Samhain: An Ancient Halloween Celebration

Samhain: An Ancient Halloween Celebration at The Opti-Mystic Metaphysical Shop & Tea Café

🎃🍂Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) marks the Celtic New Year — an ancient fire festival celebrated for centuries across Ireland, Scotland, and parts of Europe. It falls at the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, when the veil between the worlds is said to be at its thinnest. In this liminal space, we honor our ancestors, connect with spirit, release what no longer serves, and prepare to cross into a new spiritual season.

💌On Saturday, November 1st, you are warmly invited to step into sacred space with us at The Opti-Mystic Metaphysical Shop & Tea Café in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin for Samhain: An Ancient Halloween Celebration — a ceremonial and sensory journey crafted to honor the old ways, receive messages from beyond, and welcome what comes next. Each session is an intimate circle of just seven guests, allowing for personal connection, presence, and deep transformation.

🙏As you arrive, you’ll be gently welcomed and guided to our outdoor Samhain Ancestor Altar. This sacred space invites you to participate in the timeless ritual of remembrance. Guests are encouraged to bring a photograph, memento, or small personal item representing a passed-on loved one, an ancestor, or a spiritual symbol of personal importance. This item can be placed on the altar during the event, drawing Spirit nearer as part of the collective honoring, and returned safely home with you as the event concludes. At the altar, we begin by grounding into the sacred: through smoke cleansing with healing herbs, sound cleansing using sacred Tibetan chimes, and a moment of stillness as you light a candle and offer a silent prayer, intention, or breath of remembrance. It’s a gentle opening — a time to arrive fully, settle your spirit, and be present.

🫖From there, you’ll be invited indoors to begin the celebration with a comforting and intentional Tea & Introduction. We’ll serve you a warm cup of specially blended herbal tea, brewed with ingredients known for their spiritual properties — herbs that support connection to spirit, abundance, and inner peace. The tea is lovingly poured into vintage teacups, adding a touch of ritual elegance. While we sip together, we’ll share a brief introduction to Samhain: its origins, its significance, and how its ancient wisdom continues to guide us today. This shared moment of storytelling and sipping sets the tone for what’s to come — a gathering that is both mystical and heart-centered.

🔮With spirits warmed and intentions set, we invite you to take your seat for the All Soul’s Feast with Gallery Readings — the heart of the event. Designed in the style of “dinner and a show,” this portion of the experience offers both nourishment, insight, and entertainment. You’ll be served a lovingly prepared seasonal meal as your hosts, psychic intuitives Tasha Sollenberger and Renae Niemi deliver a series of public gallery-style readings, ensuring that each guest receives a personal message. As you dine, the readers alternate, pulling tarot cards and channeling healing messages from spirit guides, ancestors, and passed-on loved ones. Experience the different reading styles of each psychic and observe the various beautiful ways that Spirit delivers healing messages. All guidance delivered during these sessions is intended for your highest good, and no messages of negativity or judgement will come through, only divine messages of guidance to help you navigate your path. Every guest will receive intuitive attention during this time, and while the individual messages are personal, the atmosphere remains communal, warm, and gently held. The readings are offered while the feast is shared, blending the act of receiving spiritual guidance with the grounding ritual of eating — an offering to both body and soul.

The All Soul’s Feast includes a hearty, seasonal meal prepared by your hosts with love and intention. The (vegetarian friendly) menu features:

🥣Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Crema

🥖Home-Baked Rustic Garden Herb Bread

🧀Rosemary Maple Pecan Baked Brie

🥗Arugula Salad with a Brown Butter Vinaigrette

🍰After the readings and main course are complete, we sweeten the moment with a magical dessert course. You’ll be served “Wildflower Moons” — delicate crescent moon-shaped cookies glazed with wildflower-infused icing. Alongside them, we offer traditional Celtic Soul Cakes, honoring the old-world practice of dining with the spirits. Half of each guest’s soul cake is meant to be enjoyed, while the other half is placed upon the altar as a sacred offering — symbolically sharing the meal with your ancestors and spirit allies.

🕯As the desserts are served, we transition into the hands-on portion of our gathering: the Samhain Workshop: Ancestor Candles. In this guided ritual-crafting session, you’ll learn to work with sacred herbs and oils to create your own personalized ancestor candle, designed to support healing, remembrance, and deepened spiritual connection. These candles are yours to take home — tangible vessels of the magic and intention set during our time together, continuing the work long after the gathering ends.

🧘‍♀️Throughout the dessert and workshop portion of the event, you’ll also have access to the Divination Exploration Station — a self-guided area designed for intuitive play, curiosity, and connection. Here, you can explore beginner’s tarot, palm reading, dowsing rods, yes/no divination, and other psychic games in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Whether you’re new to divination or an experienced seeker, this is a space to explore your own intuitive gifts in community.

🛍You’ll also enjoy special offerings, exclusive to event attendees:

• 10% off all merchandise at The Opti-Mystic Metaphysical Shop during your session

• $10 off an Aura Portrait by Tasha

• $10 off a future private 1-hour channeling session with Renae

These offerings are our way of supporting your path beyond Samhain, extending the magic into your everyday life.

🔥Before we part, we invite you to step into one final ritual: the Red Cauldron Release. Outside the shop, a large red cauldron will be tended, filled with smoldering coals and holy herbs. As a closing act of intention, each guest will be invited to write down something they wish to release — a habit, a fear, a belief, a grief. You’ll then ignite the paper, drop it into the cauldron, and watch it burn away, symbolically unburdening yourself and offering that release to the fire. It is a final gesture of transformation — letting go to make room for what wants to come through.

As you leave, you’ll take more than memories — you’ll carry your handmade candle, your personal reading, and the lingering energy of everything shared.

Event Details

📍 Location: The Opti-Mystic Metaphysical Shop & Tea Café

101 E Main Street, Sun Prairie, WI

🌙 Date: Saturday, November 1st

⏰ Times: Choose from

• Morning Session: 11:00am-1:30pm

• Afternoon Session: 2:00pm-4:30pm

• Evening Session: 5:00pm-7:30pm

💫 Duration: Approximately 2.5 hours

🎟$99, register online

Looking to avoid booking fees? 2 options:

👋Stop by the Opti-Mystic to sign up in person and pay cash

~or~

📩Send a message to Renae at As Above Retreats with your name and desired session time to arrange for Venmo payment

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Capacity: 7 guests per session

Each session is limited in size to preserve the intimacy of the experience and ensure every guest receives a personal reading and individual attention throughout.

We are so honored to offer this sacred gathering and warmly invite you to cross the threshold with us into the mystery of Samhain. Whether you come seeking connection, healing, messages, or simply the company of kindred spirits, you’ll find something meaningful waiting for you here.

Reserve your spot early — these circles fill quickly, and space is limited by design.

✨With Reverence and Light,

Tasha & Renae

Host or Publisher As Above Spiritual Services