Samhain: Rituals, Recipes & Lore

Samhain: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Halloween 
(Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials) by Diana Rajchel    

• Series: Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials (Book 6)
• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (September 8, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738742163
• ISBN-13: 978-0738742168

Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials series explores the old and new ways of celebrating the seasonal rites that are the cornerstones in the witch's year.

A well-rounded introduction to Samhain, this attractive book features rituals, recipes, lore, and correspondences. It includes hands-on information for modern celebrations, spells and divination, recipes and crafts, invocations and prayers, and more!

Samhain—also known as Halloween—is the final spoke in the wheel of the year. At this time, the harvest has finished and the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. This guide shows you how to practice the serious work of divination and honoring the dead along with the more light-hearted activities of Halloween.

The book starts off talking about the wheel of the year, and then goes into, what I find most interesting, the history of Samhain. It talks about traditions throughout many different regions of the world; which are not limited to, but include: Ireland, Scotland, England, Canada and the United States. I am a big history lover, so this was a joy to read. I knew some of the traditions and lore, but not all of them. So interesting!

Then of course the book goes into how Samhain is celebrated now, touching base with the different religions. The tone keeping from making any one religion feeling awkward or left out. Although changed to adapt modern times, it is nice to see that not all from the past has been lost.

There are plenty of recipes in the book to try, and rituals to perform whether alone, or with others. This was my first book that I have read which centers around just one holiday. This is a unique series of books, and I love the covers. At first I was hesitant because I didn't think that Samhain could fill up an entire book its self, but I was wrong.

If you are a Pagan, and follow a Pagan path, I would recommend this book to you. For others, probably not, unless you are interested in the history of Pagan traditions. It's a good reference book to have on your bookshelf. 

Although this book was given as a copy to review by NetGalley, my review is written with honesty and without any ties to the author herself. I did not receive any monetary gain from doing so.