Samhain Breathwork or Ritual Playlist
Celebrating Samhain: the end of the harvest and the arrival of the dark half of the year
Hello friends. I have been curating and sharing playlists around the Celtic Pagan Wheel of the Year for some time now. Each time the wheel turns I update my post and playlist from the previous year. This is always a really interesting exercise in observing my own repeating themes and cycles. For an overview of The Wheel of the Year you can check out this post.
Samhain (pronounced sah-win) is celebrated or honoured by Pagans, Celts and Wiccans on the 31st of October. Some people actually celebrate it on the 8th November, which is exactly half way between Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. If you want to know more about why there are two different dates, head here. In short it’s to do with the Gregorian Calendar.
Samhain is one of my favourite celebrations. It marks the end of the harvest and the arrival of the dark half of the year. I love the cosiness of it. There’s also so much magical folklore connected with Samhain and many modern Halloween traditions are rooted in Samhain traditions.
Our love of all things spooky at Halloween can be linked back to the belief that the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is at its thinnest at Samhain. This thinning of the veil and arrival of the dark months can be celebrated through gatherings, feasts and bonfires. Samhain is a fire festival and we light fires to light the darkness. It’s also said that Samhain marks the arrival of the Cailleach (the Crone), the queen of air and darkness. She strips away the leaves from the trees and brings decay, so that new life can emerge in the Spring.
The veil between worlds is thin and we honour our ancestors
Something I really love about Samhain is that it’s a time to honour our ancestors. This year I’m reflecting on the idea that not all ancestors are from our blood or family lines. The land is our ancestor. The plants and animals we share it with are our ancestors. The people that worked on the land we live on or built the houses we live in are our ancestors. Our teachers and their teachers are our ancestors. We can choose to honour any and all ancestors at Samhain so if honouring your family line feels complicated, you could connect with and honour the land instead.
I don’t know about you but I can really feel the darkness of Samhain as I write this. This has been another transformational year for me (petition for next year to not be, in any way, transformational - I’m tired…) and this feels like an opportunity to close out cycles before I surrender to the energy of winter and the darker months.
Reflective prompts: what have you harvested this year that you’d like to celebrate?
I’ll be marking Samhain with friends around the fire and as part of this I’ll be taking some time to connect with my ancestors. To support you to do the same and to explore the energy of this beautiful festival, here are some prompts that you might like to reflect on. You can also use the playlist below as a background for ritual, breath work or meditation. You can find some guidance about how to practice breathwork here.
what do you notice when you connect with the idea of ancestors?
what gratitude can you offer to ancestors that are no longer with us?
is there anything you’re holding on to in terms of your relationships with those who have passed?
what have you harvested this year that you’d like to celebrate?
what are you letting go of as we move into winter?
how do you feel about welcoming in the dark?
