Samhain
October 31
Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), also known as All Soul's Night or the Feast of the Dead, is the Witches' New Year and a time of endings and beginnings. It is thought to mean "summer's end", and it is the foundation or source of our celebration of Halloween on October 31. On the night of Samhain the God of the Sun dies and the Crone Goddess begins her mourning phase. It represents the celebration of the union of the God and Goddess in the "otherworld" or the world of the departed, and the new beginnings on the Wheel of Life as it once again begins its cycle of creation. It is the festival of the last agricultural harvest, and it marks the end of the growing season. The womb of Mother Earth now lies dormant. Samhain is a time to remember our dead ancestors and to leave offerings at the "crossroads" for them. Hecate, a triune Goddess, is associated with this holiday.
The veil is at its thinnest during this time, and it is an excellent time for divination. Feasts are held for ancestors in a ritual known as Ancestor Night or Feast of the Dead. Christianity turned this Pagan holiday into their holiday known as All Saints' Day, or All Hallow's Eve (Halloween). All Saints Day is the Christian day of feast for honoring the dead.
Psychologically, this is a time for introspection, understanding, and searching within the self. This marks the time of the Crone Goddess, and it is a time of year that is filled with wisdom and illumination from within. Colors of the season are black and red. Ripe fruits and nuts are prepared for the feast and stored for winter use. Vegetables are canned and preparations are made for the long winter. Livestock is brought back from the summer fields. For Pagans, this is the most important Sabbat of the year.
Trick or treating grew out of the idea that the Spirits of the dead walk the earth on this night, because the veil between the living and the departed is thinnest. It is the only day where communications from the dead and departed are expected and hoped for. The dead are invited to attend the Sabbat and be present within the Circle. Pagans burn candles in remembrance of loved ones who have passed, and ritual fruits are offered to Spirits. This is a good date to perform scrying and fire jumping. It is also a time to finish incomplete projects and set things right before the beginning of the new year. Divination regarding the future is practiced at this time.
Some Pagans celebrate this day as an ending of the old year and a beginning of the new, while others do not celebrate the new year until Yule, leaving the time between Samhain and Yule as the time which is no time, a mixture of magick and danger. The fires of summer are extinguished in the village homes, and then each villager re-lights the home fire from the village bonfire. Bones of dead animals are tossed into the village bonfire (bone fire).
This has always been my favorite time of year. I can feel it in my bones that it is a time of endings and a time of hopes for new beginnings. Fall is settling in, and the air grows cool at night. Fall leaves mark the end of the season, and the chill of winter is just around the corner. Everyone begins to spend more time inside, and I find myself going within and reflecting on the old as I clear space for the new.
Blessings to all as we move around the Wheel toward Samhain.