All Hallows 2022 - Return to the Light

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At our Samhain event we began with a sage smudging for cleansing. Then we moved on to a sensory awareness and breathing exercise. We ate a fresh homegrown raspberry, held our gaze on the beautiful altar, appreciated the woody scent of Tibetan incense, listened to the sound of crackling fire and felt the touch of our clothes on our skin. We did some deep breathing and body scanning and brought ourselves fully into the present.

We listened to some history of this amazing fire festival and learned that it dates back at least three thousand years. We acknowledged the common themes across traditions of darkness and light, death and rebirth, thin veils between the physical and spiritual realms, honouring family who have passed, ancient ancestors of the world and benevolent spirits. 

We brought representations of our ancestors for a special altar and lit candles to honour their spirits. We opened our sacred space by invoking the elements of earth, air, fire, water and spirit and the four directions north, east, south and west.

We listened to a story from Irish Shamanism about the Hallowmas Woman, then we were guided through a drumming journey to meet our ancestors.

We each received a pouch containing either an acorn or a horse chestnut to symbolise the nuts harvest and all of life contained within. Our pouches contained hand written messages and a feather to represent spirit of an ancestor or angel.

We ended with a receiving almonds and cranberries from the altar, as Samhain is traditionally the third and final harvest festival of nuts and berries.

We closed our sacred space and relaxed with hot drinks, and hot, homemade, foraged apple and berry crumble! A true harvest feast!

We particularly enjoyed some deep conversation and sharing afterwards. We reflected on the wisdom and wellbeing of the lives of indigenous tribes versus modern, western life. We delved deeper into the benefits of shamanic journeying and how to receive ongoing connection and guidance from our ancestors and the archetypal Crone, Wise Woman or Grandmother of the Divine Feminine.

We discussed environmentalism from many angles and expressed thought-provoking questions such as “what is spirituality?” and “how can we put things right in the world?”. This was a special evening indeed.


“Thank you for a lovely evening”

“It’s great to connect with like-minded people”

“It was heartfelt and wonderful”

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