Samhain and Halloween Differences

by Alison Price

Author: Alison Price – Updated: January 2026

Samhain and Halloween

Similar but Different

Samhain and Halloween are both significant celebrations, yet they hold distinct origins and meanings.

More on The Wheel of the Year

Samhain

Samhain is a traditional Celtic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

It falls on October 31st and is considered a time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is thin, allowing for easier communication with ancestors and spirits.

This festival is deeply rooted in nature and the cycles of the seasons. People would light bonfires and make offerings to honor their departed loved ones. The focus is on reflection, introspection, and acknowledging the cycle of life and death.

Halloween

Halloween, on the other hand, is a more modern holiday that evolved from various traditions, including Samhain. It is celebrated on the same date, October 31st.

Halloween has become a more commercial and secular holiday, often associated with costumes, trick-or-treating, and spooky decorations.

While it still retains some elements of its spiritual origins, Halloween has also incorporated aspects of entertainment and playful fear.

Samhain and Halloween

Differences

One of the key differences between Samhain and Halloween is their origin and cultural context.

Samhain has ancient Celtic and pagan roots, tied closely to nature and the changing seasons. It emphasizes a connection to the spiritual realm and the cycle of life.

On the other hand, Halloween has emerged from a mixture of cultural influences, including Christian practices, Celtic traditions, and commercial interests. It tends to focus more on fun, fantasy, and community activities.

Intentions

Another difference lies in the intention behind the celebrations.

Samhain is a solemn and sacred time for reflecting on mortality, honoring ancestors, and seeking guidance from the spirit world. It’s a time of reverence and contemplation.

Halloween, while still acknowledging themes of death and the supernatural, often emphasizes entertainment and celebration. People dress up in costumes, attend parties, and enjoy treats, embracing a lighter and more festive atmosphere.

Same Day: October 31st

In essence, while both Samhain and Halloween occur on the same date and share some common themes, they have diverged in their meanings and practices.

Samhain holds a spiritual and nature-centered significance, emphasizing the connection between the living and the spirit world.

Halloween, on the other hand, has taken on a more diverse and lighthearted character, blending cultural elements and fostering a sense of community celebration.

Reflection or Spirit

Whether you resonate more with the profound reflections of Samhain or the playful spirit of Halloween, both celebrations offer opportunities to connect with traditions, nature, and the mysteries that surround us in their own unique ways.

Books

Wheel of the Year

Wheel of the Year: An illustrated Guide to Nature’s Rhythms by Fiona Cook

Shop Wheel of the Year Merch

Original Artworks

Enjoy a Wheel of the Year sticker featuring my original artwork. Each art piece is created by me and printed on everyday items you can actually use and enjoy. It is a simple way to bring a little Wheel of the Year energy and handmade art into your daily life. Alison

Author Bio

Alison Price: Professional Astrologer

Alison helps you uncover your individual creativity and lead a fulfilling life using your own astrology. She shares her wisdom from the heart with a touch of humor. She offers Consultations for everyone and Coaching for Aspiring Astrologers.

If you’d like to get in touch with Alison, you can reach out to her via email at starzology@gmail.com.

Yule

Natural Cycles

Discover a little about Yule and how the Suns’s position in Capricorn triggers this special quarter day in the year.

Lammas

Natural Cycles

Learn a little about the pagan festival of Lammas which occurs as the Sun reaches 15 degrees of the fixed sign Leo.

7-Days to a Better Chart Reading

Courses

My 7-Days to a Better Chart Reading e-course gives you a simple rhythm to follow each day so you can regain confidence in your chart work.

Mercury Square Neptune

by Alison Price

by Arwynne O’Neill

Mercury Square Neptune

We’ve talked about Mars and Venus aspects before. This time, we’re talking about Mercury, which is the messenger of the gods and the planet that rules speech, thought and communication in all its forms.

Listen >>> Mercury Square Neptune Podcast

Mercury in Sagittarius

Here are some keywords for Mercury in Sagittarius from Steven Arroyo’s Chart Interpretation Handbook…

These people communicate openly, truthfully, optimistically, enthusiastically and tolerantly. They have restless aspirations that propel them towards an ideal, and their thinking and reasoning are guided by long-term goals rather than mundane details. They have an interest in teaching, and learning and teaching are very closely related for them. They’re lifelong students and natural teachers. They strive to establish connections with others by being direct, truthful and broad-minded, but coherent thinking can sometimes be blurred by overgeneralizations that are motivated by their idealistic aspirations.

Neptune in Pisces

Because Neptune is a giant and very influential planet, it tends to make connections with the inner planets very sort of fuzzy and dreamlike and lends an air of unreality to them. We talked about what happens when Neptune meets Venus in a recent episode and that was all about glamour and delusion and the soft Vaseline over the camera lens effect.

When Neptune Meets Mercury

When Neptune comes into contact with Mercury, it’s going to give that fuzzy sort of delusion/ illusion effect to our communications, which are ruled by mercury.

This is especially true of Neptune in Pisces because Pisces is the most neptunian of all the signs. Ideal for science fiction, spirituality, visionary art, mystical thinking, wild hallucinogenic visions that take you on a journey of mind expansion. Not so great for contract negotiations, getting to the point, or understanding situations clearly.

Mercury transiting square Neptune can distort your thinking, confusing and complicating discussions and business dealings. Also, in early January 2024, Mercury will still be retrograde when this aspect occurs so that could add to the potential for confusion, deception and misunderstandings that clear communication won’t get you out of.

You should always avoid being dishonest, but at this time you may be more susceptible than ever to nonlinear thinking, for both good and bad, including bizarre conspiracy theories and strange beliefs. So it’s a good time to avoid people who could try to trick you into something around this time.

Mercury Square Neptune In the Birth Chart

When this aspect occurs in someone’s chart it can be a signature for amazing creativity especially in music, poetry and fiction writing or creative nonfiction, which will see in our celebrity examples a bit later. This is the aspect of the “master of illusions.”

Neptune squares also bring out the negative side which can be seen in substance abuse, alcohol and fraud, scandals and creative relationships to the truth. It’s also the aspect of the “master manipulator.”

People with this aspect should try to keep their interactions with people as honest as possible and their communications as direct as possible because you may have trouble even when you think you’re being clear with others. They may not understand you and being misunderstood can lead to deep insecurities and emotional pain. These people can be extremely sensitive to rejection and criticism.

Full disclosure I actually have this aspect in my chart and I like to think it gives me some creativity in art and with words. But I also hate being misunderstood, more than almost anything.

Celebrities with Mercury Square Neptune

Donald Trump, Mel Gibson, and Amber Heard all have this aspect, as well as Amy Winehouse, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Miles Davis, Shania Twain, Erykah Badu, Sheryl Crow, and Jim Carrey.

Probably my favorite example is the visionary director Christopher Nolan, who is known for his mind-bending, metaphysical style in science fiction films like Memento, Inception, Interstellar, Tenet, and the Oscar-winning Dunkirk.

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Author Bio

Arwynne O’Neill: Research Astrologer

Arwynne O’Neill works as a research astrologer in Vancouver, with a focus on delving into historical cycles and how they relate to societal transformations as influenced by the energies of the outer planets.

Arwynne’s artworks

Arwynne’s Instagram @mspinkdotcom

Christmas Birth Chart

Basic Natal Astrology

Learn more about the birth chart for Jesus Christ of which there is debate among historians and theologians.

Chart Indicators for an Astrologer

Astrology Business

Uranus (and other planets) are indicators of the type of astrologer you are. Your Uranus suggests what branch of astrology interests you.

Mars Aspects

Aspects, Basic Natal Astrology

Learn more about how Mars works in your birth chart and what its aspects can reveal about you. Basic natal astrology.

Back to Basics

by Alison Price

Author: Alison Price – Published: December 2025

❤️ Basic Natal Astrology

This article is part of my Basic Natal Astrology category and brings all the beginner components of interpreting a natal chart together. This includes signs, planets, houses, aspects and more. Alison

Sometimes it’s good to get back-to-basics with astrology and here I mean avoiding going down the complicated roads which are scattered liberally throughout any astrology reading or forecast. Alison

Basics

Distractions

Personally, I always like to try out any new technique or astro hack that I’ve happened upon in the past week. This could be anything from checking a Mars to Saturn cross chart aspect to idly exploring the Part of Marriage for a couple whom I’ve just met.

Sometimes it fun to get into the highfaluting parts of astrology readings and there certainly are many of them, but now and then I like to get back to the basics.

Cornerstones

The astrology basics are the signs, planets, houses and aspects, the backbone of chart reading if you will. These four cornerstone components when fully understood will help you provide a better reading for you family, friends and clients. It’s a bit like going back to school to relearn what you think you know.

We all do it.

You’ve been reading charts for ten years and you think you know it all. But to spend a day or two each month revisiting the basics of chart components will stand you in good stead for the charts you will read later this year.

Signs

Capricorn

You know which sign is your weakest one. You know, the one that you’re not really sure of and can never remember the keywords for. For me that tends to be Capricorn. I’m constantly going back over my notes to understand this sign better.

That Capricorn is quincunx my Leo Sun is part of the equation. I’m constantly having to adjust my ideas on the cardinal earth sign as the years go by.

Pisces

The other sign which is quincunx my Leo is Pisces, but here I do have an advantage.

In my life I am fortunate to know a delightful load of mutable water people. My mother, father, sister and daughter are all Pisces.

I am almost swimming in Pisces energy and have been aware of it in action all my life. No surprise there, only that they do what they do.

It all about the shoes…

Planets

Drawing a Blank

Which planet do you know the least about?

You know, the one that you tend to draw a blank on when caught in conversation with your client.

For me this planet is Neptune, so no surprise there. By its very nature Neptune is elusive and a mystery.

Again, I believe (see what I did there?), I believe that it is because the sign which Neptune rules is the sign of The Fish, and that sign too is quincunx my Leo.

More on Neptune

Neptune understands, dissolves and eludes. The people that Neptune represents are dreamers, ghosts, angels and nomads. Neptune rules Pisces.

Read more about Neptune
Read more about Neptune in Aries

Aspects

Quincunx

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Does this automatically mean that the aspect which I struggle with the most is the lowly quincunx at a mere 150° and with a tight orb of only 2°?

Perhaps.

Ptolemaic

I am far more confident with the big five Ptolemaic aspects which are the conjunction, opposition, trine, square and sextile. These aspects I know well and can wax lyrical about for hours.

Quintiles

Additionally, I love the five-base aspects, the quintiles and bi-quintiles. These aspects are great and show creativity (which I love) and your natural talents.

Brilliant!

Let’s have them too.

So yes, maybe when I go back-to-basics with the aspects I revisit the quincunx aspect which is five signs apart from my Sun and is the one which brings awkwardness and demands adjustments in my thinking.

Houses

12th House

Most of the houses I’m pretty strong on. I know them very well, but now and then I have to pause and perhaps you’ve already guessed it?

I often refresh my memory around the 12th house. This is a very quiet house and is not really exciting like the 1st, 10th or 5th houses are. The twelfth house tends to be quiet, subdued, and things in it are done privately or in secret.

As an astrologer, one never really knows how someone will use the energy, or not, found in this house and what goes on behind closed doors.

Traditionally it is the house of self-undoing, of recouperation and convalescing (post-partum) and or being in solitude self-imposed (retreating) or forced upon you (incarceration).

More on Houses

Here are a few more articles about the astrological houses.

Going Forward

Going Back

When you’ve been doing astrology for over thirty years you do know a lot and you may become complacent in your knowledge in general.

I believe that we can all benefit from some self-reflection and the action of revisiting some cornerstones of astrology to build our own solid foundation of knowledge.

You may have learned your astrology decades ago and if so, it will do you good to enliven your ideas on certain signs, planets, houses or aspects.

Seasonal

You don’t have to be doing this every day or every week for that matter. I like to do some back-to-basic work once each season. The four seasons are winter, spring, summer and autumn. They start at the solstices and equinoxes.

Because we as good astrologers are paying attention to the Sun’s annual ingresses into the four cardinal signs, it can be a great reminder to practice some back-to-basics studying for ourselves.

Extend Yourself

Take a moment to consider in which of the four cornerstones you are weakest in your knowledge.

In your astrology journal note your weakest:

Sign
Planet
House
Aspect

Awareness

Don’t feel you have to tackle all of these right now but do yourself a favor and address one weakness this season to improve your astrology knowledge for the future.

You will become a better astrologer for it and your readings for your family, friends and clients will improve as well.

Everyone benefits.

Overarch

Growth or Stagnate

It’s one thing to have twenty years of experience and another to have one year of experience twenty times. In the former you are growing and, in the latter, you are stagnant.

Make sure you develop your astrology knowledge each year through simple seasonal reflection. Actively do some self-imposed revisiting of what you thought you knew.