The Green Spiral

Welcome to The Green Spiral, Green Women Gathering's Newsletter!

Hello, beautiful community!

As the seasons shift and new energy flows in, we’re thrilled to bring you the latest updates, inspirations, and opportunities from Green Women Gathering. This newsletter is your space to reconnect with the heart of our mission - to foster a community of strong and supportive women, honor the Earth, and empower one another on our journeys of growth and discovery.

Inside this issue, you’ll find exciting announcements, upcoming events, and ways to get involved. Whether you’ve been part of GWG for years or are just finding your way to us, we’re so grateful to have you here.

Let’s continue to grow, gather, and ground together.

What We’re Up To

Planning is underway for our Spring Gathering, happening March 21 - 22, 2026! This year’s event will take place at a cozy lodge in Adams County, PA, just outside Gettysburg - a beautiful setting to welcome the turning of the season.

Registration opens January 1, 2026, so mark your calendars and start dreaming of spring renewal, connection, and magic!

Poetry Corner

SAMHAIN

By Annie Finch

(The Celtic Halloween)

In the season leaves should love,

since it gives them leave to move

through the wind, towards the ground

they were watching while they hung,

legend says there is a seam

stitching darkness like a name.

Now when dying grasses veil

earth from the sky in one last pale

wave, as autumn dies to bring

winter back, and then the spring,

we who die ourselves can peel

back another kind of veil

that hangs among us like thick smoke.

Tonight at last I feel it shake.

I feel the nights stretching away

thousands long behind the days

till they reach the darkness where

all of me is ancestor.

I move my hand and feel a touch

move with me, and when I brush

my own mind across another,

I am with my mother's mother.

Sure as footsteps in my waiting

self, I find her, and she brings

arms that carry answers for me,

intimate, a waiting bounty.

"Carry me." She leaves this trail

through a shudder of the veil,

and leaves, like amber where she stays,

a gift for her perpetual gaze.

Samhain

Samhain is an ancient Celtic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, or the "darker half" of the year. Celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1, it is considered the Celtic New Year and is known for being the origin of modern Halloween.

Key themes of Samhain include honoring ancestors and the deceased, marking the transition from the harvest to winter, and reflecting on the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is also a time for introspection, divination, and protection against potentially harmful spirits during this liminal period when the veil between worlds is believed to be thin.

Easy Samhain Soul Cakes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp of apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

1. Put the dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it is crumbly, similar to cornmeal.

2. Combine egg and vinegar and beat. With the motor running, pour the beaten egg and vinegar through the feed hole. Pulse until well combined.

3. Turn out into a bowl and press together into a ball. Chill for 20 minutes

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Lightly flour a clean, flat surface and roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into large rounds using a cookie or biscuit cutter. Mark a cross shape into the top of the cakes with a knife. Place the cakes onto the baking sheets. Gather the scraps together and roll again until all the dough has been cut into cakes.

6. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12-15 minutes, or until the cake tops are lightly golden. Can be eaten warm or at room temperature.

Store in an airtight container for about a week

Samhain Ritual

Items Needed:

1 x Black spell candle (for transformation and release)
Cauldron, offering bowl or fireproof vessel
Lighter & matches
Pen & paper
(Optional) Cleansing herbs/tools

Create Your Sacred Space

Choose a quiet, calm space where you feel safe. Cleanse your area with your preferred method.
Ground & Connect Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and breathe deeply. Imagine roots growing from your body into the Earth, steadying you. Feel the season’s energy around you: the crisp air, the fading light, the changing of the seasons. Feel this liminal time and connect with this energy.

Meditate & Listen

As you feel yourself descending into the Death of the season, and journey deeper into your own sacred shadow, take time to meditate on what you’re ready to release this Samhain. Get still. Listen closely. What is calling to be healed? What burdens are you done carrying? What has reached its end? In this quiet, liminal space, the answers will rise to meet you. If they’re not clear at first, ask for guidance. And if you feel called, draw some tarot or oracle cards, cast your runes, or consult any divination tools you connect with. (Just remember - these are only tools. You are your most powerful source of wisdom. The answers have always lived within.)
Write your release clearly on your paper, eg: “On this Samhain night, I release…”

Release

Take your candle and gently carve into it the words, symbols, or intentions that represent what you are ready to release. As you light the flame, call in Divine Light and sacred protection to hold you through the darkness and guide your spirit with clarity and strength.
Set your written release alight and place it into your cauldron or fire-safe bowl. Watch it burn. With each breath, allow yourself to soften. Inhale deeply… exhale what no longer serves. Feel the weight lift and space within begin to expand.

Gratitude

Before closing your ritual, pause in stillness and offer heartfelt thanks. Honour the gifts of the final harvest, the nourishment of the Earth, and the turning of the Wheel. Send your blessings to all living things and to the land that sustains us.