10/31/2022
🎃👻October 31st is celebrated as Halloween in the Northern Hemisphere. As a Celtic High Holy Day it is known as SAMHAIN (pronounced sow-wen). Other names include: “All Souls Night”, “All Hallows Eve”, “Festival of Remembrance”, “Feast of Apples”, and “New Year”.
Samhain is one of the major fire festivals of the Wheel of the Year, the 3rd and final harvest. The cycle of birth and growth has come to an end, and we are dropping into the cycle of death, stillness, hibernation.
This is the time of descent into darkness, out of which new life and ideas eventually emerge. It is a truly a MAGICAL time!
For the Celts the day did not begin at dawn, it began at sunset, with darkness (fertile with all possibility). Light is always born out of darkness.
The dark half of the year begins, as the Sun King travels to the Underworld, wielding his wisdom until his rebirth at Yule. The Goddess, known as Crone, mourns him until he returns.
At the time of Samhain you can HONOR and offer hospitality to your ancestors, by offering them a plate at the dinner table or lighting a candle on your altar, as the veils between the worlds are at their thinnest. For wandering souls you can leave food on your doorstep.
Other things to do include making a BESOM or magical broom to sweep away the old energy in your home. Other sacred symbols to use on your altar may include apples, pomegranates, the cauldron, and acorns. Colors include black, orange, and purple.
Now is the opportunity to REST and REFLECT and DREAM of NEW BEGINNINGS. Death/darkness is always followed by REBIRTH & light and while this is the end of the old year, it is the beginning of the new year.
How will you celebrate Samhain?
