Mistress felt that i needed to do something in observance of Her biggest holiday of the year. i say Hers and not O/ours because i still fell like a non-Christian who is befriended by a Christian family. He’s exposed to it, learns a little bit about it and may even be interested in learning more about it, but he’s not a Christian yet. He hasn’t embraced it and decided that it is the religion for him.
i am him in reverse. i grew up Christian and i even tried being the good lil Christian girl and going to church and reading the bible. i even went so far as to convert from Catholicism to Iglacia Ni Christo (it’s Pilipino for Church of Christ and no it’s not Mormon) and married a bible thumper. Now i don’t go to church and i have been befriended by lots of Pagans and Wiccans on here and i’m interested, but i still feel like the outsider looking in and that is why i say Hers and not O/ours.
T/together W/we decided that i would spend my day researching this holiday and posting my findings here. They will not be in my words, as that would take me months of writing and rewriting. i hope A/all of Y/you W/who take the time to read this will get even more out of it than i did doing it!
Chapter 5:
What Witches Do: The Sabbats
Samhain pgs 64 – 68 copied verbatim
From: id you want to be a WITCH by: Edain McCoy
Samhain (October 31)
Non-Witches, or “Cowan” as they are sometimes called, have a whole mixed bag of silly ideas about what Witches do, especially on the night they know as Halloween. While it is one of our major sacred days (the other being Beltane), there is nothing sinister about it, nor anything so off the wall that should titillate the masses as it seems to do. Not a year goes by without some coven being intruded upon by people who just want to see what hideous rites will be enacted.
The late Sybil Leek, a hereditary Witch from England, wrote in her book The Complete Art of Witchcraft that, on one Halloween, a woman broke into her Florida hotel room and refused to leave until she saw whatever Sybil planned to do that night.
The roots of Samhain (pronounced SOW-in, “sow” rhymes with “cow”) come from deep in the Celtic past, and are not very thrilling as a spectator sport. The Celtic new year began on the eve of Samhain, or what we know today as All Hallows Eve. Now fixed on October 31, this date could have been celebrated up to two weeks later depending upon how soon the last of the harvest was ready to be gathered in. In some British traditions, November 7 is referred to as the Old Samhain.
Samhain was not only an acknowledgement of the final harvest, but was the night when the God of the old year died, not to be seen again until his rebirth at the winter solstice.
It was considered the worst of luck to take the last piece of the harvest from the fields or trees. Something should always be left to keep the land connected with its produce throughout the long winter to come, and to insure that the Gods and Goddesses of death and regeneration have some marker to follow back in the spring.
Samhain is the night when the veil separating the worlds of spirit and form is at its thinnest, and the souls of our ancestors may pass freely into our world to join in the sabbat celebration. Altars are usually decorated with mementoes of those who have passed before and with harvest items such as apples, pumpkins, turnips, and berries.
The aspects of deity that rule at Samhain are the crone aspect of the Goddess and the Lord of the Hunt. These aspects will have different names depending upon which culture you draw for your personal mythology, but their archetypal functions remain consistent.
The Crone Goddess is the older woman, wise but stern, giving while exacting a price, She is a teacher of tough lessons, but those lessons are always in the best interest of the student. She is not to be feared, for she is the same mother Goddess who gave us life in the summer. She is merely old now and can share her knowledge with us, is we stop to listen to her. She is symbolized by the wise old owl who travels by night but is not blinded by darkness.
The Lord of the Hunt is an underworld aspect of the God, who rides upon the night air with his horses and hounds. He seeks souls to take back with him to the underworld. This sounds frightening, but it isn’t always. When it’s time to die, wouldn’t you like a caring God to escort you? The Lord of the Hunt also rounds up lost souls who cannot find the way to the world of spirit, or who do not realize they have died, or who are afraid to leave the familiar for something unknown.
The notion that there is anything evil or Satanic about Samhain is ridiculous. Satan is a construct of Christian theology, and it has no meaning for Witches. This is not is not a celebration of death, but a celebration of the cycles that bring growth and transformation of the spirit. What our Samhain rituals remind us of is that it is from death that life emerges. Like the caterpillar in his cocoon, death is a respite between life and rebirth.
Another custom carved out of the Pagan past is trick-or-treating. Bread foods are often favorites of the deities and other spirits, so they are ones most often still given as Samhain offering. After Halloween became All Soul’s Day on the church calendar, it became customary for children in England to go door to door asking for soul-cake donations for their alters. Eventually this evolved into the sugar-gathering spree that is modern trick-or-treating.
beginner’s Samhain ritual
As you did in chapter 4, you will need only two unlit candles on your alter at this time. Don’t worry about collecting or making lots of magickal tools until you grow familiar enough with the rituals to know intuitively which ones you want and which work best for you. We’re all different and so are our affinities.
Samhain alters are customarily adorned with photographs of loved loves who have already crossed over into the realm of spirit, If you don’t have photos, you can use an item passed down to you or some symbol of your ethnic heritage, even if that symbol is only a book on its history and language.
Call out loud the names of your beloved dead. You can even make a blanket call to, for example, all the innocents killed during the Burning Times, or all innocents who died through acts of terrorism, or all who perished in a natural disaster, or through domestic violence. Pet spirits may also be honored. (I lost it here for about a half hour. I miss you so much you big moose!!!!)
In many Witchcraft traditions it is customary to call out loud the names of those who have passed over into spirit, and to ring a bell as you give your call. These may be family members or any others in spirit you wish to honor. The origins of this custom are hazy, but there are two prominent theories. One is that the bell’s tolling brings a higher vibration to the circle, one comfortable and compatible with that of the spirits. The second is that it chases away lesser spirits whom you do not want using your ritual as a portal.
You may speak to your ancestors and ask them to be with you in the year to come or to go with the deities who will take them where they want to go.
Once you become attuned to the presence of spirits, you’ll find some occasionally stopping in just to see how you’re getting along. This is most likely to happen during the dark part of the year, usually from autumn equinox through a few weeks past Yule.
Remember, spirits are sentient beings, and you should not violate their free will unless you just cannot tolerate sharing your living space with them. I admit it’s discomfiting at first to know another being is moving about your house unseen, but if its someone who loved you in life; he or she could be a comforting, protective presence.
My beloved little sheltie passed over in February 2002 at the age of fourteen; yet come September, I could still feel him near me. I awoke several times to hear his tags jingling as he trotted down the hallway. I could feel his feet stumbling across my ankles to the other side of the bed just as he used to do when he was a young dog and could make the leap up to the bed without my assistance. I know he comes to offer me comfort when I’m feeling low, and probably to reassure me that he is fine in his spirit body, which apparently restored his youth.
When you are ready to end your ritual, thank your deities for coming, extinguish their candles, and ground your circle and then yourself.
Roots of Halloween
Written by Colleen Hale-Hodgson, Arts Editor
Wednesday, 25 October 2006
No, it didn't start with Spiderman costumes or worshipping the devil.
Does candy taste better when you don't know where it comes from?
Halloween, the year's biggest provider of free sweets, is one of those nights that people don't really know what they are celebrating for. As a child, it's about dressing up like scary creatures, carving jack-o-lanterns with your parents and gathering together with a group of friends, as you knock on as many front doors in your neighborhood as you can before bedtime.
It's true that free candy and dressing up like a pirate is what makes modern day Halloween worth celebrating, but there's another side that's never been completely understood by its participants. Halloween is rooted in the Irish-Celtic traditional celebration of Samhain, an annual festival held from the evening of Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. The festival marks the changing seasons, from summer to winter, and the end of the harvest. It was a time when villagers would take stock of their crop and their herd, deciding which animals to keep for breeding purposes and which to slaughter for food for the winter. It was also a cleansing ritual that was meant to ensure that the year to come was plentiful and healthy for everyone. This tradition was adapted by the Christians in the Middle Ages, combining it with All Hallows' Day. This is what later morphed into the secular holiday Halloween.
The tradition was brought to the Americas with the Irish in the 19th century. It was first celebrated by Irish-American and Scottish-American immigrants, and only became a popular commercial holiday in the late 20th century.
The actual literal meaning of "pagan" originated as a term that referred to rural areas and their people. With the Christianization of European civilization, which spread much stronger and faster in urban areas, the word came to mean something equivalent to modern day hillbillies - a country dweller. It became a derogatory term for these people, generally meaning that they were too uncivilized to embrace Christianity. Many held on to their historical religions, however, and were vilified by the urban Christian society; some were even driven out of existence.
Now the term paganism refers to a very broad group of different religious and traditional beliefs, generally defined by their close connection to nature and polytheistic beliefs. This means they worship multiple Gods and Goddesses. Another distinguisher is that they are separate from other Abrahamic-based faiths, which are religions that trace their lineage back to Abraham (i.e. Christianity, Judaism and Islam).
Samhain not only looked at the year that had passed regarding their crop and livestock, they also took stock of the people they had lost. This is where the connection of ghosts and spirits developed into people running around with bed sheets on their heads. During the festival, the villagers would start large bonfires at the centre of town that were meant to cleanse the village and its people. There were usually two large fires built next to each other, and as a means of purification, people would sometimes bring their cattle or other livestock between the fires with them. The bonfires were also used to pull spirits away from the homes they once lived in. The hearth fires in the house would be put out, and lit again later by a torch from one of the bonfires, which would remain burning all night long.
It's interesting to note that the modern practice of trick-or-treating, sometimes called "guising," originated in the British Isles and involved the poor going door to door and begging for food on All Souls Day. It's unclear, however, how it developed into small children running around wearing masks and demanding small chocolates from their neighbors. Presumably, when a person said "trick-or-treat," it was really a veiled threat promising a bit of vandalism or other pranks if they didn't get their favorite chocolate bar.
Perhaps the biggest misconception about pagans and Halloween is people's assumption that they are both associated with the occult or Satanism. While Samhain was rooted in the belief that, during the festival, the separation between the living and the dead was less substantial, none of them invoked evil spirits or made pacts with the Devil in exchange for supernatural powers.
Witches, one of Halloween's staple spooks, are also not what they appear. Witches, or more accurately known as Wiccans, don't fly around on broomsticks, brew potions in cauldrons (unless it's stew) or turn princes into toads. Wicca is a neopagan religion - meaning that it's a modern-day religion based on other ancient pagan beliefs – that practices witchcraft. Although this does connote some supernatural practices, the traditions of witchcraft are based in the belief that the human spirit has a deeply-rooted connection with nature, and can even influence it under the right circumstances. It should be noted, however, that not all witches are Wiccans, as witchcraft does not necessarily involve the defined moral guidelines that the Wiccan religion does.
So, this Halloween, instead of using the night as an excuse to wear leather and chains or don a SpongeBob SquarePants suit, try to spend some time reflecting on the year you've had, remembering people who've come in and out of your life and begin planning for the season ahead of you. When you're done that, you can gorge on all the free candy you want.
Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.
Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means “summer's end.” In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oíche Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter's calend, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.
In the country year, Samhain marked the first day of winter, when the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that would feed them during the winter must be stored in sturdy thatched ricks, tied down securely against storms. Those destined for the table were slaughtered, after being ritually devoted to the gods in pagan times. All the harvest must be gathered in -- barley, oats, wheat, turnips, and apples -- for come November, the faeries would blast every growing plant with their breath, blighting any nuts and berries remaining on the hedgerows. Peat and wood for winter fires were stacked high by the hearth. It was a joyous time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come. The endless horizons of summer gave way to a warm, dim and often smoky room; the symphony of summer sounds was replaced by a counterpoint of voices, young and old, human and animal.
In early Ireland, people gathered at the ritual centers of the tribes, for Samhain was the principal calendar feast of the year. The greatest assembly was the 'Feast of Tara,' focusing on the royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, the point of conception for the new year. In every household throughout the country, hearth-fires were extinguished. All waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year -- not at Tara, but at Tlachtga, a hill twelve miles to the north-west. It marked the burial-place of Tlachtga, daughter of the great druid Mogh Ruith, who may once have been a goddess in her own right in a former age.
At all the turning points of the Celtic year, the gods drew near to Earth at Samhain, so many sacrifices and gifts were offered up in thanksgiving for the harvest. Personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants or ailments to be healed were cast into the fire, and at the end of the ceremonies, brands were lit from the great fire of Tara to re-kindle all the home fires of the tribe, as at Beltane. As they received the flame that marked this time of beginnings, people surely felt a sense of the kindling of new dreams, projects and hopes for the year to come.
The Samhain fires continued to blaze down the centuries. In the 1860s the Halloween bonfires were still so popular in Scotland that one traveler reported seeing thirty fires lighting up the hillsides all on one night, each surrounded by rings of dancing figures, a practice which continued up to the first World War. Young people and servants lit brands from the fire and ran around the fields and hedges of house and farm, while community leaders surrounded parish boundaries with a magic circle of light. Afterwards, ashes from the fires were sprinkled over the fields to protect them during the winter months -- and of course, they also improved the soil. The bonfire provided an island of light within the oncoming tide of winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomfort, and evil spirits long before electricity illumined our nights. When the last flame sank down, it was time to run as fast as you could for home, raising the cry, “The black sow without a tail take the hindmost!”
Even today, bonfires light up the skies in many parts of the British Isles and Ireland at this season, although in many areas of Britain their significance has been co-opted by Guy Fawkes Day, which falls on November 5th, and commemorates an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in the 17th century. In one Devonshire village, the extraordinary sight of both men and women running through the streets with blazing tar barrels on their backs can still be seen! Whatever the reason, there will probably always be a human need to make fires against the winter’s dark.
Divination at Halloween
Samhain was a significant time for divination, perhaps even more so than May or Midsummer’s Eve, because this was the chief of the three Spirit Nights. Divination customs and games frequently featured apples and nuts from the recent harvest, and candles played an important part in adding atmosphere to the mysteries. In Scotland, a child born at Samhain was said to be gifted with an dà shealladh, “The Two Sights” commonly known as “second sight,” or clairvoyance.
Apple Magic
At the heart of the Celtic Otherworld grows an apple tree whose fruit has magical properties. Old sagas tell of heroes crossing the western sea to find this wondrous country, known in Ireland as Emhain Abhlach, (Evan Avlach) and in Britain, Avalon. At Samhain, the apple harvest is in, and old hearthside games, such as apple-bobbing, called apple-dookin’ in Scotland, reflect the journey across water to obtain the magic apple.
Dookin' for Apples
Place a large tub, preferably wooden, on the floor, and half fill it with water. Tumble in plenty of apples, and have one person stir them around vigorously with a long wooden spoon or rod of hazel, ash or any other sacred tree.
Each player takes their turn kneeling on the floor, trying to capture the apples with their teeth as they go bobbing around. Each gets three tries before the next person has a go. Best to wear old clothes for this one, and have a roaring fire nearby so you can dry off while eating your prize!
If you do manage to capture an apple, you might want to keep it for a divination ritual, such as this one:
The Apple and the Mirror
Before the stroke of midnight, sit in front of a mirror in a room lit only by one candle or the moon. Go into the silence, and ask a question. Cut the apple into nine pieces. With your back to the mirror, eat eight of the pieces, and then throw the ninth over your left shoulder. Turn your head to look over the same shoulder, and you will see and in image or symbol in the mirror that will tell you your answer.
(When you look in the mirror, let your focus go "soft," and allow the patterns made by the moon or candlelight and shadows to suggest forms, symbols and other dreamlike images that speak to your intuition.)
Dreaming Stones
Go to a boundary stream and with closed eyes, take from the water three stones between middle finger and thumb, saying these words as each is gathered:
I will lift the stone
As Mary lifted it for her Son,
For substance, virtue, and strength;
May this stone be in my hand
Till I reach my journey’s end.
(Scots Gaelic)
Togaidh mise chlach,
Mar a thog Moire da Mac,
Air bhrìgh, air bhuaidh, ‘s air neart;
Gun robh a chlachsa am dhòrn,
Gus an ruig mi mo cheann uidhe.
Carry them home carefully and place them under your pillow. That night, ask for a dream that will give you guidance or a solution to a problem, and the stones will bring it for you.
© Mara Freeman, 1999
