invocations 1 (free)

    Spirit Guides Invocations 2 (free)

For further information please visit my dedicated

 Celtic Spirit Guides Label

The featured images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Interview with Florencia Burton: Part One - "The Visionary and the Healer"

I am pleased to share with you some insights of a recent interview I had the honor to held with the renowned artist Florencia Burton. Settled on the very place she was born, in the midst of beautiful woodlands in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina, her visionary art reflects inner journeys and messages from other realities. 

She believes that being in deep connection with nature and practicing artistic and creative expressions, we may find out the KEYS to go through our souls  and remember the true essence of ourselves.

I actually got in contact with her because of her poems and harp playing, but soon became dazzled by the luminous works that cohabit on her creative world. She lives art as an exercise of contemplation, a sacred experience practicing it for the purpose of creating healing and harmony, opening portals in the heart, the exaltation of beauty and magic that surrounds us.

It was at the age of 25 when she fully devoted herself  to art expressions, nature and spirituality. Besides her Graphic Design and Communication degree,she continuously developed disciplines related to bio-energy healing and metaphysics.

Celtic Sprite: "What is your relationship between your art and the essence of Mother Nature as a source of inspiration?."

Florencia Burton: "Absolutely everything is full of messages and wisdom … We are part of the nature and the Nature Kingdoms are our Great Family. The elemental kingdoms live inside us!. The Animals and the Trees are our great brothers and Sisters, The nature Forces… Water, Fire, Earth, Air… the Mountain, the Forest, the Sea…. birds, bees, flowers… every stone, every leaf… we are all one… We can breath in the Unity… The Great Spirit…"

Celtic Sprite: "I have noticed that you are keen to Animal Kingdom Medicine as part of your Shaman path... I am glad to notice you included some Spirit Guides also grounded on Celtic roots. How is your relationship with them and our sacred forest?"

Florencia Burton: "The Celts ... And The Great Forest ... They are part of my travelled spiritual  journey ... one of my languages ​​... Very deep memories too!. As you find your own path, being your-luminous-self, you will turn into Medicine for others... Each being of the Animal Kingdom , conveys a teaching … a medicine. These medicines give us wisdom in the move of our existence, throwing Light, Beauty and Consciousness in our evolutionary path, thus the re- encounter with our spiritual essence, we will be ourselves Medicine for others¨

Celtic Sprite:  "I like your wise reflections on this subject, would you please tell us a bit more about your healing path activities?."

Florencia Burton: "I facilitate activities and workshops about Art therapy, Sacred Geometry, drawing and painting techniques, witch contains artistic and mystic spiritual practices. My aim is to provide  tools to empower and find your inner vision and guidance; help you to bring alive your luminous skills and wisdom by simple ways of deep connection with Nature…  I encourage my querents to find their own path, balance and true harmony and remember their divine purpose on this life."

Celtic Sprite: "While you are experiencing the creative leap, you have shown on the networks that you listen to music. ... Does this same perception occurs when you play the harp or the lyre? I mean...do you feel the music as an evocative mean of colors and landscapes?."

Florencia Burton: "Awe yes! this is why I am also into poetry and writing to describe those paths of the Soul ... music transmits geometry and colors to me, it could be reflected in abstracts and emotions ... Not only landscapes and atmospheres ... In a higher reality, everything emerges from the vibrant creative essence, and here we perceive that all our senses act as different channel."

All images and poems are posted by kind permission of the author © Florencia Burton.

If your request is to obtain a license for commercial use of my work, I invite you to contact the artist at florenciaburton@gmail.com

For who request permission to reproduce the illustrations for self-published books, CD covers, etc., please note that this type of project, if approved, are subject to minimum compensation for image use. This cost has been established to cover administrative costs and the expense of providing high-resolution images. Thanks for your understanding.

Feel free to check out the second part of this interview!

Interview with Florencia Burton: Part Two - "The Poet and the Harpist"

Merry Ostara! - A Cellebration of the Spring Goddess

The vernal equinox often called Ostara, is celebrated in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox. 

Ostara, also known as - Oestara, Eostra, Eostre was the pagan goddess of fertility and Spring, and the Christian festival of Easter derives its name from her.

The name Ostara may be related to the word for "east". It has been connected to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie.In terms of Wiccan ditheism, this festival is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death.[12] Other variations include the young God regaining strength in his youth after being born at Yule, and the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.

Spring Equinox is a festival of new growth, renewal, a re-balancing of energies and the return of longer days. It is also known as the day of equilibrium. Now is a good time to consider the balance of our lives - work, play and relationships.

Spring Meditations and Healing

It is a time where the light is equal to the darkness and from here on out the days grow longer.  The earth awakens... new life emerges, sap rises, buds shoot and spring flowers are celebrated as gifts from nature. Spring returns and rejuvenates our own life force. It is a time of balance, so one of the great uses for this meditation is that of finding polarity and solving problems. Spring returns and rejuvenates our own life force,  a time when male and female energies were balanced.

 

In ancient times many festivals were held to celebrate the Spring Goddesses who were associated with flowering, growth and fertility of the land. Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Imbolc and followed by Beltane.This sabbat represents a time for rebirth in nature and in our own lives. 

There ane many different ways to celebrate the Spring Goddess. You can do a ritual in her honor, plant seeds of beautiful spring flowers, or try to start a new in your own life. Another symbol for rebirth is the labyrinth, you can make one of these, and walk it to symbolize finding your center. A labyrinth can also symbolize the cycles of life and nature, since your life never goes in one direction, so to the labyrinth will take you on a journey to help you find your center.

Home altars might feature spring flowers, seeds, jasmine or flowery incense, and the gemstone of jasper. 

The Easter Moon and the Goddess Symbols

Easter is calculated by the moon, and occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox.
This is the time when the young Sun God now celebrates a sacred marriage with the young Maiden Goddess. We celebrate the return of the spring goddess from her long season of dormant sleep.

The egg symbolized Eostre's wholeness and fertility - the female hormone oestrogen is named after her - and is offered at this equinox as a symbol of fertility and new life. The golden yolk represents the Sun God, its white shell is seen as the White Goddess.

The hare was regarded as the sacred animal of the lunar goddess, because of its fertility and activity at this time. Chinese people symbolized the moon as a hare with a lantern. Witches were once believed to shape-shift into hares. Now rabbits have become one of the symbols of Easter - they are these days more prolific and common than the graceful hare.

Eggs are considered by followers of Christianity as a symbol of "resurrection": while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.

he Easter Bunngilipollasy or Easter Rabbit or (sometimes Spring Bunny in the U.S) is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs.
Alsace tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.

The association of eggs  with this and other Vernal festivals as symbols of rebirth and fertility for so long is unknown, and may date to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance- eggs were solar symbols, and figured in the festivals of numerous resurrected gods.

Another symbol of the Goddess at Ostara is the snake, which emerges from winter hibernation to bask in the Spring sunshine. Due to the shedding of its skin the snake was a symbol of new life. Curiously ancient Druids carried a venerated talisman: The Serpent's Egg. 

Snakes, because they shed and are thus “reborn”, were associated with the moon, which periodically ‘died’ and was reborn through the process of its phases. Since snake eggs are oval and white, it may have symbolized the moon itself in either its waxing or waning gibbous stage. Hence the time to collect the eggs for druidic ritual purposes or for talismans would be during a gibbous moon. Thus not only was the serpent’s egg the egg of the female lunar snake, but it contained within it a new baby snake – a New Moon – ready to be reborn.

Related Sources:

http://www.new-age.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://thedarkavalonbooks.wordpress.com

Browsing The Halloween Celebrations

Hi to all! We are closer to the Celtic New Year!...as the like of a hide and seek... I decided not to compose a review but to browse the web in search of data related to our celtic Samhain..."End of Summer," a pastoral and agricultural "fire festival" or feast, when the dead revisited the mortal world and large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits. I hit up by chance...and found out this cute blog which is quite accurate to my believes and conceptions ...
...The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows by Jack Santino (all rights reserved by the author)

"Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.

The festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread.

Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when Christian missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people. In the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., before missionaries such as St. Patrick and St. Columcille converted them to Christianity, the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists and scholars all at once. As religious leaders, ritual specialists, and bearers of learning, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries and monks who were to Christianize their people and brand them evil devil worshippers.

As a result of their efforts to wipe out "pagan" holidays, such as Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in it. In 601 A.D. Pope Gregory the First issued a now famous edict to his missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the peoples he hoped to convert. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples' customs and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them: if a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship.

In terms of spreading Christianity, this was a brilliant concept and it became a basic approach used in Catholic missionary work. Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native holy days. Christmas, for instance, was assigned the arbitrary date of December 25th because it corresponded with the mid-winter celebration of many peoples. Likewise, St. John's Day was set on the summer solstice.

Samhain, with its emphasis on the supernatural, was decidedly pagan. While missionaries identified their holy days with those observed by the Celts, they branded the earlier religion's supernatural deities as evil, and associated them with the devil. As representatives of the rival religion, Druids were considered evil worshippers of devilish or demonic gods and spirits. The Celtic underworld inevitably became identified with the Christian Hell.

The effects of this policy were to diminish but not totally eradicate the beliefs in the traditional gods. Celtic belief in supernatural creatures persisted, while the church made deliberate attempts to define them as being not merely dangerous, but malicious. Followers of the old religion went into hiding and were branded as witches.

The Christian feast of All Saints was assigned to November 1st. The day honored every Christian saint, especially those that did not otherwise have a special day devoted to them. This feast day was meant to substitute for Samhain, to draw the devotion of the Celtic peoples, and, finally, to replace it forever. That did not happen, but the traditional Celtic deities diminished in status, becoming fairies or leprechauns of more recent traditions.

The old beliefs associated with Samhain never died out entirely. The powerful symbolism of the traveling dead was too strong, and perhaps too basic to the human psyche, to be satisfied with the new, more abstract Catholic feast honoring saints. Recognizing that something that would subsume the original energy of Samhain was necessary, the church tried again to supplant it with a Christian feast day in the 9th century. This time it established November 2nd as All Souls Day--a day when the living prayed for the souls of all the dead. But, once again, the practice of retaining traditional customs while attempting to redefine them had a sustaining effect: the traditional beliefs and customs lived on, in new guises.

All Saints Day, otherwise known as All Hallows (hallowed means sanctified or holy), continued the ancient Celtic traditions. The evening prior to the day was the time of the most intense activity, both human and supernatural. People continued to celebrate All Hallows Eve as a time of the wandering dead, but the supernatural beings were now thought to be evil. The folk continued to propitiate those spirits (and their masked impersonators) by setting out gifts of food and drink. Subsequently, All Hallows Eve became Hallow Evening, which became Hallowe'en--an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Year's Day in contemporary dress.

Many supernatural creatures became associated with All Hallows. In Ireland fairies were numbered among the legendary creatures who roamed on Halloween.

An old folk ballad called "Allison Gross" tells the story of how the fairy queen saved a man from a witch's spell on Halloween.

O Allison Gross, that lives in yon tower
the ugliest witch int he North Country...
She's turned me into an ugly worm
and gard me toddle around a tree...
But as it fell out last Hallow even
When the seely [fairy] court was riding by,
the Queen lighted down on a gowany bank
Not far from the tree where I wont to lie...
She's change me again to my own proper shape
And I no more toddle about the tree.

In old England cakes were made for the wandering souls, and people went "a' soulin'" for these "soul cakes." Halloween, a time of magic, also became a day of divination, with a host of magical beliefs: for instance, if persons hold a mirror on Halloween and walk backwards down the stairs to the basement, the face that appears in the mirror will be their next lover.

Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it. The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This practice is called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved. To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises. Halloween also retains some features that harken back to the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as the customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices cider associated with the day.

Today Halloween is becoming once again and adult holiday or masquerade, like mardi Gras Men and women in every disguise imaginable are taking to the streets of big American cities and parading past grinningly carved, candlelit jack o'lanterns, re- enacting customs with a lengthy pedigree. Their masked antics challenge, mock, tease, and appease the dread forces of the night, of the soul, and of the otherworld that becomes our world on this night of reversible possibilities, inverted roles, and transcendency. In so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part of life in an exhilarating celebration of a holy and magic evening. "

For those interested in tradition and history on Celtic Countries take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain