RaidersNewsNetwork
Exclusive
Posted: October 11, 2011
7:00 am Eastern |
Happy Halloween?
On 31 October, spooky beings and superheroes, cartoon characters and
rubberized celebrities will line the streets and mall hallways of America
anticipating sugary rewards. Compelled by shouts of "TRICK OR TREAT," children
of all ages will tote receptacles of various size and weight
harboring the result of the nights hunt. It's called Halloween, and while
for most it is a harmless annual activity, its roots run deep in
ancient paganism.
 ALL HALLOWS' EVE, or Halloween, originated in the 7th century AD. It
was celebrated on 13 May and was a night for remembering deceased saints and
martyrs. The date was later changed to November 1 in order to Christianize
the pagan holidays Beltane and Samhain--festivals of summer, winter and fire.
James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, said, "throughout Europe,
Hallowe'en,
the night which marks the transition from autumn to winter, seems to have
been of old the time of year when the souls of the departed revisited their homes in order to warm themselves by the fire." Such
ghosts walked the countryside retrieving offerings of food and drink (the
treat) supplied by living family members. Darker forces roamed the
night as well. Demons, hobgoblins, witches on broomstick, all haunting the
night with acts of mischief (the trick).
Real witches were also known to revel on Halloween night. According
to Man, Myth & Magic, the witches of Aberdeen danced "round an old
grey stone at the foot of the hill at Craigleuch, the Devil himself playing
music before them." Modern witches and Wiccans practice similar skyclad
(nude) Halloween traditions, calling on earth spirits and goddesses to visit
their knife drawn circles of power.
The Goddess Hecate
Hecate, the Titan earth mother of the wizards and witches, illustrates
perhaps better than any other ancient goddess, the connection between Wicca,
the Celtic Halloween traditions, and the realm of evil supernaturalism.
As the dark goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, like Isis, was worshiped
with impure rites and magical incantations. Her name was probably derived
from the ancient Egyptian word Heka ("sorcery" or "magical"), which may
explain her association with the Egyptian frog goddess of the same name.
This may also explain the affiliation of frogs with witchcraft, and the
various potions of frog-wart and "hecateis" (Hecate's hallucinogenic plant,
also called Aconite), which supposedly sprouted from the spittle of Cerberus (Hade's three-headed guard dog) that fell to the ground when Hercules
forced him to the surface of the earth.
Because her devotees practiced such magic wherever three paths joined,
Hecate was known by the Romans as Trivia ( tri "three," and via "roads").
Later, when the Latin church fathers compared the magic of the goddess
Trivia with the power of the Gospel, they found it to be inferior, and
thus the pursuit of Hecate's knowledge became known as Trivial Pursuit,
or inconsequential. But the fact that Hecate's followers sincerely believed in and
feared her magic and presence was legendary. We find example
of such fear in the Argonautica, (Jason and the Argonauts) by Apollonius Rhodius, when the sorceress Medea provided a spell for Jason to use in
winning Hecate's assistance:
Take heed now, that I may devise help
for thee. When at thy coming my father has given thee the deadly teeth
from the dragon's jaws for sowing, then watch for the time when the night
is parted in twain, then bathe in the stream of the tireless river, and
alone, apart from others, clad in dusky raiment, dig a rounded pit; and
therein slay a ewe, and sacrifice it whole, heaping high the pyre on the
very edge of the pit. And propitiate only-begotten Hecate, daughter of Perses, pouring from a goblet the hive-stored labour of bees. And then,
when thou hast heedfully sought the grace of the goddess, retreat from
the pyre; and let neither the sound of feet drive thee to turn back, nor
the baying of hounds, lest haply thou shouldst maim all the rites and thyself
fail to return duly to thy comrads....
Jason bathed his tender body reverently
in the sacred river; and round him he placed a dark robe, [and] he cut the
throat of the sheep, and duly placed the carcase above; and he kindled
the logs placing fire beneath, and poured over them mingled libations,
calling on Hecate Brimo [the Mighty One] to aid him in the contests. And
when he had called on her he drew back; and she heard him, the dread goddess,
from the uttermost depths, and came to the sacrifice of Aeson's son [Jason];
and round her horrible serpents twined themselves among the oak boughs;
and there was a gleam of countless torches; and sharply howled around her
the hounds of hell. All the meadows trembled at her step; and the nymphs
that haunt the marsh and the river shrieked, all who dance around that
mead of Amarantian Phasis. And fear seized Aeson's son, but not even so
did he turn round as his feet bore him forth, till he came back to his
comrades.
Such magic, as illustrated in the fiction above, was fearfully employed by people to appease
Hecate. This was primarily due to her role as the sorceress of the afterlife, but
true believers also feared Hecate's ability to afflict the mind with madness
(as in the Dionystic curses), as well as her influence over night creatures.
She was thought to
govern haunted places where evil or murderous activity had occurred. Such areas
where violence or lechery had a history were believed to be magnets of
malevolent spirits, something like "haunted houses," and if one wanted
to get along with the resident apparitions they needed to make oblations
to the ruler of the darkness--Hecate.
Hecate's familiar (the night owl)
announced the acceptance of the oblations, and those who gathered on the
eve of the full moon perceived the spooky sound of the creature as a good
omen. Statues of the goddess bearing the triple-face of a dog, a snake,
and a horse, overshadowed the dark rituals when they were performed at
the crossing of three roads. At midnight, Hecate's devotees left food offerings
at the intersection for the goddess ('Hecate's Supper'), and, once deposited,
quickly exited without turning around or looking back. Sometimes the offerings
consisted of honey cakes and chicken hearts. At other time's puppies,
honey, and female black lambs were slaughtered for the goddess and her strigae.
The strigae were deformed and
vicious owl-like affiliates of Hecate who flew through the
night feeding on bodies of unattended babies. During the day
the strigae appeared as simple old women, and such may
account for the history of flying witches. The same strigae
hid amidst the leaves of the trees during the annual
festival of Hecate (held on August 13), when Hecate's
followers offered up the highest praise of the goddess.
Hecate's devotees celebrated such festivals near Lake Averna
in Campania where the sacred willow groves of the goddess
stood, and they communed with the tree spirits (earth
spirits, including Hecate, were thought to inhabit trees)
and summoned the souls of the dead from the mouths of nearby
caves. It was here that Hecate was known as Hecate-Chthonia
("Hecate of the earth"), a depiction in which she
most clearly embodied the popular earth-mother-spirit that
conversed through the cave-stones and sacred willow trees.
Whereas Hecate was elsewhere
known as Hecate-Propylaia, "the one before the
gate," a role in which she guarded the entrances of
homes and temples from nefarious outside evils (talk about
Satan casting out Satan!); and whereas she was also known as
Hecate-Propolos, "the one who leads," as in the
underworld guide of Persephone and of those who inhabit
graveyards; and finally whereas she was known as
Hecate-Phosphoros, "the light bearer," her most
sacred title and one that recalls another powerful
underworld spirit, Satan, whose original name was Lucifer
("the light bearer"); it was nevertheless her role
as the feminist earth-goddess-spirit Hecate-Chthonia that
popularized her divinity and commanded reverence from among
the common people.
Modern Symbolism
The connection between
ancient paganism and the modern customs and costumes of
Halloween is easy to trace. The Hecatian myths adopted by
Celtic occultists continue in pop culture, symbolism, and
tradition in the following ways:
- People visiting
neighborhood homes on Halloween night represent the
dead in search of food (the treat).
- Masks of devils and
hobgoblins represent evil spirits seeking mischief
(the trick).
- Those who pass out candy
represent the homes visited by the dead, or may also
represent worried individuals seeking to appease
Hecate and other nighttime terrors.
- The Jack-O-Lantern
(will-o-the-wisp, fox fire, fairy fire, etc.) is,
according to some histories, a wandering soul stuck
between heaven and hell. Others claim the Druids left
Jack-O-Lanterns on doorsteps to ward off evil spirits.
Another legend concerns a drunk named Jack who made a
deal with the devil. Each claims to be the true origin
of the Jack-O-Lantern myth.
While most children who wear
masks and pursue sweets on Halloween night do not
understand, or care about such symbolism, parents should
consider the spiritual implications before participating in
occult rituals.
 THE
ARTICLE ABOVE IS BASED ON INFORMATION IN THE FREE PDF BOOK
"THE GODS WHO WALK AMONG US" -- GET IT FREE HERE!
|
