Fall Cleaning for Samhain

I know most people do their major “big clean” in the spring, but I’m actually a fall cleaning kind of girl. In the weeks leading up to Samhain (Halloween), as it starts to get darker and colder, I am always seized by the urge to do a deep clean of all the rooms in the house, straighten up and rearrange any clutter, and get rid of stuff I no longer use or need.

My minimalist holiday display.

I’m not sure if this is because on some level I know I’m about to be stuck mostly inside the house for the winter, or if it is a more spiritual urge brought on by the ending of one year and the desire to start clean for the next. (Samhain is considered to be both the end of the year and the start of the new year in the Pagan Wheel of the Year).

Either way, I start by dusting and rearranging my altars, and the shelves where I store and display my stones, cute little cat and dragons, and all the rest. Then I go through each room and do a much more thorough clean and neaten than usually gets accomplished in my weekly Saturday house cleaning. Ah! It feels so good to have everything (okay, most things) nice and tidy, at least for as long as it lasts.

The shelf over the couch.

The desk in the dining room and another shelf. Look, you can actually see the surface of the desk!

This is also the time when I do my yearly protection spell on my house and property, preparing it for the seasons to come. Do you do a spring cleaning, a fall cleaning, or something else entirely?

The stone circle behind the barn, weed-whacked and ready for ritual on Tuesday.

Happy fall!