My Samhain Ritual

We’re about a week and a half from the big day. Where did the time go? October has been flying by.

I think the husband and I have finally picked our Halloween costumes, though now there’s the tough part of actually pulling them together. I still don’t know for sure what our plans are, but I’m trying my best not to stress about it.

As promised, I’m going to share with you what used to be the major part of my annual ritual for Samhain. This was usually done as a part of a group, and as a result, took lots of time and lots of improvisation to make it work for us.

The original spell is from The Book of Spells by Nicola de Pulford. It’s called Encompassing Luck.

We saw this ritual as a way to make goals or resolutions for the New Year. We didn’t look at them so much as “wishes” as rather something to strive for. Keep in mind that the old adage remains true: Be careful what you wish for.

What you Need:

-8 candles (choose colours that correspond to what you’re doing. The book recommends green for prosperity and red for luck, but we usually kept it to either white or purple).

-Wine/Beverage of Choice. Cider would be good too. Or hot chocolate. Yum.

-Some edible nuts/seeds or cake that crumbles well and doesn’t fall apart if dipped in wine.

-A round pebble (though we didn’t always use this, our BOS was normally enough)

If using different coloured candles, set them up so that the colours alternate. Make sure they are secure. In the middle of the circle of candles, place the wine and the nommy snacks.

If using the pebble, keep it in your left hand throughout the whole ritual. Normally, instead of using a pebble, we wrote down all of our wishes in our group BOS. The idea is to infuse the intention of your goals/wishes into something that you can have with you throughout the year.

Starting with the candle at the north, light it.  Dip the foodstuff into the beverage, while making your wish. Eat the foodstuff. We would then each write down our own wish. Repeat, going in the direction that works for you.

If doing this in a group, there are a couple of ways to do this. If you have 4 people in your group, each person gets 2 wishes. Or, if you don’t mind things taking a while, each person gets 8 wishes. Whatever works for you. We’ve done both and found that we preferred letting everyone have 8 wishes while alternating who lights the candle.

When you are done, drink the rest of the wine and enjoy what is left of your treats. Meditate on your wishes/resolutions and the steps you need to take to accomplish them.

Going back over the book, I realize that my interpretations of this ritual are a bit different from the original author’s. For me, spellcraft is intensely personal. Just like when I’m baking, I find it nearly impossible to stick to the “recipe”. I highly recommend you do what feels right to you.