There is a moment each year when summer has not entirely left us, but autumn has begun making herself known. The mornings arrive cooler. The light falls differently through the trees. Gardens offer their last abundance, birds begin to gather and move, and somewhere beneath all that is still green, the year has begun its slow turning inward.

This September, we will meet there—in that beautiful in-between.

We’ll gather beneath the gazebo at Main Street Park in the heart of Essex, surrounded by old trees and soft grass, with the cove and river stretching out beyond us. It is the kind of place that seems made for lingering. Osprey often move through the river landscape, bald eagles may appear overhead, boats drift quietly beyond the shore, and for a few hours we will allow the ordinary pace of the world to fall away.

But we are not gathering simply to learn how to make a broom. We are gathering to begin the journey toward Samhain.

Samhain has long marked one of the great turning places of the Celtic seasonal year: the movement away from harvest and toward winter, from the outward abundance of summer toward the quieter, darker months ahead. Over centuries it became closely associated with remembrance, ancestry, endings, beginnings and the mysterious places where one season gives way to another.

Rather than waiting until the final days of October to suddenly notice that the season has changed, this gathering is an invitation to enter Samhain slowly. To spend the weeks ahead noticing what is ripening, what is leaving, what deserves to be remembered, what should be carried forward and what we may finally be ready to lay down.

And we will begin that journey with our hands.

The Making of the Besom

Weaver, Brenda Vynalek, will guide us through the traditional handcraft of broom making as each woman creates her own hand-held whisk broom, or besom, from beginning to end.

Brenda’s love of weaving and natural materials reaches back to childhood. Her work incorporates fibers and found pieces of the natural world—horsehair, feathers, leaves, vines and other materials that still seem to carry something of the places from which they came. She approaches making with intention, believing that an object can hold not only beauty, but the experience of the hands that created it.

Using traditional broomcorn, simple hand tools and weaving techniques passed through generations of makers, we will gather, bind, shape and weave our brooms slowly.
There is something deeply grounding about this kind of work. Broomcorn gathers beneath your fingers. Cord tightens around the stalks. Your hands begin to understand what to do before your mind does. Little by little, a bundle of natural fiber becomes something useful, beautiful and entirely your own.

Your finished besom may be adorned with dried flowers, herbs, ribbons, feathers or other small pieces that carry meaning for you. You are also welcome to bring personal items to incorporate into your broom—a charm, a length of ribbon, an herb from your garden, a feather discovered on a walk, or another small token that belongs to your story.

While our hands work, we will also explore the folklore and symbolism surrounding the broom.

For centuries, brooms lived close to the center of domestic life. They swept the floors and tended the hearth, but in folk practice their symbolism often reached beyond simple cleaning. The besom became associated with clearing a space, guarding the home, marking boundaries and preparing a place before ritual. Hung near a doorway or hearth, it could become a quiet symbol of protection and intention.

As we move toward Samhain, the simple act of sweeping carries another meaning: making room.

Not everything from the year should follow us into winter. And not everything should be discarded. Some things deserve to be remembered. Some need to be grieved. Some should be carried carefully into the next season. Others have simply finished their time with us.

As your broom takes shape, we will return to one question: What are you ready to sweep away before winter comes?

Beginning in Circle

Our morning will begin in circle beneath the gazebo. Before the broomcorn is gathered and the cords are tied, we will take a little time to arrive—to notice the river, the trees, the September air and one another.

Kathleen Lowe, founder of Friends of the Forest, will guide us into the season with a Samhain reflection, oracle card reading, and opening ritual. We will consider the months behind us and the quieter season before us, setting an intention not simply for the broom we are about to make, but for the journey we are beginning.

The morning will unfold without hurry. There will be time for making, learning, conversation, stories and those quiet stretches that naturally appear when women sit together working with their hands.

This is not meant to feel like a workshop or class. It is a morning of handcraft and story, of women gathering beside the water, of creating something slowly while the season changes around us.

Your Samhain Parcel

Each woman will receive a Friends of the Forest Samhain Parcel, created especially for this gathering.

The parcel is not a favor at the end of the morning. It is the next chapter.

Inside the cotton Samhain pouch will be what you need to continue the ritual in your own home as October deepens: a Friends of the Forest herbal tea blend, a beeswax candle, a small hearth bundle of rosemary, mugwort, cedar and cinnamon, a written Samhain ritual and broom blessing created specifically for the women of this gathering, and a few magickal treasures to be discovered.

Each has a purpose.

The tea is there to slow the evening down. To give your hands something warm to hold while you return to the intentions you made beneath the trees in Essex.
The handmade beeswax candle is there for light—a small flame to mark the turning of the season and illuminate the quiet space you create for yourself.
The hearth herbs carry old associations with home and protection, remembrance and intuition, warmth and abundance. They may be tied to your besom, placed near the hearth or doorway, or kept somewhere meaningful through the darker months.
And the ritual will guide you back to your broom.

…not that afternoon. Not necessarily the following day. The parcel is meant to wait. Bring it home. Put it somewhere safe. Allow September to become October. Watch the leaves change. Notice the mornings darken. Listen as the world around you begins drawing inward. Then, as Samhain approaches, return to it. Make the tea. Light the candle. Bring out the broom that was once only loose broomcorn beneath your hands beside the river. Read the blessing. And complete at home what we began together in Essex.

In this way, our gathering does not end when we walk away from the gazebo. A thread remains between that September morning and your own Samhain evening—a quiet reminder that we do not need to rush toward the sacred days of the year. We can travel toward them.

The Blessing of the Brooms

When our brooms are complete, we will gather once more in circle. Each woman will hold what she has made with her own hands, and together we will offer a simple blessing for our besoms and the homes to which they will return. We are not blessing them because a broom must become something mystical to matter. We are blessing them because we made them with purpose. They will carry the memory of broomcorn beneath our fingers, September light across the cove, conversations shared beneath old trees and a morning in which we chose to slow down long enough to make something ourselves.

Then we will leave. A broom in one hand. A Samhain Parcel in the other. And a journey already underway.

Gathering Details

Sunday, September 13, 2026 | 9:00 AM–12:00 PM
Main Street Park | 12 Main Street, Essex, Connecticut
Rain Date: Sunday, October 4, 2026
Limited to 12 women | $125 per person

Please bring a comfortable beach chair or folding camp chair and dress for a September morning beside the water. You may also bring any small meaningful objects, ribbons, herbs, feathers or charms if you would like to incorporate something personal into your broom.

Your $125 registration includes the complete three-hour Friends of the Forest gathering, Brenda’s guided broom-making experience, all materials needed to create your hand-held whisk besom, herbal tea and seasonal baked treats, and your specially prepared Friends of the Forest Samhain Parcel with ritual supplies.

This gathering is intentionally limited to 12 women.

Because places and materials are prepared specifically for each participant, registration is non-refundable.

A Note About Weather

This gathering is meant to take place outdoors. The trees, grass, river and changing September landscape are part of the experience we are creating together. Should weather make gathering outdoors uncomfortable or unsafe, our rain date will be Sunday, October 4, 2026 from 9:00 AM–12:00 PM.

By registering, please be sure you are available for both dates. Registered participants will receive weather information and any final gathering details in advance.

Come alone or bring a friend. Bring your chair, your hands, your curiosity and whatever the year has placed upon your heart.

We will meet beneath the trees. And together, we will begin turning toward Samhain.

Contact the host of A Samhain Gathering: A Morning of Broom Making, Ritual & Celebrating the Turning Season