Samhain and the Agnostic Neo-Pagan

I always feel kind of retrospective at Samhain. To be honest, I did give up on the religious aspect, for the most part, quite a few years ago but its hard to give up a philosophy that has been a life guide for almost 40 years.

Samhain, to my family, to my former cohorts – is this:

1. It is not the New Year.
   
2. This is the demise of the old year.
   
3. New Year does not start until Winter Solstice, when the days start to grow.
   
4. This is the time between times. A time when old hurts, emotional baggage, bad habits…negativity, is examined and tossed into a balefire – real or metaphorical.
   

This has been a good year, for us. My husband and I have undergone a renewal. Our friendship has grown, we’ve become closer. We’ve both changed. Is it the physical act of moving? I think it was probably the catalyst we needed. I have never been happier. This isn’t to say that there are not “things” that require disposal, from this year and years previous. Pfff, of course there are and they will be, duly, changed to ash.

My sons are all starting new journeys: love, career, life. It is an exciting time, for my husband and I, to be their parents. This is what fueled us for all these years, being able to stand and have the privilege of watching them, as men, make their own way. In honour, with bravery.

Our own time is waning; that is the cycle of life but we are proud of what we’ve accomplished. No, we haven’t found a cure for cancer or solved world hunger. We have offered the world, 3 amazing men. 3 honourable men, in a time when honour is so rare.

Saturday is Samhain. What will be offered to the flames? I’m ditching negativity, in my life. I’m not dealing with it anymore. No being dragged into drama, by others. No allowing negativity to darken my thoughts.

Oh for crying out loud…NO, I am not turning into some kind of “Bright Blessings to all. Here…have a flower! Unicorns and fairies.” Not in the least. I am just not going to allow emotional or psychological poison into my life. You have emotional shit? Deal with it. You don’t have the right to infect me or my family with it.

I am going to make an even more concentrated effort to live by the following Tenets, in the year to come:

7 Fundamental Tenets

I

One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

II

The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

III

One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV

The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.

V

Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.

VI

People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII

Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

I bid you all, a profound Samhain.

 

 

Blessed Samhain

Right, I have had my fill and then some of the politically correct movement, pseudo (neo) feminists and that disgusting Cheeto laying waste to the office of president (the capitalization of the “p” is deliberate).

For the next while – I am avoiding the nonsense that is passing as conversation on Facebook, the half-wits who can only manage 140 characters on Twitter and e-mails telling me my uncle in Nigeria/Benin/Kenya has died and left me millions.

4 more days until Samhain; yes – I am an atheist and yes, I do honour my ancestors as often as I can, but Samhain allows me to take a special day to honour them. A specific day to thank them and meditate on their strength, their character and their zero tolerance for bullshit, which is rampant in my DNA.

I’m getting a little excited and I may just do a ritual if only for tradition’s sake.

Blessed Samhain to all – time to assess the year that has passed; bury the mistakes you’ve made and get ready to plan for the New Year’s arrival on Yule. We all make mistakes, no point in dwelling – correct them if possible and if not possible, vow not to repeat ’em.

Sex, Drugs and the Witches

Sex, Drugs and the Witches
By
Marzanna

*This article first appeared in the October 2007 edition of Heads Magazine.

It’s a dark and stormy night; camera pans to a large mansion or old rundown house, stone facade or trashed wooden front, gargoyles that look like someone’s mother-in-law or scary dead tree. Let’s not forget the mandatory thunderstorm or ominous full moon. Camera moves again and focuses on an unsuspecting group of teens or young couple as they approach the old mansion or house.

More camera action and creepy music as the lens zooms in on a window candles, usually black, are all over the place, hooded figures, also usually in black stand in a circle amid much chanting of demonic sounding Latin “Sanguis bebimus, corpus edimus. Ave Satani!”

On the floor a pentacle has been painted and in the center of the pent? An altar. There’s some scary looking dude with a wicked dagger poised over the mid-section of a sweet young thang. A kickass chalice in the frame as well and you just know that it is there to catch her blood. The usual goat head or two just adding to the wholesome down-home atmosphere. These scary folks are Witches. Doing Satan’s work. 

Of course, there is a problem with this scene. Witches don’t believe in Satan. Apparently, in Hollywood? This is a minor detail.

Ah, so it must be Halloween again! Munchie heaven. Dress up and live out your private fantasies, maybe in your Mom’s nicest frock and garter belt. Who am I to judge?

For me? For my crew? It’s Samhain, not Halloween. This is a major Sabbat, in fact, probably one of our favourite Sabbats.

You see, we’re Witches. The real deal, not your green skinned cartoon characters or New Age types “We All Come From the Goddess” fruitcakes; we’re the real thing, rituals, spells, hexes and when the mood hits? Orgies of food, drink and love to celebrate our Sabbats.

There are 8 Sabbats in all; Yule, Imbolg, Ostara, Beltaine, Litha, Lughnassadh, Mabon and Samhain. 4 of them are Fire Festivals, 2 celebrate the Equinoxes (Spring and Fall) and 2 celebrate the Solstices (Summer and Winter). Our Sabbats (Holy days if you prefer) celebrate natural events. They celebrate life, not long dead ideas and concepts. The Sabbats celebrate both the God and the Goddess. We are not gender specific. We acknowledge and worship both genders equally. Let’s face it, without both? There can’t be life and what would remain wouldn’t be worth living. 

Traditionally, the God begins to gain strength at Yule and continues until late summer, when his strength begins to wane. The Goddess aspects worshipped go through a maiden, mother and crone transformation.

• Yule Winter Solstice. We celebrate the re-birth of the Sun. Days are starting to get longer. Gifts in honour of the re-birth are exchanged; much mulled wine, celebration and song. Traditionally, we meet the sun’s rise with banging of pots, drums or just a good old Hoorah. Neighbours aren’t really happy with this, so in the modern world, we scale it down and welcome the sun in the house/apartment on a much lower volume scale.
  

• Imbolg Fire Festival. The earth is beginning to warm and spring, new life and hope is on the way. Brighid, an old Celtic deity is honoured. She represents the coming season of birth, the Spring’s birth, the birth of the animals of spring. She is our sign of new hope, new life and a fresh beginning.
  

• Ostara Spring Equinox Days and nights are equal in length. Myth has the goddess Ostara as the symbol of fertility (we’re real big on the virility, fertility themes) According to myth, Ostara loved children; she had a pet bird (some say it was a raven but who knows? It’s a myth) she changed her pet bird into a rabbit to amuse the kids. The rabbit summoned up a bunch of eggs in all sorts of bright colours. Ostara gave the eggs to the children, hence the tradition of Easter eggs. Again, spring wines are used to celebrate and dishes that use eggs as a main ingredient are served. Much laughter, song and general fun.
  

• Beltane Fire Festival Fertility, love and the wonderful randiness nature and the Gods have bestowed upon us. Yup, a celebration of the act of love and procreation. Wine, women/men and song; activities that center on all aspects of procreation, birth and growth. This is a festival geared toward the younger, virile and fruitful members of coven although, older members are welcomed to celebrate as their supply of Viagra will allow. Another name for Beltane is Cetsamhain. Beltane is the polar opposite of the Sabbat, Samhain.
  

• Litha Summer Solstice Longest day of the year and the mark of days growing shorter. It’s a bittersweet time. Days are going to shorten but harvests are on the way. The grapes of the vine will be ripe and fields full of fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. Much feasting and “festing” is on the way. The Greenman or the God is at his peak at this time of year. More celebration of virility and fecundity.
  

• Lughnassadh Fire Festival and the first of the 3 harvests. Wine, women/men and song. The grains and the corn are ripe; the God is weakening and the Goddess begins to age. In some traditions, a mock battle is held; the Old Stag King must battle the New Stag King. Old Stag King always bites it. His time to rule is, pretty much, over. It isn’t as dismal as it sounds; now we get to celebrate the new King. Off with the old and in with the new; party time.
  

• Mabon Autumn Equinox Day and night are equal again, just as they were at Ostara. This is the second harvest. A kind of Thanksgiving really, the tables are set with the bounty of the fields. Underneath all that though, is the realization that another year is coming to a close and we begin to celebrate all that we’ve accomplished. It’s a time of meditation as well and a good many folks use other harvests to help them with the meditation process. Buds are pulled out and pipes stoked. Actually, whenever meditation is required, during ritual or just personal meditative work; a lot of Witches will employ various organics; more on this a little further along.
  

• Samhain Fire Festival (sow-in or sow-een). It is the original Celtic term for the last harvest, the time for culling herds and getting your shit together before winter hits. We also believe that the veil between our world, the physical and the other world,the Shadow World, is at its most thin. We employ various forms of divination and contact with friends, relatives and other loved ones who have passed from this veil to the next. The rituals themselves are pretty solemn, in keeping with the occasion but following ritual? Party like its 999. The costumes date way back, actually. The costumes were worn to fool evil spirits roaming around. If they couldn’t recognize you? They couldn’t hurt you. The thinning of the veil is a double-edged sword. Sure, it’s easier to contact departed friendly folks but the Shadow World isn’t only populated by nice folks, there are just as many, not-so-nice entities over there. We tend to be very careful when we employ any type of Shadow World contact. ‘Cause ya never know.
  

Samhain is actually closer to your New Year’s Eve except we’re celebrating the end of the year and trying to get our ya-ya’s in before the traditional dark, cold and killing winter. It is how we honour the memory of those long dead. We honour two Deity archetypes; the Dark Lord and the Bone Mother and yes, they are as dark as they sound. 

They reign over both worlds, this one and the Shadow World. And They are always ready, willing and able to take you from one side to the other, unfortunately, it is usually only a one-way ticket EXCEPT at Samhain. Then They offer return trips.

Television, newspapers and movies roll us on out for a little vicarious thrill or two at this time of year. We’re ignored, pretty much, the rest of the time. No offense taken, by the way. You guys do the same thing to that chubby old dude with the red suit and beard.

I figure we’re in good company. The fat bearded guy takes care of the good cheer shit and we’re hauled out to scare the bejeebers out of you. If it works for you? It’s all good.

Of course the real difference is? Santa Claus is imaginary and we are very, very real. We’re your neighbours, your co-workers, your teachers and possibly, if you are really dumb, your enemies but not for long.

Don’t get your boxers in a twist; by the time you finish reading this? You may want to join us, not hide from us.

You’ll need a little more background first;

• We are polytheistic; this means we believe in more than one god.
  
• We don’t believe in the existence of the Devil/Satan. He’s a Christian manifestation actually.
  
• We believe life is meant to be enjoyed, lived to the fullest. Wine, women/men and song. Enjoying life, not feeling guilty because we’re having a good time.span>
• We believe in the power of Magick as opposed to the Chris Angel ‘pull a Chrysler out of my ass’ crap. Laws of energy are used to bend situations to our own will or needs. And yeah, that means not only your run of the mill love spells but a really good hex or two when required.
  
• We believe in the basic nature of the natural world, we’re a part of it. We aren’t masters of it. The survival of the fittest. Natural law was here long before we arrived and it will be around long after Green Peace and PETA have bit the dust.
  
• We don’t believe organic pleasures are wrong; in fact, we tend to celebrate all our major days with all sorts of natural treasures as well as those terrific “sins of the flesh.” These things are as much a part of nature as are we. NATURAL pleasures, not false pleasures manufactured in a lab. Those are not pleasures. We don’t endorse nor do we accept the use of chemicals. (Sorry.)
  
• We don’t believe in the Bible, the Q’ran or the Torah. We have no Holy Book that orders our lives. We command our own lives.We, essentially, make our own rules with certain laws in mind; call them Karmic laws for the sake of simplicity.
  
  

Which brings us to the whole sins thing; we don’t believe in sin. 

• We believe that we are meant to do as we wish but we also understand that everything has a price. We choose whether or not we’re willing to pay the price.
  
  

Example? Girlfriend does your best friend? You put an, admittedly, well deserved curse/hex on the both of them. 

Well, think back to your high school physics class; for every action there is a reaction. You better be ready for the consequences otherwise, back the hell off Jack! The reaction will be swift and immediate.

There ain’t no big book of celestial black marks recording your misdeeds. Screw up and you’ll get it back in the here and now; not after you’re worm food.

This leads to the “going to hell” thing.

• We don’t believe in the Devil or Satan so believing that he has some sort of subterranean residence with out of control central heating is, pretty much, ridiculous.
  

Another big thing that separates us from you? 

• We don’t believe in a middleman. No one speaks to our Deities on our behalf. We believe Deities are omnipresent and available to whoever wishes a little conversation.
  

Life makes such conversations difficult. We’re running around, worried about money, worried about the bills, exams, tuition, jobs and the general sorry state of world affairs. It’s hard to achieve a state of mind necessary for enlightenment. Now, how can this be cured? Let’s see now, the magazine is Heads. How about some bud? A few ‘shrooms? Or some other herbal cure? Damiana for example; great herb for releasing those inhibitions. These things were used long before the government and its Draconian laws existed. 

Using organics to achieve a meditative state takes practice (Can I get a Hallelujah?); every individual is different. Our physiology differs with regard to how much we need to attain meditative state as opposed to that pleasant comatose state. So, in this case? Practice makes perfect. (Can I get an Amen?)

Some Witches will use organics in ritual (kind of a mass for Witches); others will use it prior to ritual. Some don’t use it at all. It all depends on the individual’s ability to attain a state of total relaxation.

Again though and I have to make this really clear;

• We don’t use chemicals. No acid, no ‘X’, no Coke. These aren’t natural; they are manmade and run directly contrary to our beliefs. While we celebrate life and death; we don’t believe in hastening the whole death aspect of things.
  

The legends of Witches’ orgies and nekkidness and much fornicating? All stories have a basis in fact. The facts are, yes, there is nudity, there is lovemaking and there is much in the way of good, natural fun. 

• We CELEBRATE life, love and nature; we aren’t ashamed of it. We don’t believe that sex is dirty or organics are wrong. So yes, orgies we hold, orgies of pleasure, food and fun.
  

 

Now, just like what has occurred with all the world’s belief systems; our own system has branched off. You’ll find all sorts of people out there claiming Witch status. We believe they can call themselves whatever they wish to call themselves; doesn’t necessarily make it accurate but who cares? You’ll recognize them, most of them are vegans, they don’t smoke, drink and rarely have guilt free sex. We call them “Fluffy Bunnies.”

They are usually all about the female aspect of Deity. Light, love and all that marshmallow, yummy stuff. The male Fluffy Bunnies are all about being in touch with their feminine sides. We, on the other hand, prefer our men to be men and women to be women. Neither stronger than the other, just different. If you are around them? You may feel like your blood sugar has suddenly gone through the roof and you have that nauseated feeling, like you’ve eaten way too much candy.

Another sign that you are in the presence of a Fluffy Bunny? Bookshelves lined with ‘authors’ such as Silver Ravenwolf, Scott Cunningham and that infamous Laurie Cabot of Salem fame. What you won’t find is anything by Ronald Hutton, Israel Regardie, Eliphas Levi or Uncle Bugger (Aleister Crowley).

Want to really know what all this is about? Read some Regardie, jump into some Crowley. Sort through Levi. Try some Isaac Bonewits for a more modern and humorous perspective. Stay the hell off the internet.

Fluffies know nothing about the darker aspects of being a Witch. They couldn’t summon a demon if their lives depended on it. In fact, a good lot of them don’t acknowledge the existence of demons. Demons are as necessary to what we do as celebrating the Sabbats.

A well know phrase for us? A Witch who cannot kill; cannot heal. This is usually accepted as a thorough knowledge of various herbal mixtures/tinctures and potions but it applies across our span of knowledge. There are entities who are summoned for one purpose and one purpose only and you better believe, the purpose has nothing to do with light or love.

Consider the medieval ‘flying potions’ rumoured to have been used by our forbearers; it contained belladonna, hemlock, wolfsbane, Morning Glory seeds. No wonder they thought they were flying; a thorough knowledge of these plants and their properties are a prerequisite.

If you don’t know what you’re doing? We’ll be contacting you at Samhain, as you sit, perplexed, on the other side, wondering what went wrong.

 

Are we evil? Are we scary? Depends on your perspective. 

We scare the theocracies because we don’t believe in their right to exist.

We scare the governments and other sections of legislature and justice because we believe that we are responsible for our own behaviours; we don’t need some fat politician feeding off our sweat to tell us what is right and what is wrong.

We don’t need someone telling us what we should or should not be doing with this gift called life. We are the original Anarchists.

So celebrate Halloween or Samhain, celebrate it like never before.

Indulge your fantasy; that’s what it is all about. It is a celebration of life, love and all the natural world has to offer you. Winter’s dark, winter’s cold comes too quickly. 

We are the ones who will open your mind.
Leave the weak and the haunted behind.

(10 000 Fists Disturbed) 

Meditation On This Year’s Samhain

Time for a meditation on the impact of Samhain this year. The end of things. The ground is sterile and cold. Everything that was planted in the fertile months has now been harvested, for good or for ill. Some of our mind’s fields may have laid fallow this year. Certainly in my case. It has been a year of upheaval, on a global scale and for me, on a personal scale and rather than dig in, rather than sow seeds, I run, I’ve hidden, I’ve packed the harvest away for later….

I find an old myth of the Bone Mother dancing around the edges of my thoughts. She wants in and I don’t know that I’m mentally or spiritually prepared for her impact right now. This is her time and really, I have no business trying to bar her way.

I suppose I should mention that this is all metaphor. The Bone Mother is an archetype. I don’t believe in the concept as a true Deity or being. The Bone Mother to me is death. Death of ideas, of ways of life, the last harvest. All things must come to an end. Every day has an end, every year has an end, every life too, has an end.

This year has been full of reminders of the concept. Is there a reason for this? I’m not in a position to say, with any certainty.

The archetype of Anubis (Inpu) is something that has been a constant in my conscious for few years now. He is responsible for the weighing of souls. This translates to me as judgement as well. Judging my own actions and weighing them. Judging my plans, my sowing – if you will – of ideas, of directions and determining if they were worthy of me. Samhain, whether one believes in it as some sort of holy time or if one sees it as simply a metaphor, in my case, it is the latter, is a significant time. Perhaps the most significant of the year.

Thelemites, don’t have the luxury of claiming things to be some god’s will. Nothing is a god’s will – everything is our own will. We alone are the architects, the buildings, the brick layers of our days, of our actions and the ramifications thereof. We are the directors of our own futures and the future of our souls’ progressions. We are responsible for all the good and bad that we encounter. There are always choices, whether or not we choose the right path, is entirely up to us and reliant on the lessons we have either chosen to learn or to eschew. It is very difficult to learn lessons from the harsh realities of life. Gleaning something of worth from a betrayal, from the evil actions of another is a tough go but there is always, and I do mean, always something positive to be taken, some lesson that allows personal growth. The trick is to find it, buried under hurt, under personal pain, lying beneath waves of grief – the lessons are there. Our task is to find them and to grow, to take another step toward our will to be who we need to be, at any given time. Every man and woman is a star, has a great and sometimes terrible meaning. We are, totally, in control of our own destiny. We are the captains, the ensigns of our ship – we are the oarsmen. Total and completely responsible for our fates.

If we ignore or try to put this truth aside for any length of time, our minds, our souls may be forced to use more strident methods to get the lesson to surface.

Over the past few years, I found myself believing that I couldn’t face the lessons, often turning to alcohol to mute the lessons. Not to any great and horrible extent but on the weekends, a few hits of rum and the lessons were pushed aside in favour of some immediate fun. In favour of the mundane and shallow instead of what my will was demanding of me – to LEARN. To progress. Being of a stubborn personality, I continued on my merry way – deciding that I had had enough of life lessons and wanted some peace.

Well, the soul, the will, cannot be denied for long and I find myself unable to digest even a small amount of alcohol. I find myself getting physical ill from it. Horrible heartburn and upset stomach. My body reacting to an unwanted, unrequired poison. Or is it my will giving me a good swift kick in the arse. Telling me to move forward, that the mundane is to be left for others.

I’m tired though. Emotionally, physically but most importantly, spiritually exhausted. Inner strength is in dire need of some Vitamin B or a can of Popeye’s spinach. I want to seek out guidance but this is a weak excuse. One cannot seek guidance for an individual’s journey from someone else. I know the methods to regaining strength lies inside and I simply need to go in, access and put that strength where it belongs but I’m tired. Bone tired. Is this the end of the harvest for me? Is this why I am so tired or is it simply that I kept putting lessons aside until they attained overwhelming proportions. I will only find out if I begin to take on that mountain of lessons, if I approach them one at a time and clear my own path of the obstacles of my own making.

Samhain and Verbal Vomit

Can you believe it?  Another year is gone.  Samhain is 8 days away.
Usually, I would be taking this time to go over triumphs and major screw-ups, that I’ve managed to accomplish, put my energy into creating a ritual worthy of the occasion.

Can’t do it this year.  It has been too jumbled, too confused, too many things happening and not yet done.  No thinking about what to do in order to fix the screw-ups.  I can’t pin them down.

Rituals?  I’ve left them off for quite a while now.  Life has been so incredibly…well, life-like, that I can’t seem to settle myself down, long enough to put a ritual into motion.  Oh I know..rituals serve to ground and all that stuff but you need to have a certain amount of grounding to execute the ritual in the first place – so it becomes a Catch 22.

I don’t know if the family, as a whole, is in the head space to commit to ritual.  A lot of them are overworked, emotionally exhausted; there’s a lot of anger and frustration.  Yes, a ritual could gather and direct energies but it could also end up being a major release of negativity into an already messed up universe.  A ritual, in this period of family dynamics, would be a touchy thing to create.  And I don’t know if I have the inner strength to take this on, if the truth must will out.  I’m stretched every which way.

A friend of mine often refers to soul age; if I were to use her definitions of the young souls – I find myself inundated with them lately.  The people who lie to enhance their self-image, the manipulators, who do what they do also to enhance self-image and to maintain control over their lives, at any cost.  Fearful people, so wrapped up in terror of losing control that this fear seems to shadow everything, wherever they go. Taking some literary license from a favourite film “They tax me.”

Just avoiding them, at times, takes more energy than I really feel they deserve.  There’s no point in fighting them or trying to get them to see reason.  It isn’t their time nor my place.  I just want to pull the “old souls” close and take solace there but this is life.  Hiding away is not an option. I find myself reaching for an Advil or some Motrin because the effects are, sometimes, physical.

I guess this blog is a cathartic one of sorts – laying out the reasons as to why a ritual is essential right now, if only to serve as a focal point for the coming year.  Prioritize and come to place whereby I can keep what I need and file the rest away in the round filing cabinet in the mind. I need to keep the young souls at arms’ length for now. Let them muddle about on their own and keep all their immature energies away from me until I come to that place, again, where I’m grounded enough to deal with them and not end up with a headache. They have their road to create, their journey to chart and it isn’t mine. Been there, done that and I’m too tired to explain the reasons “Why” to those who simply don’t want or do not have the capacity to understand.

Pfffffffffff. Yup. Probably what all this verbal vomit is all about. The ritual needs to come out and the cards will have to fall where they may. Negative energies have to be gathered up and returned to the people who have sent them out there in the first place. Time to put an end to the chaos that has reigned supreme this past year. Time for young souls to face the consequences of what they have created, whether or not they have the wherewithal to understand these consequences, is not my affair. Getting rid of them though, is my business. Yup, guess it is time to pull out, dust off and ready the big guns.