Don’t forget the simplicity and beauty of an herbal offering. If you’re an herbalist or enjoy leaving offerings to your ancestors on Samhain, you’re a friend of mine! With Samhain quickly approaching, I ended up cleaning off and re-decorating my altar. Ancestors are a huge part of my spiritual practice, so when Samhain season comes around I’m particularly pumped! There’s always a section on my Samhain altar to honor the ancestors. And there’s always an herbal offering that stays put between other more perishable offerings of food and drink. This year, I came up with two inspired Samhain ancestor herbal offering blends that I hope you can use or adapt to fit your practice.
Offerings in a pagan’s practice are like gifts between friends or family members. And, since we honor our ancestors on Samhain, why not give gifts to them as a form of honor? Food, drink, candle flame, incense, prayer, and song are all great ancestral offerings. But remember, offerings don’t have to be complicated. They can be as simple as a few herbs mixed together with intention and placed on the ancestor altar. Tell the ancestors why you’re giving them this offering and why you’re grateful for their presence in your life. They will return the gratitude.
If you’ve never heard of Samhain and you’ve landed on this page, I’ll try my best to explain it to you in the simplest of terms. Samhain is the ancient Celts last harvest festival that honors the ancestors and celebrates the harvest. The term Samhain literally means “Summer’s End”, and so we also prepare for Winter. The Celts believed our ancestors, the dead, and even the faery folk were able to roam the earth with ease during the Autumn season, particularly on Samhain. So our beloved dead were encouraged to visit us with offerings of meals and drinks, while the malevolent dead were warded off with things like jack o’ lanterns and iron horseshoes. Learn more about Samhain’s history and traditions here.
When I choose ingredients for offerings, I choose a mixture of herbs – some for their magical properties and others purely off intuition or personal association. I recommend after choosing an herb based on intuition to still research its properties before use. Here’s our list of our favorite Samhain herbs to choose from.
Use my herbal offering blends as inspiration for your own. Use what you already have on-hand and substitute out for things you don’t have. Listen to your intuition and what your ancestors whisper to you to create a beautiful, powerful herbal offering for Samhain season. I use special offering bowls for my altar (like the skeleton hand bowl in the picture), but a simple bowl from your kitchen cabinet works just as well!
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Terry | 31st Oct 18
Thank you for the Samhain Ancestor Offering , beautiful!
I’m thinking I will add dried Apple slices as they are the fruit of the Otherworld, sustenance for our Ancestors.
admin | 1st Nov 18
Very good idea, Terry!
Rose Embyrs | 13th Oct 18
I’m setting up a small altar for Samhain during a Pagan sales event as a learning tool for those who have not been introduced to Paganism. The herbal offering and ancestor pictures are a great addition. Thanks for the post!
admin | 13th Oct 18
Oh! That’s awesome! I’m glad to hear this will help educate. 🙂