Samhain Story – Journey to the Shining Isle

The UU church I work for had our Samhain service this past Sunday (about 1/3 of our population are Pagan, which is why we do it every year), and I read this story, written by Starhawk, as the Story for All Ages. It focuses on our connection to our ancestors – I edited it slightly for time and the fact that trick-or-treating isn’t happening in many places this year due to Covid.

If you’re a Pagan parent or someone who writes Pagan rituals, this story is a good length for inclusion in a family or mixed-ages Samhain ritual. It comes from the beautiful book Circle Round, Raising Children in Goddess Traditions, by Starhawk, Diane Baker, and Anne Hill. Circle Round is one of my go-to resources when working on Pagan family programming, and I highly recommend it to Pagan parents or youth leaders. Enjoy!

Journey to the Shining Isle by Starhawk

Circle round, close your eyes, and remember …. remember a Halloween from your past…. and imagine ….

Imagine that it is late at night on Halloween and you are very excited. All evening long you’ve been out, dressed up in costume collecting candy and apples and other treats from the houses in your neighborhood. Now you are quiet. It is time to go to sleep, but you can feel magic in the air.

“Do we have to go to sleep? You ask. 

“Tonight is a night for magic dreams” say the old ones. Set out an apple for Grandfather Deer and maybe he’ll take you someplace”.

You choose your best apple and set it out on the windowsill for Grandfather Deer. Then you lay down and close your eyes.

Now your room is filled with an earthy, animal smell. You open your eyes and before you stands the glowing spirit of Grandfather Deer. 

“Hop on my back, and I will take you someplace,” he says.

You climb on his back and hold tight to his antlers. He moves so swiftly and smoothly you feel like you are flying out of the house, over the tops of trees, out past the street and the cars, out into the spirit world of swirling color.

At last you come to a sandy beach by the shore of a dark ocean. You are not afraid, even though you can’t see much in the dark.

“Get down off my back” Grandfather Deer says. “I cannot take you any farther. Now you must go on by boat.”

You slide down off Grandfather Deer’s back and thank him. A boat glides across the water and you hear the crunch of sand under the keel as it reaches the beach.

“Do you wish to ride in my boat?” says a kind voice. You can’t see anyone, but you know the voice is magic. “Do you wish to visit the Shining Isle across the Sunless Sea?” the voice asks.

“Yes!” you say.

“Then you must pay me something”.

“But I don’t have any money, I’m only a kid,” you say. And you left all you candy at home.

“I like stories better than money or candy,” says the voice. “Tell me a story about something you have done that was hard for you.”

What story do you tell?

You climb aboard and the boat slips away from the shore. It moves silently over the dark water.

In the distance, something shines. Slowly it grows bigger and brighter. Now you can see the shining thing is an island in the distance, that grows bigger as you approach. On the shore are beautiful trees and flowers that shine with a light of their own.

“Who lives on that island?” you ask.

The beloved dead and the unborn,” says the voice.

“Am I dead?” you ask.

“No. Tonight is Halloween, the only night of the year when the living can visit this island.”

The boat reaches the shore and the sand scrapes under its keel. “Thank you, thank you!” you say, jumping off and wading through shallow water to the shore.

You step up onto the shore of a magic land that looks different to every person who comes here.You see the most beautiful place you can imagine, and just the sort of place you like best, whether it’s a valley or mountains, or a beautiful garden or a beach or a warm house. Someone is there to greet you, an ancestor, someone who loves you very much. Who is it? Is it someone you know and miss and remember, or someone you have never met before? Or is it someone you have met in a dream?

You play for a long time, and at last, when you get hungry and thirsty and tired, an old, old woman appears. She is so old her face is covered with wrinkles, but her eyes are so bright they glow like two big moons. At her feet is a big, round iron pot – a cauldron – and she is stirring something in it with a big wooden spoon, around and around and around.

You go close to the cauldron and look inside. At first it seems dark, but then you notice thousands of tiny, glowing lights, like little stars. Around and around and around they swirl, until you get a little dizzy from watching them.

“Those are the souls of the dead,” the old woman says. “And they are also the souls of the unborn. In my cauldron, I brew them back into life. Would you like to taste my brew?”

She holds out her spoon and puts one drop of her brew on your tongue. It tastes like the best thing in the world you can imagine. Just one drop is enough to leave you perfectly satisfied. You look into her eyes again and realize she is the Goddess.

“Remember this taste,” she tells you, “whenever you are afraid or have to do something hard. It will give you strength and courage. But now it is time to go.”

Sadly you say goodbye to the Goddess, to your ancestor, to everyone you have met here on The Shining Isle. You walk slowly back to the shore. A whole year will pass before you can visit here again, but you will remember your ancestor, and maybe in your dreams you will meet again.

At the shore the boat waits for you. You step inside and feel the scraping of the keel on sand as it pushes off across the dark, dark waters of the Sunless Sea.

On the opposite shore Grandfather Deer waits. You smell his warm, animal smell, and the rich smell of moist earth. Now the boat reaches the shore again, and you thank the magic person who has guided the boat for you. You jump out, splashing through the shallow water, and hop onto Grandfather Deer’s back.

Again you flow through the swirling colors of the spirit world, back over the tree tops and the stress to your own house again. You thank Grandfather Deer as you slide down from his back and feed him his special apple. Then you curl up to sleep, warm and safe in your own bed.