It is finally here! My favourite day of the year. Halloween is great and all but it has much deeper and Pagan roots. Samhain which is pronounced Sowin is the Celtic Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. It was known as the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of a new one, thus being the equivalent of New Year’s Eve and Day. The Christian religion adopted the celebrations and renamed it All Hallows Eve, similar traditions and where Halloween was eventually born. It is halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice and is a very energetically potent day. The celebrations lasted from October 31st generally past November 1st into the 2nd. It is without a doubt the most important of all the harvest festivals during the Celtic Calendar. We talk about the “veil getting thinner and thinner”. This refers to the division between the real world and the spirit world, when it is at it’s thinnest this allows spirits to pass through. This was a day to honour, celebrate and communicate with the dead. Families would invite familiar spirits to visit at home while simultaneously warding off dark or evil spirits. People would dress up in masks and costumes in order to disguise themselves against harmful spirits. Like the rest of these pagan holidays bonfires and food were a big part of the celebration. The bonfires would symbolize mans attempt to assist the sun as it slowly descended further and further into the “underworld” and the days got shorter and shorter. This day has much symbolism but really when it all comes down to it we think about themes such as death, rebirth, cycles, transformations and celebrating the dead of loved ones passed. It is very Plutonion and very Scorpio. Many astrologers, tarot readers, psychics and other witchy people use this day and energy in order to access higher realms, honour that which we have let go of and focus on our own rebirth. Just like the sun that sets and rises each day, just like the leaves that fall and die and then rebud in the spring, life is a continuous cycle and death is never the end. With Mercury Retrograde and us being in the midst of Scorpio season this time is going to be extra illuminating.

Here are some ways you can celebrate Samhain, and a lot of them are already things you have likely done for Halloween:

1) Carving Jack-O-Lanterns out of Pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds

2) Dressing up in a costume and wearing masks

3) Working with your divination tools, such as runes, scrying, tarot reading, akashic records, whatever else you can think of

4) Having a bonfire and telling spooky stories around the bonfire

5) Connecting with your ancestors and familial spirits by setting up an Ancestor Altar, visit a family members tombstone, meditating and connecting with your familial spirits

6) Hosting a “Dead Dinner” which basically just consists of having a nice dinner but eating in silence. You invite your loved ones who have passed and enjoy a dinner together. Cook a family recipe that has been passed down to you, add family photographs, heirlooms and trinkets to make them feel welcomed. Feel free to write a letter to your loved one. I do recommend grounding yourself after doing something like this with meditation, or a bath, smudging yourself, connecting with the earth.

7) Visiting a pumpkin patch, corn maze or taking a hay ride

8) Baking an apple or pumpkin pie

There are actually many ways that you can celebrate Samhain on top of this. The most popular one would be going out trick or treating with your littles, or even yourself. While this has been completely commercialized but if you do it with the right intent it can be meaningful. Playing in the leaves, lighting autumn scented candles, and watching a spooky movie or reading a scary story are all other examples. Something that I will be doing on this special and sacred day is attending my very first tarot reading party as THE tarot reader. I am so excited as I really hope to connect with some people who likely will really be in need of my guidance and expertise. And I am sure I will be picking up on some very interesting messages with the electric energy in the air. I also of course plan to carve pumpkins and go trick or treating with my family and then hand out candy after my kids have done their neighbourhood rounds. I also will be dressing up in at the very least 1 if not 2 different costumes. It is going to be an amazing day and I really hope to connect with my very own spirit guides. I am ready for some guidance and clarity and ready to enjoy the second half of this year. Happy Samhain friends and I hope you find ways to incorporate this holiday into your life and find ways to honour and celebrate dead loved ones, even if you don’t believe. It is never a bad thing to celebrate someone you love who has passed on. Use this time to focus on the things you need to let go of and grow from as well. Blessed be.