The Witches’ New Year & The Magic of Samhain

EPISODE #4 SHOW NOTES

In today’s episode, The Witch’s New Year & Magic of Samhain, I’m talking about:

  • Introduction to Samhain
  • History and Folklore
  • Ways to Celebrate
  • Free Samhain Guidebook

Transcript:

Hey, magical human. Welcome back to Money and Magic. On today’s episode, we are talking about Samhain, the Witch’s New year, also known to the Muggles as Halloween.

Now, I do want to put a disclaimer out there. There are many beliefs surrounding this day and I am only telling you what I have learned over the years. So believe what you do and leave what you don’t. So let’s get going. A lot of you might be saying what the heck is Samhain? You’ve probably seen this word spelled S-A-M-H-A-I-N. Many people pronounce it Sam-hain, but that is not correct. It is a Gaelic Irish term that is pronounced Sah-win. But one thing you need to understand is that although Samhain and Halloween take place on the same day and they sort of stem from the same thing, Halloween is a secular party day while Samhain is a spiritual festival.

Samhain actually originated in Ireland over 2000 years ago and it is a pagan holiday. And like I said, it is also called the witch’s new year. This is the time where we are settling in for the colder months. It’s the last final harvest celebration of the calendar year and it’s the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. All of the stuff around us is starting to die, go into hibernation and to prepare for winter,

Samhain goes from sundown on October 31 to sundown on November 1. And this is a time where the veil between our world and the spirit world or the other worlds is said to be very thin. So yes, a lot of people believe that this is a time that our ancestors can visit us, but  if you’re letting in those family and friendly spirits, you might also have the spirits that you don’t want to let in. So there’s a lot of things around this day that people look at in a negative way and I believe it’s all in how you look at it. 

Samhain is my favorite holiday or sabbat of the year. It is one of my favorite days to do rituals. We’re going to first talk about some of the history of Samhain. I’ll give you a little bit of the folklore and then we’ll talk about some rituals. 

One thing I do want to mention is I have a free Samhain guidebook that is linked here in the show notes. This is a 100% free guide to kind of introduce you to how to prepare for Samhain. It has a few different correspondences, some crystals and herbs to work with. There’s also some recipes and it gives you a few different rituals. We’ll touch on a few of those rituals, but the Samhain guidebook goes into a much greater depth and it’s something that you can follow step by step by step. So that is 100% free. It is linked in the show notes, so definitely make sure you check that out. 

So when I talk about the history and folklore of Samhain, obviously my current self did not live in those times. So I’m only telling you what I have learned over the years and what I have researched.

The Story of Stingy Jack

One of the coolest stories that I’ve heard across the board is how Jack o lanterns came to be, and that starts with a story of Stingy Jack. It is said that in Ireland, stingy Jack went to the bar, had a drink with the Devil, and he didn’t have money to pay because he’s stingy. So he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin. So the devil does this. Instead of using the coin to pay for the drinks, stingy Jack puts the coin in his pocket with a cross. It is said that the cross stopped the Devil from turning back into the Devil from that coin. And so eventually, Stingy Jack lets the Devil out and he convinces the Devil to get him an apple from a tree.

Once the Devil is in the tree, stingy Jack puts a cross again on the tree so the Devil can’t get down. He does not let the Devil come out of the tree until he makes a deal to never claim his soul. So the devil agrees. Stingy Jack lets him down, and goes about his life. When Stingy Jack does die, the Devil made the agreement that he can’t come for his soul. So Stingy Jack thought he was going to heaven. Well, when he goes to heaven, God is like, you made a deal with the Devil. I can’t accept you.

So now Stingy Jack can’t go to heaven and he can’t go to hell. So the Devil gives him one piece of coal to help him light the way for the rest of his life, stuck in between. And so it is said that Stingy Jack lit that piece of coal, he put it in a carved out turnip to make a lantern. He then became known as Jack of the Lantern, which is where we got the term Jack o lantern. Nowadays, many people light their jack o lanterns to keep evil spirits away, like Stingy Jack or other ones that might cross during the time. I think we’ve come a long way from those types of stories, but I still think it’s a super cool one to know about. And it kind of gives you a background on why we light pumpkins and make Jack o lanterns. 

Halloween Costume Folklore

Another piece of folklore is that the Celtic people in Ireland, when they started celebrating Samhain, they would dress up as animals and monsters and all of the different things because the veil is so thin they wanted to try to blend in with the evil spirits that might be coming after them. If they could blend in then the evil spirits couldn’t take them away and so that’s where the Halloween costume kind of thing came from and I really enjoy learning about those different pieces of folklore that feed into where we are now. So those are two kind of small pieces of folklore that I think are really neat. 

How to Celebrate

One thing to know is Samhain has been celebrated as a harvest festival for over 2000 years. It is celebrated in many different religions across many different countries. So to me, the fact that so many different people celebrate this day in some way or another shows that there is some significance to the holiday. So you might be saying, how do I even celebrate? Obviously. You can dress up, you can go trick or treating, you can do it the muggle way, or some of the witchy ways. One of my favorite things I do on the first of every month is a cinnamon ritual.

And I’ll talk about that in some later episodes, but it’s a great way to bring in prosperity and abundance. You can also find videos on my socials that show how I do that ritual but the energy surrounding Samhain from sundown on October 31 to sundown on November 1 is very, very strong and so doing that cinnamon ritual on November 1 like you would any other month is going to be even stronger. You’re going to be able to call in more prosperity and abundance so I highly recommend if you don’t do anything else to celebrate Samhain that you do that first of the month cinnamon ritual and see what that does for you. 

Feast

Another thing that a lot of people do is they hold a feast or a dumb supper and that is a way to honor their ancestors. You can set up an ancestral altar where you set up a spot in your home and you put pictures out of those that have passed, and that kind of helps lead them home once the veil thins, and then by having a feast. People think of this as a way to dine with their ancestors. A lot of people will do a dumb supper, which is complete silence, because you cannot talk with your ancestors. So when you sit in complete silence with those of us that are in this realm, it allows your ancestors to speak to you in different ways and try to help you understand things that you might not be able to the rest of the year.Tthat’s pretty much the same as having a feast. You just do it in silence. Nowadays that is very difficult for a lot of people so if you’re looking to step outside your comfort zone and try something new for Samhain I highly recommend doing a Dumb Supper with your family, even if you only do it for a short period of time. Start with a dumb supper. Maybe the first half hour or the appetizer course is a Dumb supper and then you move into the feast part, whatever works best for you. But those are really great ways to help celebrate and to welcome your ancestors home and to use up the harvest that you worked so hard throughout the year to grow. 

Bonfire

A few other small things that I personally do is I always have a bonfire of some sort. If it’s raining or nasty out and I can’t really do a big bonfire outside, I will do a small little one in my in home cauldron or on our porch, or I might just light a candle and let that signify my bonfire.

Connect in Nature

I also try to connect with nature in some way on this day, whether that be just stepping outside, putting my feet on the earth and grounding, letting the earth and my ancestors know that I hear them, I see them, I’m here and see if they have any guidance for me. 

Other Ways to Celebrate

You can do baking with things like pumpkins and gourds. There’s a recipe for pumpkin bread in my Samhain guidebook and it is delicious. It’s also a great time to meditate and to do a tarot reading and there’s a tarot spread in the guidebook as well. If you’re new to that, this is a great way to get started. But ultimately take this time of year to just kind of go within yourself.

Goal Setting

 Since this is the witch’s new year, I personally use this time to set goals for the coming year. Now, when I say the coming year, I don’t mean the coming calendar year. To me, it makes no sense to set goals at the first of the calendar year when the ground is frozen and the animals are in hibernation. I like to set goals now so I can harvest them next year at this time once we start the harvest season. And so sitting down on October 31, I think through the past year and what do I want to accomplish in the coming year. And when I say year, I mean Samhain to Samhain. I don’t mean January 1 to December 31. That to me is the calendar year. I like to follow the witch’s year because I like to go with nature and nature is very cyclical and I think setting goals this time of year is working with nature instead of against it. 

Money Rituals

And one last thing that I like to do on Samhain is some sort of money ritual. Obviously I love my money rituals and that can be a few different things. This year I’m planning on creating a money bowl and I plan on updating that every single month on the first of the month when I do my cinnamon ritual. A money bowl is just where you take a small bowl or dish of some sort and you can put salt or rice or something like that in the bottom of it. And then you put a few dollars, bills or some coins, something to signify money. I personally use a bay leaf and I write on the bay leaf abundance. I burn the bay leaf over the rice or salt and the money, just making sure that if you’re using dollars, you don’t light them on fire. And I just talk about what financial things do I want to come my way in the next year, what goals do I have financially? And I just kind of put that out there. And then on the first of each month, I will empty that bowl, I will cleanse it and then set it up again and I will check in with what did I ask for last month? Has that come? If not, I might ask for it again or things might have changed. I might need less or more, but I update that every month because money is constantly flowing and that is something you will learn. I don’t believe that you spend money. I believe money is circulated, that it is constantly flowing in and out of your life. When you’re making your money bowl, anything with the color green is going to signify money. Candles or crystals or anything like that with the color green. If you don’t have bay leaves, you could take a green piece of construction paper or you could write it on a regular piece of paper and highlight it with a green highlighter. You don’t have to go out and spend a ton of money to do these types of rituals. And if you’re wanting to get more into prosperity and abundance rituals or just rituals and witchcraft, period.

You can always follow me on TikTok and instagram where I try to share a lot of those different rituals that I’m doing. And I try to make it simple. I am all about budget witchcraft. I’m not going to tell you to go out and spend $100 on a whole bunch of crap that you don’t need. When I do my monthly cinnamon rituals, I go to the kitchen, I grab the cinnamon that’s already in my spice cabinet and that’s the cinnamon I use when I make my money bowls. It’s the salt or the rice that I already have in my kitchen. These are things that you already have laying around your house and it’s not going to cost you very much money. It’s really just having the will and the words in the way. Something else. When I say green, think about the grass outside or the leaves. You could do a simple money ritual where you go outside and you ground yourself, put your bare feet on the green grass and just think through your different money affirmations. 

Affirmations

Once a month I send out a newsletter and in that newsletter are a handful of money affirmations. So if you’re not signed up for that, you can do that at the link in the show notes, but just a few in case you don’t want to sign up for that. That you can do right now. 

  1. I am worthy of the wealth I desire. 
  2. I am financially free.
  3. I am a money magnet
  4. I am grateful for the money I have.
  5. Wealth and abundance flow to me.

These are things that you can recite to yourself daily, but they’re even more potent when you’re grounding or when you’re doing a ritual, and especially on sabbats like Samhain. 

Conclusion

If you currently celebrate Samhain or you’re planning on celebrating this year, I would love to hear about it. So reach out to me on Instagram, shoot me an email or find me on Facebook or TikTok, because I would love to hear what you’re doing to celebrate Samhain. Our next episode, we are going to dive headfirst into your abundance agenda. And that’s a wrap for another spellbinding episode of Money and Magic.

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

More about Money & Magic:

Welcome to Money & Magic, the podcast that combines the mystical with the practical to help you navigate money in the muggle world. Hosted by Chey, the Witchy Bookkeeper, we explore the emotional and spiritual dimensions of money, as well as provide actionable advice on budgeting, investing, and helping you create a harmonious relationship with your finances that empowers you to lead a truly magical life. 

Whether you’re seeking financial freedom, looking to overcome money blocks, or simply want to learn how to make your financial dreams a reality, Money & Magic is here to inspire, educate, and empower you on your journey. Join us every other Wednesday and discover that, with the right mindset and a touch of magic, you can turn your financial dreams into reality.

Subscribe now, and let’s embark on this extraordinary journey of “Money & Magic” together. Stand Tall, Shine Bright, Stay Grounded!

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Website: www.abundancealchemy.co

October 25, 2023

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