{"id":9228,"date":"2013-10-26T12:53:43","date_gmt":"2013-10-26T17:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2013\/10\/25\/"},"modified":"2014-02-27T18:27:17","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T23:27:17","slug":"celebrate-samhain-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=9228","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Samhain 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Saturday, October 19, 2013, was the 8th annual Celebrate Samhain event in Peterborough, NH. This was my 4th year attending. That\u2019s right folks, I\u2019ve been there for half of this event\u2019s lifespan. Why does this make me feel oddly old?<\/p>\n

There were a few things that caused the energy to be \u201coff\u201d this year. We were all missing Cucina Aurora and its head kitchen witch in-chief Dawn Hunt, who was absent due to a death in the family. Her effervescent personality and delicious food were sorely missed. Also, Mike Dolan of Haunted Wood wasn\u2019t around this year with his hearty laugh and giant bear hugs.<\/p>\n

However, there were a few things that added some new fun. Jess G., co-founder and co-coordinator, who also happens to be a kick butt roller derby lady, spent the WHOLE day on roller skates. Let me tell you, she has some crazy skills! We were also blessed with beautiful weather, which was perfect for this year\u2019s catering option of Goodness Gracious food truck. They were set up right outside the one entrance\/exit to the venue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jess could move mountains in those skates!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shopping, as usual, was excellent. I started telling people that Celebrate Samhain was the biggest shopping day of my year. Stuff purchased as holiday gifts I must keep mum about, but I picked up plenty of stuff to brag about\/share with you. I picked up a little something at Muse Gifts & Books<\/a> (that I must keep to myself) (but it\u2019s pretty awesome) (you so wish you knew) (and could see) (it rocks is what I\u2019m saying) (if I were to say anything). I restocked at FairySpa<\/a>. I was literally down to a teeny, tiny square of my Goat\u2019s Milk Facial Cleansing Bar and I finally got another bottle of Intense Lotion. Yay! I can feel almost human again!<\/p>\n

Obviously I visited the Temple of Witchcraft<\/a> table. This is where Christopher Penczak, Steve Kenson (wake up gamer friends!), and Adam Sartwell live! I picked up a copy of \u201cFeast of the Morrighan: A Grimoire for the Dark Lady of the Emerald Isle\u201d, which was the topic of his talk at last year\u2019s Celebrate Samhain. I also learned that next year\u2019s Templefest will be August 2-3, 2014. Save the date! I keep wanting to make it back. The Temple of Witchcraft folks put together a well organized event and were very welcoming. They haven\u2019t announced any speakers yet, but I bet Christopher Penczak will be one!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I HAD to visit my friends at Inkubus<\/a> since they had a booth again this year. I picked up a new table cloth for Dia de los Muertos. Another gift was also purchased. (It is so freakin\u2019 cool. Cooler than the table cloth. So bad ass. You really wish you could see it. Seriously.) They were also nice enough to let me and Jim pick a few sugar skulls from their basket o\u2019 skulls! Lastly, we visited Alchemy\u2019s<\/a> booth. What can I say? It\u2019s as if someone had created an entire jewelry store just for me! You know how some famous people will wear one jewelry designers work almost exclusively? If I ever become rich and famous, I will wear Alchemy\u2019s Tisha Harris\u2019s curated work almost exclusively. (I have to leave room for Deborah Blake<\/a>!) I bought myself a pink skull and cross bones cameo ring. That\u2019s right boys, I\u2019ve got myself a rum drinking ring! Watch out if you see me wearing it because that shows I means business.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alchemy, where I shall do ALL my jewelry shopping!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Again I was amazed at the caliber of speakers that this event in Peterborough, NH attracts. Opening was Matooka Moonbear, who spoke about \u201cConnecting and Working with Animal Spirit Guides\u201d. I totally missed her introduction, but I recognize her as a member of the Temple of Witchcraft. I missed her talk catching up with people and going to get a palm reading from the wonderful Juliet Bell<\/a>. Following her was musician Michael Long Rider. I didn\u2019t get to watch him perform because\u2026.SHOPPING\u2026.but I got to enjoy his performance while browsing wares.<\/p>\n

After that, my ass was planted and didn\u2019t move. First was Christopher Penczak<\/a>, \u201cAvalon: The Isle of Nine Morgans\u201d. Spoiler alert, this was my favorite talk of the event. It was a little all over the place but that was good because I wanted to actually hear more about Guinevere, Lancelot, and Arthur! Christopher, don\u2019t just take on the Morgans in your writings, cover the whole Arthur mythology.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Christopher Penczak getting his groove on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then Raven Grimassi<\/a> spoke about \u201cThe Mystery of Reincarnation and the Inner Teachings of the Sacred Tree\u201d. As always, Grimassi was an excellent speaker and I\u2019m always touched by the gratitude he shows at the end of his talks. I felt like such a Celebrate Samhain hipster. When someone asked me if I enjoyed his talk I said, \u201cHis talk was quite good; touched on a lot of themes from a talk he gave at a Celebrate Samhain 3 years ago.\u201d It\u2019s true! Those actual words came out of my mouth. If you haven\u2019t been to 4 years of Celebrate Samhain, you just can\u2019t hang.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Raven Grimassi working his mojo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last speaker for the day was Dorothy Morrison<\/a> who\u2019s topic was \u201cMagic Down and Dirty\u201d. I had never seen Morrison speak before and she is a total hoot. A fun Southern accent, beautiful fingernails, glittering jewelry, and a great black scoop neck shirt. She\u2019s definitely a character that\u2019s not to be missed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A not entirely great photo of the lovely Dorothy Morrison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With all the talks out of the way it was time to rock! That\u2019s when Frenchy and the Punk<\/a> took the stage. This is when long time Magical Buffet readers can all be hipsters by saying, \u201cI knew them when they were The Gypsy Nomads.\u201d As always, they were fantastic! So full of energy. The Celebrate Samhain crowd loves Frenchy and the Punk! They demanded more songs and when Samantha (aka Frenchy) asked for titles the crowd eagerly provided fan favorites.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Samantha and Scott kicking ass and taking names.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coordinators Jess G. and Kevin Satoris with all their volunteers put together a great event. Their hard work has made Celebrate Samhain an amazing even that I look forward to every year and I suspect I\u2019m not the only one. (Readers that offered input on The Magical Buffet\u2019s Facebook page, I\u2019m wearing the Hello Kitty shirt you guys picked!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
(left to right) Jess, Me, Kevin Satoris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another year, another Celebrate Samhain, another guaranteed good time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,18,30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}