Illustration in courtesy of Wikimedia commons
"Halloween Lantern" by Carole Pasque 2004
This entry was written by Jose Prado, Thank you Jose for sharing your insight on the topic of Halloween.
One of the biggest problems in the struggle for tolerance for people whose religious beliefs differ from that of Christians and other monotheists, is that of ignorance. For years now, preachers like Pat Robertson and other members of the self proclaimed 'christian' Right have been preaching about how Halloween is 'satanic' and how demons will enter the bodies of children who dress up in costumes. Some people have gone to the extreme of trying to ban children from wearing almost any Halloween costume from Mad Scientists to Vampires because they fear it will summon devils into their bodies. Members of the pseudo-christian Right cite examples of Satanists who practice arcane rituals on this Night and of spirit possessions and demonic attacks occurring around this time. So what is real and what isn't? Let us briefly examine the origins of Halloween.
Origins
While Halloween is a modern American name invented by Candy companies, to make a fortune off of children who nag their parents into taking them trick or treating, it does stem from an Occult source. There are many festivals of the dead all over the world on different dates, but Halloween mostly stems from Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead and New Year that is celebrated in October. It is also called Ancestor night, since the spirit of the dead ancestors rise on this night. It should be noted however, that certain holidays like Samhain are never celebrated on the same days, the day changes according to the position of certain celestial bodies or other factors. Only the month stays the same. October 31st is just the day that the Catholic Church designated as All Saints Day and All Saints Eve, the Christianized version of Samhain.
This was due to the Church's policy of taking Pagan holidays and renaming them in order to make their religion more attractive to Pagans for the purposes of conversion.
Samhain was a holiday dedicated to respecting the spirits of the dead, particularly one's own ancestors. This was a day for ancestor worship. In Mexico on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), the day is dedicated to the Aztec goddess of the dead, Mictecacihuatl who is also worshiped as La Santa Muerte(Holy Death) or La Santisima Muerte (The Most Holy Death). In the Greco-Roman pantheon this same goddess would be equated with Atropos or her Roman name, Morta (Death). She is the third sister of the Fates, the goddesses who literally control destiny.
Atropos was the Fate who decided when, where, and how someone would meet their end. She is also referred to as La Señora de la Muerte (The Lady of the Dead), On Dia de los Muertos. Parties at the cemeteries are common place, where family members visit their dead loved ones in their tombs and give them offerings of alcohol and candy as well as the traditional flowers. Singing and dancing occurs for them to always know that they are remembered and loved no matter what. Because these are sacred days, 90% of the spirits encountered at these times, were a mix of ghosts with other spirits.
Such as Faeries and Trickster spirits of all kinds. So a person would have a better chance of meeting up with a departed loved one, or even an Angel from Heaven rather than an evil spirit. This is not ignoring the reality of demons however. Demons and other nasty spirits, such as spirits of the dead who seek revenge or who were full of hate in life, are always on the look out for escape holes to roam the Earth and torment people. Halloween provides them with an excellent way to do this.
Some spirits were not always evil, but in their desperation to live again, to feel again, they would do whatever it took to return to Earth. Even if that meant causing some kind of harm to an innocent person. However, they can usually only stay with you until Halloween is over. Unless of course they are riding you, that is to say, possessing you or have bound themselves to you to resist being returned to their plane of origin after it is over. Now at this point you are probably wondering why an evil spirit would use this day to cross over into our world. After all, if Halloween is not inherently evil, why would they choose this day then? The answer lies in the opening of the Veil.
The Veil
The Veil is a term invented by Philosophers and Witches to describe the invisible inter-dimensional Wall that separates different realities. It doesn't just separate this world from the spirit world, it separates all dimensions. Albert Einstein wrote about this in his little known String Theory to explain it. In String Theory, Einstein theorized that there are dozens of parallel universes that are separated by a natural, inter-dimensional wall. Some scientists and Occultists believe there are some spots in the wall which are so vulnerable, that creatures from other worlds could theoretically cross over. Magick users always speak of the Veil being at its thinnest when Halloween approaches.
The veil is always thin on Sacred days. But it has always been at its thinnest in October because Samhain falls on this month. The veil grows ever weaker with the fall of another festival of the dead on Nov 1st in the Aztec and Mayan pantheon. It is not however, the only time. There are several festivals of the dead. The Veil will always be thinnest on days where Festivals of the dead take place because spirits are not like living beings. It is easier in theory for a living being to cross over into other dimensions with the proper magick or technology. But, even if a spirit crosses over from another plane, in ours they are still just spirits. On Festivals of the Dead, the veil is so thin that a dead soul can actually walk amongst the living and even feel and look corporeal enough for people to mistake them as living persons. The reason for this many believe, was because the gods made it so, for spirits to be reunited with their loved ones.
The Souls of the Dead from every corner of the spirit world, Heaven, Hell Purgatory, and all other worlds in between come flooding the gates of the spirit world and human world to reach us
Or to take care of unfinished business. So if a spirit were to cross over, there is a variety of different ways they can accomplish this. They can appear in their true ghostly forms, they can appear as flesh and blood people, or (if powerful enough) they might jump back into their corpses and have the option to fully regenerate their former vessels to achieve a living form again. Or they could come back as decomposing corpses as is the case with the infamous Halloween spirit, Stingy Jack. Some possess the living or hold on to them in order to resist the pull of the veil sucking them back into the spirit world upon the end of Samhain.
But, upon a festival of the dead's end, the spirits that cross over must return to the other side. Those who remain here, will usually no longer be able to manifest a strong enough presence for anyone to notice them at all. Some are so weak after the veil becomes strengthed again, that they can barely muster the strength to make a voice audible enough for the living to hear. And very few would be strong enough to retain possession over a person. At this point, you would need a recording device to hear them if you were not already a clairvoyant.
Espanta Muerto (Dead Banisher or Banisher of the Dead) a sacred herb used in Santeria (The Cuban version of Voodoo) to ward off evil ghosts or ghosts who aren't necessarily evil but are causing harm with their actions. Also used to ward off Demonic entities at times though for that, Palo Santo (Holy Wood) would be the more preferred Warding charm.
But in either case, it is always a good idea to have wards (charms to repel evil) ready, always cleanse and bless your home and yourself, and do not stay out too late at night unless you have protection, are accompanied by others, or are strong enough as a magick user to handle yourself in any situation. For those who argue it is satanic, let me remind you that Satanists celebrate a satanic holiday on May 1st which is a Pagan and Christian Holiday (Beltane for the Celts and Walpurgisnacht or Walpurgas Night for Roman Catholics in Europe dedicated to St. Walpurga). They chose this as a feast night to Satan for the purpose of mocking White Witches and Christians and attempting to siphon off power from the veil on that sacred day for sinister purposes. Evil witches or Warlocks as English speaking Pagans refer to them, pervert good magick for the purpose of empowering themselves by draining power from something that was good. The easiest way for them to pervert good magick is to invert things.
For example, Satanists use Crosses too, but they use Black Crosses or upside down (inverted) crosses in order to pervert magick that stems from Jesus of Nazareth and Yahweh his father. Yet another example is how Aleister Crowley took holy magick used by practioners of the Kabbalah and perverted Hebrew prayers and symbols in order to empower his own black magick. Which is why the Guild he founded known as the Golden Dawn, used holy symbols such as the Star of David and invoked the names of God in Hebrew in order to make their power stronger. In the Satanic ritual of the Black Mass, Roman Catholic prayers are spoken backwards to mock God. The Pentagram was also stolen from good magick users such as Wiccans and perverted it in order to give them greater power.
Note* Just because a Pentagram is inverted does not mean it is satanic. An inverted Pentagram is used for summonings or calling energy to yourself. How you use it defines whether or not it is good or bad.
Conclusion
To conclude, Samhain or Halloween as it is referred to in modern day America, is not a 'satanic' or demonic holiday. An evil spirit can come to you on any sacred day when the veil is thin .A demon could just as easily jump into you on Valentine's day or Christmas as they could on Halloween. Samhain, Dia de los muertos, and other festivals of the dead are days when the dead can return to finish projects or do things they never did in life. To feel the air and breeze on their skin once more, and for loved ones to be reunited once more after having been separated by death. The examples above prove that it is not that Samhain is satanic, but evil witches and evil spirits alike pervert holy things in order to draw strength from them.
To say that Samhain is satanic because of the behavior of warlocks and evil spirits is akin to saying Christians are satanic and evil because Satanists use crosses and dedicate Walpurgas Night to the Devil. All that proves, is that there are a lot of irresponsible people out there who misuse Occult symbols, knowledge, and blaspheme sacred days just to give themselves a little bit more power on certain occasions so that they can flaunt it to others and boast about their power. That's all it is. An Occult pissing contest of evil spirits and adherents of evil religions Vs. good spirits and adherents of good religions. But there is nothing demonic or satanic here. In fact, this is not even to say that Satanists are the only Warlocks that pervert sacred days or knowledge to grow stronger.
There are other demon gods out there too, Satan isn't the only one. So let's not throw it all on Devil worshipers either. And in any case, I don't think a couple of people who dance around naked in grave yards or have orgies in Lucifer's name are in any way more demonic on Samhain, than the so-called 'christians' that bomb abortion clinics on regular days. An old Asian proverb said "you must think with an open mind, hear with open ears, and feel with an open heart," so on this Samhain when you hear non sense about 'satanic wiccans' and how it is all 'devil worship', please kindly correct them.
Keep your Jack-O'-Lantern lit to ward off Stingy Jack!
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