The Mini Witch’s Guide to Samhain Holiday where the veil is thin and ancestral spirits come out of hiding with Plants By Laurali! When Samhain rolls around, the veil becomes thin, opening the channels of communication between the spirit world and the earthly realm.

Halloween, my all-time favorite holiday, originated from the Celtic holiday Samhain. Much of what you see today is an extension of that. Recently, I’ve fused the two holidays, as they work hand-in-hand.

It also happens to be the witch’s new year! A time when we can start over and begin again, setting new goals in our witchcraft practice.

For me, my green witchcraft practice is my everything! My daily life revolves around my practice in mundane ways. Even at the advanced level, there is always more to learn and grow from.

What I love about the Samhain holiday is that it gets into the darker aspects of witchcraft. It’s a time when getting into graveyard magic and spirit work become second nature.

Ancestor veneration is at an all-time high this time of year, as well as shadow work and deity work with the dark goddesses. It’s a time when the veil thins and the darkness pervades the land.

The Samhain holiday is not for the weak of the heart! It is for the witch who is willing to dig a few skeletons out of her closet and face her darkest fears. It’s a time when embracing the darkness is like embracing an old friend.

The Mini Witch’s Guide to Samhain Holiday

Even as a child, I always enjoyed the darker aspects of life. As I’ve become a mature woman, that hasn’t changed a bit. My curiosity has only grown stronger as I veer toward dark goddesses, graveyard magic, and my ancestral lineage.

With the Samhain holiday in full swing, I find oddities and curiosities to be more acceptable to the common people. This time of year, I can embrace the darkness to seek the truth, which is what the witchy holiday Samhain is all about.

It’s about taking a peek behind the veil and seeing what is on the other side, freely and without judgment. I find myself more willing to share my shadow self with others during this sacred holiday.

For example, I do a lot of spirit work. I’ve been openly talking to spirits since I was a little girl and a psychic child. Back then, I couldn’t protect myself and it was scary to see and talk to dead people.

As a grown-ass witch, I have protections up and I only talk to spirits if I want to talk to them. This is a great time of year to communicate with the dead and understand them.

You might be more likely to wake up at three in the morning, also known as the witching hour, and feel the presence of a ghost or spirit in your room. This happened to me again the other day. Be open to it, but be sure to put boundaries up!

If you visit a graveyard to do cemetery witchcraft, always be sure to wear a garlic clove in your bra or pocket to ward off any spirits that might like to go home with you. I always call on Goddess Hekate for any graveyard magic I do.

It’s a time of year when you can openly share your practice. Over the weekend, I brought my mom with me to a local historic cemetery to leave an offering for the spirit I work with and to grab some graveyard dirt.

I have never shared my secret ritual for the graveyard with anyone in my family before. I left money at the gate for the gatekeeper and I explained why I did that.

The gatekeeper, in this case, a gentleman from the 1800s with a tophat, is the guardian of the cemetery. When you do grave magic, you pay a toll on the way in and out of the cemetery. That’s just how it’s done.

My mom thought it was weird but overall enjoyed going with me. She felt that peaceful feeling that always comes over me when I’m in the presence of the dead. She said that of course, it’s peaceful because everyone is dead, haha.

This is the time of year when people are open to the unexplainable, the dark, and the macabre. You can let your freak flag fly during the Samhain holiday celebration!

Ancestor Veneration and Samhain Holiday

This is my favorite time of year to sit down with a pumpkin spice latte and set goals for deepening my spiritual practice. In addition to that, it’s the perfect time of year to venerate the ancestors, as they peek through the veil.

Ancestors can be blood kin, as well as friends who are like family to us. They are our people, our spirit tribe, and our connection to the other side.

The ancestors have once lived a human life so they have a greater understanding of our hardships. They understand what it’s like to be a human and all the difficulty that goes along with that.

To honor the ancestors during the Samhain holiday, you might offer them a mini pumpkin on your ancestor's altar. I offered them a mid-sized pumpkin and within a short period, they had sucked the life force out of it.

You’ll know when your offering has nourished your ancestors when you check the food item and it has become dull and lackluster or even rotted. I also offer them apples, golden delicious, and candy apple red, year-round.

If you have neither one of these food items, no problem! A clear glass of water left for the ancestors is more than enough. Water is one of how our ancestors can connect with us. Sometimes, I even throw a few water-safe crystals in for good measure to bless the water.

The ancestors come through in the voices we hear in our heads. They bring ancient wisdom and good advice, as they have experienced many lifetimes before us.

They sometimes send spirit animals to send us a message. It’s not uncommon this time of year to see a crow at your window, warning you of impending death or a transition you are about to undergo.

The ancestors are here to give us a safe passageway to change and transition. They live in the in-between subliminal places and they have a deep understanding of death and such dark things.

To truly connect with your ancestors, I recommend writing a distance energy healing letter to them. Talk like you would if you were writing an old friend.

Honestly, they are old friends. They are more than that. They are family, sometimes blood-related and sometimes not.

Graveyard Magic and Spirit Work

Graveyard magic and spirit work are considered an advanced level form of witchcraft because you are going to need to have a deep understanding of the basics. What are the basics of witchcraft?

Cleansing, grounding, and protection! It is also known as magical hygiene. I would also throw in energy work as one of the basic preparations for practicing magic.

Without energy work, how are you going to understand spirit work or deity work? It’s pretty darn important!

So, if you don’t understand the basics yet, I would start there before venturing into a graveyard to talk to spirits. Spirits can attach themselves to you and suck energy from you to obtain human life force.

Typically, they wouldn’t mean to do so maliciously, but it’s how they continue to anchor themselves to the earthly plane. Why would they want to do that?

For some, they may have unfinished business or maybe they have such a deep attachment to their loved ones, they want to stick around. Either way, we should help those spirits, which are ghosts, to pass to the other side.

Again, this is dangerous business! You will become a death doula. I have practiced death witchcraft since I was a young girl, as most of it was thrust upon me back then due to my psychic abilities.

You see, I was a very sick child and had many brushes with death. I’ve always believed that’s how I got stuck in between, almost like a hedge witch. I’ve always had one foot in the earthly realm and the spirit realm at the same time.

Through the years, I’ve learned how to put up a lot of protection and boundaries around myself, as this type of work can invite dark entities and maleficent spirits into your life if you’re not careful. This is why learning the basics first is so vital.

However, if you want to start Cemetery Magic Lite, you can visit the local graveyards and take a walk. Sit on the benches under the tree and read a good book or write poetry, if that’s something you enjoy. Practice graveyard photography to capture the orbs of spirits on camera.

These are things you can do before advancing to the advanced level of graveyard magic! This will get you acclimated and accustomed to spirit work in the future. We’ve all got to start somewhere, right?

Shadow Work and Samhain Holiday

Another facet of the holiday is doing shadow work. Shadow work is a psychological term for the shadow self. It involves uncovering the unconscious mind and recovering parts of yourself, including childhood wounds and trauma.

As the nights grow longer and the weather changes, the shadow self comes out into the open, revealing the ugly or unwanted parts of ourselves. Ideally, shadow work integrates the light and dark half of ourselves for deep, emotional healing.

To discover your dark half, the shadow self, you might try first writing down the unwanted aspects of yourself. For example, addictions, negative relationship patterns, and the things about yourself you are unhappy with.

With shadow work, you discover why you do the things you do. In my case, I was a sick child who couldn’t do a lot of things other kids could do, so I spent a lot of time alone in my room with my dolls.

When I was homeschooled as a teenager, I lost the few friends that I had, and to this day I have abandonment issues because of it. These little things in our childhoods that seem like nothing are often where the shadow self is formed.

We begin to see ourselves as ugly, unwanted, or unlovable. This plays out in our relationships and sometimes we develop codependent relationships because of it.

Honestly, I do shadow work full-time, but this time of year is dark enough that I can practice freely. So, how does one do shadow work?

One way to do shadow work is to ask yourself questions. I like to understand why I do the things I do and where they originated from. You can keep a shadow work workbook and keep it someplace private.

I like to burn letters so no one in the future can read about my shadow self, as it is written for my eyes only. You could also try keeping it under lock and key, like in a private journal. I keep some of my shadow work in a private unmarked folder in my email account.

Another thing you can do is form relationships with dark deities. Dark deities are often the most misunderstood yet the most transformative of any deities you could ever know.

Even if you have a light patron deity, you can tap into their darker side. For example, my patron goddess is Lady Fortuna. Most people think of her as fortune and luck, but forget that she is also the goddess of change and can be quite temperamental!

Besides deity work, you might like to work with animal familiars that are the harbinger of death. Crows, ravens, magpies, and owls, to name a few in the bird family.

Bats, black cats, scorpions, spiders, snakes, and moths are also considered omens of death. Working with animal familiars to connect with your shadow self will help you understand yourself better.

To learn more about animal familiars and how to work with them, you might like reading about Animal Witchcraft: Using Animal Magic in Green Witchcraft! Animals are often sent to us as signs from our ancestors and deities to help us along our path.

Part of that path includes the shadow self, our dark half. During the Samhain holiday, use the darkness and the thinning veil to discover the darker aspects of yourself! It won’t be easy work by any means, but I promise it will be worth it in the end.

The Samhain Holiday Symbolism and Meaning

To help you navigate the darkness of the Samhain holiday, you might like to learn about its symbolism and meaning. One thing that comes to mind is the harvest. This time of year is about yielding the third harvest and preparing for the coming of winter.

Pumpkin Magical Properties - The pumpkin is a symbol of the third harvest. People used to (and still do!) place jack o’ lanterns at the front of their houses to scare away ghosts. Pumpkins can be used for harvest, fertility, and protection. Plus, pumpkin seeds are hearty and good to eat!

Apple Magical Properties - The apple was a symbol of Mabon and the autumn season. During All Hallows’ Eve, many people would bob for apples or eat candied apples at Samhain festivals. Apples make a great offering for the ancestors, as well. Apples represent fertility, abundance, divination, beauty, and shapeshifting!

Crow Magical Properties - Crow animal familiar is known as a harbinger of death and as a corvid bird. Crows represent the unknown, the dark mysteries, and the magic of life. Put a red apple and a crow together and you’ve got a snow-white situation. This is a telltale sign that you are amongst a false person.

Bat Magical Properties - Bat animal familiar is known for dark magic and the mysteries of life. The bat is said to be one of the symbols of the queen of the underworld, Persephone. Bats navigate their way through the darkness and make great companions for shadow work. They can help you find your way.

Spider Magical Properties - Spider animal familiar represents how we are all interconnected and interwoven in the fabric of life. Spiders also represent magic, organized chaos, and ancient wisdom. It is said when you ask a spider a question, you’ll get a true answer.

Raven Magical Properties - Raven animal familiar represents change, transition, death, and rebirth! Ravens are known as messengers of death and death omens. I consider ravens to represent a link to the underworld and the chthonic Gods. If you find a raven feather, bury it with a penny for protection in your yard.

Broom Magical Properties - The broom, also known as the besom, is what witches would ride on the night of All Hallows’ Eve under the light of the full moon. At least that’s how the story goes. Witches would use flying ointments to fly between the earthly realm and the lower realm, otherwise known as hedge flying or hedge riding. Brooms are symbolic of sweeping away old energy to let the new come into existence. If a broom falls, company is coming! It’s time to get the guest sheets out.

Scarecrow Magical Properties - Scarecrows represent the third harvest and the coming of winter. They were created as a symbol of fall and to throw people off through trickery and deceit. They symbolize a period of transition and change. The cold, the darkness, and all things in between. More importantly, they usher in a verdant period of abundance and prosperity for the farmer.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the Samhain holiday and how you can connect with it more. It is my favorite holiday and holds such promise and magic for me! Happy All Hollows’ Eve…xoxo