Samhain represents a celebration of death in the Urban Wiccan tradition. Samhain represents the death of our year and the start of a new one. It is a time of new beginnings and the death of old habits. It is a time for reflection and remembrance of our ancestors. Samhain is a time when the veil between our world and the next is thinnest, making it a perfect time for divination.
Samhain is generally celebrated on October 31. What follows is a solitary Urban Wiccan ritual for Samhain:
Before you begin your ritual it will be necessary to gather a few altar items. These items can be easily collected or made. They main purpose of these items will not be to act as tools in your ritual, but to decorate your altar for the ritual, which will keep you in the right state of mind to concentrate on the work you are performing. While these items are not necessary, some effort should be made to put the spirit of Samhain into your altar:
Black and orange candles, fallen leaves you find on the ground (the ones that have changed color to brown, gold, and yellow), jack-o-lanterns (you can carve faces on them or not, supermarkets sell miniature pumpkins that would be perfect for the Urban Wiccan altar), depictions of skeletons (similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead decorations), a small bowl or cup of dried fruits and nuts.
While you are getting your altar together, remember to grab some form of divination device, whether it is cards, runes, dice, etc. The form doesn’t matter. Also, since we will be honoring the dead, try to see if you can find a picture of your loved one who has crossed over. Remember, nothing says your loved one has to be a human, either. If you don’t have a photo available, try gathering something that would remind you of that person. If the person played guitar, then print out a small picture of a guitar, or look for a tiny guitar depiction at a local store. If you are perhaps unsure of the person’s interests (which may be the case when honoring an ancestor older than your grandparents), then write their names on individual pieces of paper. If you are not sure of the person’s name, then you will be focusing on what it was about them that connects them to you.
Cast your circle. If you decorated your ritual space with black and orange candles (or any other candles for that matter) feel free to light those now.
Say "On this night of Samhain, I honor my dead, I bury old habits and regrets, and I seek to learn more about the future".
Gather up the images or symbols of your loved ones who have crossed over (or hold the thought of them in your mind) and say, "Zeus, King of Gods, Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft, and Thanatos, God of Death, I pray to you. Pass along my reverences and respect to my dearly departed. Protect them on the other side, comfort them and reassure them that all is well." Repeat this for as long as necessary for you to feel that the message has met its intended destination. As you are chanting the above statement, hold the images in your mind of your love one. If you are able to recall specific times that you spent with him or her that were particularly happy, focus on those times as well.
When you have completed honoring your dead, you must now bury your old regrets or habits. On a piece of paper, write down any habit you would like to quit or any regret that you still carry with you. There is no need to focus too hard on this list, nor is there any reason to vocalize what you put down on that paper. When you are done (you can use one piece of paper or one small piece of paper for each item), hold your paper in your hand. If you have multiple pieces of paper, hold a few pieces in your hand and place the rest in your burning dish. Using the flame from one of your lit candles, burn the paper containing your old habits and regrets. Let that paper burn in your burning dish. As it burns and as the smoke rises, say "As the smoke from this dish (or cauldron) rises to the heavens out of my circle, so do my old habits and regrets rise out of my body and out of my soul so that they may be carried far, far away and disposed of, never to be heard from again." Repeat as long is necessary for your paper pieces to be reduced to nothing but ash. Don’t worry if you have to re-light the items in the dish more than once.
Lastly, while the veil between this world and the next are thinnest, conduct a divination reading for yourself on any topic you desire, through any form you desire. Your session can be as long or as short as you like. While it is not even necessary that a divination ritual be conducted, it would be a horrible waste to overlook such a great opportunity to perform a divination ritual.
Release your circle.
If you decided to decorate with the dried fruit and nuts mentioned earlier, feel free to snack on those.
