Halloween/Samhain

[KatKinney]

This has always been a very important day to me. Though I plan all year, It seems my level of organization and preparation are always disappointing. I feel like I've got this fuzzy abstract idea of how I want to honor, and celebrate the day, and the lack of clarity always leads to disappointment. I was hoping maybe some of you could share how you spend the day, customs and traditions you observe. Is the day a social one for you, or is it spent in solitude or both? Your comments are very much appreciated. Thank you

[Kirtastrophe]

I go Trick or Treating and get free candy, and then I get drunk, smoke pot. On Halloween I do whatever I want to do because that's a big part of what Laveyan Satanism id about, right? Making yourself happy?

[KatKinney]

Right on :p
Its so weird, I usually have the whole month planned with pumpkin carvings and movie marathons, and then I leave the actual day of the 31st open. I feel like part of me always expects to stumble upon some magical adventure carried by the energy of the night. Maybe I watched too many Halloween movies as a kid. I leave the day open, expecting this vague fantacy, all dressed up with no where to go. I always tell myself I will plan better for next year, but it seems I never really do plan anything for the day itself out of concern for not disrupting what I'm sure will be the fateful evening of a lifetime. I realize how arbitrary and silly this may sound. I fear I'm moving father and farther away...
Every year I aimlessly burst out the front door, decked out to the hilt, determined in my declaration to "Go find Halloween!!!" Every year it gets harder and harder to find. The idea of exactly what I'm looking for becomes more and more unclear. :(

[Seyk]

It has always been one of my favourite days of the year. What I usualy do is prepare aka write my own ritual. I do this like days before. During the day, I usualy make some crazy food, themed to Halloween, like ghost cake or something like that. What I also do every year is go to the halloween masquerade. There is no trick or treating where I live unfortunatly, but the masquerade is always fun, creative, theres lots of beer, dancing and interesting people to meet. After I get back home, I do the ritual and do the yearly divination. I also fill out all the window-seals with white candles and light them, as a guidance for spirits to find their way back home and I let them burn out completely. It is a magical sight to see for example from outside on the street. If I had the possibility what I would do is most certanly spend the day and night in the woods with people of similar occult interest then mine, but heck, not possible at the moment, so my Halloween is usualy like I wrote.

[Light]

"I also fill out all the window-seals with white candles and light them, as a guidance for spirits to find their way back home and I let them burn out completely".

Wow, I love this, soo beautiful...I think that will be a new thing that I will put into to my Halloween tradition.

I can remember a story about it as a child , had totally forgotten about it.

Thank you for sharing....:)

[grbree]

aw come on every one loves to play dressup.

halloween for me is honoring nd remembering my family who's no longer here, it's a solemn day for me.

[grbree]

Do you also go around spaying and nudering cats and dogs lol.

[grbree]

Ah well in america it's become highly commercialized very few people know what it once was and even fewer actually still partake in it.

[Seyk]

Im just sad that its not a tradition here. It came with the church as All Saints Day. But Halloween has been more and are still getting more popular because of the influence from USA, but I have never been on a Halloween party in my life, which sucks! But the nice tradition with All Saints Day is all the candles in the graveyards which gives a beautiful and mystical touch to the community. But still, thats not different from other countries...

Make your own party.Don't matter if you don't even have visitors, it can still be loads of fun, trust me :D

[Vir Sapiens]

One should never scoff at old traditions no matter how ridiculous they might seem. Halloween is one of those things that we got twisted, but at least we still do it. I shudder to think what might happen if Halloween were suddenly gone. No more masks, no more jack o' lanterns. As everyone knows the veil between the living and the dead gets thin at this time of year. The world is starting to die, but it has just enough life left in it to be tempting. There will always be unhappy souls who want just a little bit more life, who wait right there on the cusp of our worlds, hungrily gazing in and on Halloween they get a chance to make a grab for as much as they can. The old wards, a masked face and a jack o' lantern, are still the best wards. I also leave milk, meat, and a green vegetable on a white plate at the end of the drive to placate those spirits who have wandered this side of the veil.

Of course it is important to note that the October 31 date is arbitrary as hell. It's a Christian holiday. By the old figuring Samhain falls in the central lunar cycle between the equinox and the solstice, which is not always, and indeed frequently isn't, October 31st or November 1st. I think it falls closer to October 22nd this year. The current Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar and the Picts and Celts who celebrated Samhain used a lunar calendar. It is important to make allowances for this when practicing rituals specifically made for the holiday, otherwise it's like celebrating New Years Eve in April, you can still do it, but you look like a fool.

[Light]

[QUOTE=Vir Sapiens;34672]One should never scoff at old traditions no matter how ridiculous they might seem. Halloween is one of those things that we got twisted, but at least we still do it. I shudder to think what might happen if Halloween were suddenly gone. No more masks, no more jack o' lanterns. As everyone knows the veil between the living and the dead gets thin at this time of year. The world is starting to die, but it has just enough life left in it to be tempting. There will always be unhappy souls who want just a little bit more life, who wait right there on the cusp of our worlds, hungrily gazing in and on Halloween they get a chance to make a grab for as much as they can. The old wards, a masked face and a jack o' lantern, are still the best wards. I also leave milk, meat, and a green vegetable on a white plate at the end of the drive to placate those spirits who have wandered this side of the veil.



I think this is so beautiful. Thank you ! :)

[Vir Sapiens]

Where do you get your facts?

Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year In Britain by Ronald Hutton. He's one of the foremost authorities on pagan religion and history in the British Isles. It's a fascinating read. I thoroughly recommend it.

[Vir Sapiens]

The man teaches at Bristol, has fellowships at Magdalene and Oxford and has published several scholarly books on the subject, including that one debate he had with that chick in Cauldron years back about Murray's theories of the Witch Cult versus Cohn's, much sounder in my opinion, theory of minority persecution. That's hardly amateur material. The man has devoted his academic career to studying 17th century and Pagan Britain. To my mind that makes him an authoritative voice on the subject and certainly not an amateur.