The fertile darkness of Samhain
Samhain marks the retreat from the outdoors — the time when the final harvest has been gathered, the earth rests, and nothing more can be drawn from the land.
Our ancestors knew this intimately. With the fields bare and the days short, they turned their attention inward — conserving food, energy, and resources to survive the long, cold winter. They did less, and they did it indoors.
In the modern world, we do the opposite. We push through, keeping the same pace in every season, fuelled by artificial light, caffeine, and an unrelenting pressure to produce. We have adapted to an unnatural way of living. Our bodies and minds are out of sync with the cycles of nature, the landscape, and the subtle intelligence of the Earth — which we are part of, not separate from.
Yet even in our modern lives, we can still tend to the season of Samhain within ourselves.
Samhain invites us into the dark — into the in-between. It is the death of one year, but not yet the birth of the next. A period of gestation. The unseen stage of transformation, where the new is forming quietly beneath the surface. It’s a time to rest, replenish, and ready ourselves for what is to come.
When times feel dark or uncertain, it is not wise to burn the candle at both ends. It is the season to gather our inner resources, to nurture our energy rather than spend it.
But the world around us has forgotten how to rest. The relentless urgency, the demand to be productive, has become our collective addiction. And in that exhaustion, humanity makes dangerous, short-sighted decisions — because there is no pause, no time to dream or to imagine another way. No time to create the new, because we are endlessly maintaining the old.
Most of us don’t actually want more — we want less. A simpler, more manageable life, with time and energy for joy, connection, and genuine rest. But instead, capitalism sells us convenience: gadgets, quick fixes, disposable comforts — all promising to save us time, yet costing us so much that we end up working harder to afford them.
Even wellness and spirituality are packaged and sold back to us — managed by apps, enhanced by add-ons, our wisdom chopped up into coachable courses.
But Samhain whispers of another way.
It reminds us that doing less is not laziness; it is wisdom. Rest is not indulgence; it is restoration. This season invites us to step back from the noise, to tend the hearth of our being, to listen to the quiet hum beneath the surface of life — where transformation begins.
In the fertile darkness, everything pauses — yet beneath the stillness, life is remaking itself.
Samhain reminds us that endings are not failures; they are compost for what comes next.
Let yourself rest in the mystery.
The next version of you is gestating quietly in the dark. 🌑
Wishing you the many blessings of the season and a wildly restful Samhain this weekend.
Bodhini
