Solitary Samhain: Celebrating the Witches' New Year Solo
Samhain is a pagan harvest festival of Celtic origin. It is celebrated in the northern hemisphere on the day that most know as Halloween, starting the eve of October 31st through through the evening of November 1st. In the southern hemisphere, it is celebrated on April 30th through May 1st. It is a celebration of the final harvest before the winter months and darker half of the year. It is also a celebration of death, ancestry and those who have passed on. Symbolically, the earth is in a state of death (particularly plants, crops, animals go into hiding, and generally much higher mortality rates).
Samhain is called "The Witches' New Year" because it signifies the end of the harvest until the next year. It has been said that at this time the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its' thinnest. This holiday and time of year is the time when we honor our ancestors and remember our loves ones that have passed on. Over time this holiday adapted and changed, but many of the same traditions and the theme of death being celebrated has carried on in what has now become modern Halloween.
Even solitary witches will often celebrate Halloween to some extent with family or friends, but sometimes (the year of writing this in particular, 2020) many of us will be alone or just spending the holiday with our immediate household. There are so many ways to celebrate Samhain as a solitary practitioner! Here are just a few examples of ideas how you can celebrate the season to help inspire you:
Protection
Reinforcing your spiritual/energetic protection is a great idea at this time. Because the veil is said to be at its' thinnest at Samhain, many believe there are both good and bad spirits and entities roaming around. Performing an energy cleansing and creating or recharging any protection wards around yourself or your home can help protect you and your magick from them as well as help protect you for the upcoming darker months. While you're at it, I recommend protecting/recharging your immune system too! As a solitary witch, you are where your magick comes from and your main magickal tool. Make sure you're getting the vitamins, nutrients and hydration you need to keep that tool in good shape. Getting a flu shot or drinking orange juice can be considered "magickal maintenance."
Harvest
This is a harvest festival, after all! If you have a garden with herbs, fruits or vegetables, now is the last chance to harvest them before winter! Start to use your home-grown goods to celebrate the season, or you can dry or freeze them for later use.
Host a Spirit Supper
Many call this tradition a "dumb supper," the "dumb" meaning silent. Some paths prefer this supper to be a boisterous celebration of life and death. It depends on your path and preference! To host a spirit supper, you will set a table for yourself (and any other living guests that you may have) but will also set the table with a few extra spaces. These spaces are held for your ancestors or your passed loved ones. This is to welcome in the spirits, energies or memories of the deceased.
Treat this like a real dinner party - even if it's just you at the table. Put out all the table settings and napkins, put flowers or candles on your table. Light incense, candles, wax melts or a simmer pot to make your space smell nice. If you aren't going the completely silent route, you can play some soft music that puts you in a calm, autumnal mood. The idea is to make your home feel welcoming to your invited spirit guests!
If you did grow your own herbs, fruits or vegetables, incorporating some of them into your Samhain is a great way to celebrate your own harvest!
Create an Altar for the Dead
Creating an altar (or adapting your own altar, if you choose to) to make space to honor ancestors or passed loved ones is another way to celebrate them and keep their spirit alive, so to speak. You can set out pictures, or just candles and other items to represent them.
Decorate Your Space
You can also decorate your altar separately, or just the space you will be celebrating Samhain in with autumnal decor that celebrates the harvest and the season. Some items you could use are gourds, pumpkins, dark or smoky crystals, candles, herbs, skulls, bones, apples - any items that you feel brings the spirit of fall to your space. I have a more detailed list of correspondences at the end of this post to help inspire you!
Fire
Many of the pagan holidays are celebrated with bonfires, but as solitary witches we probably won't be setting up a full bonfire for just ourselves. Celebrating light, warmth and transformation with fire can be done with candles instead. If you prefer not to use real fire (for reasons such as asthma/smoke allergies, discreetness, not being able to attend the fire or candle closely, not having a candle, lighter, matches, or other space/material restrictions), you can use a symbolic fire! Either with creative use of colors, paper, fabrics or other materials, OR you can just pull up one of those "fireplace for your home" type videos on YouTube or another streaming service. It might seem silly, but it will absolutely work in a pinch to help set that Samhain bonfire mood!
Divination
Because the veil is said to be thinnest at this time, many find it best for connecting with the spirit world or astral plane and will use this more open door for divination. Marking the end of the harvest season and the "Witches' New Year" you can use divination to reflect on the past year or to reflect on what you'd like for the upcoming year.
You can use any form of divination you prefer (tarot cards, pendulums, runes, bone throwing, etc.). That said, if you already plan to have a real fire of some sort from the section above, you can go also try your hand at the Celtic Samhain tradition of fire scrying! If you will be around a larger fire you can do fire scrying or smoke scrying. With a candle, you can gaze into the candle directly but many prefer to use a scrying mirror or scrying bowl (a dark vessel of water used for the reflective surface) to view the candle's fire.
Grounding
With a thin veil and spooky spirit of the season in the air, it can be easy to get carried away. The year of writing this (2020) we also have a full blue moon in Taurus. Both full moons and working with death, even in a celebratory manner, can trigger a lot of emotions. For these reasons, I will be emphasizing grounding year.
Grounding is a meditative practice that focuses on breath and your physical connection to the earth. It helps keep you in tune and present with the earth. It also keeps your energy from spiking too high or dipping too low. You generally want to keep high, floaty energy for divination and spell work, but grounding afterward is important. It will bring your energy back in to yourself and at a good, non-overwhelming level. There are many methods to grounding, I personally use the "tree roots" style. If you're new to grounding, I suggest finding and trying out a few different guided grounding meditations! You can look for them on YouTube or on meditation apps. I recommend using one just to get the hang of it and find which you feel suits you best.
Samhain Correspondences
Herbs/Plants: bay leaf, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosemary, allspice, sunflower, wormwood, mugwort, nettle, mullein, rue, sandalwood, clove, marigold, mums
Food: pumpkins, gourds, apples, pears, pomegranates, squash, cider, mulled wine, hazelnuts, turnips, pie
Colors: Black, red, orange, dark purple, silver, gold, brown
Crystals: Black stones (such as obsidian, onyx, jet), amber, bloodstone, garnet, smoky quartz
Symbols: Cats, crows, ravens, snakes, owls, skulls, bones, fall leaves, cauldrons,
There are so many ways to celebrate Samhain. These are just a few of my go-to celebrations that I hope helped inspire you a little! Let me know in the comments how you like to celebrate the season!
