The Hallow-tide of All Souls Passing – Wishing You a Blessed Samhain and Día de los Muertos

I am the hallow-tide of all souls passing,
I am the bright releaser of all pain,
I am the quickener of the fallen seed-case,
I am the glance of snow, the strike of rain.
I am the hollow of the winter twilight,
I am the hearth-fire and the welcome bread,
I am the curtained awning of the pillow,
I am unending wisdom’s golden thread.
~ Song of Samhain, Celtic Devotional:
Daily Prayers and Blessings, by Caitlín Matthews

We have come to another turning of the Great Round, and the magical year’s end is now upon us. Today, we stand in the gateway between the old, which is utterly and forever gone, and the new, which has not fully arrived.

It is now that our beloved dead are remembered. Here the veil thins, and Mystery comes upon us, ready or not.

There is so little in our Western secular culture that even remotely prepares us for the irrevocable powers of Life, Death, and chthonic transformation, as they come barging past haute couture masks, plastic pumpkins, pointy hats, and chocolate bars.

That superficiality has been exposed in ways that test our comprehension this year, for this is a Samhain like no other in my memory.

This year, it has all turned very, very real.

And this year, I am feeling it is very important to honor our endangered Hispanic families, for they have also been observing this time for millenia, dating back at least to the pre-Christian times of the Aztecs. Today’s celebrations have become a blend of those ancient traditions with Catholicism’s All Saints Day.

However, because I am not qualified to discuss those practices with any real experience or authority, I will focus on the old Celtic observance of Samhain.

What is Samhain

The Great Sabbat of Samhain (pronounced SAH-wen, saw-WEEN, or SOW (rhymes with cow) -wen) is the third and final harvest, marking Summer’s end.

Also known as Samhuinn by our Druid friends, this is the celebration of the New Year in both the old Celtic calendar and also in many traditions of the Craft. In the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the midpoint between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, although by strict astronomical reckoning that falls on Nov. 7 this year depending on your time zone.

Samhain is the opposite point of the year from the celebrations of life and fertility of May Day, or Beltane, which our friends below the equator are celebrating today.

A most merry Beltane to all our dear ones in the Southern Hemisphere!

A Witch’s View of Human Nature

As most educated people know, neither Witches nor Samhain have anything whatsoever to do with “satan,” who is strictly a Christian invention. While our stories have plenty of tricksters and even a few nasty villains, there is no entity of supernatural evil in the beliefs or practices of Witchcraft or Paganism.

Note: It would be naive and wrong to say that baleful use of the natural magics and energies of the Earth never occurs. For instance, I am convinced that the odious, dangerous men who currently claim leadership in America are knowingly employing malefic magical practices, and must be taken seriously in their intentions. They almost certainly do not identify as Witches.

More tellingly, most Witches and Pagans do not believe in the myth of fundamental wrongness being at the heart of the world, or human nature.

For millennia, Western civilization has been haunted and manipulated by the terror that a taint of evil lurks in even the most innocent of us.

Sadly, the fallout from this is that most people are alienated from, and deeply afraid of the natural cycles of living, aging, and dying. And yet a morbid fascination with violence, death, and horror are central to popular entertainment pastimes.

For our ancestors, as well as in cultures not dominated by the Abrahamic religions, when you eliminate the fear that there is a stain of evil or accursedness dwelling within every single one of us (mediated only by the Church), then you have a very different relationship to the fact of death, as well as the Earth Herself.

Death may bring some fear and certainly deep grief to those left behind, but it is not the grotesque horror that we have turned it into, in our modern, “enlightened” times.

On the contrary, we sense that the boundary that lies between the living and the departed, and between what is past, present, and future has become thin.

This is not a spooky, terrifying thing to us. Consensual reality shifts, and other dimensions are revealed, enabling us to welcome and commune with our beloved dead, as well as our Otherworldly guides and allies.

Those borders are always there, but it is at these special times that we humans seem to become more aware of them — our Faery kin at Beltane and the rising powers of Light prior to Summer Solstice, and at Samhain, as we come to the gate between Autumn and the inward, silent time of Winter. It is at this gateway that our beloved dead may cross.

Origins

Halloween and All Saints Day have their origin in the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain. The All Saints ceremonies had originally been in the Springtime, but the Catholic Church, in an attempt to stamp out the Pagan rites of Samhain, superimposed it to this time.

We do not, in fact, really know what went on at those most ancient rites, as the wise Ronald Hutton reminds us.

In the modern Gaelic languages, the name of the feast means “summer’s end.” In the modern Brythonic languages, it means “the first day of winter.” It is the end of the end, the beginning of the beginning. The Celts honored the intertwining forces of existence: darkness and light, night and day, cold and heat, death and life.

Celtic knotwork art represents this intertwining. Our ancestors observed time as proceeding from darkness to light. Thus, the Celtic day began at dusk, the beginning of the dark and cold night, and ended the following dusk, the end of a day of light and warmth.

Similarly, the Celtic year began with An Geamhradh (“an gyow-ragh”), the dark Celtic winter, and ended with Am Foghar (“am fu-ghar”), the Celtic harvest. So Samhain marks the beginning of both An Geamhradh and the new Celtic year.

Throughout history and across cultures, this is a time for making peace with one another and with the inevitability of death.

This would have been the third and final harvest of the growing season, with Lughnasadh (Aug. 1) being the first harvest of grains and Mabon (Equinox) being the final harvest of fruits and vegetables. Samhain marked the blood harvest of cattle, pigs, and other animals that had to be culled in order for the people to survive the encroaching Winter.

Thus, stories with a theme of the death and the transformation cycle, as well as rituals honoring and welcoming the spirits of our beloved dead Ancestors are central to our rites.

Our Magical Legacy

While the revelry of Halloween can be fun, it is not Pagan. Instead, Halloween is a commercialized, secular event. It is amusing that some conservative churches are trying to “clean up” what they fear is the Pagan influence of this night by having “Fall Harvest Festivals,” since that is actually much closer to the Pagan observances.

This night is our most holy, reflective, and deeply sacred time.

So to my friends who love to party, dress up, and carouse on this night, I appreciate your celebrations. And they are actually more in tune with the celebrations of Dia de los Muertos, which are both solemn as families tend the graves of their beloved dead, but also when families tell funny stories about their departed ones, dress up, and cavort in costumes and parades.

But for me, especially in this time that is bringing terrible peril to our elderly, our poor, our immigrant populations, our marginalized.. okay, well just about everyone except white billionaire males, my heart is just not into the silliness (although I do bless whatever the Portland inflatables might get up to).

Instead, like most other Witches, Druids, and Pagans, I will be in sacred space on this most spiritual of nights.

What is unchanged from past traditions is that tonight, we’ll be bidding welcome to our beloved departed ones, freshening our altars in their honor, preparing their favorite foods, perhaps hosting a dumb supper, and lighting candles to show them the way.

We review the old year’s triumphs and shortcomings, and we may burn symbols or actual items in our bonfires representing that which we wish to release for good.

I am sticking to offering these symbols as a releasing and banishing, NOT as a hex or curse. And beware of people who talk about “binding magic.” A binding in Witchcraft may inevitably bind you to the object of your magic. I certainly do not want to be bound in any way to the odious fascists and parasites who are dismantling our nation.

The Start of the Wild Hunt

This is a night of great power, when we may seek wisdom through divination and sacred contact with the Otherworlds.

It is a time to contemplate our own ephemeral existence in this Middle World of life, and to accept with grace our place in the Spiral Dance of life and death.

Our predecessors took Samhain quite seriously. Any crops not harvested by this day were known to belong to the “Shrouded One” and left alone.

Ancestors not honored at this time could be expected to plague the living with ill luck. Thus, tonight is an important time to set a place at the table for your beloved dead, and give offerings to those who have crossed over to the Summerlands.

The most fierce Faery races, led by the Lord of the Faery, Finvara, King of the Dead, ride forth, beginning on this night, with the hosts of the dead, sweeping up all the souls of those who have died within the past year.

Commonly known as The Wild Hunt, this fabled activity continues until Yule, so beware of dark, lonely places in the night, lest you be taken by mistake.

We Honor the Crone

On this sabbat, in addition to giving our honor to the Gods of the Wild Hunt and Gatherers of Souls, like Gwyn ap Nudd, we offer our devotion to the Great Goddess in Her form as the Underworld Goddess and the Old One, including the Morrighan, Demeter, Hel, and Orchil.

On this day especially, since the last day of the month is always sacred to Her, let us call upon mighty Hecate, who advocates for the downtrodden and marginalized, who defends mothers and children, and is our own Goddess of the Witches.

The Burning Times

In addition, on this day, we remember all those men, women, and children who have been burned, hanged, imprisoned, beaten, drowned, tortured, starved, and murdered as Witches.

The Witch hunts during The Inquisition and European wars of religion peaked between about 1580 and 1630 C.E., but there were over three centuries of terror, with an estimated total of 40,000–100,000 people executed. Mostly women.

But let’s be clear.

Witchcraft continues to be misunderstood and persecuted across the globe today. In some countries, including so-called “modern” ones, suspected Witches are still routinely put to a public and torturous death. Alas, those persecutions are on the rise again, for when fear and ignorance tip into the extreme, scapegoats become targets.

But we will continue to strive for justice and understanding for all in danger. And we vow — Never again the burnings! And hangings. And drownings. And torture.

Dates of Execution from America’s REAL Witchhunt –
(and, frankly, screw those who have tried to appropriate this term for their self-pity and ego!)

I invite you to remember them aloud in your rites on this holy day.

• Bridget Bishop (June 10, 1692)
• Rebecca Nurse (July 19, 1692)
• Sarah Good (July 19, 1692)
• Elizabeth Howe (July 19, 1692)
• Susannah Martin (July 19, 1692)
• Sarah Wildes (July 19, 1692)
• George Burroughs (August 19, 1692)
• George Jacobs Sr. (August 19, 1692)
• Martha Carrier (August 19, 1692)
• John Proctor (August 19, 1692)
• John Willard (August 19, 1692)
• Martha Corey (September 22, 1692; wife of Giles Corey)
• Mary Eastey (September 22, 1692)
• Mary Parker (September 22, 1692)
• Alice Parker (September 22, 1692)
• Ann Pudeator (September 22, 1692)
• Wilmot Redd (September 22, 1692)
• Margaret Scott (September 22, 1692)
• Samuel Wardwell Sr. (September 22, 1692)
• Giles Corey (September 19, 1692) – Pressed to death, the only such execution on record in America. Last words, “More weight!”

Died in prison

• Ann Foster — convicted and died in custody in December 1692
• Mercy, infant daughter of Sarah Good
• Sarah Osborne— died in prison (May 10, 1692) before she could be tried
• Roger Toothaker – died before trial (June 16, 1692) probably due to torture or maltreatment
• Lydia Dustin – found not guilty but died in custody

Convicted but escaped:

• Mary Bradbury

A Few of the Beloved Dead of 2025

 

Every year, renowned elders Oberon Zell, George Knowles, Angie Buchanan, Selena Fox and my own beloved teacher and friend, Macha Nightmare, faithfully compile a list of known magical community members who crossed the veil this year. Blessedly, it does not seem as lengthy as other recent years. May they be remembered in love.

• Patricia Dawson Crowther (“Thelema”): Initiated by Gerald Gardner in 1960, she was influential in the early promotion of Wicca. High Priestess, author and teacher, Patricia helped establish the Gardnerian tradition, founded the Sheffield Coven, and wrote many of the early works that gave shape and voice to our modern movement.)
• Kevin Matthew Roddy: from the Reclaiming Collective, ASL interpreter at PantheaCon, co-organizer of Hawaii fire festival, linguist, researcher of Yap Polynesian language, drummer, Certified Harp Therapy Practitioner for the dying, spiritual counselor.
• Jean “Shadowhawk” Dudley: High Priestess of Starwyrm Coven in Seattle, WA
• Nora C. Liell: activist, artist, gardener, world-renowned bellydancer, court reporter and investigator, founder  and partner in T.W.A.T.: Trained Women Against Thugs, an informal feminist vigilante group; the Eye of Osiris, a retail hub for the alternative; and Lothlorien, a nature sanctuary, education center, and festival ground based in Lawrence County. She was a veteran of both Woodstock and the Vietnam War protests, an early adopter of the skateboard, had a black belt in Taekwondo, and was a resident of the Rudrananda Ashram.
• Cherry Lea: Founder and owner of the Dancing Moon Bookstore in Raleigh, NC. While she did not identify as Pagan (or as a Witch for that matter), she was drawn to Goddess studies and was a life-long seeker. She made sure that her shop was welcoming to all paths and beliefs, and over the last 35 years, she built it into one of the largest metaphysical stores in the Southeast.

In addition, these are my own contributions, because they were people I just especially liked and/or were of special note.

Joanna Macy, one of the most important spiritual teachers, leaders, and deep ecology experts of our lifetimes. If you have been reading me for a while, you know that I quote her work and refer to her wisdom often. Thank you to my faitfhful friend Victoria whose Luminous Spark below gently reminded me that I forgot to include her.

Robert Redford, legendary actor and environmentalist

Sam Moore, of soul music superstars Sam and Dave

Tom Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction, Still Life with Woodpecker, and Jitterbug Perfume, to name a few.

Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer and pianist

Gene Hackman, Two-time Oscar-winning actor

George Foreman, who overcame poverty to become an Olympic gold medalist at age 19, and heavyweight champion of the world twice.

Pope Francis, charismatic papal reformer who challenged the old orthodoxy, pushed for leadership by women and reconciliation with the LGBTQ+ population, took on big moneyed interests, fought on behalf of immigrants, and campaigned for policies to mediate the climate crisis.

Bill Moyers, one of television’s most acclaimed journalists, interviewers, and authors.

D’Angelo (Michael Eugene Archer), Grammy-winning singer who blended hip-hop, soul, funk, punk and gospel in recordings that reshaped R&B.

Susan Stamberg, “founding mother” of National Public Radio, she was the first woman to anchor a national nightly news broadcast as the longtime host of NPR’s All Things Considered.

Jane Goodall, anthropologist, conservationist, educator, and passionate advocate for protecting the environment.

Lastly, these last two souls crossed over in 2024, but after Samhain last year:

Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. president, champion of international human rights, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Quincy Jones, producer, composer, and performer. Winner of multiple Grammy Awards, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001 (when it still meant something), and a National Medal of the Arts.

Who might you add to this list of the Beloved Dead?

Light a candle to guide your cherished ones that they may join you this night. Speak their names, and tell them of your life since you last met. Offer them refreshment. And give thanks to your Ancestors, who saw you in their dreams.

Weaver, weaver weave their thread
Whole and strong into your web;
Healer, healer, heal their pain,
In love may they return again.

We merry meet.
And merry part.
And merry meet again.

What is remembered lives.
Blessed be.