If getting dressed up for a wild party doesn’t appeal to you this Halloween, dear introvert, here are some alternative options. These can help you receive and activate the most magic from this sacred, liminal time of year based on the hemisphere you’re in.

For the south, welcome to Beltane.

For the north, welcome to Samhain.

Do you know the origins of Halloween? 

This holiday marks a sacred time in many ancient calendars. In Celtic law and mythology, it’s considered one of the most sacred times of the entire year. It’s when the veils between the human-dimension realm and the angelic and mystical-dimension realm become very thin. 

In other words, these other dimensions become more accessible for us. It’s easier to dream into them and receive their prayers, medicine, magic, insights or foretellings. 

This is the perfect time for dreaming into the future and for releasing the past, depending on which hemisphere you live in.

Keep in mind that you might resonate more with the season of the hemisphere you are in right now, or you might not. I encourage you to read about both hemisphere holidays so you can lean into the one that feels most medicinal for your own life as it is right now.

If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere: “Halloween” is AKA Beltane

Beltane is the sexiest time of the year. In ancient rituals, on the night of Beltane, there would be bonfires and huge gatherings. It was the one night a year when everyone who was married or who had taken vows of celibacy, such as monks and nuns, dropped their vows and had sex with whoever they wanted.

This wasn’t for the thrill of being “naughty,” but to celebrate fertility.

During this time of year, the crops were beginning to grow. The energy of the earth and its beings was a flowering, birthing preparation for the Summer Solstice. Picture trees laden with flowers, fruits starting to take shape in the flowers that have nestled them and thick, beautiful vines covering walls.

Beltane is a time of celebrating and honouring what’s birthing and deepening into the energy of certainty. That what is blossoming will become fruit in your life. That the seeds you are planting will reach fruition, wholeness and abundance. 

It’s the time to simultaneously celebrate what is coming into form and stand in your faith, affirming that what you are birthing will bear fruit. You are fertilizing your seeds with your passion, commitment and honouring of what you’re bringing into form.

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere: “Halloween” is AKA Samhain

Samhain is the last turn on the Celtic wheel of the year. It’s when you move into the deepest of the dark. It’s the time when traditionally, mythically, the archetype of the Crone comes and blows the wind and plucks the last of the leaves from the autumn trees as we descend into the deep quiet of winter. 

This is a time of letting go, of releasing and allowing the Crone archetype to carry away whatever we’re letting go of. As we move into the final season toward Winter Solstice, you can let go of things that no longer serve you: ideas, fears, beliefs, systems, pains, personal history… You can surrender them out and up on this day.

Samhain is when the earth goes fallow, cold and quiet. The earth is preparing by letting go of everything it doesn’t need, going quiet to receive the sacred seed that happens at Winter Solstice. Fun fact: Christmas is represented at that time because the seed of Christ fully burst onto the planet then. That’s why those two times, Samhain and the Winter Solstice, or Halloween and Christmas, occur so closely together.

What to do if you’re celebrating Beltane:

Choose rituals for celebrating, honouring, affirming and stepping into deeper faith and certainty for what is fertile and coming into form. Prepare to bring this growth to its fullness on the Solstice. 

One ritual I love to do is meditate on a theme or question. Close your eyes and allow yourself to go into the liminal space between the worlds. You can take your Spirit Teams, angels and guides with you and allow yourself to rest in that space.

You could also simply light a candle and sit with that candle. Drop into a deep space and become receptive. Because it’s a time of thinning of the veils, it’s a great time to receive messages, insights, intuitions, knowings and guidance.

Then get your Tarot cards out and pull a card from a deck after you’ve meditated on a theme or a question that’s important to you.

This is also a powerful time to be in gratitude, to write what you’re grateful for birthing and growing since winter.

And as you enter into this fertile time of year, add in a ritual that calls on nature and life force to help you celebrate and have the resilience to continue to birth to fullness all that is blossoming within and around you. You could gather expressions of fertility from nature like flowers and budding fruit, then make an altar with these elements and offer your deep respect and celebration for this Beltane energy.

What to do if you’re celebrating Samhain:

Choose rituals that honour letting go and dreaming into the future. These can look the same as the Beltane rituals above, lighting candles, meditating, pulling cards…but with the focus changed to reflect this releasing, wintering energy. 

And as you enter into the dark period of winter, include a ritual that calls on strength, warmth, resilience and endurance for the winter that’s to come. With a Samhain twist to the Beltane altar, go outside and gather autumn leaves, bare branches and twigs, fallen pine cones, red berries and corn stalks. Then create an altar with them, a grounding place to pray for your wellbeing and the wellbeing of your ancestors beyond the veil.

Your location on the planet right now doesn’t necessarily mean that the season of our life is congruent with the season of that hemisphere. So, trust the kind of ritual and meditation that you need. 

Whatever deeply meaningful and potent rituals you choose for this time, always end with gratitude for the God and the Goddess or the Divine or nature.

 Whichever hemisphere you’re in, or resonating with, these rituals can help you bring in the immense power of this time. All of the greater archetypal forces are activated more right now, and you can pull that archetypal energy. The earth is also highly activated, so you can bring that energy into your prayers.

This time of year has always been deeply sacred and always will be. Do you sense it, too? What are your favourite ways to immerse yourself into the mystical wonders of this time of year? Share with me in the comments below.

Blessings to your journey,

P.S. For those of you who are beginning Spirit Magic with me this week, I’m sending you big love and sacred blessings as we step into the liminal space together.