When is there more energy? All hallows Eve? or Halloween? If one was going to go for a walk and soak up this energy which day would you recommend to do so?
- Adriane

Actually, Halloween is All Hallow’s Eve.  The name All Hallow’s Eve is a reference to the night before All Hallows (“hallows” meaning “holy”), also known as All Saints Day which occurs on November 1st.   October 31st went from being called All Hallow Evening to All Hallows Eve to eventually being known as Hallow’een giving us our modern day name for the night, Halloween.  So if you really wanted to take in the energy of Halloween, October 31st is the night!

I will have another post coming in the next few days though that will explain a little bit about some of the confusion about Samhain, Halloween, and when they occur.  The actual date of Samhain, while we celebrate it on the 31st, it actually occurs in November when the sun reaches the point of being 15 degrees Scorpio.  I’ll talk more about this and explain that and how it impacts the energy, especially magickally, in a few days.  But there is certainly a lot of energy to soak up, work with, and interact with on Halloween.

What is your favorite spell to cast on Halloween?
- Teresa

I actually don’t really work much magick on the Sabbats.  I reserve the Sabbats specifically for honoring the God and Goddess and celebrating the turning of the Wheel.  Samhain is one where I might sometimes do a small spell here and there but I don’t have anything specific that I do or that I prefer to do for Samhain.

The types of spells that I would recommend for this time of year would be things for drawing protection, bashing things that are weighing us down, spells for luck and drawing new opportunities, and anything that either is meant to enhance or open the psychic channels.  I really think that if you want to do something but you don’t know what to do, do a spell designed to bring you luck and good fortune for the coming year.  When you do this, do it by calling on your Ancestors for help.  They are your blood and your family, even if you’ve never met them, but they care about you and want to see you do well because you are part of that bloodline.  So since this is the time of year for connecting to the spirit world and working with them, as well as being the beginning of a new year.  Make offerings to your Ancestors, specific things if you know who liked what in life, and ask for their blessings.  You can light a white candle, write down your desires, and then burn it in the candle and scatter the ashes in the morning to the winds.

One thing that I do do on Samhain is a reading with a 12 month wheel spread with my tarot cards to see what is going to be coming for the next cycle of the Wheel.  This is the perfect time for divination so I always make a point of doing this for myself during the Samhain season.

I always have read that the veil between the worlds is “thinner” on this day…. Do you have any suggestions on the best/easiest way to contact someone on the otherside?
- Lori

The easiest way to contact and communicate with a loved one who has crossed over s to just talk to them.  Talk to them just like you would have in life, there’s no reason to treat them any different than when they were alive.  While Samhain is one of two times in the year when the veil is particularly thin (the other time being Beltane on April 31st/May 1st), that doesn’t make it the only time you can do these things.

What you can do is set up a small place in your home to honor your loved ones who have passed on.  A table top, a shelf, a small end table set aside just for them is perfect.  Place pictures of the people you wish to connect with and leave them little gifts (a candle, some flowers, things they liked in life).  I have a space that encompasses everyone, but when it’s someone’s birthday, I tend to clear things away and just put them there and do something special for them.  But you can go to this space and sit down and talk to them if you wish like you would have in life (sit down and bring your grandma a cup of tea, that sort of thing).  You can do this stuff anytime!  We should remember our dead all year long, not just on Samhain. 

What’s the best use of Samhain energies for ritual? Is it best for contacting ancestors, or is there a different, more creative use that the energies surrounding Samhain can be put to? For example, since the veil is thinner, is looking for truths that are clouded from us an appropriate ritual goal? Similarly, what about the idea that since its a day that “doesn’t exist” you can work magic without repurcussions? (I don’t believe that myself, but I hear it a lot… Three-Fold always holds true in my view!)
- Cassandra

There is no such thing as magick without repercussions.  There is no time of the year where the laws just cease to exist.  I guess that would be kind of nice, but it doesn’t happen. 

As for what to use with the energy of Samhain, there are really a few specific things that the energy is best used for:

1. Connecting with the Ancestors, Mighty Dead, and the spirit world
2. Divination
3. Cleansing and making the way for new things

Seeking truth through divination is an excellent way to work with the energy of Samhain because you can basically try and pull back the veil in your own life and your own situations.  You can call on the spirits to help you find that truth.  How creative you want to get with these things is naturally up to you. 

So, while for some Samhain is come to end tonight, it’s just getting started for me.  Over the rest of this week you’ll see me posting some more information about Samhain, explaining the differences between Samhain and Halloween, and talking more about the ways you can work with the energy for this night in the Witch’s Year.

In the meantime you can check out some of the previous Samhain posts I’ve had like this one, this one, or this one.  And over this week, if you have other questions about Samhain and the Dying Half of the year, please feel free to send them in to me and I’ll be happy to lend my knowledge and insights!

With these posts we’re encouraged to either run with them as is or make them fit into the theme of our blog.  I will probably do a little of both depending on the topic.  Today’s topic is to share something that makes us smile.

One thing that makes me quite happy is getting to Salem.  Sadly, being here in San Diego now I don’t get there often.  I only got out to Salem once last year while I was home on vacation for a few weeks.  Right now I’m in the process of big discussions with my husband about moving to the North Shore area of Boston at the end of this year.  This is in part because I want to be back on the east coast near family but also because I feel that this particular area is very much a home of the heart for me.  I especially love Salem in the winter when there’s snow on the ground and people seem to stay away from the chilly, windy seaport.

Salem can be a tricky place though.  From about the end of September through the first week or two of November it’s terribly busy because of the Halloween season and Salem’s Haunted Happenings events.  There are a lot of great things going on in the city during that time but it can make you go a little nuts.  I’ll never forget one time back in the mid-90s when I went for Halloween with my Mom for a weekend and I waited in line for a half hour to get into Crow Haven Corner to buy some things that I was actually looking for to use in my Samhain ritual that was coming up.  That is the way October is in the Witch City but, oddly, it brings a smile to my face.

People are coming to Salem to see the weird costumes, the spooky stuff, and naturally, Witches, but while they are experiencing all the fun of the fall holiday season they are truly experiencing magick too.  There are people that walk away from a Halloween visit to Salem who go home changed because they met a real Witch or ten and they were different than they had expected.  They were real and they were able to give them thoughts, advice, or information that made the world of Witchcraft not seem so mysterious or scary.  It may have even opened the door up for them to go home and start seeking magick in their own lives.   It’s hard to go to something like this and not pick up some of that energy and carry it home with you.  Psychic fairs, the Festival of the Dead, dumb suppers, rituals on the common, bands playing on Essex St while the smell of Italian sausage and fried dough fill the air.  It’s a magickal carnival for a month that makes kids think they’re at Hogsmead and adults realize that anything is possible with a little magick.

And that alone is enough to make me smile.

Here are some pictures from my trips to Salem, mostly from 2005 and 2007 when I was still living in the area and visiting on a monthly basis.

Hi Rowan!

I loved the show last night and I hope they have you back on.  You’re fun to listen to!  But I had a question since this never was mentioned on the show.  I don’t know the origin of the name for Halloween.  Could you explain where the name comes from.  If Halloween is rooted in Samhain, like you explained, I don’t get where the name Halloween comes from.

Thanks!
Dave

Hi Dave!

Thanks for listening to the show and writing in, and with such a great question!  I can’t believe I missed out on talking about that.  Halloween is rooted in Samhain, but it’s also somewhat connected to an early holiday of the church that was celebrated in Rome, a holiday called Lemuria, also known as the Feast of the Lemures, which was actually a Pagan celebration originally to honor the restless spirits of the dead.  This was a holiday celebrated on May 13th and on May 13th of 609 Pope Boniface IV had consecrated the Pantheon building in Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all martyred saints.  This began the yearly celebration of All Saints Day, which at the time was known as All Hallows; hallows is another word for saint.  It was a way for the church to use a similar theme of an existing Pagan celebration as a template for their own in hopes of making conversion and transition easier for the Pagans, something that you see all through the church’s attempts to Christianize the Pagan world.

Pope Gregory III was responsible for changing the date of All Hallows from May 13 to November 1 after realizing that the Celtic people had another festival, similar to Lemuria, which occurred at this time.  This festival was known as Samhain and, as we know, is both a harvest festival as well as a time for honoring the dead.  Pope Gregory realized that these people weren’t celebrating All Hallows so their attempt to use the May 13 date for the purpose of conversion wasn’t working so the holiday was moved to November 1 at some point during the 730s.

Now we can see the beginnings of the name a bit more clearly by understanding these holidays that are all happening.  November 1 is All Hallows so the night before, October 31, was known as All Hallows Evening which would later become All Hallows Eve.  Over time this the “All” would get dropped and it would soon just be Hallows Eve and eventually Hallow’een though a mish mash of the words and corruption of the pronunciation. Eventually (and I believe this was an American influence) the word came to be spelled Halloween.  So the name Halloween comes from All Saints Evening.

Rowan,

On the NuLife show you talked very briefly about trick or treating but I was hoping you could add to what you said there.  I grew up not allowed to trick or treat and we didn’t really celebrate Halloween because my grandmother felt it was “the Devil’s holiday”.  I have always allowed my children to participate in Halloween because since they are in public school it would be hard to really shelter them from it.  I don’t believe it’s an evil holiday but I’ll be honest to say that I don’t know the origins of what I am allowing my children to do.  I would just like to know if you can give me some ideas about where trick or treating really came from.

Thank you and Happy Holidays to you!
Meghan

Thank you for your question Meghan!

There are several believed origins of trick-or-treating.  One is the one that I believe I had shared on the show which had to do with the processions from towns and villages out to the edge of the woods or the boundaries of the town to leave offerings for the spirits.  Since it was believed that the spirits would be able to come and interact with the living on this night it was also thought that they could come and do you harm if they had any reason to want to do such a thing.  This lead many to believe that if they made offerings of food and left them out at the edge of the village then the spirits would be appeased by these offerings and not come further into town to bother anyone. Even with this as a practice not everyone walked out of the village with their offerings and instead would just place them at the front door of the home for the visiting ghostly guests.  It’s believed that people would leave food and drink that were favorites of the people who had passed away hoping that this would be even more incentive for them to leave the living alone.

Another possible, and likely more direct origin, is that of Souling, a tradition that was born out of the British Isles in medieval times.  People would dress in rags and disguises, though often the people that participated in this tradition were actually poor and not just regular town folk dressed in rags. These people would go from home to home offering up prayers for the dead in exchange for soul cakes.  It was believed that on this night the souls that were trapped in purgatory could be released into heaven, or hell if that was their fate, by having prayers said for this.  These soul cakes were spiced cakes made with raisins or currants in them.  The more cakes someone was given the more prayers they promised to say over the graves of a loved one for a person.  The more prayers that were said, the faster the release from purgatory.

The church actually encouraged this tradition because it took the idea of making offerings to spirits away and replaced it with the idea of prayer for the departed.  So rather than trying to bargain with spirits the church saw this more as just a tradition of prayer and therefore it was welcomed.  It also was a way to lessen the interest and desire to participate in the Pagan offering traditions and instead follow a church sanctioned practice.

In the 18th century this tradition became a bit different as people would go from home to home offering up songs and carols, even putting on little skits and plays for people, in exchange for food.  At this point giving apples and warmed nuts became the traditional Halloween treats.

As time would come to pass this tradition would go from being about prayer and the church to being much more of a begging tradition.  People of all manner of circumstance would dress in disguises and come to the doors of people’s home and ask them if they would give them a treat or suffer a trick.  If you didn’t have something to give them (a treat of sweets or other food) then you would be subjected to a trick.  These could vary greatly from having something moved or overturned on the property to things more serious like broken windows.  In England a popular trick was to have smoke blown into the keyholes of doors or have glass bottled broken against the home to simulate the sound of windows being broken.  Over time it would be seen that, to give a treat was a far better option than to possibly suffer a trick.

Happy Halloween Rowan!

Thank you for the fun and entertaining show!  I had to listen to the stream the following day but I really enjoyed it and I do hope you get a chance to be on the show again or maybe you should think about starting your own podcast!

Anyway, I wanted to ask about Jack O’ Lanterns.  I remember as a kid hearing a story that explained where they came from but I don’t recall it.  I have a 5 year old son who loves them, he calls them pumpkies, and I would love to be able to tell him the myth about them next year.  I’m also just curious about why we still use them like we do.

Thanks for doing what you do!
Crystal

Hi Crystal!  Thank you for your kind words!

The origin of the Jack O’ Lantern comes from a folklore tale from Ireland about a character known as Stingy Jack. The story has some decidely Christian elements, namely the Devil and the involvement of heaven and hell, things not native to the Irish Celts, so it’s possible that this is a tale that came about much later in the formation of the holiday after the Christians came to Ireland.  There are two versions of this story, at least that I know, though I’m sure there are others.  One involved Jack stumbling around drunk and being found by the Devil; he strikes a deal with the Devil to allow him to get even more drunk before being taken to hell and when it comes time to pay the bar tab he convinces the Devil to morph into a silver coin with which to pay the tab.  Instead of paying with the coin Jack places the coin (the morphed Devil) into his pocket where he also has a small crucifix.  He agrees to free the Devil from his pocket in exchange for 10 more years of freedom.  When the time passes and the Devil comes to collect Jack puts up a fight and wins again but eventually his continued life of drinking causes him to meet his demise and when he’s sent to hell the Devil refuses him entry and sets him off with a piece of coal to light his way across the darkened earth where he is doomed to roam aimlessly for all eternity.

The other story is a little more “cute” and a bit more child-friendly, you could say, and is actually the one I personally like.

Jack was a farmer who was known by everyone as an absolutely horrible person.  He was a drunk, a liar and a cheat and everyone in his village avoided him and he avoided them.  He was a tall, lanky man who was missing teeth and often scared small children because he was so ugly.  So Jack kept to himself and stayed on his farm, not doing much work, and really just killing time.

One day the Devil was looking around for a soul to take into hell and he stumbled across Jack who was just laying around in the sun on his farm, completely neglecting his duties.  The Devil sneaks up to Jack as he sleeps and says “Jack, I’ve come for you soul.”

Jack jumps up from his sleep and is a little startled but says to the Devil “If you can climb up to the top of that oak tree you can have it.  I know my soul is pretty worthless so it doesn’t matter to me.”

The Devil climbs the tree but on his way up to the top he gets stuck.  The Devil calls down to Jack for some help but Jack refuses and tells him that he figures if the Devil is trapped in the tree he can’t take his soul and he’ll be safe.  The Devil thinks about this and tells Jack that if he helps him get down he’ll grant Jack a wish, basically, and that anything he wants will be his.  Jack agrees and decides to help the Devil down and tells him that he wants to make a deal.  The Devil says, “Anything you want, you can have it.”

Jack says “Promise me that no matter what I do and no matter what happens to me when I die, I’ll never have to go to hell.”  The Devil agrees and tells Jack he’ll never had to worry about going to hell.  The Devil leaves and Jack is pleased thinking he’s just outsmarted the Devil.

Jack goes about his life and continues to be a miserable person, lying, cheating, stealing, drinking, doing everything that probably should have gotten him sent to hell.  Then one day it all catches up to him and Jack dies.  Jack goes to heaven and he’s refused almost before even getting to the pearly gates.  He’s told he has to go to hell as that’s where he’s expected.  He goes to hell, momentarily forgetting his deal he made with the Devil, and he’s denied entry there too.

A demon guarding the entrance to hell tells Jack that he’s not allowed in.  Jack, confused about what he’s supposed to do now, causes a scene and begins to argue with the demon.  The demon tells him that he made a deal with the Devil to never be allowed in hell and that unless he can do something that would exchange his soul for the soul of another, he can’t come in.  Jack, a bit confused, is told that he can go back to earth and seek out a soul to exchange for his.  As Jack gets ready to leave he realizes he can’t see and he again begins to complain to the demon.  The demon throws Jack a glowing piece of coal and tells him that the coal will never go out and to use it to light his way.  Since the coal was hot Jack found a turnip in his garden, hallowed it out, and place the coal inside and carried it this way.

Now, the origin of creating and lighting Jack O’ Lanterns comes from the idea tied to this myth that says if you light a coal or a candle and place it inside a hollowed out turnip Jack will think you’re a lost soul as well and therefore he wont come to bother you to try and steal your soul.

The other inevitable question here is why then do we use pumpkins if the story talks about turnips?  Pumpkins are not native to Ireland; they are a native vegetable of America and when the Irish begin to immigrate to America they brought this tradition with them but quickly found that the pumpkin, which was ripe and in season during the harvest festivals when a story like this was told, were much easier to hollow out.  It was also in American in the Victorian age when the practice of carving faces into the pumpkins began.  It is thought that this was another addition to trying to convince any wondering spirits that the people in possession of the scary looking lantern were either lost souls themselves or generally not someone that you would want to approach.

I just wanted to, again, thank everyone for their questions and thank everyone who listened to the show!  Be sure to check out the playback stream and if you want to hear me back on NuLife Radio drop Dax and Mark a line and let them know what you’d like to hear me talk about on the show.  I know I’d be happy to be back on so let them know you’d like to hear me come back. 

A search of the BBC News site turned up a few different pieces with update or post dates of Oct 30th to Nov 1st including these:

Druids, witches and other Pagans celebrate festival of Samhain

Druids mark festival after becoming official religion

Paganism: a modern religion

However the specific piece that seems to be getting the attention from Mike Judge and the Christian Institute is one by BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott entitled “Pagans celebrate Halloween as part of the country’s newest religion” which has a short video clip, only slightly more than a minute and a half in length, and a full article attached to it.

There is also this piece from BBC editor Kevin Bakhurst titled “BBC reports on pagans at Halloween” which also talks about the accusations pointed at the BBC for reporting on the Pagan activities at Samhain and Halloween and how the BBC seems to be making an attempt to push Paganism into the mainstream while downgrading Christianity.

With the recent changes of the legal status of the Druid religion in the UK at the early part of October, it’s not much of a surprise to see local Druids and Pagan groups finding their way into the news media.  It’s also not uncommon given that it is Halloween and Samhain, a time that is rooted in ancient Pagan practices which, even when veiled by pop culture and  modern society, are still going on today when every child goes trick or treating and when each of us dresses up in a costume.  So why the sudden surprise about the attention to Pagans in the media in the UK?  It seems that some feel this even which they feel received “extensive coverage” was such a minority even that there must be some sort of underlying agenda to represent Paganism at length.

The BBC has both given the “no comment” statements about the coverage and then, in contrast, had Kevin Bakhurst’s op-ed piece explaining that the BBC is using opportunities like this one to explore the varied beliefs of the people of the UK.  This still seems to concern a handful of Christians and Christian groups.  Andrea Williams, the director of the Christian Legal Centre, was quoted in an article in the Telegraph as saying  “It’s not always healthy to represent such beliefs as paganism as mainstream…” and  “It’s vital that our national broadcaster remembers our great Christian heritage and all the precepts that come from it that are good for the nation.”

So are the Christian majority feeling as though the are being somehow pushed aside for the “new religion” of the UK?  In a brief article on Gather written by Doug York titled “BBC Criticized for Halloween Pagan Coverage” he makes it clear that he feels the change of the Druids legal status is creating an environment that could lead the way for the minority to become the majority, something he seems to feel is already beginning to happen. “…but when the majority is pushed out, and the minority gains majority coverage, people get annoyed. That’s what is happening in the United Kingdom.” He also makes the estimation that this is what’s happening here in the US with the Christian community clashing with not only Pagans but the Muslim community saying “It is happening in the United States as well, and Christians are waking up to the one-sided reporting, not just of pagans but of Muslims as well.”

It will be interesting to see if anything more comes of this and if the BBC makes any official comments or statements as the week carries on.  It’s probably more likely that, with Halloween now falling into the rear view the controversy will die down and the Druids and other Pagans will fall back into obscurity until Winter Solstice events at Stonehenge become planned.

I think it’s a bit odd that there has been so much surprise Pagan groups, Pagan events, and Pagan related articles in general should dominate the news during the time of a Pagan rooted holiday.   And while the Druids got their legal status in the UK and Paganism and Wicca are fast growing in the UK and around the world, I hardly think that the Christians in the UK need to worry about being overrun by Pagans and being made to be the minority any time soon.  Maybe instead it’s time for the Christians to realize they aren’t the only ones there and that there’s plenty of room for the Pagans to life side by side with them.

Here is our first question…

Hi Rowan,

I am starting to wonder if Wicca might be right for me. Every year when Halloween comes I start to think about it more and this year I’m curious to learn a little more about it and why Halloween seems to be such a big deal for Wiccans. Can you help?

Thanks!
Jenna

Here is another questions from someone about Halloween traditions…

Hello Rowan Pendragon,

Ever since I was young I’ve wondered where the traditions of Halloween came from. My family is Christian and became born again after a family tragedy when I was 11 and we stopped celebrating Halloween because we were told that it was the Devil’s Day and The Witch’s Sabbath. When I would ask my parents why we had to stop and what was so bad about what we did, they told me not to even talk about it. I’m in my 20′s now and have done some reading but I’d be curious to see what an actual Witch would have to say about these traditions and how people practice them today.

Happy Halloween!
Tyler

And we have one last one from a newer practitioner who’s looking for some guidance on performing their first Samhain ritual…

Hi Rowan,

My name is WinterMoon and I’m 27. I’m a new Wiccan, having only been practicing as a solitary for about a year. This will be my first Samhain and I’m thinking of doing a very small ritual to honor the holiday but I don’t know where to start. I have read about some ritual practices that really seem out of my league and I don’t want to do anything that could upset or anger any spirits, especially on Samhain! Can you help guide me on something simple, either an actual ritual I could do or some suggestions, so I can honor the holiday correctly?

Blessed Be!
WinterMoon

Well, first off let me say a Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain to all of you and everyone reading! This is one of my favorite times of year and the Gods are being kind to me this year and giving this New England born and breed Witch some very traditional fall-like weather in Southern California. It’s nice to have to put on a sweater in October rather than shorts!

So let’s look at some of these questions and some information on Samhain that will help those that are new to the Craft understand this holiday better as well as info about the traditions of Halloween and why we do the things we do.

Is it Halloween or is it Samhain?

One of the questions that we need to first answer is what is Halloween and what is Samhain? Are they the same or do they have some differences between them?

Samhain, pronunced Sow-en, comes from both the Irish and Scots Gaelic work that means “summer’s end” as well as November. Samhain is one of the most principle of Harvest festivals in the Celtic year as this was the last change to really bring in any late season crops as well as slaughter animals for the winter. By the time October was over and November began the weather would become much colder and harsher with the ground freezing up. This means no grass would really be left for free roaming animals to feed off of and now would be the time to make sure that meat is stored because it would keep during the freeze of winter. Other than the agricultural aspects of Samhain there was the spiritual side which still managed to tie into the work of the land. Offerings would be made to the Gods, sometimes in the forms of the bones of slaughtered animals of the harvest placed in bonfires, to offer thanks for the harvest but also to ask for protection for the tribes during the harsh winters. It was inevitable that not everyone would make it to the spring thaw but it certainly never hurt to have the Gods on your side.

Blood sacrifice was also common during Samhain. Performed by the Druids these sacrifices, both animal and human, served two purposes; this was believed to appease the Lord of Death but also helped them to divine the future for the winter and the coming year. When animals were sacrificed their entrails would be read for omens of the future and when humans were sacrificed in large wickerman structure, the sounds of the screams as they died, the size and shape of the flames, the color and direction of the smoke and the appearance of the ash and remains all helped the priests to see what was to come for the next year and who would live and who would die during the season.

In the fourth century A.D. the Christian religion was declared to be the lawful religion of the land by the Roman Emperor Constantine and with that the practices of the Druids were now considered illegal. The sacrificial rites practiced at Samhain were outlawed as well and in the year 61 A.D. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, a Roman General (not to be confused with Suetonius the Roman historian who lived around 70-130 A.D.), ordered that all the known groves and ritual sites of the Druids be blessed and consecrated in the name of Christ, and temples to be destroyed, and for Druid priests still practicing and defying these laws to be murdered. The Druids that escaped took their Samhain celebrations underground with them and while they went into hiding it is often though that the practices continued in secret and carried into future generations, eventually becoming traditions know to the Celts and others in later years (this would only stand to reason given that the Druids weren’t recordkeepers, so the traditions had to be carried on somehow).

In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV created and introduced to the people All Saint’s Day, a day that would honor the dead but specifically those that died while doing the work of the Christian God, fighting for their belief of the Christian religion while working to convert the Pagans. The original date of the holiday was May 13th, which was the culmination of a Pagan celebration Feast of the Lemures, a period of three days, May 9th, 11th and the 13th, where restless and harmful spirits were exorcised from homes to end any disturbances that may be taking place. Many years later, sometime between 730 and 740, Pope Gregory III changed the date to November 1st. There are a few theories about why this was done however it seems to be most thought that Pope Gregory III was making attempts to convert the remaining Pagans to the Christian faith with less violence than had been used in the past and had decided to use this Christian celebration of the dead to replace the Celtic celebration of the dead, Samhain, essentially co-opting their holiday and putting a Christian spin on it. A bit later on, in (or about, depending on who you ask) 998 St. Odilo of Cluny established All Souls Day on November 2nd. So where All Saints Day would commemorate those of sainthood and nobility in the Christan faith who had died, the following day of All Souls Day would honor all the faithfully departed. It was the hope of the church that this would help to ease some transition from Samhain into the practices of Christianity for the Pagans.

So how did this become Halloween? That has mostly to do with the name. Halloween takes place on October 31st which is the day before All Saints Day which was also called All Hallows, with the word “hallowed” meaning “holy”. The night before All Hallows was known as All Hallows Eve which eventually became All Hallow’een and eventually Halloween.

But is Halloween the same as Samhain. No, it never was in the past and it isn’t today. Today we all know Halloween to be more of a secular holiday that does have some traditions that originate from the Celtic traditions of Samhain. Between Samhain, All Saints Day, All Souls Day and All Hallows we end up with a large conglomerate of a holiday that today embraces aspects of each and has become it’s own monster, as it were. There are Christians and Wiccans alike that do not celebrate Halloween because of the implications that it has on their spiritual practice while others of both faiths, as well as many others, just see it as a night of fun for kids and adults, a night to get dressed up in costumes, eat more candy than we should ever normally do (because by magick the calories don’t count on Halloween) and have a few scares and a lot of fun.

The Witch’s Sabbat of Samhain

Today Wiccans celebrate Samhain as the Witches New Year; it’s the time that one year ended for the Celts and another year would begin. It is considered by many to be the most sacred of the eight Sabbats, or holidays, in the Wiccan year. Samhain is a night where Witches come together and honor their beloved dead, both known and unknown in this lifetime. It’s a night for honoring Ancestors and Witches of the past. The celebrations of Samhain begin at sundown on October 31st and continue until sundown on November 1st. This is one of two times during the year that it is said that the veil between the worlds is at it’s thinnest, allowing the spirits of the Underworld to pass through and visit with the living during the night. This also happens at Beltane, known to some as May Day, from sundown on April 30th until sundown on May 1st. These two celebrations, Beltane and Samhain, are the markings of the summer and winter halves of the Celtic year and they work together and complement one another as Beltane is the celebration of life and Samhain the celebrations of death.

On Samhain covens and solitary Witches honor deity with rituals to honor the God in his aspect of The Dark Lord, Lord of Death or Holly King and the Goddess as the Crone. This is the night when the God dies and is brought to the Underworld by the Goddess where he will reside and rejuvenate to be born of the Goddess again at Yule, the Winter Solstice, where we celebrate the return of the Sun (or son in the sense of the God). This we can see as we observe nature to take our cues as we begin to see a significant change in the perceived amount of daylight each day around Samhain and the sun begins to make its return to the earth at Yule where, while only by seconds, we begin to gain more daylight each day culminating in the Spring Equinox, or Ostara. This brings us the very important spiritual aspect of Samhain, that of going inward and preparing for rebirth. We often take this journey with the God at this time and find ourselves working on inner spiritual work between now and Yule; we take this time to prepare ourselves, clearing out the old and reevaluating the past and looking ahead to the future, so that at Yule we too can be reborn in a spiritual sense and look toward the increased sun as a sign of our inner growth.

There are several different types of rituals held during Samhain. Typically rituals will center around the themes of Ancestor honoring/honoring the Mighty Dead and rebirth. One tradition, The Dumb Supper, is a common practice and one that many covens may observe if it falls into their tradition. The Dumb Supper is a feast held at a formal table setting where there are places set for all the human guests and one extra place is set for any spirits that may wish to come and join in. The dinner is held in complete silence so that those present can receive messages from loved ones that may be passing through on this night. Food is put out on the plate for the spirits and left as an offering for the night allowing the essence of the food to be used for energy by those that may be visiting. Many times there may be a somewhat informal altar set up in the dining area that acts as a sort of shrine for loved ones that have crossed over. Here mementos of the dead such as photos, jewelry, favorite images, and even favorite items like a class of a favorite alcohol, along with candles and offerings, will act as a place of honor for those that the living may hope to communicate with during the dinner. The foods served often reflect either favorites of those who have crossed over or things that hearken back to one’s heritage as a way of honor and connecting to those Ancestors that one never knew in life but is connected to through bloodlines.

Another common practice in the Craft on Samhain is divination. Because this is a night when the veil is thin and communication with the spirit world is quite easy, it’s a great time for getting and giving readings to see what the future holds. Doing readings with tarot cards or runes, scrying with fire or water, all can help one to either get answers to specific questions or to look to see what will come in the next year. One practice that I have personally done for years is to lay out a tarot card for each month for the next 12 months for myself and create a reading for the next year. I find myself often looking back at it when I have a particularly difficult month just to see what guidance I may have been given at Samhain and I often find myself pulling out bits of information from my Samhain reading that can help me months later.

Traditions of the Season

So what about the traditions we’ve all grown up with? Where did trick or treating come from? Why do we put out pumpkins carved into scary faces carved into them and why do we wear costumes? These and many other familiar Halloween traditions come to us from various folk customs of Samhain and the Celts.

Jack-o’-Lantern – The lit carved pumpkins that light our way trick or treating on Halloween night come from a folk legend about a man named Jack who was a terrible person, so bad that he when he died, after being rejected from Heaven, he was sent to Hell where he also found he was unwelcome. One version of the tale says that Jack had tricked the Devil and because of that the Devil wouldn’t allow him to stay in Hell but instead gave Jack a hollowed out turnip with a cola inside the light his way as Jack was banished to the earth, to wonder aimlessly eternity. The Irish would carve turnips and place coals inside would place them in front of their homes and long passage ways on the night of Samhain to help Jack and the other spirits that would be wondering the earth this might find their way. When the Irish began to immigrate to America they discovered that the pumpkin, a fruit that was not native to Ireland, proved to be easier to carve. The tradition of carving turnips on Halloween and placing them at doorsteps then became that of carving pumpkins as we know today.

Trick or Treating and Costumes- At Samhain it was customary to place a small offering out by one’s door for the souls of the dead that may come to visit you. The Druids felt that many of the spirits that would come back on the night of Samhain were mischievous, using this time of being able to return to the world of the living as a chance to come and cause harm to those they may have had problems with while living. For this reason the Druids would advise leaving food out for the passing spirits to appease them in hopes that they wouldn’t bother you, or haunt or trick you.

Another level of protection was taken in the form of wearing masks and dressing in clothing that wasn’t typical for the individual. The Druids would wear masks during the rites performed on Samhain so that they would be able to disguise themselves from any malevolent spirits that might make their way during the rituals. The people of the tribes began to follow this practice as well, presumably feeling that if the priests were worried about being recognized by the spirits they should disguise themselves as well. It became common for people to dress in the clothing of the opposite gender in order to confuse ancestors and potentially dangerous spirits.

When it comes to the tradition we know today it’s thought that these things along with a practice from the British Isles known as “Souling”, a tradition of begging. The poor would dress in costumes in order to disguise their true identity and they would travel across the countryside on this one night, going door to door and either offering prayers for the departed loved ones of the family or singing songs in exchange for a “soul cake”, a small oatcake made with currants in them, of an offering of other harvest foods such as apples and nuts.

These traditions all carried on with various changes being made to them and coming to America with families from Europe as they immigrated and eventually we came to have the traditions that we know today.

Honoring Samhain Today

Celebrating Samhain can be a very simple thing or it can be very elaborate. For those that are new to the Craft celebrating Samhain can be as simple as setting out an offering of food for the spirits that will come to pass or laying out images of family and friends and even pets that have passed on and lighting a candle for them. Sitting at your altar or anywhere that you feel comfortable and can be alone for some time and meditating on the meaning of Samhain can create a powerful personal experience with this Sabbat. Right and wrong for honor this or any other Sabbat is somewhat subjective. If you are learning and practicing a specific tradition of Wicca or Paganism you will likely have certain practices in place for the holiday. If you are solitary and trying to find the right things to do for the holiday, follow your intuition. It’s a day of honoring the God and Goddess and the dead. Allow yourself to explore that form of expression and find whatever you feel expresses your true and genuine love for your beloved dead and the Gods. Take the time to take stock and prepare for your own rebirth alongside the God at Yule.

Correspondences

Here is a list of correspondences and general information for creating your own Samhain rituals and honoring.

Deities – The Morrighan, Hecate, Persephone, Pomona, Hel, Odin, Cerridwen, Cernunnos, Demeter, Kore, The Crone, Holly King, The Dark Lord.

Activities – Honoring the dead, divination, pumpkin carving, baking cakes for the dead, clearing out the old and making resolutions for change

Colors – Black, brown, orange, red

Foods – Apples, meats, ciders mulled with herbs, mead, pumpkin, squashes, potatoes, seeds and nuts, pomegranates

Herbs- Oak leaves, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, hazelnut, hemlock, wormwood, mugwort, sage, rosemary, ginger, garlic

Animals – Cat, bat, owl, crows and ravens

Spell and Ritual Work – Releasing bad habits, clearing obstacles to goals, banishing, diviantion, past life regression work, protection, inner work and journey work, working with spirits, uncrossing.

Incense – Wormwood, sage, sweetgrass, mugwort, patchouli, sandalwood

Tools – Divination tools such as tarot, runes, pendulums, magick mirror or scrying bowl. Cauldron, besom.

Crystals – Jet, obsidian, onyx bloodstone, jasper, smokey quartz, carnelian

You can get some great recipes for Samhain here and there are some ritual and an example of a solitary Samhain ritual here.

Earlier I sent a message on Twitter commenting that I was going to be listening the cheesy Halloween music while I worked on a Samhain post for later.  I was surprised at the number of messages I got asking what I was listening to.  So I’ll share with you all my current Halloween playlist.  I have this saved on my computer and burned to a disc, which every year goes into the CD player in my car and stays in heavy rotation there until well into November (much to my husband’s chagrin).  So check this out and make yourself a nice little mix of Halloween music fun!

1. Halloween - Siouxsie and the Banshees
2. The Addams Family Theme
3. Abracadabra - The Steve Miller Band
4. Witch Doctor – David Seville
5. This Is Halloween - Marilyn Manson
6. Somebody’s Watchin’ Me (remix) – Beatfreakz
7. Witchy Woman – The Eagles
8. Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
9. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
10. Hell – Squirrel Nut Zippers
11. Feed My Frankenstein – Alice Cooper
12. Welcome to my Nightmare – Alice Cooper
13. Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
14. Season of the Witch – Donovan
15. People are Strange – The Doors
16. Everyday is Halloween – Ministry
17. Zombie Jamboree – Harry Belafonte
18. I Put A Spell On You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
19. Bat Out Of Hell – Meat Loaf
20. Thriller – Michael Jackson
21. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
22. Bark At The Moon – Ozzy Osbourne
23. Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr.
24. Super Freak – Rick James
25. House of 1000 Corpses – Rob Zombie
26. Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
27. Black Magic Woman – Santana
28. Love Potion #9 – The Searchers
29. Ghoul’s Night Out – The Misfits
30. Die, Die My Darking – The Misfits
31. Halloween – The Misfits
32. Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill – The Misfits
33. The Time Warp – The Rocky Horroy Picture Show Film Cast
34. The Munsters Theme
35. Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
36. The Witch Queen of New Orleans – Redbone
37. Bad Things – Jace Everett
38. Halloween (She Get So Mean) – Rob Zombie and The Ghastly Ones
39. Devil Woman – Cliff Richard
40. The Blob – The Five Blobs

So there you go!  That along with whole CDs by Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana and then naturally the more Pagan oriented stuff for Samhain (as opposed to Halloween) and I’m good for a while.  Enjoy!