12 Nights of Yule-December 29th

It’s the tenth night of Yule and today I’m envisioning my favorite month of the year- October!

While everyone else is out boozing it up at Halloween parties, witches usually spend the night holding a Dumb Supper and honoring the dead. Dumb is the Old English word for mute which is why it is customary in a Dumb Supper to dine with the dead in silence.

Afterwards, candles are lit on the Samhain altar, which is decorated with symbols of death like skulls, pomegranates- the fruit of the underworld, and dark colors representing the darker nights to come.

Ancestral tributes are created, offering the dead all the things they loved in life- much like the ofrendas you’d see for Dia de los Muertos.

Also known as the Witches New Year, tarot spreads divining the year ahead are crystal clear on Samhain. This is the time to ask yourself:

What will be my theme for the New Year?

How will I be renewed in the New Year?

What do I need to let go of and put to rest?

What relationships or habits am I saying goodbye to?

What are my ancestors trying to tell me?

On a night known for partying, this type of celebration may seem boring to most but Samhain is a more solemn Sabbat. We’re mourning the death of the Sun- the tone should be be dark and somber.

Besides, Samhain officially begins at sunset and ends at sundown November 1^st. Although Halloween, at least for me- begins October 1^st and ends the sunset of October 31^st.

Just like my Summer Bucket List, I will be celebrating Halloween all month long with my own 31 Days of Halloween Bucket List.

1. Buy my favorite HEB Halloween Pumpkin Face Cookies
2. Dress Witchy Chic all month long
3. Shop for Halloween décor
4. Listen to my Halloween playlist on Spotify
5. Watch Hocus Pocus
6. Decorate my house in Halloween décor
7. Paint my nails white on the right hand and black on my left hand
8. Watch Practical Magic
9. Read Edgar Allen Poe stories
10. Watch the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horrors
11. Make candy corn popcorn
12. Have a Horror Movie Marathon
13. Tell ghost stories
14. Have a Dead Files Marathon
15. Craft protective witch balls
16. String up orange and purple twinkly lights
17. Make a protective crystal grid for my home
18. Watch ABC’s 13 Nights of Halloween
19. Carve a Jack-o’-lantern
20. Watch AMC’s Fear Fest
21. Netflix American Horror Story- Coven
22. Watch Food Networks Halloween Wars
23. Have a Harry Potter marathon
24. Craft salt dough skulls
25. Watch Halloween-themed Hallmark movies
26. Try pumpkin beer
27. Rock gothic makeup
28. Brew hot apple cider
29. Make sugar skulls
30. Bake Pan de Muertos
31. Build my ancestor altar

Blessed Be!

xoxo

The Snow Orchid Witch