The last of the harvest has been brought in as October’s golden light wanes and we begin the slow descent into the colder, cozier months of late fall and winter. The Wheel of the Year turns to Samhain—a portal into this darker half of the year and a sacred time to celebrate life’s abundance and honor and give thanks to ancestors who guide us in spirit. For ancient Celts, Samhain was a time to revere the gods, nature spirits, and the dearly departed. Fires were lit to help any wandering spirits find their way home safely, while offerings of the harvest were made to express gratitude to these entities.

Today, Samhain is referred to as the Witches’ New Year. It is seen as a new beginning, a fresh start, and an opportunity to slow down as the colder months ensue.

We prepare our homes and shift our mindsets to accommodate the frosty, darker days of winter ahead. We are naturally called to introspection and reflection, and to connect with and honor our loved ones in spirit, as the door between worlds is wide open now.

At Samhain, we gather with our sister witches to celebrate the New Year, enjoy a feast together, light a bonfire or some candles, carve pumpkins, connect with the deceased, and brew some magic in our cauldrons.

An easy, satisfying way to revel in the harvest and create an inviting, mystical atmosphere for a Samhain gathering is to craft a simmering potpourri in a small table-top cast-iron cauldron, one that’s brimming with spices, herbs, and fruits of the season. Not only does it serve to create an enigmatic backdrop for the festivities, but it elevates the energy of the gathering, as the ingredients are imbued with magical properties that enhance connection to our ancestors beyond the veil—ingredients that have traditionally been associated with spirit communication, vivid visions, remembrance, ancestors, and Samhain itself.

Enjoy the powerful experience of creating this potpourri in community with your sister witches. Have each sister bring one of the ingredients to the celebration, focusing on the properties of the ingredient as she adds it to the cauldron. This is a wonderful activity to do prior to engaging in divination practices like tarot reading or even a seance to foster genuine, loving connection with ancestors beyond the veil.

Simmering Samhain Potpourri

Feel free to use any or all of the ingredients or add some of your own. Use what you have on hand. Get creative. In addition to the ingredients, you’ll need a small cast-iron cauldron, water to fill it, and a tealight (or larger flame, depending on the size of your cauldron) to place beneath to warm your potpourri. Of course you can always use a kitchen stove if you don’t have a cauldron!

Ingredients and their magical correspondences:

• Sprigs of mugwort and rosemary. Mugwort for protection and psychic enhancement; rosemary for remembrance

• Apple, orange, and lemon slices. Apple is a Celtic symbol of the Otherworld, orange augments psychic and divinatory abilities, and lemon strengthens clarity and clear connections and cleanses any negative energy

• Fresh cranberries. For abundance

• 1 or 2 cinnamon sticks. Acts as an energy amplifier

• Whole cloves. These carry highly protective energy

• A sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice (a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice). Cinnamon and clove are mentioned above. Nutmeg is associated with insight and prophetic dreams, ginger is the ultimate power booster, and allspice acts as a unifier that blends multiple magical intentions together, making the sum greater than its parts.

Instructions:

Fill the cast-iron cauldron with all the ingredients and top with water. Place the tealight or other heat source beneath the cauldron to warm to a simmer over low heat. Make sure the cauldron is on a solid surface, ideally a heatproof one like a trivet. Keep the potpourri-infused liquid at a very low simmer. The liquid will slowly evaporate, so be sure to add more water as needed. Also, remember to blow out the candle or turn off the burner before going to bed or leaving your home!