Samhain Cozy Chat

Jenny has been a witch for 3 decades, here in this cozy chat, she explains how anyone can tune into the energy of Samhain or Halloween as part of the Witch's Wheel of the Year. Samhain is one of eight sabbats celebrated by witches throughout the year. Silent suppers, divination and having fun are themes of Samhain! Learn about the energy of the season and receive some journaling questions to reflect upon for the season.

Transcript

Hi and welcome to this cozy chat on Samhain which is the last in this series for me but the first in the sabbats of the eight sabbats on the witch's wheel of the year.

My name is Jenny C.

Bell.

I am the host of Cozy Coven Chats podcast as well as Our Coven and the author of Spirit Crystals,

Discover Your Crystal Guide for Healing and Empowerment which is now an audiobook as well.

So this little chat we're talking about Samhain.

What is Samhain?

Samhain is from what I understand loosely translates to November or that time of year for the Irish people,

The ancient Celts right and it's where we get a lot of our Halloween traditions.

The Celts would have carved turnips and we carve pumpkins but a lot of what we know as Halloween energy is Samhain and I want to talk to you about some key components of celebrating this time of year.

So first is you will hear people call it or talk about the thinning of the veils.

So let's talk about what that means.

There is this belief by cultures around the world,

Ancient cultures,

That there's almost like this veil,

This space between the living and the dead and at this time that becomes more permeable,

More thin right and as witches we live in liminal space.

We know and believe in an invisible world but it becomes much easier for everybody to access that world at this time and so it's nothing to be scared of.

It's quite the opposite.

The thinning of the veils really allows for some really cool things.

So the first thing is it really allows you to connect with your ancestors or ancestors of the land or ascended masters or spirit guides.

It really allows connection to guidance and to those who have passed on who are on the other side of the veil.

It allows for divination.

Divination is the is divining the future right so using tarot cards and oracle cards and pendulums and palm readings and even astrology numerology.

This time of year those things become much easier to try so if you've never tried any of those things this is the perfect time of year to do that right or if there's a new type of divination you're like I really had my eye on this tarot deck this is the time of year to get it and to give it a good try right because it's just going to be easier for you to do those things.

So some key things a lot of what we associate with Halloween we can use for Samhain right so pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns candles right so we have this kind of tradition of candles like lighting up our jack-o'-lanterns and that comes from lighting a path for all the souls returning from the spirit world right so you can make a jack-o'-lantern and put your candle in there and everyone thinks you're just decorating for Halloween but your private intention will be to the light the way for loved ones which is really beautiful.

You can use all of your equinox decor the autumn and all of that the harvest decor still and you can definitely use you know lots of imagery of past loved ones or create an altar for loved ones past and you can do this for pets as well as humans and you know if you want more on that you should definitely look into the day of the dead and there's also like the day of the pets and different days in Mexican indigenous culture for celebrating and honoring those who have passed away but Samhain too is a time for doing that.

Something that some witches take part in is called a silent supper which is when you make a food that maybe has some kind of connection to a loved one past or ancestors and you set places for people who have passed away and you serve the food and you sit in silence and you welcome those people to dine with you and you just kind of sit in honoring memory.

Now some people do these but they're not silent,

They're you know jubilant and they talk to the loved ones and they you know share and they you know it's like they're there with you again.

It's a really lovely way to honor people who passed away.

Give you some journal questions and then we'll talk a little bit more about Samhain.

So really good journal question for this time of year is who needs my forgiveness at this time because it's a time of year of letting go,

It's a time of year of honoring those who have passed and parts of ourselves that have died right like for me being a woman in her 40s like that maiden warrior young woman,

She's there inside but she is not really there on the outside and I may tap into her energy sometimes but she's passed and I honor her and so who needs your forgiveness at this time and it could also be yourself.

What do I need to know for the year ahead?

Samhain is the witch's new year so you can treat it as such.

It's a fresh start energy,

It's you know honoring those who have passed,

Kind of like a new moon.

It's honoring what has passed but also honoring what is in the future.

It's you know very much like that.

This is a great time of year to do a year ahead reading for yourself or to do any kind of card reading for yourself.

What parts of my life do I need to grieve at this time?

So what have you gone through this year that maybe you have disassociated from or stuffed down or couldn't process at the time?

This is a good time to allow yourself to process.

What would my ancestors say to me if they could send me a letter?

I like to think about this sometimes especially when I'm feeling unhappy.

I think about how my ancestors would be so grateful for things,

Basic things like running water or a stable food.

You know what I mean?

It's really,

It's fun to think about that,

To honor them with you know being appreciative of what you have they didn't have and then this time of year is a time where we face fears.

You know we think about all the scary movies and the Halloween decorations and dressing up scary.

There's an element of fear facing and so this is a time of year to ask yourself sincerely about your fears.

You know what are your fears and are they holding you back and how can you let them go and this is also a great time of year to do shadow work.

Shadow work is facing the darker parts of ourselves so that they don't take over,

Right?

You know when Jung was talking about shadow work he was talking about you know parts of us that we are not really like the best parts of us,

The things that we're embarrassed of or ashamed of that we stuff down and then when we ignore them and neglect them they grow and they pop out and they self-sabotage and those kinds of things.

So shadow work is a really,

There's lots of good journals and books on that.

I'm sure there's good meditations too.

Lots of things on shadow work and something else just to think about at this time of year is I like to think of a season of the witch.

It's a season of magic so you might want to ask yourself like how can you bring more magic into your life?

What does it mean to be magical?

Allow yourself to do the fun things.

I talk about this all the time in our coven but witchcraft,

This path is supposed to be fun.

Like we are choosing to live a life connected with nature and connected with the seasons and the moon and leading our own way and becoming wise and evolving.

We're choosing this and it's supposed to be fun and playful.

It's not stuffy.

It's allow yourself to create this season.

Allow yourself to be a kid.

Allow yourself to dress up.

Like allow yourself to really celebrate the witch because you chose that path.

Like it's my favorite.

I love being a witch but it's my favorite time to be a witch.

It's like it's a time when like being a witch is cool and I think that's really really good for all of us right?

So I hope you have a happy new year.

Samhain is the new year.

I hope you are able to get some really good time to do some divination and something else to think about is your clear senses right?

Either we all have different ways of tuning in so are you more visual or more audio?

Do you feel it more in your body?

Where is your intuition in your body?

That's something else to think about and really hone it,

Open up,

Accept it.

Like this is your time to shine and I hope you enjoy this season of The Witch and until next time,

Thank you so much.

This is a whole series so if this is your first time listening,

Come back for every Sabbath.

I'm here for all eight.

I have talks and meditations for them.

Thank you so much.

Blessed to be.