8 Vital Dos and Don'ts for Samhain
Samhain is perhaps the most important high holiday in the Celtic calendar. It is a time of excitement, joy, fear, and anxiety alike. This year Samhain and traditional Halloween align beautifully with our Scorpio New Moon!
By Samhain all of the crops needed to be harvested, the cows needed to be brought down from the summer fields and their herds culled, and the people needed to be prepared to meet their beloved...and errr...not-so-beloved...dead.
To make matters even trickier, Samhain is the time of year when all the faerie portals are open and little fey spirits, both kindly and not-so-kindly, walk amongst us in equal numbers. These spirits would be looking to get their share of the harvest and see if they could sneak any other treats from the world of mortals.
Below are some useful Dos and Don’ts to help you celebrate this high holiday safely, with self-respect, and while avoiding breaking any major laws or risking bodily harm.
Do put out a plate of food for the Pookas.
The Pooka is the central fey spirit to Samhain, and as such should be treated with all due respect. These powerful beings bring trouble and blessings in equal measure, depending on how they are encountered and whether or not they’ve been given their fair due from both your dinner table and your harvest for the year.
They enjoy sweets, meats, and nice bowls of cream. They’re shapeshifters and can appear as a horse, a goat, a rabbit, a dog, or even an old man, so hedge your bets and put out a little of everything.
Don’t attempt to take a joy ride on the Pookas back.
But listen, I get it. It’s tempting. But you’ve got to have some self-respect. You know what’s gonna happen. It happens every god damn time. You get all hopped up on adrenaline, you bond through some amazing adventures, you’re laughing together, baring your soul…and just when you feel like he’s your best friend, what does the motherfucker do? He throws you off his back into some god damned bog and runs off without you laughing. You can’t keep doing this to yourself… traipsing back home covered in mud, bruises, and loaded down with re-triggered feelings of abandonment and isolation. Just let it go. He’s not worth it. Sometimes self-care looks like just letting the Pooka pass you by in the night.
Do put out and then rekindle your hearth fire with a flame from the sacred protective community bonfire.
The flames of community bonfires can be carried in hollowed-out radish (what was used by the ancient Celts) or pumpkin to your own hearth fire, woodstove, or perhaps simply a symbolic candle on your ancestor altar. This is, of course, the origin of the Jack-o-Lantern.
The largest sacred fire in the Celtic world was (and still is) traditionally lit on Samahain’s eve at Tlachtga in Ireland, otherwise known as The Hill of Ward. It’s sacred to the goddess Tlachtga, a much-maligned and sadly forgotten goddess of lighting, death, and rebirth. Though we can’t be certain about the truth of her ancient origins, we do know that she is interred on the hill where her body was said to nourish and bless all of Ireland as long as she is remembered.
Do not touch or even look at Tlachtga’s sacred pillar of Cnamhcaill (bone damage).
Just don’t. And don’t give me that whole, oh-who-wouldn’t-want-to-gaze-upon-and-caress-a-piece-of-the-sun’s-sacred-wheel-that-has-descended-to-earth? line of bullshit, okay. Listen, it’s literal lightning. It fucking hurts…And you’ll probably die…unless you can whip up 50 pounds of potato salad for the fire festival that Tlachtga perpetually fears she’s running late for like really fast. And that’s a fuck ton of potato salad. So again just don’t.
Do visit an oracle or engage in practices of prophecy and divination.
This moment when all times and worlds are enmeshed into one big 3 day long party is simply ripe for gazing upon what our fates and fortunes have in store for us! Some traditional means of reading fortunes on Samhain without a soothsayer utilize the sacred apple. One way is to peel an apple in one fine string and throw it behind you over your left shoulder. It will read as the first letter of your future spouse’s name. Another is to gaze in the mirror while holding an apple and combing your hair. A visage of your future beloved will appear before you!
Do not sacrifice a wealthy human to propitiate the gods for a good harvest next year.
We really don’t do this anymore. It disappoints me just as much as it does you. I promise. We all want to get our hands on a member of the elite ruling class, sacrifice them in the purifying fires of the divine, and redistribute their wealth to the working classes, but we just can’t. We use goats, cows, and chickens now…as lame as that might seem…it’s still blood, okay. It works.
Do make a plate of food for your deceased relatives and place it at the head of the table.
This is the time of year when you get your most potent opportunity to speak to your ancestors, thank them, honor them, and reconnect to their wisdom and power. Take advantage of it!
Do not let the dead repeat cycles of passive aggressiveness and other unconscious psycho-emotional manipulation techniques.
Just being dead doesn’t give you a free pass to treat people however you want. You have to stand up for yourself and use the non-violent communication techniques that you’ve worked so hard on developing all these years. When grandma smugly remarks upon how “quaint” your new dining room décor is, tell her “When I hear you say that I feel sad, because I fear you're saying that I have cheap taste.” Don’t just let it slide. You have boundaries now, use them.