The Sacred Teachings of Samhain
Reclaiming the sacred lessons of this ancient, ancestral holiday.
Samhain Blessings, Friend!
In the ancient Celtic tradition,* the evening of October 31st begins the celebration and sacred holy day of Samhain (pronounced Sow-wain). Samhain is the word in the Scottish Gaelic tradition meaning darker half, and is very similar in Irish. In Welsh, it’s known as Calan Gaeaf (the evening of October 31st being Nos Calan Gaeaf).
Samhain is the start of the Celtic New Year, and in many ancient cultural calendar systems, there were only two seasons—winter (dark) and summer (light). Also aligning with this (at least in the Celtic tradition) is seeing the new day beginning at sundown. This is why Samhain begins at sundown and extends through the next day.
The Divine Darkness
I LOVE the teachings we gain from these two aspects of Celtic tradition (the new year and the new day)! It teaches us that true birth (or beginning) starts in the womb-space, the darkness, the void, the underworld, the mystery, etc. I helps us cultivate better relationship with darkness, mystery, and the unseen. A seed incubates in dark, damp, cool soils; an idea springs from the well of the unconscious; a new human infant emerges from the nourishing, dark, womb of its mother; the universe burst from a dark, mysterious void—and the list goes on. Then, when we die, we move from the light back into the darkness to be composted and new life re-birthed from our bodies. Death is not the end, but simply a cycle—a space for things to be reborn and regenerated into life once again.
When we cultivate a healthy relationship with the dark, we learn to better appreciate the cycles of life. The fear of death loosens its grip; the avoidance to confront our shadow parts diminish; the impulse to run from healthy conflict softens, and so forth.
Ancient cultures taught important truths through the way they connected with the Earth, the heavens, and the natural rhythmic cycles experienced in their respective lands. Natural cycles can be seen everywhere, and Samhain’s timing teaches us to surrender into the darkness where new life can begin to gestate and take form. Then, when the light half of the year comes (Beltane, or May 1st), that new life/creation can burst forth with vigor and energy to manifest its full beauty as a sacred child of the Divine! But, even this new life will eventually run its course, fulfill its purpose, and need to return its “body” to the earth for composting and renewal.
This cyclical light/dark relationality does not divide light and darkness in such a harsh, separate, and polarized way as we’ve learned to see in our Western, Christian-colonized culture. Instead, it entwines the two in a cyclical, symbiotic dance; two lovers beautifully sharing and exchanging energy—back and forth; leading and following; giving and receiving—each taking its turn. This dance of the dark and light is a true, beautiful, and sacred expression of the Divine Masculine and Feminine—the God and the Goddess; Father Sky and Mother Earth.
In ancient earth-honoring cultures, the darkness, the mystery, intuition, sacred wildness, sensuality, etc., aligned with the Divine Feminine; The Goddess. Yet, even before Christianity entered the scene, Jewish leaders distorted and re-wrote their own sacred teachings. They erased the Goddess (Ashara), vilified the Divine Feminine, and created the conditions for a later Judeo-Christian culture to subvert and demonize the female body, feminine and queer gender expressions, women and matriarchal leadership, sacred sexuality and eroticism, etc. And by severing the Mother Goddess from her Divine consort and lover, Father God, humans learned to fear, disregard, and even disrespect their own Mother (and this is why we have not often been good to the Earth and other-than-human-beings).
For this reason, our culture perpetuates the situation where we are scared of “the dark.” We associate it with evil, and this, then, influences so much of the way Hollywood has portrayed Halloween (the replacement holiday for Samhain). Yet, there is a reason, I sense, for why Halloween is the number-two holiday for Americans (after Christmas). It’s because deep down, we have a yearning to play with the darkness. And not in an evil, malicious way, but in a playfully wild, free, and nourishing way. And THIS is what Samhain can teach us!
Now, I love all of the fun, scary and witchy things of Halloween! I REALLY do! So don’t get me wrong. I just think there is more there for us to discover about ourselves behind the spooky masks, gory costumes, scary movies, jack-o-lanterns, fun parties, candy, and so forth—much more! Perhaps we can use those things as portals into Divine Darkness. Portals that can illuminate and transform us by revealing new parts of ourselves that are ready to be birthed and emerge into the light!
Samhain and the Ancestors
Anciently, Samhain would have aligned with the lunar cycles—being the first full moon after the first new moon following the Autumn Equinox. So, this year, Samhain technically falls on November 5th. This offers not just one single night to celebrate, but a multi-day “season.” In Wiccan practice, the “Samhain Season” is honored from October 30th to November 8th (a full week). But, for me… girl, let’s just make a month! I set up our Samhain Altar around October 15th and will leave it up probably until about November 10th or so!
So why does Samhain invoke so much hype around Ancestors? It’s because that as the light and dark halves of the year energetically brush through each other, the physical (light) and spirit (dark) realms also, if you will, brush through one another—resulting in a thinning veil. And, because the Ancestor Realm, in many traditions, is connected to the Underworld, it creates the space where the humans are much more able to commune with and connect with the souls of the Dead.
And, just because the Ancestral Realm is sometimes associated with the “Underworld,” it doesn’t necessarily need to invoke spooky, creepy, dark, imagery. The “Underworld”, rather, is an energetic realm connected to the Earth—the Divine Feminine, the Goddess.
This is why Samhain creates the perfect energetic container for us to connect with, honor, and (energetically) feed our ancestors by remembering them, making offerings, singing songs, dancing, creating art, gathering with loved ones, and yes, even dressing up and joyfully celebrating!
Samhain is a great time to also begin learning to follow the Celtic Wheel of the Year, which teaches us to flow more in harmony with the natural cycles and seasons of the year. About every 6.5 weeks, we receive the chance to ritually step into a new phase of the earth’s annual journey—reminding us that we are both interdependent and interconnected with all of life!
So, if you are new to Samhain, I invite you to join in the magick! Create a simple ancestor altar to start! Light a candle next to few a few photos of your departed loved ones. Reflect on the gifts they have passed on to you and invite wisdom from wise, healed ancestors to flow into your dreams and meditative practice. There is still time left in the magickal transition into the dark half of the year, so don’t worry if you weren’t prepared for anything specific on October 31st! Simple works, too!
May the magick of Samhain and your Ancestors bless and enrich you this Ancestor Season!
May you well, may you be blessed!
Joseph
*It’s always important to point out that when speaking of the Celtic Pagan traditions that we acknowledge the presence of multiple groups of Celtic peoples with unique languages and lenses through which they honored and related with the sacred Earth and divine Universe. However, there are only six principle Celtic groups “aka nations” that have survived the intense efforts of colonialist erasure (Irish, Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Britton), and many more have been completely lost to history. As a result, modern efforts have been made to reclaim and restore aspects of these Celtic cultures. And as part of that effort, modern Neo-Pagans (reflected in Wiccan practice) have cultivated a more amalgamated framework and lens of Celtic Paganism that brings in aspects of multiple Celtic traditions as an effort to help fill in gaps and reclaim (where possible) pieces that have been lost. Even the tradition of Samhain invokes aspects from several Celtic groups.