Happy Witches’ New Year! How to Celebrate Samhain (Halloween)

by Stacey Demarco   Happy witches’ New Year! As the seasons roll themselves towards the cold once again, we find ourselves at Samhain (or Halloween) time. Halloween (Samhain pronounced sow-hen) is traditionally a Celtic winter festival marking the colder time, a time with less daylight and a time when the earth begins to retreat and ‘die.’ If we think about a field that is left fallow, no seeds or plants, just a place full of possibility, this is the essence of this festival of the pausing of growth. Death then becomes the theme of this ‘holiday’ in its most positive terms. Back in our ancestors time, death was something that everyone saw and encountered more than we do. People didn’t die in hospitals; they died probably at home, in full view of family or often in battlefields at close quarters. Women of course had very high maternal death rates as did small children.  As modern people, many of us have never seen a real death or even viewed someone who has passed such is the fear and taboo around death. Death though is a part of life and as many pagans see it, the step before renewal again. Having a celebration about death, treating it lightly and with laughter, helps us see that there is little to be afraid of and it helps our society lift this ‘last’ taboo.  Halloween is traditionally the time when it is said the walls between the spirit world and our world are at their thinnest. This gives us a good opportunity to honour our friends and ancestors who have passed over in fun and loving ways. I always have a Samhain feast, full of yummy things to eat, and I set a place at the table for those who have passed. Like any honoured guest, our “beloved dead” get the same servings of food and wine that we do, and we all talk about them and relive wonderful stories about them. As we witches consider death to be the beginning not the end, we consider this our new year so there is double a reason for a beautiful feast! It certainly isn’t a time for sadness but a time to celebrate.  The ‘thinness’ is also why many people from all over the world on this night choose to use a variety of divination tools and methods to get a glimpse of their future or to tap into some wise messages from the other side. Why not try this simple form of divination before dinner Get your hands on a pendulum. It can be made of crystal, metal or made simply with a small stone and some string. It is suspended from your finger and allowed to swing freely to get accurate answers from ‘the other side.’ I like to draw a simple cross on a piece of paper with the horizontal line being ‘NO’ and the vertical meaning ‘YES.’ Think of a question and allow your mind to focus only on the question. Relax your hand and you’ll soon find the pendulum will swing one way or the other clearly. If it swings vertically, the answer to your question is to the positive. If the swing is horizontal it means ‘no.’ Sometimes the pendulum continues to circle, so the matter is undecided. Take note of these and write them down. These are often messages sent from the other side, so why not act on them as soon as possible.   No matter how you choose to celebrate Samhain - trick or treating, a feast with friends, a quiet night of divination – I wish you a happy and joyous October 31!  

About the author:

Stacey Demarco is an internationally respected spiritual practitioner, meta physicist, and one of Australia’s highest-profile witches and most trusted pagan practitioners. She has been teaching around the world for over twenty-five years and is the founder of Natureluster, a movement to reconnect people with the power of nature. Her passion is to make practical magic accessible to everyone and to reconnect people with nature. Stacey is also the best-selling author of Queen of the Moon Oracle, The Elemental Oracle, Divine Animals, The Enchanted Moon and the annual Lunar & Seasonal Diary (now in its 13th edition). Her inspiring new book Priestess Path: 13 Powerful Lessons to Build Your Inner Strength (£13.89, Rockpool Publishing) takes readers on a journey through the mythos surrounding thirteen of the ancient world’s most famous goddesses and explores the lessons we can learn from each. The book works with the eight Pagan festivals of the wheel and weaves in spells, meditations and traditional priestess teachings.