Halloween Public Samhain Witch Rituals

Free spiritual celebration in the Asheville, N.C. area from 1995 to 2014

Family-friendly and open to respectful folks of all faiths

Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe First Samhain Ritual, 1995: Weaving the Web
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Second Samhain Ritual, 1996: Lament for the Dead
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Third Samhain Ritual, 1997: Dark of the Moon Dance
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Seventh Samhain Ritual, 2001: Witches Ride — Pagan Pride Procession
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Eighth Samhain Ritual, 2002: A Gypsy Masque-Revel (Commentary on Xtian protestors)
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Ninth Samhain Ritual, 2003: Wiccan Woods
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Tenth Samhain Ritual, 2004: Samhain X (Music Playlist)  (Burning the Anti-Fortunetelling Law)
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Eleventh Samhain Ritual, 2005: Bones & Roses
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Twelfth Samhain Ritual, 2006: Creatures of the Night
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Thirteenth Samhain Ritual, 2007: Triskaidekaphilia/The Unseely Court (Photo Gallery)
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Fourteenth Samhain Ritual, 2008: Masked Divination & Dancing (Photo Tour)
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logoThe Fifteenth Samhain Ritual, 2009: Mystic Romance (Photo Essay)
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logo 2010The Sixteenth Samhain Ritual, 2010: The Mast Beast (Photo Gallery)
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logo 2011The Seventeenth Samhain Ritual, 2011: Flash Rite Pub Moot with Mummers' Play
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logo 2012The Eighteenth Samhain Ritual, 2012: Love is the Law: Mass Handfasting
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logo 2013The Nineteenth Samhain Ritual, 2013: Witches Gone Wilde!
Samhain Halloween Witches' Ritual logo 2014The Twentieth Samhain Ritual, 2014: Full Circle
CREATE YOUR OWN Public Samhain Rite!

As Witches, we do not preach our religion, we experience it. Just as our Pagan ancestors taught the mysteries of life and death through great public rituals in which all who honored the Old Religion were invited to participate, so we seek to revive public Samhain mysteries in our corner of the world. Samhain (Hallowe'en, Oct. 31) is a Wiccan "Greater Sabbat" and Celtic New Year. It is the time when the veil between the world of the living and the realm of the dead is thinnest -- when Witches honor our Ancient Wise Ones who have lived and died before, and divine future events.

Our Samhain rites portray a different theme each year, but always focus on a traditional aspect of the dark time: death and rebirth, divination, etc. They are free of charge and open to reverent participants.

In these pages we describe each year's ritual and the various challenges we've had to overcome to see them through -- facing down Christian protestors, negotiating with city bureaucracies, handling unexpected media publicity and solving logistical problems. In the pages for the first Samhain ritual you will see the press release that generated an avalanche of news coverage in the weeks before the rite. We have included some of that coverage, along with our critique of the media trends and biases it reveals. For Witches who want to organize public rites in their own towns, we offer a page of advice gleaned from our experiences and those of others we know who have conducted large Wiccan rituals.

In North Carolina, it's illegal to disrupt a Pagan Ritual


Return to top of page.

Return to Coven Oldenwilde's home page.


Latest update: 12 Jun. 2016