With a name like mine, October is the month the letters start to mention the veil. Is it true that it is thin now? Can they hear me? What do I do with everything this year made heavy? Good questions, and very old ones. So here is what Samhain is, why people have always said the veil is thin at this turn of the year, a small ritual you can do at your own table, and what I hold at mine for the last full moon before it.
In short: Samhain (say it SOW-in) is the old Gaelic festival that runs from the evening of 31 October into 1 November. It marked the end of summer and the start of the dark half of the year, and it was believed to be the night when the boundary between the living and the dead was at its thinnest. In 2026, Samhain falls on Saturday 31 October, and the last full moon before it is on Monday 26 October.
What is Samhain?
The word is Irish and means, roughly, summer's end. For the people who kept it, the year had two halves, a light one and a dark one, and Samhain was the door between them: the close of the old year and the start of the new, much as New Year's Eve is today.
Because the Celts counted night before day, the feast began on the eve, on what is now 31 October. The animals were brought in for winter, the fields were bare, and the long nights began. It was a festival of fire and of food, and above all of remembering.
Why is the veil thin at Samhain?
On the night between the two halves of the year, people believed the division between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest. Spirits could pass, the fairy folk were abroad, and the ones who had died, that year and all the years before, could come home. That is what "the veil is thin" means. Not that something frightening breaks through, but that the ones you love are, for a little while, very near.
The idea may be older than the Celts themselves. On the Hill of Tara in Ireland, the passage of the Mound of the Hostages, built some four and a half to five thousand years ago, is aligned with the rising sun around Samhain. Long before anyone wrote the word down, someone was already watching this turn of the year.
How people kept Samhain
Every hearth was put out. At Tlachtga, the Hill of Ward in County Meath, a great fire was lit on Samhain eve, and according to the old manuscripts the fires of the land were relit from its flame. Picture it: one fire, carried home through the dark, to start the new year warm.
The ancestors were invited in. Food was made for the living and for the dead, a portion was set aside for those who had gone before, and that portion was shared with the poor. Fires were kept burning to warm the visiting spirits, and people wore masks and costumes so that any spirit with bad intentions would take them for one of its own. In Ireland and Scotland faces were carved into turnips and lit from within; the emigrants who carried the custom to America found the pumpkin easier to carve.
When the Church came, it set its own days of remembering right beside the old one: All Saints, or All Hallows, on 1 November, and All Souls on 2 November. The eve of All Hallows became Hallowe'en. The costumes and the lanterns you see on 31 October are the last visible thread of a much older night.
What the thin veil means at my table
At my table the thin veil works in two directions, and both of them are gentle.
The first is that it is easier to put things down. The dark half of the year asks nothing of you but rest, and the old festival was, at heart, permission for the year to end. Whatever grew heavy in the last twelve months, the grudge, the silence, the version of yourself you have outgrown, this is the natural moment to set it on the table and leave it there.
The second is that it is easier to feel the ones who came before. I do not summon anyone and I do not perform. I sit in quiet and listen, and in these weeks the quiet is fuller than usual. People tell me they dream of their grandmother more often in late October, or catch a scent in the hallway that belongs to someone long gone. I believe them. Love does not stop at the veil.
The last full moon before Samhain: 26 October 2026
October's full moon is the Hunter's Moon, the first full moon after the Harvest Moon. By then the fields were cleared and the leaves were down, and its bright light, rising soon after sunset, let hunters track game later into the night and put meat by for winter. In 2026 it is full on Monday 26 October: the day after the clocks go back in Europe, and five days before Samhain.
A full moon is a moment of culmination. What was growing is as full as it will get, and what is finished is ready to be released. The last full moon before the old new year is, to me, the strongest release moon of the whole year. It is the moon for putting things down.
A simple Samhain ritual for release, at your own table
You need a candle, a glass of water, a piece of paper, a pen and a little quiet. Do it on the night of the full moon, on Samhain eve, or on any evening in between.
- Clear a small space. Wipe the table, open a window for a moment, and let the old air out.
- Light the candle and set the water beside it. Water takes on what you speak over it, which is why you drink it at the end.
- Write what you are putting down. One to three things, in your own words, as specific as you can bear. Not "stress", but "carrying my sister's opinion of my life".
- Speak it aloud as already done. "I have put this down. It is no longer mine to carry." Say it slowly, and feel the lightness in your shoulders as if it has already happened. The feeling is what makes the words work.
- Name the ones who came before. If there is someone you miss, say their name and set something of theirs on the table: a photo, a ring, their favourite biscuit. Tell them one thing you never got to say.
- Thank the year. For what it gave and for what it taught, the heavy parts too. Gratitude is the door the new comes in through.
- Drink the water and let the paper go. Burn it safely in a fireproof bowl, or tear it up and bury it in the garden or a plant pot. Sit with the candle a little longer, and never leave it burning unattended.
Before you sleep, write one line for the dark half of the year. Not a goal; a seed. "I rest, and what is mine finds me." The old year ends at Samhain, and the new one begins in the dark, the way seeds do.
What I do when you hand it to me
Some years are too heavy to put down alone, and that is what a full moon release is for. This year the last full moon before Samhain fell on Monday 26 October, and the names for The Long Night Release have been held. The next full moon is Tuesday 24 November, and the Full Moon Release Ritual is held at my table on the day of every full moon.
Your name goes on paper in my handwriting, and beneath it, in your own words, what you are ready to release. If you want to name someone who is no longer here, you may; their name goes on the same paper, with care. A candle is lit for you. I speak your release aloud, as already done, and I sit with it in a quiet that is yours alone, until it feels finished.
Then I write to you: what I noticed while I held it, what I worked with and why, and how to let the release settle. Because this is the ritual of the month, your report carries something extra: a few small gestures to carry with you through the week that follows. Your report is in your inbox the day after, on the 27th, and you can order until Sunday 25 October.
After the candle is out
Afterwards I check in with you, because a release can move things and I want to know how you are. You also receive my small guide After Your Reading, with the morning ritual: a candle, a glass of water, one sentence, one true feeling, and a thank you. Aftercare is not an extra at my table; it is the norm. I want you to leave with more strength, energy and clarity than you arrived with.
What comes back to my table
These came after other rituals of release and renewal, word for word.
"I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders thank you!! Will come back soon"
Donna, July 2026
"Ivy's gentle words and guidance has helped me through an emotionally turbulent time in my life. It has meant a lot to receive her messages! Highly recommend :)"
Pam, August 2026
"Very good I feel something shifted in me, thank you"
Peter, July 2026
Which one is yours?
If the heaviness is the year itself, begin with the Full Moon Release Ritual, held on the day of every full moon; the next one is Tuesday 24 November. If what you are putting down has a name and a face, a bond that still pulls, the Cord Cutting Ritual is made for exactly that, any day of the year. If there is someone on the other side of the veil you long to hear from, the Loved One in Spirit Reading is written with the greatest care, for you alone.
Questions people ask me about Samhain
When is Samhain in 2026?
Samhain begins on the evening of Saturday 31 October 2026 and runs into Sunday 1 November. The last full moon before it, the Hunter's Moon, is on Monday 26 October 2026.
Is Samhain the same as Halloween?
Not quite. Samhain is the older Gaelic festival of summer's end. Halloween, All Hallows' Eve, grew out of it after the Church set All Saints on 1 November and All Souls on 2 November, and many of its customs, the costumes and the carved lanterns, are threads of the older night.
What does "the veil is thin" mean?
It is the old belief that at Samhain the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest, so the ones who came before are very near. At my table it is a gentle thing: an easier time to put down what is heavy, and to feel the ones you love.
Is it safe to do a ritual when the veil is thin?
Yes. A release ritual is quiet and simple: a candle, water, your own words and a thank you. Nothing is summoned. If you ever feel unsettled, open a window, drink a glass of water and say aloud that only love is welcome at your table.
Can I include someone who has passed away in a release ritual?
Yes. You may name someone who is no longer here. Their name goes on the same paper as yours, with care, and I hold them in the quiet with you.
What can I expect?
A ritual held with care on 26 October, a report written for you alone in your inbox the same day, a few small gestures to carry with you, and afterwards I check in with you. I promise no outcome: this is spiritual guidance, offered for entertainment purposes. What I give you is my full attention, and a softer way into the dark half of the year.
If you are ready to put something down, begin with the Full Moon Release Ritual. If you are not sure what you need, the spell finder asks you one question and shows you what I would hold. And when the shortest day comes, I hold that one too: Return of the Light, on 21 December.
Go gently into the long nights. The light comes back; it always has.
Ivy
