I'm putting up an e-mail and the response I posted to it. The first e-mail, at the bottom of all this, was put up by my blind faith step-father who furthers his example of underevolvement. Don't send shit out, especially if my e-mail is on it, and expect me not to respond. Dumbass.
Hello to all receiving this reply-
For those who don't know me, I'm "so-so's" step-son. For those who don't know, I'm also a practicing Wiccan. The e-mail that was sent out to you, which is copied below, contains many untruths that I can not sit by and let go. These various untruths have been used at times to justify the attacks, murders and tortures that Pagans have endured for the last 1700 years and to the modern day.
Also, let me say this, at the end of the e-mail sent out, it states that Pagans and Wiccans recruit, especially on Halloween. Let me makes this very clear, Pagans and Wiccans DO NOT recruit! It is looked down upon to do so and is considered exceedingly rude, insulting and wrong. It is something that is just simply not done. Also, Pagans and Satanists are two entirely different things. Pagans and Wiccans are just that, Pagan. This means that we worship more than one God or Goddess, making us polytheistic. Christians, and any other Abrahamic groups, is monotheistic, meaning you worship one God, or Goddess. Satanism in an extention of Abrahamic beliefs. It stemmed out of dislike and resistance to the Vatican and branched off denomination Christian practices. There are many different styles of Satanism these days, but only few deal with the Abrahamic Satan as a figurehead that is opposite to that of the Abrahamic God. Again, Pagans and Wiccans are completely separate from Satanists. Different beliefs and practices, plain and simple.
A Celebration of Evil
It is true that Halloween is a Wiccan holiday, but it is not completely surrounding the spirits (which are not demons) returning to this plane of existence. It is an agricultural holy day, celebrating the last harvest of the season. It varies in its celebration, as it can be celebrated on Oct. 31st, Nov. 1st or November 4th or when the sun is at 15 degrees Scorpio. It is also a seasonal holy day, which does mark the beginning of The Dark Days, or when the days shorten and grow colder. It is the second oldest, unbroken, holiday/holy day in the European world, estimated age is 6000 years.
Its main focuses are preparing for winter; honoring the harvest and honoring the dead.
Ronald Hutton, a professor at the University of Bristol, describes this day in his book The Stations of the Sun;
Hallowe'en developed from the Celtic feast of Samhain (pronounced "sow-in"), which marked the end of summer and the start of winter. For the Celts, Samhain was the beginning of the year and the cycle of the seasons. Samhain was at a time when the Celts acknowledged the beginning and ending of all things. As they looked to nature, they saw the falling of the leaves from the trees, the coming of winter and death. It was a time when they turned to their Gods and Goddesses seeking to understand the turning cycles of life and death. Here, on the threshold of the cold barren winter months, it was also a time of feasting and celebration as the weakest animals where culled to preserve valuable foodstuffs, and provide food to last until the following spring...For the Celts, Samhain was a time when the gates between this world and the next were open. It was a time of communionwith the spirits of the dead, who, like the wild autumnal winds, were free to roam the earth. At Samhain, the Celts called upon their ancestors, who mightbring warnings and guidance to help in the year to come.
The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation: Solitary Witch by Silver Ravenwolf
Day of Death
No where have I run into Samhain being refereed to as this. As far as Samhain being a "Lord of Death", this is a falsehood that was erroneously coined by researchers in the 1700s.
The closest that you can come to a Celtic God of the Dead is Cernunnos, who is the 'Horned God', as he is the God of Nature, Animals, Fertility and the Underworld. Other than this, you'll be hard pressed to find a Celtic Lord of Death.
http://folkloreandmyth.netfirms.com/gods_goddesses.html
Human and Animal Sacrifices
Here's the short answer: yes, the Celts do appear to have performed human sacrifice as part of their religious rituals. And, since the Druids were the religious/scholar/priestly social class, they almost certainly would have participated in human sacrifices, and probably officiated at them.
We have three sorts of data regarding Celtic human sacrifices. We have the words of Classical Greek and Roman writers, usually with a political agenda, and often reporting hearsay (Strabo for instance, was repeating the observations of the earlier no longer extant author Poseidonius), we have a few references in medieval Irish texts, primarily in the mythological tales, and we have archaeological data that is increasingly important.
First, here are some extracts about human sacrifice among the Celts from two Classical authors.
According to Strabo (64/63 B.C.E. - 21 C.E. at least) in his Geography (4.1.13):
The Romans put a stop both to these customs and to the ones connected with sacrifice and divination, as they were in conflict with our own ways: for example, they would strike a man who had been consecrated for sacrifice in the back with a sword, and make prophecies based on his death-spasms; and they would not sacrifice without the presence of the Druids. Other kinds of human sacrifices have been reported as well: some men they would shoot dead with arrows and impale in the temples; or they would construct a huge figure of straw and wood, and having thrown cattle and all manner of wild animals and humans into it, they would make a burnt offering of the whole thing (trans. by Benjamin Fortson, in Koch and Carey 1995, 18).
And according to Julius Caesar (writing c. 15 March, 44 B. C. E.) De Bello Gallico 6.16):
All the people of Gaul are completely devoted to religion, and for this reason those who are greatly affected by diseases and in the dangers of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow to do so using the Druids as administrators to these sacrifices, since it is judged that unless for a man's life a man's life is given back, the will of the immortal gods cannot be placated. In public affairs they have instituted the same kind of sacrifice. Others have effigies of great size interwoven with twigs, the limbs of which are filled up with living people which are set on fire from below, and the people are deprived of life surrounded by flames. It is judged that the punishment of those who participated in theft or brigandage or other crimes are more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supplies of this kind fail, they even go so low as to inflict punishment on the innocent (trans. Anne Lea, in Koch and Carey 1995. 22).
Strabo's reference to arrows is especially intriguing; there's little or no archaeological data to support Celtic use of bows and arrows. Neither are mentioned in the medieval Irish tales, and the Irish words for bow and arrow are borrowed from Latin and Norse (Piggott 1975, 110).
The idea of a "wickerman" is reminiscent of references in both Irish legend and the second branch of the Welsh Mabinogi to men being inveigled into a specially built house, which is then set fire, immolating them. There is also a reference by Lucan, and the comments by later scholars as part of the Lucan scholia, in the Pharsalia, to three Celtic deities; Taranis said to have been propitiated by burning, Teutates by drowning, and Esus by hanging. Esus is mythologically similar to the Nordic deity Odin, also associated with hanging from a tree. And there is Tacitus' account of the Roman attack on the Druid stronghold of Anglesey, which, although almost certainly politically motivated (Aren't we Romans wonderful! We stopped those dreadful human-sacrifices by those nasty druids), he does refer to altars as "soaked with human blood" (I can't help but wonder how he knew the blood was human) and Boudicca also impaled victims during her rebellion in 60 A.D.
The best archaeological data supporting Celtic human sacrifice is the body of the man placed in Lindow bog in the first or second century C.E. We actually have the body (well, most of it) so well preserved that scientists were able to analyze his stomach contents to discover his last meal (a partially scorched grain cake). Lindow man was almost certainly a ritual sacrifice; he was strangled, hit on the head, and had his throat cut, in quick order, then surrendered to the bog. This pattern fits the "three-fold" death referred to in medieval Irish tales. What's more, the man seems to have been of high social rank, and a willing victim. There are also other bog burials (the Tollund Man bog body in Denmark is very similar) in various places in Europe, as well as in grain storage pits and shafts in Britain, that, once they were no longer used for storage, had human bodies thrown in them, for instance at the Danebury hillfort. While Anne Ross in Pagan Celtic Britain is positive that the Danebury bodies were ritual sacrifices, most scholars are less certain.
A late Iron age shaft in Holzhausen in Baviaria with a post at the bottom was presumably used for impaling a human victim; the pole when analysed had traces of human flesh and blood. In East Yorkshire, at Garton Slack a young man and a woman of about thirty were found huddled together in a shaft, a wooden stake between them pinning their arms together; the woman was apparently pregnant, since a fetal skeleton was found beneath her pelvis. Presumably the two adults were ritually killed for punitive purposes. There have also been several instances of foundation burials, often of children, which may or may not have been sacrifices (Green 1992, 183-84). Both bog and shaft burials seem particularly appropriate for cthonic otherworld-dwelling deities.
As for the evidence of Welsh and Irish tales about human sacrifice, the second branch of the Welsh Mabinogi tells of Efnisien jumping into the cauldron which brought the dead to life again, in an act of self-sacrifice which destroyed his life, and the cauldron. This myth is of course suggestive when one remembers the image on the Gundestrup Cauldron of a line of men moving towards what looks like a cauldron, with one man being submerged head first into the cauldron. The same image is also reminiscent of tales in which an over-heated Cu Chulainn is submerged into a sequence of vats to cool him off. Alternatively, one could argue that the image on the Gundestrup cauldron is of a victim (or perhaps a volunteer) being "donated" to a cthonic shaft.
Works Cited
Green, Miranda J. Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
Koch, John T. and John Carey eds. The Celtic Heroic Age. Malden, Massachustetts: Celtic Studies Publications, 1995.
Piggott, Stuart. The Druids. Frederick A. Praeger: New York, 1968. Reissued Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 1975.
Ross, Anne. Pagan Celtic Britain. Chicago: Chicago Adademy Publishers, 1996.
Trick or Treat
This practice is known to go back as early as the Middle Ages, including Christmas wassailing. This can also be attributed to the poor of the time 'souling' on Hallowmas (Nov. 1) to receive food in return for prayers for the dead on All Saints Day (Nov. 2).
It originated in Ireland and Britain, but similar practices for the souls of the dead cold be found as far south as Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick_or_TreatHistory
Jack-o-Lantern
Folklore:
An old Irish folk tale tells of Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap the Devil. One story says that Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that the Devil couldn't get down. Another myth says that Jack put a key in the Devil's pocket while he was suspended upside-down;
Another version of the myth says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. In both myths, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from Hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favourite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern.
There are variations on the legend:
· Some versions include a "wise and good man", or even God helping Jack to prevail over the Devil.
· There are different versions of Jack's bargain with the Devil. Some variations say the deal was only temporary but the Devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses Jack entry to hell after Jack dies.
· Jack is considered a greedy man and is not allowed into either heaven or hell, without any mention of the Devil.
Despite the colourful legends, the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp. In Labrador and Newfoundland, both names "Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" refer to the will-o'-the-wisp concept rather than the pumpkin carving aspect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack-o%27-lantern
No skulls where used in the start of the practice of carving Jack-o-lanterns. Actually, the use of pumpkins started in North America around 1866. Originally, the turnip or mangelwurzel was used and lit from the inside to ward of evil spirits. Carving was done later to scare off the spirits and guard the house for the night, as this night is when the spirits of the dead roam freely.
Dance of Death
No where in any research that I have done over the years has refered to this. While there is much that we don't know about the Druids, due to history and the destruction of thier writtings, there may have been a dance celebrating death, either as part of Samhain or another festival or holy day.
House of Horror
While the Horror House is a staple of the modern Halloween, it is only coming into use recently, as Halloween as we now know it is more of an American tradition that started in the early 1900s due to Irish and British immigrants.
Also, Count Dracula is a fictional character that is widely believed to be based on Wallachian prince, Vlad III, aka Vlad the Impaler, son of Vlad Dracul and Princess Cneajna of Moldavia.
The reputation of Vlad --epe-- was considerably darker in the Western Europe than in the Eastern Europe and Romania. In the West, Vlad III --epe-- had been characterized as an exceedingly cruel madman. The number of his victims ranges from 40 000 to 100 000. Much of the information about his atrocities and cruelness comes from the German stories written about him, which were for the most part politically, religiously and economically inspired propaganda against Vlad --epe--. Although some of the stories have some base in reality, most of them are either fictional or exaggerated. According to the German stories the number of victims he had killed was at least 80 000. In addition to the 80 000 victims mentioned he also had whole villages and fortresses burned and destroyed to the ground.These numbers are most likely exaggerated. For example in one episode in the German stories Vlad impaled 600 merchants from Bra--ov and confiscated all their goods. A document written by Vlad's rival Dan III in 1459 mentions the merchants number who were impaled to be forty-one. It is highly unlikely that a rival of Vlad's would have reduced the number of Vlads victims.
The atrocities made by Vlad in the German stories include impaling, torturing, burning, skinning, roasting, and boiling people, feeding people human flesh (their friends or relatives), cutting off limbs, drowning and nailing of hats to the heads of people. His victims included men and women of all ages, religions and social classes, children and babies. The exaggeration of cruelties in the German stories is quite clear when compared to the Russian or the Romanian stories about Vlad --epe-- from which the meaningless violence and cruel atrocities are almost absent. The exaggerated and propagandistic view is especially clear in one sentence in the stories: He caused so much pain and suffering that even the most bloodthirstiest persecutors of christianity like Herodes, Nero, Diocletius and all other pagans compined hadn't even thought of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler
One last thing I leave you with is the Wiccan Rede, which is the main Law we Wiccans follow universally;
These Eight words the Rede fulfill:
"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"
Those eight words are the driving force in our practices in life, spirit and love. Peace to you all and I hope that this has enlightened you enough to open yourselves to seek the truth in all you undertake. I leave you in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust and merry meet and merry part and merry meet again!
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THE BIBLE and HALLOWEEN
"Test all things; hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form
of evil."
1 Thessalonians 5:21 - 22
A Celebration of Evil
Halloween is a religious day, but it is not Christian. Tom
Sanguinet, a former high priest in Wicca has said: "The modern
holiday that we call Halloween has its origins in the full moon
closest to November 1, the witches' new year. It is a time when the
spirits (demons) are supposed to be at their peak power and
revisiting planet earth. Halloween is purely and absolutely evil,
and there is nothing we ever have, or will do, that would make it
acceptable to the Lord Jesus."
Day of Death
Halloween has strong roots in paganism and witchcraft. It began as
the Druid festival of Samhain. The Celts considered November 1st the
day of death, because, in the Northern hemisphere, this was the
beginning of winter, the leaves were falling, it was getting darker
earlier, and temperatures were dropping. They believed that their
sun god was losing strength and Samhain, the lord of death, was
overpowering the sun god. The druids also taught that on 31 October,
on the eve of the feast, Samhain assembled the spirits of all who
had died during the previous year to return to their former home to
visit the living.
Human and Animal Sacrifices
On Halloween, for thousands of years, druid priests have conducted
diabolical worship ceremonies in which cats, horses, sheep, oxen,
human beings and other offerings were rounded up, stuffed into wicca
cages and burned to death. These human and animal sacrifices were
apparently required to appease Samhain and keep the spirits from
harming them.
Trick or Treat
To obtain these sacrifices, druid priests would go from house to
house asking for fatted calves, black sheep and human beings. Those
who gave were promised prosperity, and those who refused to give
were threatened and cursed. This is the origin of "trick or treat."
Jack-O-Lantern
The Jack-O-Lantern has its origin in the candle-lit pumpkin or
skull, which served as a signal to mark those farms and homes that
supported the druids' religion, and thus were seeking the "treat"
when the terror of Halloween began. The World Book Encyclopedia
says: "The apparently harmless lighted pumpkin face of the Jack-O-
Lantern is an ancient symbol of a damned soul."
Dance of Death
While people and animals were screaming in agony, being burnt to
death, the druids and their followers would dress in costumes made
of animal skins and heads. They would dance, chant and jump through the flames in the hope of warding off evil spirits.
House of Horrors
One of the popular heroes of Halloween, Count Dracula, was also a
real person. Dracula lived from 1431 to 1476. During his six year
reign, Count Dracula massacred over 100,000 men, women and children
in the most hideous ways. He devised a plan to rid his country of
the burden of beggars, the handicapped, the sick and the aged by
inviting them to a feast at one of his palaces. He fed them well and
got them drunk. Then he asked them: "Do you want to be without
cares, lacking nothing in the world?" When his guests yelled: "Yes!"
Dracula ordered the palace boarded up and set on fire. No one
escaped this original "house of horror."
The Word of God
"When you come into the land, which the Lord your God is giving you,
you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or
a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who
conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up
the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the
Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives
them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord
your God, for these nations which you will dispossess, listened to
soothsayers and diviners; but as for you the Lord your God has not
appointed such for you." Deuteronomy 18:9 - 14
". teach my people the difference between the holy and the unholy,
and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."
Ezekiel 34:23
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have
rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priests for
Me; because you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also
forget your children." Hosea 4:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go, then when he is old he
will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
"That whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to
sin, it would be better for him if a millstone was hung around his
neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world
because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by
whom the offense comes!" Matthew 18: 6 - 7
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is
good." Romans 12:9
"Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on
the Armour of Light." Romans 13:12
"You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you
cannot partake of the Lord's Table and of the table of demons." 1
Corinthians 10:21
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what
fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has
light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? For
what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has
the temple of God with idols?. Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I
will receive you." 2 Corinthians 6:14 - 17
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but
rather expose them." Ephesians 5:11
"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are
noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever
things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is
any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these
things." Philippians 4:8
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart
from the Faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of
demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience
seared with a hot iron." 1 Timothy 4:1 - 2
"Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you." James 4:7
"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself
unspotted from the world." James 1:27
"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does
good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God." 3 John 11
Participating in Paganism
Instead of participating in paganism, walking with Wicca, being in
harmony with Halloween, having our children celebrate cruelty, and
dabbling in a day of death, we should focus our family and
congregation on celebrating Reformation Day this 31 October.
Reformation Day Vs Halloween
It was on 31 October 1517, that Dr. Martin Luther nailed the 95
Theses on the door of the Slosskirche (castle church) in Wittenberg,
Germany. His bold challenge against the unBiblical practices of the
medieval Roman papacy inspired the Protestant Reformation. All Bible
believing churches should celebrate the greatest revival of Faith
and freedom ever. The Reformation was one the most important turning
points in world history. The energies that were released by the
rediscovery of the Bible in the common tongue led to the most
extraordinary spiritual Revival in history. The Reformation freed
the Christians of Northern Europe from the decadence of Renaissance
paganism and led to the greatest freedoms and scientific discoveries
in history.
Every Bible believing Christian should celebrate the Reformation. No
Christian should have part in celebrating the occultic Halloween.
We are in a spiritual world war. Cruelty to animals, vandalism and
even murders occur with far greater frequency during Halloween.
Every Halloween many thousands of animals, and even people, are
sacrificed in satanic rituals worldwide, while millions of other
people, including well meaning Christians, participate in Halloween
celebrations. Halloween is a prime recruiting time for witches and
Satanists. Many people have testified that they were introduced to
the occult at a Halloween party. Halloween is very religious, but it
is not Christian.
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans
12:21
Choose Life
Next 31 October, take a stand against Halloween by mobilising your
family and congregation to celebrate the Reformation, and to engage
in spiritual warfare, earnest prayer, praying the Psalms, and
sharing the Gospel with our friends and neighbours, particularly
those who may be unthinkingly participating in this occultic
celebration of divination, necromancy, human sacrifice and cruelty
to animals.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might. Put on the whole Armour of God, that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole
Armour of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist
with truth, having put on the Breastplate of Righteousness, and
having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace.
Above all, taking the Shield of Faith with which you will be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the Helmet of
Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being
watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all
the saints." Ephesians 6:10 - 18
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