Copyright © 1999 Silver Ravenwolf
If you have a front porch, these lanterns will shine protective light on your home Halloween Eve or Trick-or-Treating Night.

You will need:

     * 13 large turnips
     * A sharp paring knife
     * 13 tealight candles
     * A hand drill
     * Picture-hanging wire
     * A black felt-tipped pen

Directions:

Cut off the tops of the turnips. Discard tops. Hollow out enough of the turnip to drop in the tealight candle and protect the flame from the wind. With the hand drill, drill a hole on each side of the turnip an inch or so from the top (so you're cutting into the hollowed-out section), so the wire can loop through the hole. Secure, then loop through the opposite hole. Secure and cut wire. This will serve as the handle or hanger for your turnip. You can make the wire as long as you desire.

Decorate the white area of the turnip with magickal symbols of protection, such as the rune Algiz . Hold your hands over the finished project, and say:

     From dusk till dawn
     Ancient protection I call hither
     Blessings of those beyond the veil.

Hold your hands over the turnips until your palms grow warm or tingle and you feel good inside. When you are ready to use the turnips, light the candles, saying:

     Blessings of Vesta upon this house.

Hang outside (or inside). Do not leave unattended. Bury on your property seven days after Samhain to continue the magickal protection of your property.