Samhain Altar & Divination
Samhain Altar Inspiration
Samhain, traditionally celebrated from October 31st to November 1st, is a time when the veil between the living and the dead is believed to be the thinnest. It is an ancient Celtic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Many modern Halloween traditions are derived from Samhain practices.
Like all things spiritual, tune into your guides and intuition. Allow spirit to guide you. There is NO wrong way to set up an altar; everything is divinely guided. Below are some suggestions to get the inspiration flowing. I've incorporated some of the mysticism and mythology behind some of the items you might include on your altar for deeper understanding and resonance. The more intention and meaning there is behind each item, how they are situated, and the energy weaving around the altar, the more they contribute to the co-creative nature of ceremony and ritual.
Altars are powerful because they bridge the physical and the metaphysical realms, when we create a space with intention we create the bridge for communication, connection and inspiration. There is a lot of inspiration below: choose the practices that resonate with you the most. Look up your ancestors’ traditions, and incorporate them into your ritual to honor them even deeper.
Cleanse yourself before making your altar space. After the space is made drop into meditation. breathe deeply for at least 5-10 minutes to drop into the space, feel the frequency and the potency of your creation. Then speak your invocation as you open up the space and open up the portal for communication. When speaking your invocation be specific with the energy and beings you are calling in to communicate with. More divination practices are available here.
Pick your altar space:
This should be a private space that you can visit every day for at least 3-5 days. The magick that you co-create with on the altar will co-create with you during meditation and divination sessions and in between. Some of the most potent messages come through when the altar is by itself, it will leave you messages. A fly may rest right next to your quartz representing high-energy is buzzing. Petals from the flowers may drop in a sacred structure. Many magickal things happen once you create the space.
When setting up the space: open up the compass app on your phone. You can also use the directions to amplify the space. Situate the top of your altar to the North which represents Earth and ancestors.
For those who want to leave an offering and altar outside, follow your intuition. It’s nice to have one inside and outside. I usually create an altar inside for a more intimate connection and leave an offering outside for ancestors and earth guardians outside.
1. Altar Cloth:
Inspiration: For Samhain specifically I recommend a deep black or purple cloth, which can symbolize the darkening days and the mysteries of the unseen. I personally have many different altars for different purposes, It can be as simple as a clean white cloth, grandmother’s scarf, etc.
Symbolism: Black, Deep Purple or Blue: Representing the darkness of winter and the depth of the mysteries we explore during Samhain.
Magick: You can use color to ground the energy that you are bringing in with your altar or a cloth that has a specific meaning to you. The idea of an altar cloth is it keeps the energy contained. It creates a boundary and barrier from all the energy that was used on that surface before this specific divination and magickal ceremony.
2. A Circle of Salt
Inspiration: To honor the witches that have come before us, they LOVED their circles of salt. It does create a barrier and does amplify the portal that you are creating. Salt, being a mineral, is closely associated with the element of Earth. It symbolizes groundedness, stability, and the physical realm. Using salt in rituals can help anchor energies and intentions into the material world.
Sprinkle salt in a circle around your sacred space speaking the invocation: “This space is pure this space is holy, this space is of the most high” Below is a little about what salt represents.
Purity: Salt is often viewed as a purifying agent. Many traditions use it to cleanse spaces, tools, and individuals of negative energies.
Protection: A circle, by its very nature, represents unity, wholeness, and a protective boundary. When combined with the protective properties of salt, it's believed to form a potent barrier against unwanted energies or spirits.
Preservation: Historically, salt has been used to preserve food by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms. This preservative quality adds to the symbolic power of salt as something that can maintain or "preserve" a sacred space's sanctity.
3. Offerings for the Ancestors:
Inspiration: Offerings to our ancestors is what invites them into the space to co-create with us and to deliver wisdom to us. In the laws of the Universe, the more you give the more you open the corridor to recieve. If you want to connect to a specific ancestor cook their favorite meal, or offer them a cup of their favorite tea or beverage.
Water is a conduit for spiritual connection
Food includes their favorite food it can be as easy as their favorite fruit or snack, more points if you cook for your ancestors just as they did for you, this is a very powerful offering, as you cook you conjure deeper connection.
Tobacco and libations are usually staples in an ancestor altar. They’ve been resting, they want to celebrate a reunion with us.
4. Photographs and Mementos:
Inspiration: It's believed that the spirits of the departed are closer during Samhain. By having their images or belongings, we're honoring and inviting their presence. Extra extra points for an ancient brush still with your great great great great grandmother’s hair.
Pictures of those who have passed over.
Family Heirloom (as I write this I am just realizing the etymology of Heirloom. Heir or Hair holds the DNA, the energetic and physical signature of an ancestor. A loom weaves a tapestry. So an Heirloom, in this context, is a vibrational carrier of DNA through time and space as it’s being passed down through the generations.)
5. Natural Elements:
Inspiration: Take a walk on your land, ask spirit to co-create with you. Gather items that call to you. It is so potent to incorporate items from the land that you inhabit. The ancestors, the wisdom of the elders feel seen in this process. This also creates a bridge between you and the vibration of the land that holds you. Through reverence, Mama Gaia will hold you even more. The more you commune with her, give to her and honor her beauty the more she gives back.
Acorns: Symbolize strength and potential, referencing the promise of a new beginning after the death of the old.
Pinecones: Represent the continuity of life and rebirth and wisdom. They are associated with the Pineal Gland.
Fallen Leaves: Capture the essence of the season and the cyclic nature of life.
Guards and Pumpkins: Represent abundance, and nurturance through the winter months.
Apples: Represents knowledge, immortality, and the harvest.
6. Jack-O-Lantern:
Inspiration: Carve a pumpkin with a face or symbols that resonate with you. Get creative with this. You will want to carve it. There is magick in this process, the process of digging deep, harvesting the seeds (bringing abundance), and introspection. All themes that Samhain bring into our experience. The Idea of a Jack-O-Lantern is so mystical and magickal. Being a beacon of light during the dark night, shining from the inside out, inner child healing. *Extra points if you roast the pumpkin seeds, the act of abundance, using everything that nature gifts us.
Mysticism & Mythology: In old Irish tales, the Jack-O-Lantern comes from a story about a man named Stingy Jack, who tricks the Devil. Unable to enter Heaven or Hell, he's left to roam the Earth with a lantern.
Symbolism: Represents the guiding light through dark times, and the souls that wander during Samhain. On an altar this can be a beacon, for those who have left the physical dimension to feel safe to co-create and communicate through the ether.
7. Crystals:
Inspiration: Crystals are believed to emit specific frequencies and vibrations that can amplify, store, and transmit energy. Placing them on an altar can help to modify or amplify the energy of the space. Each crystal has a different vibration and represents different energy, furthermore, the placement of the crystals makes a difference in which energy is being amplified.
Selenite: Connects to divine light and higher frequencies. Keeps energy pristine in a space.
Obsidian: Offers grounding and protection. Absorbs and dispels negativity.
Clear Quartz: Incredible for divination and creating a space for connection.
Celestite: Facilitates angelic communication and calm, uplifting energy.
Labradorite: Helps with psychic abilities and accessing the Akashic records.
Rose Quartz: Amplifies the love frequency in a space.
8. Candles:
Inspiration: candles are best lit once the space is set, you are grounded and you are ready to communicate and practice your unique form of divination, mediumship, and psychic connection. Best to have the candle in the center of the altar or in the North to send the beacon and signal to the elders, the ancestors and the ancestors that the portal for contact is open.
Black for the death of summer, and the turn of the seasons to the unseen, the great mystery, the womb
Orange for the harvest, bringing in abundance, gratitude and reverence to the cycles and seasons of Nature
White for the spirits and ancestors we honor.
9. Herbs and flowers:
Altar Flowers:
Marigold (Calendula): Traditionally used to honor the dead and attract the spirits of departed loved ones. Great addition to your altar.
Chrysanthemum: Symbolizes death and rebirth in many cultures. Its bright colors can represent the fleeting nature of life.
Lilies: Their pure, often white blossoms can represent rebirth, purity, and the hope that the spirit has found peace in the afterlife.
Roses: Representing eternal life, the forever unfurling emergent experience of a soul.
Medicinal Herbs for sipping and burning:
Mugwort: Often used in divination and dream work
Wormwood: Another herb commonly associated with divination and contacting the spirit world.
Yarrow: Historically used for divination and to invoke psychic visions.
10. Skulls or Bones:
This is a shamanic way to incorporate those who have left the physical plane. If you eat meat you can save bones to toss as a divination practice, or to bring into the altar space to represent the deceased. I usually incorporate my buffalo drum, any other shamanic tools, I’ll incorporate into my Samhain rituals to honor their lives even more. I personally don’t eat meat but I definitely forage bones and fossils from the lands I travel to and from. Always asking the land and the animals for permission. If I have them, include these in my altars and bury them back into the land when they feel like they desire to return to Gaia.
Animal skulls or bones: represent the spirit that they carry and with reverence honors their soul through time and space.
Symbolism: Denotes mortality, the ancestors, and the thin veil between life and death.
11. Incense:
Inspiration: Smoke cleanses a space and is also considered an offering for the spiritual realm, to those who live in the ethers. It's believed that the smoke from incense can carry our prayers to the spirit world. Use your intuition when picking herbs and incense, below is what I suggest. Light once you are ready to drop in.
Cedar: Often considered a gatekeeper tree, cedar incense can act as a guide and protector when trying to communicate with spirits.
Copal: Often used in indigenous Mexican ceremonies, it is believed to open the soul and awaken the senses, creating a bridge between the worlds.
Frankincense: Known for its purifying properties, frankincense helps lift vibrations and connect to higher realms, making it easier to reach ancestral spirits.
Myrrh: Often used alongside frankincense, myrrh is known for its sacred properties and can be burned to honor and invite ancestors.
Sandalwood: Its calming properties aid in meditation and can help in connecting with higher realms, including ancestral spirits.
Tobacco: Traditional to Native American and indigenous practices, pure, natural tobacco is often burned as an offering to the ancestors and spirits.
12. Divination Tools:
Inspiration: There are so many different ways to practice divination. With the veil being thin, Samhain is an optimal time for divinatory practices, seeking insights from the spirit world.
Candle Gazing: the way a candle dances or stands still represents different messages from the spirit realm. To learn more about candle divination: click here.
Smoke: see how smoke releases when you burn it, see which direction it is moving towards, this all provides energetic information to the beings you are communicating with.
Tarot Cards: After you set your space and connect you can use tarot to assist you in receiving clear messages from your ancestors and the messages that are necessary for you right now.
Crystal Gazing: Find a clear quartz and gaze under the candlelight to see what images appear, allow the crystal to amplify your communication with those you wish to connect with.
Finally:
When setting up your altar, remember that the process is deeply personal. While the above gives traditional meanings, you should incorporate what feels right for you. The intention and reverence you bring to the process are more important than any specific item. The most important thing is to have fun. To dance, to celebrate, the more serious you take your spiritual practices the more it loses it’s magick. Trust the messages that come through, they may not make sense immediately but they will in divine timing.
Happy Traveling and inter-dimensional wisdom weaving! For those who want to be guided more deeply and intimately in ritual, magick and divination, join the starseed mystery school.