Samhain: Resting Earth, Awakening Souls

Samhain was an ancient Celtic festival celebrating the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Starting at dusk on October 31st through November 1st, it marked the Celtic New Year and was considered a time when the veil between the world of the living and the dead was thinnest. People lit bonfires, wore costumes to ward off spirits, and left out offerings for the dead in an effort to prepare for the winter and transition into a new phase of the year. A central belief of Samhain was that the barrier between the human and spirit worlds thinned, allowing spirits of the dead to cross over into the world of the living. In our Samhain Circle, we’ll gather at the trailhead and walk the liminal path to the Sacred Grove, where we’ll cast a sacred circle beneath the veil of dusk. There, we’ll kindle a bonfire, tend a communal ancestral altar, and open the space between worlds.