Samhain (pronounced “SAH-win”) comes from the pagan religious festival celebrated by ancient Celts. Celebrated from October 31st to November 1st, this is the time when the veil between the physical and spirit world is at its thinnest, allowing us closer connection with one another.
The Celtic festival of the dead honored the Lord of Death, Samana, which the Irish called the ‘Vigil of Saman.’ In the Wheel of the Year, Samhain marks the beginning of the season of death. Winter was seen as the arrival of the powers of destruction: hunger, cold and winter storms. Brigid, goddess of agriculture, enters her crone phase and relinquishes her power over the earth.
Samhain occurs at the midpoint between the Autumn Equinox (Mabon) and the Winter Solstice (Yule). The ancient Celts saw Samhain as the most important of the four fire festivals of the year. To celebrate this magical eve, fires were lit on the sidh, or fairy mounds, where the spirits dwelled. This marked the time when the harvest was gathered. Afterwards, several days were spent eating huge feasts and drinking to excess.
In the 19th century Irish and Scottish Celts immigrated to North America, and the holiday morphed into what we know as Halloween today. Halloween is its own separate holiday, though many use Samhain and Halloween interchangeably. While Halloween stems from the same pagan holiday activities, its purpose remains secular. Dressing up in spooky costumes, going trick-or-treating, watching scary movies and perhaps fiddling around with a spirit board all constitute some typical Halloween activities that connect with this liminal time of year when the veil is at its thinnest and connection with the spirit world is most potent. It goes without saying that this is many witches’ favorite holiday!
In the 70s, witches revived Samhain, and it was further popularized by Wicca in the 80s and 90s. It’s a time for fire ceremonies and activities marking the changing of the seasons, connecting with ancestors and shadow work. It’s viewed by many as “Witches’ New Year”, and many activities center around celebrating the passing of the year. Laurie Cabot, Official Witch of Salem, Massachusetts popularized yearly “Witches’ Balls,” that many now partake in in different regions of North America. Participants are asked to come dressed specifically to reflect what they would like to become or experience in the coming year. Orange is a color worn to symbolize the dying leaves and fires of summer. Black is worn to draw in light to fill our bodies at this time of year when the days are growing shorter and there is physically less light and warmth.
Celtic tradition says that all who die each year must wait until Samhain before crossing into the spirit world, sometimes referred to as the Summerland, where they will begin their new journey. At this moment of crossing, the little people, fairies, elementals, and spirits of ancestors who still have unfinished business in this world may appear. Some will help the newly departed leave our world and enter the next, others may come out to play and do mischief.
This is a time when the dead are honored. Ancestor veneration is common, and now is excellent for calling on the departed ones. For many queer people, and/or people estranged from their families or have ancestors whose histories are troubling, we choose to make our own families in death and in life. Connecting with non-blood related ancestors is also possible. Finding an ancestor whose story inspires, and you can gain strength from can aid as much as blood relations. Scrying with flame, smoke or mirror proves powerful results when used on Samhain. Samhain is also a time for divination, as the future is thought to be more easily seen by those attempting to peer into the days coming ahead. The new life of the coming year is more apparent on this special night. Many leave traditional Samhain foods, such as pumpkin, apples, gingerbread, potatoes, turnips and a glass of apple cider or red wine as an offering to the ancestors.
Summer has ended, and fall is fleeting fast. However death-focused Samhain seems, it is as much a time of rebirth as it is of mortality. Use this sacred moment of the year as an opportunity to get in touch with its uniquely charged energy to reflect on the past, center in the present and project your hopes and dreams to the future.
Simple Samhain Ritual
Supplies:
Autumn fruits and/or vegetables (apples, pumpkins, turnips, potatoes for example)
A piece of paper and something to write with
A fire safe receptacle (a cauldron, fireproof bowl)
Candle (colors: purple, black, orange, red)
A knife
Place autumn fruits on the alter
Write on a piece of paper an aspect of your life which you wish to be free of: anger, a baneful habit, misplaced feelings, disease for example.
Place the cauldron or some other safe fire receptacle in front of the altar on a heat-proof surface
Before the ritual, sit quietly and think of loved ones who have passed away. Know that they’ve gone on to greater things. Keep firmly in mind that the physical isn’t the absolute reality, and that souls never die.
Arrange the altar, light the candles and cast the circle
If you have a deity that you work with, feel free to invoke them at this time.
Lift one of the fruits, and with your knife pierce the skin of the fruit. Face the altar and say:
“On this night of Samhain I mark the passing of the sun, through the sunset, into the land of the young. I mark also the passing of all who have gone before, and all who will go after. Teach me to know that in the time of the greatest darkness, there is the greatest light.”
Light candles. Sit before it holding the piece of paper, gazing at its flames. Say:
“Wise one of the Waning Moon, of the starry night, I create this fire within your cauldron to transform that which is plaguing me. May the energies be reversed: from darkness, light. From bane: good. Frome death: birth”
Light the paper in the cauldron’s flame and drop it inside. As it burns, know that your ill diminishes, lessens, and finally leaves you as it’s consumed within the universal fires.”
Follow with tarot readings, scrying or any other form of divination.
Set your offerings outside for the ancestors
Give thanks and release the circle.