Event: The Wheel of the Year: Samhain - Honoring the Dead

Samhain is an old term for what is now known as Halloween. The veils between worlds are thin and the dead are said to be closer to us on the days surrounding October 31st.

In many cultures across the world, people have a tradition at this time of year to honor and remember loved ones that are no longer living. On this evening we gather in Amsterdam to do this work in community. We are not alone. How to prepare:

What to wear:

Wear whatever you like! This is a celebration, and honoring, a special ritual at a special time of the year. You might prefer to be in comfortable clothing, you might want to wear something elaborate. All is welcome!

What to bring:

If you want to prepare your card before you come, you can. Feel free to bring your own card and write on it before or at the entrance of the ritual. You can get as creative as you like.

Any items / candles / trinkets / amulets / tarot or oracle cards / statues / photographs / images / crystals / etc. that you would like to place on the group altar at the center of the ritual.

The altar willbe the combination of all our expressions of honoring our loved ones who have passed. It will be a place to focus on during meditation and to move around throughout the ritual.

What to do:

Honor yourself! Everything in the ritual is an invitation. This means you can at any time choose to accept the invitation or not. If there are any parts you prefer not to participate in and want to remain silent, you can respectfully pass. If you need to just sit in your own space and witness the ritual, you can. As long as you treat everyone with honor, compassion and respect, all is welcome.

Honor others! Know not everyone will have the same experience as you. Please be respectful, kind and keep an open mind. Some people might cry, others might laugh in celebration, others might sit very still, some might move their bodies. There is enough space for everyone in the circle.

There will be moments of movement and sound and there will be moments of silence as we move through this ritual together.

The Ritual:

Enter - At the entrance of the ritual you will be able to write down the names of all loved ones you want to honor at this ritual. We will supply a card and pens for you to write this down on. You may have one or several names of people no longer alive that you wish to honor.

On the other side of the card you will be invited to write down your intention for joining this ritual.

Our beautiful helper at the entrance will offer you any assistance you need. When you have your card ready, you will fully enter the ritual space and place any items you brought with you on the altar. Keep the card with you as you will need it later on in the ritual.

Grounding & Centering - You will be guided through a grounding and centering meditation. We do this to align our bodies, come to our center, and arrive to this ritual and this moment with your being.

Honoring the Dead - We will circle around reading from our cards why we felt moved to participate in this ritual and the names of any loved ones we wish to honor and speak out loud. At our turn we will then place the card on our group altar in the center.

Meditation - In community we will spend time in meditation with the altar we built and the dead we have placed upon it for this ritual. In silence we will honor those who have gone before us.

Celebration - An important part of rituals that honor the dead is the celebration of life. Since it is being in our bodies that signifies we are alive, we will do this by engaging all the senses of our bodies.

Gratitude & Closing - We will circle and have the opportunity to share something we are grateful for. The ritual will then be closed. Before we depart we will gather up our items from the altar. If you wish to leave something behind, like your card, it will be respectfully disposed of in ritual by your host, Pipaluk, at a later moment.

The evening will be guided by Pipaluk Universe.