#the underworld is such an important part of ancient egyptian customs and then there's the grecian world and they're just. irritated.

[happyk44]

I really prefer the idea that Morpheus and Melinoe were on Kronos's side, not because they wanted more for themselves, but because they wanted more for Hades, for each other, for the underground family they love.

Like, they don't care much for their grandfather, and they already have put together a plot to destroy him, but first Olympus needs to be shattered to the ground. All those annoying heavenly gods who look down on them eviscerated from the earth. Blasted back to the stars and universe that created them. Never to return.

Then the Underworld will finally be free to rise, free to roam, free to exist without scrutiny, without fear. Never to be belittled or pushed aside again.

[connectparanormal]

Anubis, Egyptian God of the Dead

Anubis, a well-known god in Egyptian mythology, often appears as a man with a jackal's head. Anubis, the deity of the afterlife and mummification, was essential to the deceased's journey. It was believed that he oversaw the embalming process and guided souls to the afterlife, ensuring their safety and protection from malevolent spirits. According to mythology, Anubis is the child of the goddess of grief, Nephthys, and the deity of the underworld, Osiris. Nonetheless, several customs also imply that he could be the solar deity Ra's son. Anubis's position did not change in spite of these divergent narratives regarding his lineage. He played a key role in the ceremonial "Weighing of the Heart," which was an essential part of Egyptian religion. This ritual measured the deceased's heart against the feather of Ma'at, the goddess of justice and truth. If the heart was lighter than the feather, the soul received eternal life. If it was heavier, the enormous Ammit ate it up. Anubis acted as both a judge and a guardian, ensuring fair adherence to the rules and the preservation of balance.

The jackal's relationship with Anubis is especially noteworthy. The fact that jackals are scavengers and frequently encounter graves may have had an impact on the Egyptians' decision to use this animal as a representation of their burial god. His dark coloring strengthened his association with death and rebirth by signifying both the hue of mummified flesh and the rich soil of the Nile. The worship of Anubis changed throughout ancient Egyptian history. He was once regarded as the most important god of the dead, but Osiris eventually eclipsed him. In spite of this, Anubis kept his basic roles and remained sacred. Priests would execute rituals in temples and shrines devoted to him in order to honor the deceased and ask Anubis for protection.

In conclusion, Anubis is a prominent example of a strong and kind character in Egyptian mythology, representing the concepts of death, safety, and the afterlife. His importance in mythology and his participation in funerary rituals demonstrate the ancient Egyptians' profound regard and veneration for death and the hereafter.

[s53283-blog]

Libyan Mummy

Unlike what most people believe, mummies didn’t originate in Egypt. In the documentary  The Gebelein Mummy Of Predynastic Egypt they try to prove this. Now what the director of The Gebelein Mummy Of Predynastic Egypt wants people to take away from this documentary is that the Egyptians were very thorough when it came to preserving the dead. That is wasn’t something that they took lightly. They were truly serious about mummification, especially when it came to the Pharos. The video begins by talking about, how when the body is being worked on. That the spirit is taking its time and going off on a journey to their underworld. Now the video ends by explaining mummification before a body is buried. This whole video seems to be really pushing how the Egyptians took great lengths to preserve their dead and how it’s important to their afterlife. Throughout the video it talks about how the spirit needs its body to continue into their next life. It also talks about how important it was for the Egyptians to mummify the body so the soul could properly pass on. It emphasized this point by explaining the lengths that they went to. To make sure that the dead are taken care of. It shows the view the inside of a tomb, talking about how the Egyptians purposely left instructions or descriptions of the afterlife on the walls for the spirit. Talking about how they would take the organs out of the body and put them in jars to preserve them. Then would then place the jars around the body. The videos does explain the reasons why the Egyptians did specific things to the dead. For example putting a gold mask over a dead pharaoh so the spirit could find it’s body because it was important for them in the afterlife.

Mummification Pre Egypt Long Lost Secrets of Libya's Black Mummy talks about the Libyan mummy and The Gebelein Mummy Of Predynastic Egypt talks about Egyptian mummification and their afterlife. The Gebelein Mummy of Predynastic Egypt gives a lot of information about Egyptians and their customs with the dead. Something that the video brings up is how the Egyptians thought that they could continue to live on in the afterlife if their body was preserved. That piece of information helps gives the viewer and insight why the Egyptians went to these seemingly extreme lengths to preserve the dead. It also talks about how the climate of the desert can naturally preserve mummies. But when people wanted a change from just being buried in a shallow pits they had to go to much greater lengths to preserve the dead.They had to go to those lengths because being buried in the heat and sand which which naturally mummified the body by drying it out. Because of this the Egyptians needed to find a different way preserve the body. That is what led them to figure out what most people think of as proper mummification. It took a while for Egyptians to figure out the best way to preserve a body. They followed steps methodically and carefully to make sure that the body is properly preserved. Along with going to great lengths to make sure they had everything they needed for a proper burial. What the Egyptians did first was they took the brain and organs out of the body. The brain when out the nose and the organs through a small incision. Then they put the organs in small jars to be preserved.But mummies would differ depending on your social class. The more wealth you had the better things would be used for mummification.With the Pharaoh having the best of everything to be mummified. Back in Ancient Egypt they thought Pharaohs were gods and were treated as such. Next they would do to the Pharos was they would scent and dry the body, to make it smell nice.After that they would carefully wrap the whole body in linen strips. Going as far as to wrap the finger and toes. The Egyptians were set on creating the ‘perfect’ mummy, seeing as it was so important to their afterlife.

Mummification Pre-Egypt Long Lost Secrets of Libya’s Black Mummy is a long documentary about how archaeologists and scientists found a purposely mummified black child in Libya. They explain how they figured out the child was purposely mummified. They found the child in a bag which was then wrapped in leaves. Inside the child was found in a fetal position. When the scientists examined him they found that the child’s organs had been removed and embalmed. Along with that they found that the child had an organic substance placed inside of him to keep him from decomposing. They figured out that the boy was black by looking at the shape of his skull. Also they looked at his teeth and found that the boy was roughly 2 ½ years old when he died. Now the boy being black was important because scientists has speculated that black people had once lived in North Africa but didn’t have almost any evidence to prove it. Now him being a black mummy in Libya isn’t the only important thing about him. He’s specials because he’s about 5,5000 thousand years old. Older than any Egyptian mummy found. He was found 1500 miles west of the Nile Valley. Meaning that it would be almost impossible for Egyptians to have anything to do with this child. Furthermore he was preserved 1,000 years before the Egyptians start mummification. Because of where the boy was found people might be conficed. The Libyan mummy was found in the middle of the desert with no water source. Scientists wonder why he would have been there until they used satelited to and X rays to show there had once been a river in that area. They talk about this from about 10 minutes in to about 20 minutes in of Mummification Pre Egypt Long Lost Secrets of Libya's Black Mummy . Now let's go back to Egypt and their mummies. Today Egypt’s oldest mummy is from 3500 BC. It shows a crude and rough way that the Egyptians used to preserve mummies. About 2,000 years later during 1500 BC everyone who who could, would get themselves mummified, because it was the peek of mummification. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/mummies-101.html). Even then the Libyan mummy was preserved even before mummification became a big part of Ancient Egyptian culture. It would be highly unlikely that an Egyptian would make their way all the way to Libya, have a child either there or in Egypt, and then preserve their child once he died, before Egyptian had even started mummification. This shows that there was another group of people who actually started doing mummification before Egypt started. Now it’s unknown if these two groups of people worked together at one point in time, figure out mummification. Although they might have, coincidentally, had mummification as a part of their ritual for burying the dead. But I do want to point out that the Libyan mummy technically isn’t the oldest mummy found. It is the oldest mummy in Africa though. But the oldest mummy is actually Ötzi the Iceman who was found in the mountains at the Italy-Austria border (https://www.livescience.com/20030-ice-mummy-oldest-blood-cells.html). But my point still remains that  the Libyan Black mummy is the oldest mummy that was purposely created.

While writing that I learned quite a bit more writing this paper. I learned more about why Egyptians decided to preserve bodies, and that there are actually much older mummies out there, that aren’t from Egypt. I would say throughout writing this that I made sure to check if the website where credible before looking at them, not the other way around of reading an article then checking. So seeing the facts above this proves that the first mummy in Africa did not originate in Egypt.

Work Cited

Clark, L. (2018). Mummies 101 — NOVA | PBS. [online] Pbs.org.

Gannon, M. (2014). Oldest Evidence for Egyptian Mummy Making Discovered. [online] World's Oldest Blood Found in Famed "Iceman" Mummy

Jones, J., Higham, T., Oldfield, R., O'Connor, T. and Buckley, S. (2018). Evidence for Prehistoric Origins of Egyptian Mummification in Late Neolithic Burials.

"World's Oldest Blood Found In Famed "Iceman" Mummy." News.nationalgeographic.com. 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2018.

YouTube. (2018). The Gebelein Mummy Of Predynastic Egypt. [online]

YouTube. (2018). Mummification Pre Egypt Long Lost Secrets of Libya's Black Mummy. [online]

[tipsycad147]

Halloween, the Season of the Witch

The wheel has turned a little bit more and after the Second Harvest, Mabon – the Autumnal Equinox, now it’s time to proceed to the Samhain, aka Halloween. Halloween is a contraction of “All Hallows Eve” whilst Samhain etymologically comes from the Celtic language and actually means “the end of Summer”. More importantly, this Halloween, we’ve got a Surprise for you… get back here in few days… more hints are coming!

What is Halloween so important for Witches?

Halloween is the time of the year when the Dark half is strongly established and it’s really dominant. The Day has been decreased and the Night grows stronger. Halloween, as every Sabbath, is a time when the veil of other Realms gets thinner and transpassable allowing easier connection with the Spirit World.

The Day of the Dead

Halloween/Samhain in particular is considered the time of the Year when the Realm of the Dead communicates with the Realm of the Living. 31st of October and/or 1st of November are considered the sacred Day(s) of the Dead for many cultures. Dia de los Muertos in Latin America is celebrated to honor their Dead ancestors. They welcome their ancestral spirits to come back and visit them in order to bless them. Families and friends assemble at graveyards offering food and drinks in order to make their ancestors” spirits delightful and receive their blessings. The Celebration of Halloween has its roots in many ancient Traditions and Civilizations.

Halloween made in Egypt?

Maybe it’s stronger and most ancient root is detected in ancient Egypt and the Feast of the Dead. Isia, as the name of the feast is known was a 7-day length feast full of ceremonies, starting probably on October 28 and ending on November 3. During this time of the year the ancient Egyptians honoured the God of the Underworld, Osiris and his wonderful wife Goddess Isis.According to the myth, Osiris brother, Set (Seth) God of the Deserts and Darkness, slaughtered Osiris and threw his parts all over the Sahara desert. Isia celebrated and honored the persistent attempt of Isis to search, find and reassemble Osiris” body and finally Resurrect him (on the 7th day of Isia, Novermber 3rd) using her breast milk and the most powerful Magic the World has ever witnessed!

Dark Magic and Halloween

This time of the year was considered more vulnerable to Dark Magic. According to the Roman Calendar of Philocalus 354AD the Isia were also called the Hillaria of Isis. Egyptians mourned for their beloved God and left oil lamps outside of the house symbolising the remembrance of Osiris, while joining forces with Goddess Isis and assisting her in her quest to resurrect her beloved one.

Aztecs also associated this time of the year with the Dead although for them Death was not considered misfortunate. It was the time to Live in the Physical world. Aztecs honored this day as Miccailhuitontli or Miccail-huitontli dedicated to the Goddess Mictecacihuatl the Lady of Death. The custom of dressing in Halloween Skeleton costumes comes from the celebration of the Goddess which played a major part in the Celebrations during the Day of the Dead.

What about the curving of frightening Pumpkins for Halloween?

This tradition probably passed through the Greeks to the Celts and established this annual habit in Ireland. You see, few centuries ago, the Irish didn’t carve funny pumpkins, but beets and turnips. The story begins somewhere in the Irish countryside where a man named Stingy Jack or Drunk Jack and of course… Jack the Lantern was notoriously known as a great deceiver and trickster. His fame was so great that even the devil learned about him and -of course- wondered to find him and collect his dark soul. When Jack encountered the devil, he convinced him -as a last request- to escort him to the nearest pub so that he could drink his last beer.

When he finished his drink, again, he asked the devil to transform into a silver coin to pay the pub owner. The devil was convinced and Jack took his chance and picked up the coin and put it in his pocket along with a crucifix so that the devil could not turn back. He then bargained his soul for 1 or 10 years (depending on the variation of the story). All variations of the story describe how he tricked the devil (in different ways) however the outline and meaning of the story remains the same. Jack died because of drinking and while devil could not take his soul -because of the bargain- he could neither enter Paradise nor Hell, he ended up roaming between this world and the Netherworld carrying a burning coal inside a turnip.

This is why the Irish (and Scottish) carved grotesque faces on potatoes and other vegetables and left them outside of their house. They did it to scare Jack and other malevolent entities. The Irish immigrants found pumpkins much more suitable for carving and so the tradition was established. Of course, another interpretation of the story is that lanterns are being lit to assist wondering souls reach  their destination and that forgiveness is always there for those that seek it.

Halloween in Christian Times

Christianity trying to absorb the pagan Vibes of this popular day and transform it to something less dangerous, established a very powerful feast celebrating All Saints Day. It firstly appeared as a day  to honor all the Martyrs in the 4th century and after 5 more centuries it included all the Saints. Litanies and Prayers all over the World are being recited so that in in this way the Saints would protect the Living from Dark and Evil spirits and they would keep the Believers from celebrating in a Pagan way.

Making Halloween more magical! Pumpkins The next time you light up a sweet and scary Halloween Pumpkin lamp just bear in mind the true meaning it bears in the ancient Egyptian Tradition. Devote the Pumpkin to Osiris, Isis or other Divine entities and ask for them to send the blessings to the house and all its inhabitants! Let their light welcome Osiris and Isis in your house and bless it!

How to please the Dead

Offerings to the departed Another thing that you can do during Halloween is to honour the spirits of the Dead. Offerings of all sorts are always welcome, however, traditionally red wine (resembling blood and the life force) and milk and honey (for nurture), apples (for nurture and wisdom) or sweets (as a remembrance of the joys of life) were being offered. The offering was done in a ceremonial way by digging up a hole to the Earth, the place where even the ashes of those who have burnt reside and optionally candles where placed around it-each one for the spirit that the Witch wanted to honour. Then the names of the spirits you provide the offering to were spoken (if you are unsure then you can state that “this offering is for all souls that have departed”) and then the offering was made by pouring wine or milk and honey in the hole. When the offering was made and the ceremony ended the candles were left to burn out completely and the hole was covered.

Travelling to the realm of the Dead During Samhain, communication with the Realm of the Dead was established by providing offerings to the departed and by spirit travelling to the Realm of the Dead. This was done in a safe ‘shamanic’ way where the High Priest and High Priestess would lead the remaining members of the coven to the Underworld. All the members of the Circle would sit comfortably or even lay on the floor with the eyes closed, a beating drum would help everyone relax and reconnect with their breath, allowing deeper relaxation. The High Priest and High Priestess would give instructions for visualisation and connection with the Realm of the Dead. Once the connection was established, all members were left in silence to journey and connect with the spirits of the departed and hear their messages.

The connection with the ancestors is a powerful ritual that enables us to connect to our physical ancestors the same way we are connected with them through our DNA. In addition, the Coven members were also connected with their spirit ancestors (who are connected to us through spirit and not through the blood line) and hear their guidance. Once the travelling ended, the High Priest and High Priestess would safely provide instructions on how to reconnect to the Physical World.

Once the journey ended, the participants would share stories over a feast to celebrate the departed. Sharing messages was an important part of the ceremony as every being is connected with each other and the messages received from the Spirit World would paint the broader canvas of the journey and provide the caveat that the Coven may wish to work on during the upcoming months.

The Underworld

Connection with the Otherworld through Dreams and the Shadow During Samhain, as already mentioned, spells and rituals that connected us with the Spirit World were encouraged. One way for this to be accomplished is by working with the subconscious mind. This can be achieved by initially establishing a connection with the ancestors through offerings and receiving messages through dreams. In Greece, God Oniros (the God of Dreams) was invoked for the person to receive clear guidance and messages that were having his/her highest interest at heart. The subconscious mind works with symbols therefore, the dream was recorded the following day and the message was decrypted. The dreamer was the only person believed to be able to decipher the message most accurately. Offerings to God and the messengers were provided on the following day as well.

The Shadow

Another variation of the above is working with the Shadow to bring messages to the person. The Shadow is considered an extension of the physical self and it is believed that can act as a messenger between the physical world and the spirit world.

This can be done in the following way: Before going to bed a single candle was lit in the dark room behind the person. The person addresses his/her own shadow and asks the Shadow to connect with the Other Side, with the Spirits that have the highest interest at heart for the person, and to bring messages during sleep. Once this was done the candle was extinguished and the Shadow was released. The dreamer would go to bed and receive the messages during their sleep. Dream recording and deciphering of the message would take place the following morning. If anything was unclear the ritual was repeated the following night to ask for clarifications.

In some traditions, it was believed that the messages were received after the person was awoken, when the Shadow reconnects with the body and the first thoughts in the morning was the actual message that would come from the Spirit World. You can try this and let us know how you prefer to work with your Shadow.

The Halloween is a very powerful day and Magical Recipes Online will infrorm and propose you Spells and Rituals for this wonderful day… Stay tuned to the Free Online Magazine on Witchcraft!

https://www.magicalrecipesonline.com/2012/10/halloween-the-season-of-the-witch.html

[tipsycad147]

ALL HALLOW’S EVE

by Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Halloween. Sly does it. Tiptoe catspaws. Slide and creep. But why? What for? How? Who? When! Where did it all begin? “You don’t know, do you?” asks Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud climbing out of the pile of leaves under the Halloween Tree. “You don’t really know!” – Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree

Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow’s Eve. Hallow E’en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane’s dark twin. A night of glowing jack-o’-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and seances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A “spirit night”, as they say in Wales.

All Hallow’s Eve is the eve of All Hallow’s Day (November 1). And for once, even popular tradition remembers that the eve is more important than the day itself, the traditional celebration focusing on October 31, beginning at sundown. And this seems only fitting for the great Celtic New Year’s festival. Not that the holiday was Celtic only. In fact, it is startling how many ancient and unconnected cultures (the Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans, for example) celebrated this as a festival of the dead. But the majority of our modern traditions can be traced to the British Isles.

The Celts called it Samhain, which means “summer’s end”, according to their ancient twofold division of the year, when summer ran from Beltane to Samhain and winter ran from Samhain to Beltane. (Some modern covens echo this structure by letting the high priest “rule” the coven beginning on Samhain, with rulership returned to the high priestess at Beltane.) According to the later fourfold division of the year, Samhain is seen as “autumn’s end” and the beginning of winter. Samhain is pronounced (depending on where you’re from) as “sow-in” (in Ireland), or “sow-een” (in Wales), or “sav-en” (in Scotland), or (inevitably) “sam-hane” (in the U.S., where we don’t speak Gaelic).

Not only is Samhain the end of autumn; it is also, more importantly, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Celtic New Year’s Eve, when the new year begins with the onset of the dark phase of the year, just as the new day begins at sundown. There are many representations of Celtic Gods with two faces, and it surely must have been one of them who held sway over Samhain. Like his Roman counterpart Janus, he would straddle the threshold, one face turned toward the past, in commemoration of those who died during the last year, and one face gazing hopefully toward the future, mystic eyes attempting to pierce the veil and divine what the coming year holds. These two themes, celebrating the dead and divining the future, are inexorably intertwined in Samhain, as they are likely to be in any New Year’s celebration.

As a feast of the dead, this was the one night when the dead could, if they wished, return to the land of the living, to celebrate with their family, tribe, or clan. And so the great burial mounds of Ireland (sidhe mounds) were opened up, with lighted torches lining the walls, so the dead could find their way. Extra places were set at the table and food set out for any who had died that year. And there are many stories that tell of Irish heroes making raids on the Underworld while the gates of faery stood open, though all must return to their appointed places by cockcrow.

As a feast of divination, this was the night par excellence for peering into the future. The reason for this has to do with the Celtic view of time. In a culture that uses a linear concept of time, like our modern one, New Year’s Eve is simply a milestone on a very long road that stretches in a straight line from birth to death. Thus, the New Year’s festival is a part of time. The ancient Celtic view of time, however, is cyclical. And in this framework, New Year’s Eve represents a point outside of time, when the natural order of the universe dissolves back into primordial chaos, preparatory to reestablishing itself in a new order. Thus, Samhain is a night that exists outside of time and, hence, it may be used to view any other point in time. At no other holiday is a tarot card reading, crystal reading, or tealeaf reading so likely to succeed.

The Christian religion, with its emphasis on the “historical” Christ and his act of Redemption 2000 years ago, is forced into a linear view of time, where seeing the future is an illogical proposition. In fact, from the Christian perspective, any attempt to do so is seen as inherently evil. This did not keep the medieval church from co-opting Samhain’s other motif, a commemoration of the dead. To the church, however, it could never be a feast for all the dead, but only the blessed dead, all those hallowed (made holy) by obedience to God–thus, All Hallow’s, or Hallowmas, later All Saints and All Souls.

There are so many types of divination that are traditional to Hallowstide, it is possible to mention only a few. Girls were told to place hazelnuts along the front of the firegrate, each one to symbolise one of her suitors. She could then divine her future husband by chanting, “If you love me, pop and fly; if you hate me, burn and die.” Several methods used the apple, that most popular of Halloween fruits. You should slice an apple through the equator (to reveal the five-pointed star within) and then eat it by candlelight before a mirror. Your future spouse will then appear over your shoulder. Or, peel an apple, making sure the peeling comes off in one long strand, reciting, “I pare this apple round and round again; / My sweetheart’s name to flourish on the plain: / I fling the unbroken paring o’er my head, / My sweetheart’s letter on the ground to read.” Or, you might set a snail to crawl through the ashes of your hearth. The considerate little creature will then spell out the initial letter as it moves.

Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o’- lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who travelled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o’- lantern of choice.) Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan “baptism” rite called a seining, according to some writers. The water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which the novice’s head is immersed. The fact that the participant in this folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony.

The custom of dressing in costume and “trick-or-treating” is of Celtic origin, with survivals particularly strong in Scotland. However, there are some important differences from the modern version. In the first place, the custom was not relegated to children, but was actively indulged in by adults as well. Also, the “treat” that was required was often one of spirits (the liquid variety). This has recently been revived by college students who go ‘trick-or-drinking’. And in ancient times, the roving bands would sing seasonal carols from house-to-house, making the tradition very similar to Yuletide wassailing. In fact, the custom known as caroling, now connected exclusively with Midwinter, was once practised at all the major holidays. Finally, in Scotland at least, the tradition of dressing in costume consisted almost exclusively of cross-dressing (i.e., men dressing as women, and women as men). It seems as though ancient societies provided an opportunity for people to “try on” the role of the opposite gender for one night of the year. (Although in Scotland, this is admittedly less dramatic–but more confusing–since men were in the habit of wearing skirt like kilts anyway. Oh well…)

To Witches, Halloween is one of the four High Holidays, or Greater Sabbats, or cross-quarter days. Because it is the most important holiday of the year, it is sometimes called “The Great Sabbat”. It is an ironic fact that the newer, self-created covens tend to use the older name of the holiday, Samhain, which they have discovered through modern research. While the older hereditary and traditional covens often use the newer name, Halloween, which has been handed down through oral tradition within their coven. (This often holds true for the names of the other holidays, as well. One may often get an indication of a coven’s antiquity by noting what names it uses for the holidays.)

With such an important holiday, Witches often hold two distinct celebrations. First, a large Halloween party for non- Craft friends, often held on the previous weekend. And second, a coven ritual held on Halloween night itself, late enough so as not to be interrupted by trick-or-treaters. If the rituals are performed properly, there is often the feeling of invisible friends taking part in the rites. Another date that may be utilised in planning celebrations is the actual cross-quarter day, or Old Halloween, or Halloween O.S. (Old Style). This occurs when the sun has reached fifteen degrees Scorpio, an astrological “power point” symbolised by the Eagle. The celebration would begin at sunset. Interestingly, this date (Old Halloween) was also appropriated by the church as the holiday of Martinmas.

Of all the Witchcraft holidays, Halloween is the only one that still boasts anything near to popular celebration. Even though it is typically relegated to children (and the young-at heart) and observed as an evening affair only, many of its traditions are firmly rooted in Paganism. Incidentally, some schools have recently attempted to abolish Halloween parties on the grounds that it violates the separation of state and religion. Speaking as a Pagan, I would be saddened by the success of this move, but as a supporter of the concept of religion-free public education, I fear I must concede the point. Nonetheless, it seems only right that there should be one night of the year when our minds are turned toward thoughts of the supernatural. A night when both Pagans and non-Pagans may ponder the mysteries of the Other world and its inhabitants. And if you are one of them, may all your jack-o’-lanterns burn brightly on this All Hallow’s Eve.

Source:

by Mike Nichols

Permission is given to re-publish this document only as long as no information is lost or changed, credit is given to the author, and it is provided or used without cost to others. This notice represents an exception to the copyright notice found in the Acorn Guild Press edition of The Witches’ Sabbats and applies only to the text as given above. Other uses of this document must be approved in writing by Mike Nichols.

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