Forest Bathing Walk: A Samhain Journey Through the Land

A Morning of Remembering & Connection with the Living Land

As October draws to its close and the land settles into the darker half of the year, we gather on Samhain morning for a slow journey through the woods — listening to the land, remembering those who came before us, and honoring the seen and unseen lives that have belonged to this place long before our arrival.

Samhain is a season of remembrance. The leaves are falling, seeds are disappearing beneath the soil, and the landscape begins to reveal what was hidden beneath the abundance of summer. Old stone emerges. The architecture of the trees becomes visible again. Water continues moving through a forest preparing for winter. Everywhere, there are reminders of what has passed, what remains, and what continues beyond what we can see.

For three unhurried hours at Sheep Farm North, we will enter this season through forest bathing, ancestral reflection, ritual, and deep attention to the living land around us. We will wander through meadow and forest, follow old stone walls, spend time among enormous moss-covered boulders, and eventually make our way deep into the woods toward moving water.

Throughout our journey, I will offer a series of forest bathing invitations created especially for Samhain. There will be time to wander independently, follow what draws your attention, spend time with an old tree, explore the changing forest floor, listen for what is seen and unseen, and consider the deep time held within stone, water and land.

Woven gently through the morning will be the practice of ancestral remembering. We will consider our own ancestors — those whose names we know and the countless lives whose names have disappeared — as well as the people who walked, worked, rested, grieved and celebrated upon this land long before us. Nothing personal will ever be required to be shared. This is remembrance held quietly, within ourselves and in relationship with the land.

Deep in the woods, beside a woodland waterfall, we will settle into an extended sit spot. Here, we will allow ourselves the rare experience of simply staying — listening to moving water, watching the forest around us, and giving the landscape enough time to reveal what we miss when we are moving too quickly.

Our return through the woods will be part of the journey as well. We will walk slowly through some of the same landscape we crossed earlier and notice what we see now that we did not see before. Perhaps nothing around us will have changed. Perhaps our attention will have.

We will close together over hot herbal tea with a shared Samhain ritual of acknowledgment and gratitude. Each woman will hold a portion of a reading written especially for our gathering, and together our voices will honor our ancestors, the unknown people who came before us, the land that has held us for the morning, and the more-than-human lives with whom we share it.

Each woman will also leave with a package of my handcrafted Hecate’s Tea, an herbal blend prepared especially for this time of year, along with a private Samhain ritual to continue your observance at home.

Your Samhain Morning Will Include

• A three-hour guided forest bathing journey through meadow, woodland, old stone walls and water

• Seasonal forest bathing invitations created specifically around Samhain and the changing land

• Slow wandering and opportunities to follow where the land draws your attention

• Practices exploring land spirit, acknowledgment and our relationship with place

• Time with old trees and extraordinary moss-covered boulders, exploring deep time and what existed before us

• Quiet reflection on our own ancestors, known and unknown

• An invitation using fallen gifts from the forest floor, with nothing taken from the living landscape and nothing left behind

• An extended sit spot beside a woodland waterfall

• Two seasonal oracle experiences woven into the beginning and end of our journey

• A slow return through the woods, noticing the landscape again with changed attention

• A closing Samhain ritual of remembrance, acknowledgment and gratitude, read together in circle

• Hot herbal tea and time for quiet reflection and conversation

• A package of handcrafted Hecate’s Tea and a private Samhain ritual to take home

Why Sheep Farm North

I chose Sheep Farm North for this gathering because it is a place I return to again and again — and because its history feels especially meaningful for the kind of Samhain morning we will share.

This 63-acre preserve holds many layers of story. Glacial erratics and ancient rock ledges rise through the woods. Fort Hill Brook moves through the property, narrowing through a rocky gorge and falling over waterfalls. Wetlands, forest and open meadow create distinctly different landscapes within a relatively small piece of land.

And everywhere there are traces of the people who were here before us.

Old stone walls cross the property, including boundaries that appear on a 1754 deed. The remains of an old grist mill can still be found along the brook, while the open fields speak to the centuries when portions of this land were farmed. Human history sits quietly alongside a much older geological story — stone shaped long before those walls were built, water continuing to follow its course, forest returning where fields once stood.

That layering is one of the reasons I love this place.

You can stand beside a wall built by human hands, walk a little farther and encounter enormous moss-covered stone, then continue until you hear water moving somewhere through the trees. Everywhere there is evidence of lives, seasons and landscapes that came before us.

For a gathering centered around Samhain, ancestry, remembrance and our relationship with the land, I cannot imagine a more fitting place.

Why Samhain, Why the Land, Why Now

Samhain asks us to pay attention to things our everyday lives make easy to forget.

That everything changes. That much of life exists beyond what we can see. That we inherited a world already filled with stories. That other feet walked the ground beneath ours. And that our own lives belong to something much older and larger than ourselves.

This is not simply a walk through the woods. It is an invitation to enter the landscape differently — to slow down enough to listen, to acknowledge what draws us, to remember those who came before us, and to spend a Samhain morning in relationship with the old stones, trees, moss, water and living world around us.

For one morning, we will walk slowly.

We will remember.

We will listen.

And before we leave, we will say thank you.

What to Bring

• Water and sturdy, comfortable walking shoes

• Warm, weather-appropriate layers

• Long pants and socks

• Journal and pen, if you would like them

• Curiosity and a willingness to move slowly

Please note that there are no restroom facilities at Sheep Farm North.

This Offering Is For You If You’re Seeking:

• A deeper, more meaningful way to honor Samhain and the turning into the darker half of the year

• A stronger sense of connection and relationship with the living land

• Space to remember and honor your ancestors, both known and unknown

• A nature-based practice that goes beyond simply walking through the woods to listening, noticing, acknowledging, and belonging

• Time to slow down and explore the mystery of what is seen, what is unseen, what has passed, and what remains

• Ritual and reflection rooted in the actual season and landscape around us

• A deeper experience of forest bathing, seasonal practice, and the Wheel of the Year

• Meaningful connection in the company of like-hearted women