Samhain: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for Halloween

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contributor Bio:  Llewellyn Llewellyn Publications has grown and expanded into new areas of personal growth and transformation since it began as the Portland School of Astrology in 1901. Along with the strong line of astrology books the company was founded upon, Llewellyn publishes books on everything from alternative health and healing, Wicca and Paganism, to metaphysics and the paranormal-and since 1994 has published a growing list of Spanish-language titles. Llewellyn has long been know as one of America's leading publishers of New Age books, producing a wide variety of valuable tools for transformation of the mind, body and spirit. Reach for the Moon-and discover that self-help and spiritual growth is what Llewellyn is all about. Contributor Bio:  Rajchel, Diana Diana Rajchel is the author of Divorcing a Real Witch: for Pagans and the People that Used to Love them. She is also the former executive editor for the Pagan Newswire Collective, the network founded by Jason Pitzl-Waters of the Wild Hunt. She works as a journalist, author, blogger and general creative. She identifies as an eclectic Wiccan with more leanings towards Witch than Wiccan. While a 20+ year member of the Pagan community, she is relatively unknown in part because of her pathological dislike for JRR Tolkien and camping. She's also a classic introvert; that contributes. Those who do know of her likely remember her from her 90s era website Medea's Chariot or from her 10+ years of contributions to Llewellyn annuals along with occasional submissions to Circle Magazine, SageWoman, the Beltane Papers and Facing North. Her writing style is notable among Pagan writers because it almost never begins with a description of a walk in the woods. When it does ... look for the rolling head. There always seems to be a rolling head after that. She is a 3rd degree Wiccan priestess in the Shadowmoon tradition, an American Eclectic Wiccan tradition. She also has an Alexandrian 3rd (Janet Farrar > Star Foster > her) she has no interest in pursuing further in any way. Her interests lay in the practical applications of magic to daily life and to the continuous discipline of getting better at it. She does understand how walks in the woods contribute to that process and were she not allergic to trees she might connect with that more. She currently serves her community as an "on call" priestess for people with significant metaphysical concerns or those who just need a wedding or funeral officiant. She specializes in extending services to those who describe themselves as non-believers; to her spiritual need has nothing to do at all with religion. Rajchel explains, "I handle the weird metaphysical stuff people experience and don't want to believe in so they can go right back to not believing in it." She runs on-hiatus the blog and business Fat Chic, a fashion and cultural criticism blog for plus size women. Fat Chic has been mentioned by both the New York Times and People Style Watch. Rajchel lives in Minneapolis with her non-Pagan life partner. She is an urban gardener (she wears a mask when she does that stuff), runs a Doctor Who meetup fan group of over 900 members, and enjoys bellydance, Pilates, water aerobics and shamanic dance. She is a devotee of Julia Cameron's Artist's Way series, and believes strongly in the use of Cameron's techniques in spiritual pathwork as well as in creative career planning.