Samhain Activities For Solitary Witches

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Thinking of Samhain activities to do as a solitary witch can be hard!

Solitary witches can sometimes feel more like lazy witches.

It’s not that we don’t do anything for our faith and practice, it’s just that we sometimes get overwhelmed with everything we CAN do.

So what are Samhain activities that solitary witches can do? Oh, there are a ton of options!

From nature walks to DIY home decor, creating altars for the dead and meditating, the list of ways to celebrate Samhain as a solitary witch is endless.

Samhain begins the night of October 31 and ends in the evening of November 1, but I personally celebrate and prepare for Samhain all through October (okay, let’s be real; I prepare for Samhain from mid-August!).

That leaves plenty of time to do most or all of the activities on the list below.

But first, it helps to know the general themes of Samhain.

These themes can help you think of more activities!

The Themes Of Samhain

There are a few key themes to keep in mind when designing rituals and finding Samhain activities.

This can be a truly enchanting time if you keep in sync with the season.

Here are the top three themes of the Samhain season.

Loss and death. Much like the Death card in tarot decks, this is a time of overall change, for better or for worse.

The days are growing shorter, the leaves are falling from the trees. For most of us, we will be losing something as well.

This is the time to prepare yourself for transitions, to open your heart to changes that you can’t foresee.

It may be a death in the family or a falling out with a friend. Your job is to say goodbye with grace and self love.

Facing fears. This lesson is perfectly embodied in horror movies and haunted houses, but this is a time to face our demons, both inside ourselves and outside of ourselves.

Allow yourself to feel your fear as you enter the darkness of the season, but allow yourself to be brave as well.

Face your shadow. Face the shadow of the world.

Transformation. Just as we transform into characters when we dress up for Halloween, the season of Samhain is about personal and ongoing transformation.

As the veil thins, we can get a glimpse of our highest self… as well as that inner demon, that dark self that wants to control us.

Samhain is the time to wrestle with the different aspects of our personalities and come out a changed and, hopefully, better person for it.

This transformation will most likely be completing around the time of Yule.

Samhain Activities For The Solitary Witch

Celebrate Samhain with a nature walk. Spending time in nature and experiencing all of its sensory magick will allow you to truly sense the changing season and experience the veil becoming thinner.

Meditate. This is the time to reflect on yourself, how you have grown, and what has changed over the past year.

Reflections. Similar to the above, go over your journals and planners for the year. Reflect on your accomplishments and challenges and everything you did this year.

Decorate your home. Pumpkins, skulls, ghosts. At the Dollar Tree you can find cut wooden shapes that are perfect for DIY Samhain decor.

Place an autumnal wreath on your door. Bonus points if you bless it for prosperity and protection first!

Create an altar for your ancestors. This is the perfect time to connect with the dead, and that begins with showing respect for them. Place items that your ancestors liked or used to own, photos, and candles on an altar. Sit quietly with them and try to hear their wisdom.

Divination. Bring out your tarot cards, astrology dice, runes, and pendulums. This is the time to ask the dead and the universe for guidance, while the veil is thin.

Pull out the ouija board with some friends. You may or may not get real answers, but it will be seasonal fun for everyone.

Hold a seance. The veil is thin, and the dead wish to speak. This is the right time to speak with anyone on the other side of the veil.

Place a white 7 day candle in your window to guide the dead to the spirit world. When you light the candle, say, “O little flame that burns so bright, be a beacon on this night. Light the path for all the dead, that they may see now what’s ahead. And lead them to the Summerland and shine until Pan takes their hands. And with Your light, please bring them peace, that they may rest and sleep with ease.“

Prepare Samhain treats. This is a great time to bake and cook spooky foods.

Bring seasonal herbs and plants into your spell work. Examples include allspice berries, broom, catnip, mountain ash berries, mugwort, mullein, oak leaves, acorns, rosemary, sage, pine cones, and straw

Work with seasonal deities. Now is the time to work with crone goddesses and horned gods.

They may be willing to help heal broken hearts and sorrow from death.

Honor the dead at your meals. Save a space and place a plate for the dead at your family table.

Add an offering of food and drink to that space and invite your ancestors to eat with you.

Visit a cemetary. If you live near the burial place of an ancestor or family member, this is the time to visit.

Tell them about your life, anything they’ve missed.

Leave an offering of flowers, herbs, or water.

Watch a ghost hunter show or some horror movies. It’s a fun way to get into the spirit!

My suggestion? Try the 1973 original Wicker Man.

Perform transformative magick. Dress up as someone else, or something else, and truly embody the spirit of your costume.

Put yourself into the mind and spirit of whatever you are dressed up as.

Ceremonially sacrifice a spell doll that is the embodiment of anything negative you want to be rid of. Before burning the doll in a bonfire, spend a day treating it like royalty, giving it good food, wine, and anointing it with oils and herbs.

This way your negativity will go from you thinking it has been satisfied.

If you’re looking to get kidnapped by fairies to escape your student loan debt or this political climate, now is the time! Go find fairy mounds or fairy circles and see if they’ll drag you to their kingdom.

Go to a community service. Pagan services are being held all over the world, and there may be one closer to you than you think.

Connecting with community used to be a necessity as the days grew shorter and the food became scarce.

Now it is something we must purposefully cultivate, to enrich our lives and our practices.

This is one of my most cherished Samhain activities as a solitary witch.

Declutter. This is a time of transition, which means it is a powerful time for changing your surroundings.

What can you get rid of?

What doesn’t serve you or your family anymore?

Consider donating things through the Give Back Box.

Have a bonfire. There are few things as cleansing as a fire.

Have some papers on hand so that you can write down wishes you would like to come true, sigils you would like to empower, or habits you would like to break.

Cast the papers into the fire to start the magick of a new year.