My attempt, lame or not. . .

[mgdzkm433]

It's that time of the year, Halloween. Many people don't celebrate halloween, mainly for religious purposes. I wanted to post this, just because every year, there are a few people that ask me, 'why do witches celebrate halloween, and what does it mean?' So, I thought I would post an explanation here, just to enlighten those who don't know or want to know, know only myths, or are really interested.

A lot of people think that Halloween is just a time of year, where little kids dress up in costumes and go door to door shouting 'trick or treat!' In our American culture, it basically is just that. However, there is a minority of people (including myself) who actually consider October 31st as a sacride holiday. It goes back, long before Christianity, to the Druids. Celtic origin, also the Celtic New Year. Halloween is commonly known as 'Samhain' to witches, wiccans, and pagans (neopagans). The word Samhain actually came from 2 words 'Sam' meaning 'the end of' and 'hain' meaning 'summer.' So the pagan holiday Samhain is a holiday celebrating the end of summer, or the harvest. Pagans often time have 2 dieties, a god and goddess, at this time, the god dies (with the coming of winter, the dying of plants symbolizes the dying of the god). Because the god dies, the viel between the living and the dead is at it's thinnest, meaning it's the best time to commune with the dead. It is said that on October 31st, our dead ancestors come to feast with us, many pagans have a 'feast of the dead' where they set a place at their table and invite an ancestor to feast with them. This is often accompanied by a ritual. Because the viel is at it's thinnest, this is also the best time for divination (tea leaves, tarot, runes, crystal balls) because the dead will help you to see the future. There are no animal sacrifices, no human sacrifices, nothing of that sort, just plain myths. We hold this a very special holiday because the viel is the thinnest. That makes it a magickal time. We also must prepare for the winter months, and the rebirth of the god at Yule (around Christmas time).

A good place to read more about Halloween, and a lot of the traditions, including Jack o'lanterns and candy giving (trick or treat) is: http://www.witchvox.com/holidays/samhain.html . That is 'The Witch's Voice' Samhain page. The Witch's Voice is like a pagan newsletter-online. There are many resources other than this, and it also has a lot of information about other pagan holidays.

I hope that you enjoyed my little bit of info. I hope that it might have cleared up a lot for you. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.

[Q-T Pie]

mgdzkm433
Please correctly if I'm wrong, but I'm curious, weren't you looking for a way to combine the practice,or the beliefs of christianity & wicca?? I thought I read a post about that a while back, but can not remember.

Allison

[juniorgrrl]

Thanks! That was really interesting!

[mgdzkm433]

Q-t-pie,

Yes, you are correct, I come from a methodist background. I have a hard time letting go of that background. I love Christianity as a religion but have trouble with the church (not just methodist but all churches) and how political they are (and hypocritical--don't mean to step on any toes with that statement, this has just been a personal observation of mine). I follow the basic teachings of Christ and feel that the Bible is a great source on how to live. I consider myself 'eclectic' at this point (a far cry from where I started trying to combine the two religions), a good explanation of eclecitic would be I cut and paste various parts of various religions to form my own religion and spirituality. Being 'eclectic' allows me to combine what I like, it allows anyone to really practice what they want. The more I read and study religions, the more I find I have in common with witchcraft--why I consider myself a witch. I also have found a lot about Taoism (pronounce DOW-ism) that I can relate to. I have always been interested in witchcraft (and other religions) and have studied a great deal about it (history), but just recently began to practice it. A lot of witches study for a year or more before they actually consider themselves witches.

I'm glad you caught that! I forgot to state what exactly I believe before my little history lesson.

[Q-T Pie]

mgdzkm433
Thanks for posting the site, I plan to look at it some more later tonight. I think that it's awesome that you were able to research & find different aspects of different beliefs & apply them to yours. I have always been interested in the different types of religions & beliefs, but have never had the chance to sit down & extensively study them. I plan on e-mailing you about this soon, if that's okay. Thanks for the info!

Allison



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A mistake at least proves that somebody stopped talking long enough to do something.
~ Anonymous

[mgdzkm433]

Feel free to e-mail me anytime! And I love to help people find what's out there that can help them! We are brought into this world, usually following our parents paths, which I have mixed emotions on. I think we should be allowed to follow our own path, but we still need guidence at a young age. Anyway, we are brought into our parents religions, which might not suit us, then years down the road, we feel 'guilty' for straying. We shouldn't have to feel that way about something so important, like religion. I try to emphasize that there are totally different worlds out there that we know nothing about, if we learn as much as we can about them, we learn more about ourselves. I can't tell you how I felt when I started studying witchcraft and realized that so much of what was before me described my true feeling to a 'T'!

[kmullini]

mgdzkm33,

I really enjoyed your info. Especially the pagan ritual you spoke of. You learn something new every day. Arent there good and bad witches?

Kevin

[mgdzkm433]

kmullin,

Are there any good or bad people? Sure. One of the things that Wiccans follow (and separate them from other pagans) is something called the Wiccan Rede. It's a beautiful poem, but the part they especially follow is "An it harm none, do what ye will", meaning, if it doesn't harm anyone, do what you want. Kind of like the Golden Rule. Some people follow this, some don't, just like all people. So sure, I guess you could say there are bad witches out there.

I also would like to point out that not all wiccans perform rituals, and not all wiccans or pagans for that matter perform magick. To clear up the meaning of magick for those that want to know, magick is not the supernatural stuff you see on TV. Magick is like a prayer. We ask the god and goddess to help us make something happen. For instance, my neighbor got a blood clot in her leg, I immediatly performed a spell (magick) to ask that the god and goddess help heal her. I made a token of my spell and gave it to my neighbor. The energy that I used to preform my spell (which again is like a prayer) was directed into that token. The energies were then released when she accepted the token. Within the week, the young lady was back on her feet. The token by the way, was a handmade tea bag (made of cheese cloth) filled with the herb Lavander. On the outside of the tea bag, I took a pen and made the Runic symbol for healing. She hung it on her bed post while she was sick. That is how magick works. Our energies are sent out to try to alter the natural flow of energy that controls all things (chi if you will). I can't make things fly or levitate. All that is Hollywood myth. I hope that helps clear up what you were asking.

[kmullini]

Mgdzkm33

Ha Ha. I suppose that was a stupid question. Very interesting stuff. Yeah, that clears everything up.

[equeen]

Thanks for the lesson about Halloween, mgdzkm433!

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equeen
A Lioness has her Pride!
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Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies