Samhain

Samhain (pronounced sow-en) is another important holiday, it starts the God Season.
Alternate names are Hallows Eve, All Hallows Eve, November Eve, and of course Halloween.   This sabbat occurs on October 31^st, or actually begins at sundown October 30th to sundown October 31st
This starts off the "dark half of the year" because the God has diminished greatly and is now dead.
He now awaits his resurrection at Yule, and the cycle will start all over again.
This is also the Wiccan's new year.

The veil between the worlds is thinnest on this night,
and is considered an excellent time for divination,
and strengthening of karmic ties with those you wish to be with throughout another lifetime.

Along with good spirits the belief that a few bad ones could also be out made the Celtic people take some caution.
This is were the idea of a jack-o-lantern came from.
  The first ones in Ireland were carved out of Turnips,

A Celtic tradition is to place candles in the windows,
and leave plates of food for the visiting spirits.
This tradition is carried on today.
Faery mounds are open to the world of humans on this night and one must be careful to not fall under a faery spell. 

In the spiritual aspect this is the time when the God dies and awaits rebirth by the Goddess at Yule.
The Goddess is in her Crone aspect at this time. 
The cauldron which is linked to the crone aspect of the Goddess and rebirth is a symbol of this sabbat.
The cauldron represents the primal melting pot where life begins, ends and is reborn.

Because of the thinning of the veil,
Samhain is a good time to conduct regression meditation.  This can allow you to tap into the collective consciousness