SAMHAIM

Samhain (pronounced sow-in) is ancient Celtic seasonal festival that is celebrated from sunset on 31st October 31 to sunset on 1st November. Samhain marks the end of the harvest, the beginning of winter and a time to remember the dead.

Samhain (a precursor to the modern-day Halloween) is when the boundary between this world and the world of the dead is considered to be at its thinnest and can most easily be crossed. The souls of the dead are said to return to the world of the living for one night to revisit their homes and seek hospitality. Many Samhain customs and traditions survive in Halloween, for example going from door to door in costume to ask for food in exchange for praying for the dead.

As the veil between our plane and the next thins, it is said to grant us easier communication with those beyond. Samhain is the time to honour your loved ones, letting them know their life on this earth may have ended but your love for them has not.

During Samhain we acknowledge death as a necessary stage in the cycle of life, and celebrate our ancestors and those loved ones who have transcended before us while addressing our own discomfort that often accompanies our mortality.

Every ending is a new beginning, and Samhain is often referred to as the Witches' New Year. As the veil is thin, it also gifts us with heightened energies from the other side, enhancing divination and clairvoyance.