The three days around Samhain are therefore potent for rituals for protection, overcoming fears, laying old ghosts (psychological as well as psychic), and for marking the natural transition between one stage of life and the next. These energies continue until the midwinter solstice around 21 December, but you can carry out protective rituals at any time using the candle colours of Samhain. The later part of the waning moon cycle is ideal for these. For Samhain, use black, navy blue or deep purple candles for letting go of fear, and orange for the joy of immortality that is promised at this time.
Some of our fears stem from childhood or adolescence and have root in a real unhappiness or misfortune. But over the years these hidden worries can become detached from the original cause, so that we may fear travelling by plane, being in a dark place or even being left alone.
Psychoanalysts may uncover these root causes, while cognitive psychologists adjust patterns of behaviour without seeking out origins. This spell can help to heal life fears without painful probing. It seems to touch a deep part of our psyche. This ritual also works for deep-seated sorrows and regrets.
In your bathroom, light the incense of Samhain: cedar, cypress, dittany, ferns or sage.
Next, light three large navy blue candles. Add to your bath just two or three drops of a gentle protective oil such as rose or geranium. Sit in your bath in the candlelight and watch the candles casting light on the water.
Take a jar of herbal bath salts in either lavender, sandalwood or frankincense. These fragrances are widely available in both supermarkets and pharmacies. Take a few grains of the salts and cast them into a pool of light in the water, saying:
Darkness to light, come out of the corners and flee.
Stir the pool of light until the salt dissolves, saying:
Melt away you who have lingered too long in the shadows of my soul.
Repeat this five times and then get out of the bath and pull out the plug. Watch the water flow away carrying your fear, while reciting:
Fears without name, flow from me,
like the rivers to the sea.
Pain and hurt, wash far,
be gone, lingering terror is there none.
Let your candles burn away naturally.
