It's that time of year again! It's October, the leaves are turning colors, the pumpkin spice craze is back. Yes, Samhain!

So first... yes it's pronounced Sah-wen, but I can't help but say it in my head as Sam-hayne, sue me.

What is Samhain?

Samhain is one of four ancient Fire Festivals that many witches, druids, and pagans alike celebrate. Samhain is on October 31st and November 1st in between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. It marks the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. This is also the ancient Celts' New Year day. It is also a time to celebrate the dead or ancestors. They believed that the veil between worlds was thinnest on this day.

Where Did Samhain Originate?

Ancient Celts were the folks who are first recorded to celebrate Samhain, hence it's name being an old Gaelic name. However, Celtic revivalists and other pagans have helped the holiday gain more popularity over the years.

What are Some Samhain Traditions?

The oldest traditions of Samhain involve putting out the hearth's fire in their homes, harvesting crops, and lighting a community bonfire. They did this by using a wheel that which would then cause friction and spark a fire. This wheel represented the sun and was used along with prayers. They would offer sacrifices of cattle and when the festival was over, take a flame form the community fire home with them to relight their own hearth.

More modern tradition include:

Bonfires

Creating Alters for the dead or for associated deities

Creating Feasts

Making Pastries

Communing with Spirits

and more!

Can I Celebrate Samhain?

Despite what some people (though very few) will tell you, anyone of any origin can celebrate Samhain! Just be sure to educate yourself and don't disrespect the ancient tradition or deities involved in this sacred holiday.

Associations:

(These are not Traditional associations, they are modern pagan associations)

Revision!!! : Cailleach, the divine hag (literally means old woman or hag) and goddess of winter is very important during this time since she is in charge of the weather from Samhain to Beltane. I encourage you to look deeper into her as she is very interesting! You can read more about her here and I will make a whole post about her eventually!

Deities: The Morrigan is one of the main deities associated with this day, however, over the years as paganism has become a melting pot of pantheons, people have also considered other gods to be associated with the holiday such as: Pomona, Cernunnos, Anubis, Odin, Osiris, and Hecate to name a few.

Colors: Red, yellow, orange, most warm colors, black

Herbs: Mugwort, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, sandalwood, and dragon's blood.

Stones and Metals: Onyx, obsidian, tiger's eye, smoky quartz, ruby, copper, brass, Jet, black stones in general, darker red stones, etc.

Of course this is a list of the most common associations. If you have an item or god that you associate with the holiday you are more than welcome to celebrate with them! I am not one to gatekeep a holiday. :)

Merry meet! I have recently noticed that many of the blogs I have followed over the last year or so have either stagnated, or have been reblogging or posting things of a similar theme and I would like to be able to give those that follow me a little more variety when I cannot create original content. If you post original content related to:

Herbalism

Wicca

Paganism

Green witches, hearth witches, elemental witches

Educational witches or circle teaching

Gardening + nature related

Irish and Celtic mythology

Whilst talking with my aunt--who is a devout herbalist in another circle in her own town-- about herbal remedies, she brought up the word emmenagogue. In this case, the word refers to an herb or plant that can stimulate menstrual flow. For those who may have late menstruation or elongated cycles, this may be quite a helpful remedy, but to uninformed users, it may also have detrimental effects. Most emmenagogues also act as abortifacients, as in, they may harm a pregnancy or can cause miscarriages.

My reason for writing this post is that there are some common herbs that people use for other reasons that may in fact also have emmenagogue/abortifacient properties. Most posts that I see do not address this, and I'd like my followers and the rest of the online witchblr community to be informed as well.

In most cases, you should not take more than the recommended dosage of any herb anyways, especially if you are taking other prescribed medications. If you are pregnant or are thinking of conceiving, please stay away from these herbs entirely and look for alternatives, and please make sure to do extensive research beforehand on anything you decide to use!

The emmenagogues that I have found I will list below along with their common uses otherwise. Herbs in bold are mainly used as emmenagogues and/or are dangerous in anything other than 1 gram dosing.

Angelica (heartburn, insomnia), Bay Laurel (muscle aches), Blessed Thistle (diuretic, bacterial infections) , Bloodroot (emetic, bacterial infections), Blue Cohosh (reducing inflammation, cramps), Catnip (insomnia, headaches), Chamomile (insomnia, stomach ulcers), Slippery Elm (sore throat, heartburn), Feverfew (migraines, nausea), Goldenseal (respiratory infections), Horsetail (edema, incontinence), Lady’s Slipper (insomnia, anxiety), Majoram (common cold), Marshmallow (sore throat, stomach ulcers), Mistletoe (high blood pressure), Motherwort (anxiety, high blood pressure), Mugwort (tonic, sedative), Myrrh (indigestion, cough), Parsley (menstrual flow, high blood pressure), Pennyroyal (antiseptic), Peppermint (common cold, headaches), Rue (neuromuscular problems), Sage (digestive problems, heartburn), Tansy (migraines, stomach ulcers), Verbena (sore throat, depression), Wintergreen (analgesic, cramps).

If you have any questions about this post or about other herbs and their dosing or safety concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me through my messages! I will always respond and try to give as detailed or informed of an answer as I can.

Thank you for reading, and blessed be!

I’ve been more dead than alive on my blog, which seems to be what I most frequently post about, surprisingly. However, my influx of witch-related content has come to a halt and I’d love to follow some more people that share similar interests or who would like to chat! If you’re new, I tend to try and post informational blogs about herbs in order to help educate the rest of the witch community on things I feel are often brushed over! I also post personal blogs about my experiences, and answer questions about Celtic folklore. Feel free to shoot me a message or like/reblog/what have you if you are interested in the following:

Biology

Animal Science

Green Witchcraft

Educational Witchcraft

Paganism

Celtic folklore