There's a reason so many traditions mark the end of October. The harvest is in, the nights are drawing in, and the year seems to pause on a threshold between the brightness of summer and the deep rest of winter.
In the old Celtic calendar, this was Samhain (pronounced "SOW-in", with the "SOW" sounding like the pronunciation for a female pig) — the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It was said to be the time when the veil grows thin: when the boundary between this world and the next, between the living and those who came before, became soft and easy to cross.
A threshold season
Whatever you believe about other worlds, the idea of a thinning veil captures something real about autumn. It's a time when many of us naturally turn inwards. We look back over the year. We think of people we miss. We feel the pull to slow down, light candles and gather close.
In other words, it's a season that already invites a little trance.
The veil inside us
I often think of hypnosis as working with another kind of veil: the one between our busy, daytime mind — the planner, the checker, the to-do list — and the quieter part of us underneath. The part that dreams, imagines and knows how to rest.
Most of the time that veil is thick, and that's as it should be. But it thins naturally in certain moments: the drifting minutes before sleep, gazing into a fire, losing yourself in a story. Trance is simply a gentle, deliberate way of finding those moments.
Three autumn reflections to try
You don't need a recording for these. Find a quiet evening, light a candle if you like, and give yourself ten minutes.
- Gather your harvest. Think back over the year and notice three small good things it has given you — a moment of laughter, something learned, a kindness.
- Let a leaf fall. Choose one thing you're ready to stop carrying — a worry, a habit, a "should". Imagine it as a dry leaf, and let it drift down.
- Light a candle for someone. If there's someone you'd like to remember, take a moment to think of them with warmth. If not, light it simply for yourself, and for being here.
Rest, not fear
Halloween can be loud — all frights and fake cobwebs. But underneath, this season has always been about something gentler: honouring what's past, resting before winter, and trusting that light returns.
That's the spirit behind Thin Veil, my Halloween recording, which you'll find on the Seasonal page. It takes you through a curtain of autumn mist, along a lantern-lit path and into a warm hall to rest, remember and let go. There's a bedtime version too, if you'd like to drift off afterwards.
And if the dark evenings are something you'd like to make friends with, the free long-nights quiz will help you find a wind-down ritual that suits you.