Gaia

Magical Deer - Daily Emotional & Psychological Cycles

• Sharing Ancient Wisdom & Cutting Edge Research
• Providing Insight for Mind / Body, Self-help and Motivation

Vol 9 #12
Sunday thru Sunday
Week starting Sunday,
October 5th, 2008

Magical Deer
Contacts

David Valentine, Editor
Copyright © 2008,
by David Valentine
E-mail: david@secretsofintent.com
Phone: (505) 293-5553
Address: 6508 Cathy Ave NE
Albuquerque,
New Mexico 87109

Where do you go ... What do you do ... NOW?

Being consumed by a wide variety of scare tactics, the majority of Congressmen have been scared to the point their bejeebers are falling down. One Democrat in the Calif 27th District went on You Tube. He told how he and his companions had been threatened that the president would declare martial law if they didn’t change their vote. That is how the white House is ladling out doses of fear. Click and hear it firsthand.

An interesting development took place this weekend. The government issued an order by our Treasury Secretary to take over Wachovia Bank. Paulson who has long ties to Wall Street including being CEO of Goldman Sachs made an edict that Citibank with backing from FDIC would take over Wachovia Bank. Oh yes, using our tax dollars from the next few decades to accomplish this.

Then Wells Fargo Bank (who is not under government control) made an offer to Wachovia about 70% better than what Secretary Paulson offered via Citibank and FDIC. I’m sure you are not surprised that the government is fighting this bid by Wells Fargo. Of course the Wells Fargo offer would not be using any taxpayers dollars. All in the name of spreading fear.

Between fear and having the government take over the financial sector … at this point we should be fearful of the government. In spite of the hue and cry from the public the leaders (candidates) from both parties ploddingly followed in Bush and Paulson’s footsteps. They want you afraid.

Fear will freeze you dead in your tracks. Fear sucks your energy. Fear is immobilizing. So what do you do to take some control back into your life?

1. Start thinking in terms of action. Thinking in terms of actions you can take. Even little things like cutting back on lunches, OR learning some self-healing techniques, Or adding another source of income, Or joining a self-help group in taking some action together.

2. Create some focus in your life. Concentration and focus are sure-fire success forces. A positive way to become successful in anything you undertake is to become absolutely excellent in one area. Take a part-time enterprise and learn everything you can about it.

3. Find some other people to help or join in with. Fear subsides in any group working together.

4. Accept that there are going to be changes, some of which you don’t like.

5. Know that you can change your thoughts and are doing something to overcome the negative changes and turn them into success changes.


Focus, patience, perseverance and belief in yourself are ways to overcome fear. So start taking some kind of positive action, focused action, right now. You can banish those fears. Don’t let the failing government dictate by putting fear into your life.

David

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Cycles of Emotional Weather


Just like the weatherman … Daily hints for enjoying life more

Cycles of emotional weather and psychology

DAILY CYCLES FORECAST -- free every week. You can self-subscribe at the following link: david@secretsofintent.com Send this from the address you wish Magical Deer delivered to. This is not a daily horoscope and has nothing to do with your Sun sign. The cycles are based on emotional and psychological cycle energies. Tell a friend. Thanks.

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Lin’s 2 ½ cents worth: "Enjoy the week ahead. We need this kind of week, right now"


SUN -- Oct 5th -- Moon in Sagittarius -- Goes Void of Course at 6:08 pm, PDT.


Dreamy, with no energy can lead to fuzzy thinking, misplaced items or wrong turns. Could be a little of each.

Somewhere along the way all that daydreaming takes a decidedly different turn and you find yourself in emotional turmoil. Of course, you are sure that “the other guy” did it. Wrong! Emotions are how you react to any given event or circumstance. Emotions are never what someone else causes you. Remember you can never change the other person. You can only change how you respond to or react to them. You can also choose to let them go.

MON -- Oct 6th -- Moon in Capricorn

An excellent cycle to start the week. Apply some discipline and no telling what you might accomplish. This cycle only comes about once a year. Because the opportunities are so broad, the major need is for discipline to keep you from going overboard in any single direction. There is a tendency for you to think you are right. Let this go unrestrained and you could spend your time arguing instead of taking action on all the opportunities present with this cycle.
One other difficulty with this cycle is that you are likely to bite off more than you can comfortably chew. A wonderful time for writers or for any kind of communication. There is a happy aspect to the cycle in that it carries a concept of good fortune and higher than normal insight.


TUE -- Oct 7th -- Moon in Capricorn -- Goes Void of Course at 12:37 pm, PDT.

With all the energy of yesterday and the potential of your using that extra energy …you may feel somewhat tired or worn out. You can best use today to consolidate the accomplishments and ideas that were stimulated yesterday. This afternoon you feel raring to go. Make certain you have a destination. This particular cycle tends to leave you feeling you must do something, now. However, this cycle provides for little insight in what that something should be.


WED -- Oct 8th -- Moon in Aquarius

Still looking for excitement? Take a quick walk. If you are feeling any tension, do what you normally do to dissipate it. There is good reason to release tension for late afternoon the energy for action is converted into the kind of energy that leads to conflict. Excitement and conflict do not go well together.


THU -- Oct 9th -- Moon in Aquarius

A nicely balanced day. This is the kind of energy that generally leaves one feeling warm and at peace. Here is why: two major cycles are coming together in an embracing style. One is the cycle of energy and thought. The other is the cycle of feelings and emotions. When these two are balanced like this, count on it being a good day for harmony, reconciliation and enjoyment. Take a friend to lunch.


FRI -- Oct 10th -- Moon in Aquarius -- Goes Void of Course at 4:13 pm, PDT. Moon enters Pisces at 6:31 pm, PDT.

By mid morning you realize you’re still half dreaming. Call it wide-awake dreaming or fuzzy thinking. Whatever you call it you are not quite with it. But there is a strange exception: although the mind is muddled your sensitivities are significantly high. Stay away from negative people. Stay away from negative news. Stay away from negative thoughts. There will be a tendency for you to have negative thoughts. Muster up your discipline and make a concentrated decision not to have any negativity around you, whether your own or from being around others. Today negativity is especially contagious. The late afternoon and evening are going to play out pretty much in tune with how you handle the potentially negative energies of the AM. Emotions will be in play. That could be an understatement.


SAT -- Oct 11th -- Moon in Pisces

Good time to either start or take action on tasks or projects you are working on. There is an extra quotient of energy available. The most productive way for using this is to apply the energy to forms of advancement. Starting around mid day there is an enjoyable energy which can be productively used for all forms of creativity. Combine that with any leftover energy from this morning and you could have some most worthwhile creative ideas blossom forth. Whatever area of creativity you indulge in … do something with it for you will undoubtedly get some great brainstorming ideas and expansion thoughts.


SUN -- Oct 12th -- Moon in Pisces

Here comes another form of the excitement cycle we experienced on Tuesday afternoon. Are the leaves in your neck-of-the-woods turning yet? Might be the best day in quite a while to go feast your eyes. We have an advantage living in the mountains. With the different levels of altitude the leaves don’t all change at once. Those aspen at 10,000 feet have just about finished their color clothes change for the season. More creativity energy shows up this afternoon. Think ahead so you can take advantage of extra good cycles for the last couple of days. Certainly Nature is providing her help with the change of seasons. I encourage you to take a quick read when Magical Deer with the Emotional Weather Forecasts comes out. Often a little planning ahead helps considerably for you to take advantage of the Daily Forecasts.

David

Quotations:

“The world is your mirror.
A peaceful person lives in a peaceful world.
An angry person lives in an angry world.
A helpful person generates helpful loving energy in others.
An unfriendly person tends to meet people who respond in an unfriendly way.
A happy person finds the world filled with happy people.
You chose the world you live in.”

Handbook to Higher Consciousness
By Ken Keys

Thirteen thank yous
And honey
In the heart

David
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Quick Time Zone Guide

NEW TOOL --- It seems that a number of readers have trouble in keeping track of whether one should go forward or backward from one time zone to another. NOTE: I give all times in PDT.
Example: 3 pm PDT = 4 pm MDT / 5 pm CDT / 6 pm EDT
2 pm EDT = 1 pm CDT / 12 noon MDT / 11 am PDT

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VOID OF COURSE MOON
This is a time when the Moon and planets come together in such a way that it is best not to start anything new. It is also a time of delays and just plain screw-ups of your plans. Judgment is poor. Expect the unexpected, hassles, false starts and purchases that don't turn out quite right. People, and that also means you, do idiotic things.
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__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

October 31


Samhain is a time to honor the dead, and celebrate the connection between this world and the next.

Pagan Art

Irish Halloween

Samhain Decorations

Samhain Gifts

Samhain Presents

The fields are bare, the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the skies are going gray and cold. It is the time of year when the earth has died and gone dormant. Every year on October 31, the Sabbat we call Samhain presents us with the opportunity to once more celebrate the cycle of death and rebirth. For many Pagan and Wiccan traditions, Samhain is a time to reconnect with our ancestors, and honor those who have died. This is the time when the veil between our world and the spirit realm is thin, so it's the perfect time of year to make contact with the dead. You may want to take a moment to read up on:

Samhain History

Rituals and Ceremonies

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Samhain, but typically the focus is on either honoring our ancestors, or the cycle of death and rebirth. This is the time of year when the gardens and fields are brown and dead. The nights are getting longer, there's a chill in the air, and winter is looming. We may choose to honor our ancestors, celebrating those who have died, and even try to communicate with them. Here are a few rituals you may want to think about trying for Samhain -- and remember, any of them can be adapted for either a solitary practitioner or a small group, with just a little planning ahead.

Traditions and Trends

Interested in learning about some of the traditions behind the celebrations of the late harvest? Find out why Samhain is important, learn why black cats are considered unlucky, how trick-or-treating became so popular and more!

Have a Simply Spooktacular Halloween!

Read more:All About Samhain - What is Samhain? - Samhain, October 31

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

Feel free to repost this, just let me know where. And do check out the longer Climate Change Primer at:
Earth Activist Training: Climate Resources/Solutions

Meltdown Strategies: Financial Disaster and Climate Change

By Starhawk

Starhawk's Home Page



While the financial markets have been melting down around us, another sort of meltdown has been occurring, one even more frightening and dangerous. Climate change has been progressing, more quickly than anticipated, fueled even more rapidly by methane bubbles released from a warming Arctic sea, in just one of the self-reinforcing cycles that will trigger unstoppable cascades of devastation unless we act now.



None of the presidential debates have addressed the central question of our time: can we transform our energy, our economy, our food systems and our culture rapidly enough to forestall complete global meltdown?



The present economic woes are frightening, but the environmental crisis is truly terrifying. With all the furor about falling markets and frozen credit, nothing real has changed in the economy. Granted, the repercussions will be that many of us have less money in our pockets and fewer opportunities. But we still have the natural resources we had a month ago. We still have our skills, our knowledge, and our productive capacity. What we’ve lost is a towering edifice of icing with no cake underneath.



But environmental meltdown means we lose the real basis of economy and survival. We will see more and more devastation like we’ve seen in the Gulf Coast. We’ll see droughts, floods, lowered food supplies, huge losses in biodiversity and ecological resilience, rising seas that will take out major cities around the world, and all the associated problems of poverty, starvation, refugees and resource wars. Time is not running out—it’s out! What we do now and in the next ten years is absolutely crucial.



The good news is, we don’t have to take the path to disaster. We have the knowledge and technology we need to make the change. But our politicians, even the best of them, won’t do it unless we make it a top priority.



To do that, it helps to know what the solutions are. In November, I’ll be presenting at an interfaith conference on climate change called by the archbishop of Sweden. In preparation, I started writing a Climate Change Primer, trying to briefly list the most important technologies and approaches. It kept growing, and eventually became too big to send out as an email. But go to the link below and you can read it or download it as a PDF. If you want to better understand the issue and the spectrum of solutions we need to put into place, it’s a good introduction. If you are a policy maker or an activist who likes to hound and harass policy makers to do the right thing, it’s a good guide. And if you’re thinking about how to invest your own time and energy and/or such dwindling funds as you might have, it will suggest fruitful avenues and new approaches. And here’s the link:



Earth Activist Training: Climate Resources/Solutions



And below are a few short, short, short lists to help get us thinking about what priorities we should push for:



Things we can do right away in a lousy economy:



--Conserve. Obama almost said the ‘C’ word in the debate—and you would think this is something radicals, liberals and conservatives would all agree on, as it requires no funding or investment and can produce huge rewards. If we had continued to conserve energy at the rate we did in the 1970s, we would be energy independent today!

--Pass tax credits for renewables.

--Enact fuel efficiency standards for new cars, trucks, etc. and for all big users of fossil fuels.

--Require energy efficiency in new construction, and white or reflective roofs, porous paving, etc.

--Put caps on carbon emissions for big users that will decline over time to zero by 2050 or sooner. (There’s a longer discussion of this in the Primer.)

--Take up Al Gore’s challenge to generate 100 per cent of our energy from renewables within ten years.

--Sequester carbon by building healthy soil through organic farming, no-till techniques, and planned rotational grazing. (More on this on the website.)

--Localize economies and food systems—farmers’ markets, CSAs, city farms and community gardens. Support barter systems and local currencies.

--End subsidies for nuclear energy, coal and oil.

--Bring the troops home—war has a carbon cost as well as a human cost and a financial cost. Employ diplomacy, not troops.

--Ratify Kyoto—no, it’s not nearly enough but gosh, if we can’t even do that, how are we going to have any global credibility on this issue?



Low Hanging Fruit: (Technologies and solutions that are already up and running, or nearly so, that have the best Energy Return on Energy Investment, will meet the least resistance and will give the biggest bang for the buck in the short run.)



--Onshore and offshore wind—already up and running.

--Photovoltaics—larger scale production to bring down costs, tax credits, rebates and cost-share programs for new construction and retrofitting.

--Concentrated Solar Power and solar thermal on both large scale and home scale.

--Electric cars and plug-in hybrids—in production or on the verge. Economies of scale—government purchasing agreements, tax credits, rebates or cost-shares or loan guarantees for purchasers can help replace our current transport fleet. Mandates for energy efficiency and requirements for zero-carbon vehicles, as were once in place in California, can support their production and adoption.

--Biofuels from waste and recycled materials and algae.

--White roofs. (A study from the Lawrence Berkeley labs suggest that white roofs not only save cooling costs but radiate heat outward and on a large scale, could have a major impact.)

--Regenerative farming and grazing that build soil organic carbon.

--Forest protection—a moratorium on the logging of old growth. Tree planting and restoration.

--Localization—building local food economies, sense of place, encouraging famers’ markets, urban agriculture, local small businesses, walkable neighborhoods,

--Pedestrian zones, bike paths, good interface with bikes and public transport—safe parking areas, allowing bikes on subways and busses.





Vital Investments: Even in a lousy economy, we absolutely need to do these things, and they will provide jobs and a vital economic stimulus:



--The national grid needs to be upgraded to be able to handle distributed sources of energy and Vehicle to Grid technology.

--Infrastructure for renewables needs to be built on the large scale.

--Technical help to developing countries: It’s only fair, equitable and good long-term security to help developing countries skip the 19th and 20th centuries and leap into the 21st with renewable energy sources. Offer to replace Iran’s nuclear plants with solar infrastructure, China’s coal plants with wind.

--Cost share programs and rebates for retrofitting existing homes for energy efficiency.

--Training programs and green jobs in the inner city.

--Job training for the unemployed in green industries and regenerative agriculture.



Long term investments: (Things we need to invest in now for the long term future. If we’re going to borrow billions, let’s spend them on



--Public transportation in and around cities. Making it efficient, cheap, easy and fun.

--Trains, busses, and other forms of transport to get people out of their cars.

--Research on all the promising technologies: new batteries and forms of energy storage, wave and tidal power, hydrogen from renewables—as a store for energy and as a replacement fuel for air travel. Aquaculture to produce biofuels. And so many more…(see that website for the full list!)

--Public infrastructure.

--Retrofitting of existing buildings for energy efficiency.

--Forest and wildland protection in large blocks to allow plants and animals room to migrate in response to climate change. Habitat protection and restoration.

--Quality education at every level on the environment.



Really Stupid Ideas We Should Oppose:



--Nuclear Power: It’s not quick to build or license safely, it’s not safe—low level radiation is proven to cause cancer and other diseases. We still don’t know how to safely store the wastes. To build a plant we actually produce huge amounts of carbon emissions as cement is one of the big carbon hogs. ------Nuclear power plants provide new targets for terrorists and makes it difficult to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons. And—we don’t need it!

--Offshore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—The U.S. has 3% of the world’s oil reserves and uses 25% of the energy. We can’t drill our way into energy independence, and drilling that compromises the safety of fragile ecosystems can cause irreparable damage for small, short-term gains. We need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, not drill for more. And new oil fields won’t come on line for over a decade and require huge energy investments to develop.

--“Clean” coal: There is no such thing.

--Cutting down rainforests to produce corn or palm oil for biofuels

--Replacing food crops with fuel crops.

--Solving problems with guns and weapons.



Okay, this short list has already gotten long. Again, that link is:

Earth Activist Training: Climate Resources/Solutions



And if there’s one important message we send, make it this:

The environment is not an afterthought: it’s the ground of economy, security and survival. Environmental protection, environmental justice and regeneration must be our top priorities, because they are the only sound foundation for every other endeavor.

This post has been sent to you from Starhawk@lists.riseup.net.

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

The One We Feed

by April Elliott Kent

Whatever your political beliefs, striking balance during this Libra/Aries Full Moon offers some vital challenges. Instead of exciting your lower instincts with messages of anger, attacks, and retaliation, feed your positive Aries warrior wolf by taking positive action to support your beliefs. Volunteer time or money to causes that inspire you and elevate others. Refuse to denigrate other points of view. Be guided by fairness and compassion, and prepare to stand firm against intolerance and violence. There is a fight going on inside you, and me, and every other person, too. Which wolf will win? The one we feed....
read the full article at MoonCircles.com - Moon Astrology

Intuitive Message for the Aries Full Moon:

The Other

by Julia Bondi

The Full Moon in Aries is mirroring back to all of us where we have been immersed in our selfish, small,"me first" nature. Through the light of Libra we are now being forced to face the reality that we cannot have, buy, possess or fulfill all of our personal desires without a cost. Where we as a nation or we as a world have leaned so heavily on the "I" of self we are now facing the lack of "We" in a culture of wanting. The Aries Moon, with no light of its own, is showing us the darkness of an overemphasis on me and mine as it reflects Libra’s call to fairness, justice and balance....
read the full article at MoonCircles.com - Moon Astrology


3-Minute Full Moon Ritual

by Dana Gerhardt

In particular you are tuned to the energies of Aries and Libra, the complementary energies of "me" and "we." Aries wonders, "Who am I?" Libra wonders, "Who are you—and how can we work together?" Aries is adventurous, individualistic, and trailblazing. Through Aries we feel our existence as an independent being, capable of taking action, without needing approval or support. Libra is harmonizing, beautifying, and partnership-oriented. Its primary purpose is sharing—ideas, experiences, space—with others. Aries and Libra are opposing signs, but together they make for a balanced world. Our Libran ability to relate to others is diminished without a secure sense of our own identity. Our Aries efforts are unsuccessful when we alienate others and are uncooperative.
follow the full ritual at MoonCircles.com

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Gaia

All Hallow's Eve

by Mike Nichols


Halloween.

Sly does it. Tiptoe catspaws. Slide and creep.
But why? What for? How? Who? When! Where did it all begin?
“You don’t know, do you?” asks Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud climbing out of the pile of leaves under the Halloween Tree. “You don’t really know!”
—Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree


Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow’s Eve. Hallow E’en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane’s dark twin. A night of glowing jack-o’-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and séances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A “spirit night”, as they say in Wales.


All Hallow’s Eve is the eve of All Hallow’s Day (November 1). And for once, even popular tradition remembers that the eve is more important than the day itself, the traditional celebration focusing on October 31, beginning at sundown. And this seems only fitting for the great Celtic New Year’s festival. Not that the holiday was Celtic only. In fact, it is startling how many ancient and unconnected cultures (the Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans, for example) celebrated this as a festival of the dead. But the majority of our modern traditions can be traced to the British Isles.


The Celts called it Samhain, which means “summer’s end”, according to their ancient twofold division of the year, when summer ran from Beltane to Samhain and winter ran from Samhain to Beltane. (Some modern covens echo this structure by letting the high priest “rule” the coven beginning on Samhain, with rulership returned to the high priestess at Beltane.) According to the later fourfold division of the year, Samhain is seen as “autumn’s end” and the beginning of winter. Samhain is pronounced (depending on where you’re from) as “sow-in” (in Ireland), or “sow-een” (in Wales), or “sav-en” (in Scotland), or (inevitably) “sam-hane” (in the U.S., where we don’t speak Gaelic).


Not only is Samhain the end of autumn; it is also, more importantly, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Celtic New Year’s Eve, when the new year begins with the onset of the dark phase of the year, just as the new day begins at sundown. There are many representations of Celtic Gods with two faces, and it surely must have been one of them who held sway over Samhain. Like his Roman counterpart Janus, he would straddle the threshold, one face turned toward the past, in commemoration of those who died during the last year, and one face gazing hopefully toward the future, mystic eyes attempting to pierce the veil and divine what the coming year holds. These two themes, celebrating the dead and divining the future, are inexorably intertwined in Samhain, as they are likely to be in any New Year’s celebration.


As a feast of the dead, this was the one night when the dead could, if they wished, return to the land of the living, to celebrate with their family, tribe, or clan. And so the great burial mounds of Ireland (sidhe mounds) were opened up, with lighted torches lining the walls, so the dead could find their way. Extra places were set at the table and food set out for any who had died that year. And there are many stories that tell of Irish heroes making raids on the Underworld while the gates of faery stood open, though all must return to their appointed places by cockcrow.


As a feast of divination, this was the night par excellence for peering into the future. The reason for this has to do with the Celtic view of time. In a culture that uses a linear concept of time, like our modern one, New Year’s Eve is simply a milestone on a very long road that stretches in a straight line from birth to death. Thus, the New Year’s festival is a part of time. The ancient Celtic view of time, however, is cyclical. And in this framework, New Year’s Eve represents a point outside of time, when the natural order of the universe dissolves back into primordial chaos, preparatory to reestablishing itself in a new order. Thus, Samhain is a night that exists outside of time and, hence, it may be used to view any other point in time. At no other holiday is a tarot card reading, crystal reading, or tealeaf reading so likely to succeed.


The Christian religion, with its emphasis on the “historical” Christ and his act of Redemption 2000 years ago, is forced into a linear view of time, where seeing the future is an illogical proposition. In fact, from the Christian perspective, any attempt to do so is seen as inherently evil. This did not keep the medieval church from co-opting Samhain’s other motif, commemoration of the dead. To the church, however, it could never be a feast for all the dead, but only the blessed dead, all those hallowed (made holy) by obedience to God—thus, All Hallow’s, or Hallowmas, later All Saints and All Souls.


There are so many types of divination that are traditional to Hallowstide, it is possible to mention only a few. Girls were told to place hazelnuts along the front of the firegrate, each one to symbolize one of her suitors. She could then divine her future husband by chanting, “If you love me, pop and fly; if you hate me, burn and die.” Several methods used the apple, that most popular of Halloween fruits. You should slice an apple through the equator (to reveal the five-pointed star within) and then eat it by candlelight before a mirror. Your future spouse will then appear over your shoulder. Or, peel an apple, making sure the peeling comes off in one long strand, reciting, “I pare this apple round and round again; / My sweetheart’s name to flourish on the plain: / I fling the unbroken paring o’er my head, / My sweetheart’s letter on the ground to read.” Or, you might set a snail to crawl through the ashes of your hearth. The considerate little creature will then spell out the initial letter as it moves.


Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o’- lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o’- lantern of choice.) Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan “baptism” rite called a seining, according to some writers. The water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which the novice’s head is immersed. The fact that the participant in this folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony.


The custom of dressing in costume and “trick-or-treating” is of Celtic origin, with survivals particularly strong in Scotland. However, there are some important differences from the modern version. In the first place, the custom was not relegated to children, but was actively indulged in by adults as well. Also, the “treat” that was required was often one of spirits (the liquid variety). This has recently been revived by college students who go ‘trick-or-drinking’. And in ancient times, the roving bands would sing seasonal carols from house-to-house, making the tradition very similar to Yuletide wassailing. In fact, the custom known as caroling, now connected exclusively with Midwinter, was once practiced at all the major holidays. Finally, in Scotland at least, the tradition of dressing in costume consisted almost exclusively of cross-dressing (i.e., men dressing as women, and women as men). It seems as though ancient societies provided an opportunity for people to “try on” the role of the opposite gender for one night of the year. (Although in Scotland, this is admittedly less dramatic—but more confusing—since men were in the habit of wearing skirtlike kilts anyway. Oh well...)


To Witches, Halloween is one of the four High Holidays, or Greater Sabbats, or cross-quarter days. Because it is the most important holiday of the year, it is sometimes called “The Great Sabbat”. It is an ironic fact that the newer, self-created covens tend to use the older name of the holiday, Samhain, which they have discovered through modern research. While the older hereditary and traditional covens often use the newer name, Halloween, which has been handed down through oral tradition within their coven. (This often holds true for the names of the other holidays, as well. One may often get an indication of a coven’s antiquity by noting what names it uses for the holidays.)


With such an important holiday, Witches often hold two distinct celebrations. First, a large Halloween party for non- Craft friends, often held on the previous weekend. And second, a coven ritual held on Halloween night itself, late enough so as not to be interrupted by trick-or-treaters. If the rituals are performed properly, there is often the feeling of invisible friends taking part in the rites. Another date that may be utilized in planning celebrations is the actual cross-quarter day, or Old Halloween, or Halloween O.S. (Old Style). This occurs when the sun has reached fifteen degrees Scorpio, an astrological “power point” symbolized by the Eagle. The celebration would begin at sunset. Interestingly, this date (Old Halloween) was also appropriated by the church as the holiday of Martinmas.

Of all the Witchcraft holidays, Halloween is the only one that still boasts anything near to popular celebration. Even though it is typically relegated to children (and the young-atheart) and observed as an evening affair only, many of its traditions are firmly rooted in Paganism. Incidentally, some schools have recently attempted to abolish Halloween parties on the grounds that it violates the separation of state and religion. Speaking as a Pagan, I would be saddened by the success of this move, but as a supporter of the concept of religion-free public education, I fear I must concede the point. Nonetheless, it seems only right that there should be one night of the year when our minds are turned toward thoughts of the supernatural. A night when both Pagans and non-Pagans may ponder the mysteries of the Otherworld and its inhabitants. And if you are one of them, may all your jack-o’-lanterns burn bright on this All Hallow’s Eve.

All Hallow's Eve - Halloween - Samhain

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

Princess D

all i have 2 say is that God is the one who created everthing,God made nature so we could enjoy what we see ok no argument....do u believe in god?

Gaia

I wish you all a Very Happy Thanksgiving, with lotsa Turkey and stuff...

Many Blessings!

Gaia

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe

gonzo

Do you follow the creationism theory or the evolutionary theory?

gonzo

Blessings my sister. I've missed seeing you around.

Gaia

Hi Sweetie!!! I'm fine, just had to take a break from politics, was too stressful!

I'm at a friends House, using his puter, it has no mousse, and I feel "challenged",

((((Hugs))))

Gaia

__________________
The present moment is a powerful goddess.
~ Goethe