Witch’s Guide to Samhain Part 2
In Part one, we focused on ancestors and your space, now we will focus on some rituals for the Witch’s New Year.
1. Divination – This is a great year-round practice, but it can be especially powerful on Samhain, when the veil is at its thinnest. Really allow yourself to tune in to subtle messages because this is one of the most spiritually charged times of the year for inner guidance. Some great options are, but not limited to:
- Pendulum – these are typically used for advice from your higher self and usually in yes, no, or maybe questions. Pendulums are great and they come in a variety of materials from metal to crystals, but you don’t need a pendulum to do this work. You can use a necklace, a weight on a string, the important thing is to find something you can connect with. Before going in to a session with a new pendulum, ask the pendulum to show you what yes and no look like, what maybe looks like. There are boards that you can get that have yes and no on them, or you can make your own. These are used by the pendulum point to the answer on the board.
- Scrying – is when you gaze into a reflective surface, such as a mirror, water, an obsidian mirror, etc. to see if you can divine anything. What do you see? Are there any images popping out to you? Before a practice such as this, I recommend that you spiritually lock your mirror. Here is a link to Hearth Witch’s YouTube channel with an excellent explanation, step by step on how to do it. https://youtu.be/jwGV2Oak1j4?si=ezzwfbGaG-Zpu_ha
- Guided ancestral meditations – you can use guided meditations to help you receive messages from your ancestors. There are many ancestor guided meditations on YouTube to check out.
- Tarot/Oracle cards – These are a really great way to tap into the spirituality of the season. An example spread would be to pull four cards:
1. How to honor your ancestors
2. How to see through the veil
3. Fears to face and release
4. A message from your ancestors
(This spread is from www.newagehipster.co)
2. Herbal and Kitchen Magick – As a Hearth Witch, these are some of my most favorite rituals. Some great herbs to work with during this time are rosemary and cinnamon. From baking pies and bread to roasts and soul cakes, there are so many great things about this sabbat. You don’t have to limit yourself to just traditional Samhain faire, you can take any recipe and make it witchy by fusing intention into herbs and spices, drawing sigils in your pie crust, etc. Some traditional dishes include:
- Rosemary and garlic herbed bread
- Scalloped potatoes
- Spiced meats, like pot roast
- Apple or pumpkin pie
- Soul Cakes
(Check out www.thewholesomewitch.com for a full list of great dish ideas)
- Another great idea is spiced teas, like chai, herbal or your own blend, anything with herbs and spices that fit your intentions.
3. Protection Magick – After cleansing your home is a great time to do some protection magick. This can include the use of sigils on the inside of your outside doors, placing black tourmaline above your doors on the inside doors that lead to outside, mixing salt and rosemary and sprinkling it on your thresholds and windowsills. This is also a great time to do protection magick on yourself. My favorite book is Protection Spells: Clear Negative Energy, Banish Unhealthy Influences and Embrace Your Power by Arin Murphy Hiscock. Before any magickal working, you should also ground yourself and cast a circle or a bubble of protection, the book explains how to do both.
I hope these lists have inspired you to start some new traditions for yourself. Which ones are you going to try?
Come back next week for November correspondences and how to have a witchy, hygge winter.
