Samhain Ceremony

Welcome to our Community Ritual Gathering for Samhain!

Samhain, literally summer's end, has been celebrated across cultures for millennia. It marks a tipping point, where the community prepare to weather the winter months ahead and collectively ‘shift gear’. In an animate worldview this is accompanied by ‘ritual’ or intentional relational acts between us humans and the rest of the living earth. At this time of year the connection with ancestors and the dead is highlighted;  partly with the onrush of darkness and the unseen, inward dimensions of being; partly with the decay of living matter in the natural and vegetal world; and until recently from the confronting atmosphere within agricultural communities where the slaughter of livestock was visible at this time of year, keeping alive a 'breeding stock' of animals through to the spring and otherwise storing salted meat for the lean months to come.

In Europe Christianity syncretised with these existing community traditions and dedicated the three peak days of Samhain as All Hallows Day (31st) All-Saints Day (1st) and All Souls Day (2nd). The Roman's recorded that the Celts viewed days, months and years as commencing in the dark, and for this reason many presume that Samhain was the Celtic ‘New Year’.  

We will be joined this ceremony by local Shamanic Practitioner Lorraine Chamberlain, whom Madeleine and Adam have had the pleasure of working with over recent years. Scroll down to see a bio of Lorraine. Together, we will be creating a ritual container for our guests to drop into the energy of this season and feel what needs to be felt and shed to move on. We will have a series of invocations to our ancestors culminating in a guided journey by Lorraine to call in ancestral support, individually and collectively, for the year ahead. 

Please bring photos of ancestors if that feels aligned, animal bones, folk instruments, water or a thermos of tea for yourself, and fruit and snacks to share once the proceedings are complete. We will remain at the venue once the ceremony is done and folk are welcome to stay and chat, sing and snack together as desired. 

About the Wheel of the Year events:

We have lit a fire in The Glade for every ‘Wheel of the Year’ ceremony of the last three years. In this time over 570 people have attended and over 40 local artists have been paid to showcase their work. 

If you haven't been to the Glade before you can expect an immersive treat. This is a comfortable venue set within the woodland of the Dartington Trust Grounds. There are multiple covered and open areas, fire-pits, WCs, indoor and outdoor seating with log fires burning, illuminated by charming fairy lights that bring to life this space already thrumming with the 'fay'.

For Samhain we expect to be indoors in the ‘Nest’ and also have the fire lit outside beside an altar to the ancestors as a place to reflect privately should any guests feel called to do so.

We work honouring the ‘Celtic Wheel of the Year' which is a series of eight ‘festivals’ or ‘sabbats’ that mark the Summer and Winter Solstices, the two Equinox (equal-night) days, and the four traditional ‘fire festivals’ that sit between these four points: Imbolc (in the belly), Beltane (the bright fire), Lughnasadh (earth's harvest / funeral) and Samhain (summers end).

Gathering in community in the same natural venue throughout these consistent intervals of the year helps us to notice the changes in nature and inside ourselves as the seasons change. So too this practice provides consistent community honoured moments to reflect upon the passage of time and to mark any significant milestones.

All of our ancestors spent millennia living in traditional tribal cultures whom anthropologists confirm held a reverential awareness of the changing seasons and the varying bounties and hardships these brought. We are attempting to walk in their animistic ways.

In our ceremonies we create a ‘ritual container’ by invoking reverence towards nature and the elements, and state our intention of healing. The main body of the event is a balance between improvised and prepared  ‘bardic art forms’ which include sounding, singing, drumming, music, poetry, storytelling and ritual. There are moments of spoken sharing as we explore what the season means in the lives of our guests. The blend of these activities varies between ceremonies, as does the ‘energy level': Each year we become more tuned in to creating a ceremony that complements whatever is emergent in the season that we are in.

We do encourage participation wherever possible since together we create a field of energy and a shared focus for healing which is more than the sum of our individual parts. All engagement is optional and you may sit back if you prefer and simply watch events unfold.

There is a mix of sitting, standing and being more active which may include some dancing or processing around the site. 

We encourage guests to bring their own thermos and water bottle. We have a tea break and offer complementary herbal teas and usually some simple baked goods. Likewise it's recommended to bring some snacks like fruit and chocolate that might be proactively shared with other guests during the interval or after the ceremony. We commonly keep the fireside open for casual social encounters in the ambient afterglow.

Attendance: We ask that this ceremony is free of dogs and young children, as well as an alcohol and drug free space. You will automatically be added to our mailing list after booking. You can unsubscribe after or by emailing us. We email to promote the ceremonies as they are arranged.

Parking: is at the Earth-Wrights Car Park, linked here. This link also has images of the venue. Overflow Car Parking can be had at the Meadowbrook car park and on the opposite side of the road and round-about, which are located next to the ‘Things Happen Here’ venue. 

Car-Sharing: We provide a Car-Sharing scheme where all attendees are shared a link to a car-share spreadsheet and are encouraged to offer and ask for lifts. This is particularly valuable to enable folk to be picked up and dropped back off at Totnes Train Station. It's not uncommon to also have rides going to and from Exeter and sometimes Plymouth.

Volunteer: We provide complementary tickets to folks who would be willing to volunteer with pack up, pack down and to handle other miscellaneous tasks. Get in touch if that appeals to you. Likewise if you have something you wish to offer creatively we welcome hearing from you. Our ‘content’ approach is to curate a space that is open and receptive to material that presents as ‘indigenous to these lands’.

Timings: arrive in the space from 6pm ready for the ceremony to start at 6:30pm. Please allow enough time to walk the short woodland path from the car park. At the end of the ceremony you're welcome to stay and chat with fellow guests or to head home.

Tickets: are offered on a sliding scale of £16 and £22 per person depending on your means. We also have a few £11 concessionary tickets available if these prices are out of reach for you at this time.

We have a facebook page that you can follow for future events and related offerings.

See you soon fireside under the tree canopy,

Adam and Madeleine

Totnes Wheel of the Year Collective

Lorraine Chamberlain

Lorraine has been walking a shamanic path for over 20 years, and with each step she takes on this explorative, spiritual journey, the more inspired she becomes. 

As a practicing shamanic healer at two local healing centres, Lorraine balances client work by holding regular workshops in the study of shamanism. She also co-facilitates and teaches on a two-year accredited shamanic healing diploma course with the shamanic school “The Shamanic Healers Circle”. 

Lorraine leads workshops on connecting to the healing energy of plants and offers a healing practice that she terms “Plant Energy Healing”. Additionally, she holds two monthly shamanic circles in the local community and assists with “Northern Drum”, the shamanic school where she has received her training for the past 12 years. 

Adam W J Powell 

Adam is a multi-instrumentalist musician and storyteller with a passion for bringing the indigenous British Isles to life. He has read a degree in History, has studied under Dr Martin Shaw in the West Country 'School of Myth', and has been a decades long member of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids and an initiate turned facilitator in contemporary mens' rites of passage organisation The Mankind Project UK&I. He is the current ‘Grand Bard of Totnes’ inaugurated by Jackie Juno and Kimwei in 2025, having been the Bard of Totnes in 2024. The Totnes Pulse recently published an article on the Totnes Bardic Seat Here.

Adam's elders include Eric Maddern of Cae Mabon, JJ Middleway of Enchanting the Void, Michael Boyle of MKP and Olivier Mythodrama, the late Ray Simpson, founding guardian of the Community of Aidan and Hilda, indigenous teachers abroad from a two year world backpacking sabbatical, Tarisha Seligman of Singing Medicine, John King of A Druid Life in the Highlands, Abbot David Charlesworth of Buckfast Abbey, Jackie Juno the former Grand Bard of Exeter, and Sonya Costas of Roça de Ogum.

Madeleine Honor

Madeleine is a mother, singer, performer, sound & energy facilitator, kundalini yoga teacher, and creative practitioner. Madeleine has spent years as a performer and running drama and singing workshops with groups of women, children and refugees.
 

In her performances she often includes song, movement and mantra. Her deep connection to the natural world and shamanic practices are woven into a mesmerising landscape to create a sacred ceremonial experience.

Wider Team

We gratefully acknowledge our longstanding fire-keepers Phil Myles and Chris Yeo, photographers Scott Hunter and Harry Dunns, and regular volunteers and performers Abs and Finn, along with our past Collective members most recently Michelle Cadby and all of you who come so regularly!