Each year as the veils thin, if we are lucky, we enjoy visits from our beloved ancestors. We give thanks around the fire, we commemorate the third harvest, and we celebrate endings and beginnings. Even if we do not see them in our dreams, we remember and have encounters with our ancestors and wise ones. For many outside our community, the popularity of Halloween provides a secular mask for the real celebrations we enjoy as Witches, Pagans, Heathens, and polytheists.
By whatever name our traditions use, the days at the end of October when the darkness covers the evening skies strike a warm comfort in many hearts. We are guided through crystal blue skies during the day and the earlier encroachment of night as this Sabbat is the closest to when we bid farewell to Daylight Savings Time and welcome the return of Standard Time in the United States. We bid farewell to what no longer serves us and welcome the new challenges and joys to come in the new year.
Pomegranates for Samhain Celebration [C. Ajana, 2024]
With Samhain, we complete and begin the steps of the eternal dance. In happiness and sorrow, in good times and in times of fear or desperation, the Sabbat remains. The gods who share our lives remain. Our ancestors, whose numbers grow with each passing year, remain. Regardless of when in the year our observation began, we look to the harvest sabbats in August, September, and especially in October as reminders of lessons we have learned, and teachings we have yet to master. As we celebrate with our chosen family, hope renews within us and grows stronger with each completed cycle.
With each passing Samhain, we head into the colder part of the year where we will tend to our inner fires, and the wisdom we gain. In numerology, Samhain combines the qualities of revelation and inspiration (master number 11/2) on the internal soul level with the vital need to accomplish service on a large scale (18/9) with the full word encouraging us to dig deep at this time (29/11) for even more revelation. Even the costumes and fun that many of us have at balls or parties thinly veil the truths and inspiration that fill our lives at this time.
Like so many in our various traditions, I joined my tradition as an adult, already trained and steeped in the ways of the secular world in expectations for the monotheist practices of my family of origin.
We remember those who we honor the turn of the wheel at the third harvest, and we celebrate the end As the veils thin, we give thanks, we remember our ancestors, and we experience the turn of the wheel. I joined our larger community, as many do, in adulthood. Years later, what keeps me going in my faith and tradition is the same as what cemented my first steps on the journey: Samhain.
There are so many reasons why the days at the end of October when the darkness covers the evening skies strike a warm comfort in many hearts. The crisp smells of fallen leaves, a burning fire, and a cheerful feast with friends and family remind us of those no longer present on this plane of existence who come in our dreams and in our visions to visit if only for a little bit.
Soul Cakes for Samhain- Samantha from Haarlem, Netherlands, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons]
As a newcomer, one of my first experiences of the ancestors coming forth strongly occurred during my very first public Samhain ritual. It wasn’t outdoors in a park with dozens of people and drumming, although that opportunity came later. Although that particular Thursday evening held plenty of warmth, it also had rain. We were a small group of near-strangers coming together to attempt our first Samhain Sabbat celebration together.
In the subtle warmth of an average sized apartment, filled with the sounds of indeterminate soft jazz, smells of a hearty stew cooking on the stove, and a few sticks of Nag Champa incense, the high priest and host asked me to act as high priestess. To this day, I do not know why he asked me although I suspect but I am forever grateful that he did because in the middle of a Samhain ritual dedicated to Isis and Aphrodite, my deeply Christian grandmother appeared in the cauldron, spoke with me, and granted her blessing on my new religious journey.
While it would not be the last time she would show up, as she was chatty in life and even more as an ancestor, recalling her presence that day reminded me of why Samhain is beloved by so many. It is the one time of the year that we are open and closed. As we rejoice in song, ritual celebration, and honor our ancestors, our hearts and minds perform the eternal dance connecting our past with our future, our ability to grow on the internal as we release on the external.
Samhain is a gateway between the worlds. In the spring, Beltane performs the same function in that the veils are thin, yet the big punch of going from light into dark – figuratively and literally – occurs at Samhain.
Wheel of the Year; CarlCastel, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
This season reminds us why we can never take our lives, our blessings, our joys, our pains, and what we cherish for granted. During this season, we are given a chance to hear those words we might not have been open to hearing from our beloved while they were still alive. Our hearts heal with contact if we are open to it during this time. While we celebrate the physical harvest and abundance with Lughnasagh and the spiritual balance of the equinox during Mabon, it is during Samhain that the remainder of our internal harvest occurs. That is the way of the world.
While each Samhain is meaningful, during times of turmoil, restlessness, anxiety, and pain, the lessons that Samhain brings to each of us are important. As reminders of our choices, the wisdom inherent in our bodies, minds, and hearts, this Sabbat in particular urges us to engage with our past to succeed and move forward in our present into a future.
I do not say this as a realist more than an optimist. While Halloween for the mundane world is arguably one of the largest party times for children and adults alike, the spiritual nature of Samhain for those who are in community or are solitary practitioners makes this time truly special in its significance. Ritual, prayer, and communing with those long gone are important in our community.
Jack O Lantern Toby Ord, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
As we gather and rejoice with our beloved ancestors and ancients during these uncertain times, may the lessons of Samhain grace our table with plenty, our chosen group of family and friends with blessings, and our hearts with much needed wisdom. As our ancients might remind us: are we living or are we being lived? This challenge at Samhain asks us to face these and other questions with courage and an open heart.
So during this Samhain, place a drink and some food on the ancestor altar to nourish our beloved as they come forth to visit us. Let us enjoy conversations in our dreams and during our days, as the thinning veils allow. Turn the wheel by shedding the old, embracing the new, and doing so in style. I’ll be waiting for my grandmother, chattiness and all, to show up when she sees fit.
Wishing everyone the brightest of blessings and peace during this Samhain season.
Blessed Be!
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