Pagan Events In and Near London for Samhain

Here are some of the events over Samhain – or Halloween – that could be of interest to pagans. Most of those I have listed are in London, but a few are in other parts of southern England If you know of an event that you want listed, please email the details to me at [email protected].

Now to 27 November; Folklore, Magic and Mysteries: Modern Witchcraft and Folk Culture in Britain – exhibition of artefacts, manuscripts and documents from the Doreen Valiente Foundation (the picture at the top shows a Book of Shadows on display there). Venue: Preston Manor, Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD. Opening times: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 2-5pm until 30 September, then at weekends and some Fridays in October and November. Free entry to exhibition with Preston Manor admission (adult £5.85, child (5-15) £3.15). Details: http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/prestonmanor/

Now to 27 November, Sunken Cities – Egypt’s Lost Worlds. Major exhibition at the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Tickets £16.50. For more details visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/

Now – 20 November; The Asahi Shimbun Displays: Rock art power and symbolism in southern Africa. Exhibition in Room 3, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Free, just drop in. For more details visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/

Wednesday 26 October; Study Group – Towards Imagination. Venue: Rudolf Steiner House, 35, Park Road, London, NW1 6XT. Time: 2pm. Entry £3. Details: http://www.meetup.com/spiritual-science-at-rudolf-steiner-house/

Wednesday 26 October; Hertford Pagan Moot. Venue: White Horse Pub, 33 Castle Street, Hertford, Herts SG14 1HH (45 mins from central London). The pub does not have disabled access. This moot meets on the last Wednesday of each month at 8pm. contact via Facebook page Hertford Pagan Moot.

Thursday 27 October- 2 November; Of Shadows: One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic – photography exhibition by Sara Hannant based on her new book. Venue: Lo and Behold, 2B Swanfield Street, London E2 7DS. Time: Mon-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12noon-6pm. Details: http://strangeattractor.co.uk/news/shadows-exhibition-book-launch/

Thursday 27 October; The Magical Path for Awakening. Talk by Ric Weinman at Watkins Books, 19-21 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ. Time:  6:30pm. Free event. For more details Tel 020 7836 2182 or visit the website http://www.watkinsbooks.com/

Thursday 27 October; From the Woods: A Night on Animism and the Environment; part of The Light and Shadow Salon. Hosted by The Library of Obscure Wonders. Venue: Horse Hospital, 30 Colonnade, London, WC1N. Time: 7pm. Entry £5 on the door. Details: http://www.thehorsehospital.com/now/light-and-shadow-salon/

Thursday 27 October; The Bee, its Genius and its significance for nature and humanity. A presentation by Ralf Roessner hosted by Earthstars Sacred Space. Public lecture. Venue: Rudolf Steiner House, 35, Park Road, London, NW1 6XT. Time: 7.30pm. Entrance: £12. https://www.facebook.com/Earthstars-Sacred-Space-104790729559515/

Thursday 27 October; A Sceptics Guide to Ghost Hunting hosted by London Fortean Society. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Time: 7.45pm. Tickets: £4/£2 advance booking recommended. https://www.wegottickets.com/event/372327

Friday 28-Sunday 30 October; Samhain: A festival of life and death. Venue: Emerson College UK, Pixton, Hartfield Road, Forest Row RH18 5JX. Tickets for this event are currently sold out. Details: http://www.intothewildgathering.com/samhain-festival-2016

Friday 28 October; The Correspondence Between Music and Planetary Ratios: The Genuine ‘Harmony of the Spheres.’ Talk by Hartmut Warm. Venue: Rilko (Research Into Lost Knowledge). Public lecture. Venue: Rudolf Steiner House, 35, Park Road, London, NW1 6XT. Time: 6.45pm, lecture starts 7.15pm. Entrance: £8/£6. http://www.rilko.net/EZ/rilko/rilko/home.php

Friday 28 October; An Evening of Animal Healing with Elizabeth Whiter. Venue: The College of Psychic Studies, 16 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2EB. Time: 7pm-8.30pm. Cost: £14/£18. Advance booking essential. For details call: 020 7589 3292 or visit https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/

Saturday 29 October; London Month of the Dead. A Great Garden of Sleep. A Guided Tour of Brompton Cemetery with Robert Stephenson. Venue: Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UG. Time: 11am. Tickets £8. Details and bookings: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

Saturday 29 October; Halloween at the Grant Museum. Venue: Grant Museum of Zoology, 21 University St, London WC1E 6DE. Time: 6.30pm-9pm. Tickets: £6 (tickets sold on the door). Phone: 020 3108 2052

Saturday 29 October; London Month of the Dead. The Eternal Journey – The Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead. Venue: Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UG. Time: 1pm. Tickets £12. Details and bookings: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

Saturday 29 October; Haunted Holborn and Bloomsbury Walk with London Fortean Society. Starts at Temple tube station, London WC2R 2PP. Time: 2pm. Tickets £5. https://www.wegottickets.com/event/377825

Saturday 29 October; Ghosts of London walk and storytelling with Vanessa Woolf of London Dreamtime – part of London Month of the Dead. Venue: Brompton Cemetery. Time: 7pm. Tickets: £10. Booking essential. For details email [email protected] or visit http://londondreamtime.com/calendar/  Details and bookings: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

Sunday 30 October; Meditation at Russell Brands Trew Era Cafe, 30 Whitmore Road, London N1 5QA. Starts 10.15am. Free event. Details: http://www.meetup.com/meditation-trust-london/

Sunday 30 October; London Month of the Dead. Ars Moriendi. Death Rituals, Wax Effigies and the Obituary with Nigel Llewellyn and Chris Maume. Venue: Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UG. Time: 1pm. Tickets £12 Details and bookings: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

Sunday 30 October; The Peckham Ghost Trail with London Fortean Society. Starts at Honor Oak Park railway station, 56 Honor Oak Park, SE23. Time: 2.30pm. Tickets £5. https://www.wegottickets.com/event/376917

Sunday 30 October; Wiccan Film Making Group, organised through the London Pagan Community Meetup Group. Venue: A public venue in north London near an Underground station. Details will be e-mailed to those who sign up. Time: 2pm. Website: http://www.meetup.com/Londonpagancommunity/

Sunday 30 October; Alchemy Guild Meet-up. Free Introductory Talk – Basic Principles of Alchemy. The talk will run for 2 hours and will cover topics such as the history of alchemy, practices of both spiritual and lab alchemy, astrology, correspondences, signatures, herbal spagyrics and about the guild. London location tba. Time: 2.30pm. Details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1095513693864534/ and http://www.meetup.com/alchemy-london/events/234712822/

Sunday 30 October; London Month of the Dead.The Uncanny and the Fantastic. The Art of Gothic with Bryony Dixon and Victoria Nelson. Venue: Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UG. Time: 3.30pm. Tickets £12 Details and bookings: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

Sunday 30 October; Silver Chalice will be holding their Samhain open ritual at 6pm Avebury henge, Wiltshire,within the sun circle. Everyone welcome. Please bring a lantern or torch. Bang to Rites will be drumming.

Sunday 30 October; London Month of the Dead. Ghost in the Machine. A Candlelit Theremin Concert with Lydia Kavina and pianist Thomas Ang. Venue: Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UG. Time: 7.30pm. Tickets £15. Details and bookings: http://www.londonmonthofthedead.com/

Monday 31 October; Wheel of the Year Festival – Resting Meditation at Chalice Well World Peace Garden, in Glastonbury. Gather at the Well Head at noon for celebration and meditation until 12.30pm, followed by a chance to chat around the fire on the lower lawn. Free admission to the gardens from 10am to noon. In the evening there will be harps and singing bowls played in the garden. For more details, visit the website http://www.chalicewell.org.uk/

Monday 31 October; The Halloween of Crossbones. Venue: The Table, 83 Southwark Street, London SE1 0HX. Time: 6pm. Advance booking essential. Tickets £12. http://www.wegottickets.com/event/374594

Monday 31 October; The Viktor Wynd Museum 2nd Birthday – Halloween, Gin, Snakes, Sorcery and Cake plus a complimentary G&T from Hendrick’s Gin. Venue: The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Natural History, 11 Mare Street, London E8 4RP. Time: 6pm to 10pm. This is a free event, but you must reserve a place in advance. online. http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/

Monday 31 October; Short Talks, Big Message October – Jonny Benjamin, Jonathan Sattin, Judymay Murphy and Dr Emily Grossman. Organised by Alternatives. Venue: St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL, Doors open 6.30pm. Talk starts: 7pm. Book signings at the end. Tickets £10/£15 online. For more details and to book tickets: http://www.alternatives.org.uk/

Monday 31 October; Witchcraft: Women and Wickedness. Talk by Michael Doolan on anthropological approaches to magic and ritual (note, this is a late change of speaker). Venue: The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret – 9a Saint Thomas Street, London, SE1 9RY. Time: 7pm. Tickets £8 adults/£6 concessions. Includes admission to the museum. Details and booking: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/witchcraft-herbs-the-truth-behind-the-fiction-tickets-27512433429

Monday 31 October; Tamesa River of Souls – Samhain Ritual in Central London by the Thames. Meet at  the Tate Modern green at 7pm. Wear outdoor clothing. You must reserve a place in advance. Cost: £3. Details and bookings: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/

Monday 31 October; Ghost Walk at Burgh House with Vanessa Woolf of London Dreamtime. Venue: Meet at Burgh House New End Square London NW3 1LT. Time: 7-8pm. Tickets: price tbc. Booking essential. For details email [email protected] or visit http://londondreamtime.com/calendar/

Monday 31 October; Twelve kinds of Ghost – A Natural History of Ghosts. Talk from the Society of Physical Research and a walk through the building. Venue: Museum of London Docklands, No.1 Warehouse, W India Dock Rd, London E14 4AL. Time 7pm. Tickets £8. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands/event-detail?id=90409

Tuesday 1 November; Book launch for Of Shadows: One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. Venue: Lo and Behold, 2B Swanfield Street, London E2 7DS. Time: 6pm. Free event. Details: http://strangeattractor.co.uk/news/shadows-exhibition-book-launch/

Tuesday 1 November; Embracing the Shadow. Talk by Charlie Morley. Venue: The College of Psychic Studies, 16 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2EB. Time: 7pm-8.30pm. Cost: £14/£18. Advance booking essential. For details call: 020 7589 3292 or visit https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/

Tuesday 1 November; Cobwebs and Cauldrons Moot. Venue: Romford White Horse Pub, 118 High Road, RM6 6NU. Entry £4. Moot takes place on the first Tuesday of every month. 7.30pm start.

Tuesday 1 November; The Crick Crack Club Presents The Day of the Dead 2016. Performance Storytelling with Nell Phoenix, Tim Ralphs and Clare Muireann Murphy. Venue: Rich Mix (Bar) 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA. Tickets: £8 door / £6 advance (adults only). Start: 8pm (doors 7:30pm). Rich Mix Box Office: 020 7613 7498, Event link: https://www.richmix.org.uk/events/spoken-word/day-dead

Tuesday 1 November; Witches’ Inn Gathering Ghost Walk and Social. Venue: The Feathers Hotel in Merstham, Surrey RH1 3EA. Starts at 8pm, but leaving the pub at 9pm armed with ghost-hunting equipment. Moots are the first Tuesday of each month. For more details and to reserve a place visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Witches-Inn/1568424150049437

Wednesday 2 November; After Death Consciousness and Processes – part of an ongoing study class. Venue: Theosophical Society in London. Venue: The Theosophical Society, 50 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8EA. Time: 7pm. Details: http://www.meetup.com/Theosophical-Society-in-London/

Wednesday 2 November; Clearing Sexual Wounds: Sacral Chakra Healing Journey with Sound run by Himesh and the London College of Spirituality. Venue: Columbia Hotel (Regency Suite), 95 – 99 Lancaster Gate London W2 3NS. Time: 7pm. Tickets: £25. http://www.meetup.com/londonspirituality/

Wednesday 2 November; Saturn: A New Look at an Old God. Lecture with Vivianne  and Chris  Crowley. Venue: Treadwell’s, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 7.30pm. Tickets £8, advance booking required. For further details: [email protected] http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Thursday 3 November; Goldsmiths Showoff – Strange Days. Venue: Amersham Arms, 388 New Cross Rd, London SE14 6TY. Time: 6.30pm. Tickets £6.50/£5.50. Details and tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/375981

Thursday 3 November; Temple of Levanah Meditation Circle with Vivianne  and Chris  Crowley. Venue: Treadwells, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 7pm. Ticket price £10. Tel: 0207 419 8507 or email: [email protected] http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Thursday 3 November; PF-London Samhain Open Ritual run by Facilitated by Three Past Midnight. Venue: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn London. Time: 7.30pm for 8pm start. Ritual ends around 9pm followed by feasting until 10pm. Entrance: £6/£5 PF members. Please bring seasonal food and drinks to share at feast after ritual. For more details, visit http://london.paganfed.org/

Friday 4 November; Godhead Dethroned: Leninfall as a Collective Esoteric Practice Lecture. Lecture by Myroslava Hartmond. Venue: Treadwells, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 7pm. Ticket price £10. Tel: 0207 419 8507 or email: [email protected] http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Friday 4 November; Intro to Multidimensional Channelling: angels and celestials, with Alexandra Wenman of the London College of Spirituality. Venue: Diorama Arts Studios, 201 Drummond Street London, London NW1, Time: 7pm. £15. Details and reservations: http://www.meetup.com/londonspirituality/

Friday 4 November; Our Consciousness of the Dead. Talk by Dr Sue Peat. Venue: 35 Rudolf Steiner House, Park Rd, London NW1 6XT. Time: 7.30pm – 9pm. Entry: £5 (£3 concessions) – no need to prebook, just turn up. Details: http://www.rsh.anth.org.uk/

Saturday 5 November; Altered States in Magic. A workshop with Julian Vayne, author of Pharmakon. Venue: Treadwell’s Bookshop, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury London, WC1E 7BS. Time: 11am to 5.30pm. Cost: £70 per person. You can book online at https://www.treadwells-london.com/event/candle-magic-workshop or reserve a place by calling 020 7419 8507, emailing [email protected] or visiting the shop.

Sunday 6 November; Intuition in Tarot Reading. Intermediate Level Workshop with Sue Merlyn . Venue: Treadwell’s Bookshop, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury London, WC1E 7BS. Time: 11am to 5.30pm. Cost: £70 per person. You can book online at https://www.treadwells-london.com/event/candle-magic-workshop or reserve a place by calling 020 7419 8507, emailing [email protected] or visiting the shop.

Sunday 6 November; Samhain celebration on Primrose Hill with the Loose Association of Druids. Gather in the Hawthorne Grove at Primrose Hill, London, NW1 8YH, between 12.30pm and 12.45pm to prepare the site ready for a prompt 1pm start. Nearest tube: Chalk Farm. Bring a small contribution of food and drink to share. All are welcome.

Note: I am not responsible for any of the events listed here. Do check with the organisers about tickets and timings before turning up to any event. I try to keep my listings accurate, but do not always know of late changes, cancellations or ticket availability.

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