Blessed Samhain, Tragics!

It's getting darker and colder, the nights are getting longer, it's our favourite time of year! Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) is the Witches' New Year, the start of the calendar cycle. The veil is at its thinnest as we begin our descent into the darkest part of the year. Here in Australia, Samhain falls between the 30th of April and the 1st of May. This is a time of celebration and remembrance, and is the perfect time to farewell the old and welcome in the new.

Here are some ideas on how you can use this time to your advantage, harnessing the changing forces of nature to aid you in saying goodbye to the past, and making a commitment of renewal and growth in the coming year.

Make the most of the darkness

As the days shorten and the nights begin to draw on, it's tempting to curl up inside and wait it out. But embrace it! Use the earlier nightfall to practice rituals under starlight where you feel more in tune with nature, and charge your crystals under the moon.

It's also a great time for reflective bonfires, but check that they are allowed where you live.

Candles

Burning candles at each window of your house is fabled to guide friendly spirits into your home. Lanterns work for this too (and are safer around curtains). Coloured candles have specific meanings too, so light a couple for your meditations, or when journaling your intent. 

Focus on prosperity, love, happiness and luck by using coloured candles in your spell work

Herbs & aromatics

Make smudge sticks of dried herbs, or create a wreath for your door.  Use herbs that are meaningful to your focus for the year and blend them in a personal way. While creating the wreaths or smudge sticks, think about the meanings behind each chosen herb and meditate on that while you create. Tree barks can also be useful in these purposes. But as always, respect nature when gathering ingredients and don't damage living trees or bushes when harvesting.

Herbs and aromatics can also be burned in your cauldron, with resins and other aromatics to help you meditate on the year's desires. We have created pouches of our own personal favourite blends for this to help inspire you so check them out here. 

Further reading: 

Intro to herbal alchemy blends

Resin incense (what is it & what to do with it)

However you celebrate the coming darkness, we bid you bright blessings Tragics!