Samhain

Samhain

                                                          (pronounced sow-wen)

Is also known as: Halloween, the Third Harvest, Ancestors Night, and Old Hallow Mass. The name Samhain comes from the Old Irish and is thought to translate to Summers End. It falls on October 31st in the Northern Hemisphere and between April 30-May 1st in the Southern Hemisphere.

Pagans consider this the end of the growing season and beginning of Winter. As a Wiccan or if you’re a Witch who follows the Wheel of the Year than you probably consider this the most important Sabbat on the Wheel.

While the cycles of life and death are recognized ever y Sabbat, Samhain is when it is formally honored. On this day, the Sun God dies, and leaves the Goddess (in her Crone phase) to mourn him until he is reborn at Yule (Winter Solstice), and the light will begin to return.


Samhain night is a time when the spirit realm and the world of the living are almost completely connected, a time when the veil between the living and dead is at its thinnest. This allows us the opportunity to communicate and visit with the spirits of our loved ones who have passed away. Pagans and Wiccans set up altars in honor of their ancestors as well as leave out offerings for them to help them feel welcomed and remembered.


There are several ways you can celebrate Samhain, from having a huge ritual with your coven, to simply carving Jack-O-Lanterns and setting them outside your home. I will include a few different ways to celebrate for those just starting off to those who have some experience under their hats!



Low Energy Samhain Activities for the Solitary Practitioner:

☾ Journal and reflect on how much you’ve grown in the year and the changes you would like to see in the coming year.

☾ Decorate your home and altar with Samhain (Halloween) décor.

☾ Set a place at the table for the dead, this can be an ancestor or for all spirits with good intentions.

☾  Go on a nature walk about observe all the life and dead around you. Thank the God and Goddess for all their blessings.

☾  Do a tarot or oracle reading asking the Divine for a message during the Sabbat.

☾  Carve pumpkins

☾  Share family memories

☾  Set intentions for the new year

☾  Dress up as who you want to be in the coming year




Samhain Spell-work

✦ Honoring the dead

✦ Connect with the spirit realm

✦  Banishing

✦  Protection
 

✦ Divination

✦  Releasing the old

✦  Past life recall

✦  Paying debts



Samhain Correspondences

➤ Incense/Oil: frankincense, basil, yarrow, camphor, clove, wormwood, myrrh, patchouli, apple, heliotrope, mint, nutmeg, sage, ylang-ylang.

➤ Colors/Candles: Black (ward off negativity), orange (good luck), indigo, homemade apple or mint scented herbal candles to light jack-o-lanterns or for your altar candles.

➤ Tools/Symbols/Decorations: Black altar cloth, Halloween items, oak leaves, acorns, straw, balefire, besom, black cat, crescent moon, cauldron, divination tools, grain, magic mirror, masks, animal bones, pictures of ancestors.

➤ Foods: apple, pumpkin pie, pomegranate, pumpkin, squash, hazelnut, corn, cranberry muffins, bread, ale, cider and herbal tea

➤ Herbs: Allspice, broom, comfrey, dandelion, deadly nightshade, mugwort, catnip, dittany of Crete, ferns, fumitory, mandrake, mullein, dragons blood, sage, thistle, oak leaf, wormwood (burn to protect from roving spirits)

➤ Gemstones: Black stones, jet, obsidian, onyx, carnelian

➤ Animals/Mythical beings: bats, cats, dogs, pooka, medusa, beansidhe, harpies

➤ Goddesses: The Crone, Hecate, Cerridwen, Arianrhod, Caillech, Baba Yaga, Al-Ilat, Bast, Persephone, Hel, Kali, all death and otherworld Goddesses.

➤ Gods: Horned Hunter, Cernnunos, Osiris, Hades, Gwynn ap Nudd, Anubis, Coyote Brother, Loki, Dis, Arawn, Sacrificial/Dying/Aging Gods, death and otherworld Gods



Samhain Prayer

The veil grows thin at the time of the dead, as we honor our long-gone ancestors, in whose footsteps we tread.

Life retreats into the bulbs and the roots, the time has passed for the flowers and the fruits, as leaves fall thick and carpet the ground, the Dark Mother waits in silence profound. Now is the time for the apple feasts, time stands still for humans and beasts, seek the wisdom of days gone by.

To deal with the past and let it lie. Face your shadow and accept your faults, look now to the future to seek your results.

𝐵𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐸𝒸𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝒲𝒾𝒸𝒸𝒶𝓃