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| | From:  bustylady40 (Original Message) | Sent: 10/4/2008 2:05 PM |
This is the most contraversial article I have every had to read! I was insulted to the core after finishing this! although it does bare the truth of what chirstains believe and how they to this very day try to stamp out witch craft. I hope to see many views from everyone.
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Faith under Attack
What’s Good and Evil about Halloween?
Margaret Galitzin
Recently I received the Fantastic Fall edition of a rather upscale catalog featuring “inspired home décor.�?I was shocked to see that 33 pages - more than a third of the magazine �?were dedicated to Halloween décor - macabre mummies, gaggles of ghosts, skull and bones necklaces and purses, and much more.
There was a 12-foot indoor spider web with jewel-eyed black spiders, also a witch so richly detailed “you’ll expect her to take off on her broom.�?Every kind of outdoor décor was featured: orange “Halloween lights,�?life-size vampires, grim reapers and ghosts, and even an inflatable carriage hearse complete with lights, sound effects and a rising zombie (at a truly frightening price). For the mantelpiece, black candleholders with flickering candles and a black mantel scarf with cobweb or belfry bat patterns.
Macabre year-round "Halloween decor"
| Do you really believe witchcraft isn’t finding a place in the mainstream culture? It’s time to wake up. This 2007 catalog aimed at the general public is featuring handsome bound leather books for your favorite spells and potions. Ghoulish gargoyle sconces and sculptures and gothic windows with skulls are advertised to be not just for Halloween, but year-round display.
The ancient pagan feast day, today known as Halloween, has come to be considered a major “holiday,�?as important as Christmas and Easter in the minds of many children and adults. This fulfills a goal of the neo-pagans �?to reclaim the pagan festivals that were made holy days by the Catholic Church.
On one Wicca site, a witch swore her revenge on the Christians who “have pushed Christmas down our throats every year.�?She asserted, “We will do the same with Halloween - make you adopt and accept our feast day, symbols and beliefs, whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not.�?Another gloated, “More and more persons are claiming Halloween as their favorite holiday! Hurrah for Samhain (the pagan name for Halloween)! Hurrah for the triumph of Paganism over Christianity. Your sun is setting, Christians, and ours is rising.�?
The History of Samhain
What we know as Halloween started as Samhain (pronounced Sah-Ween), the most popular of the eight pagan Celtic feasts in the yearly cycle. Our trick-or-treat, witches, mayhem, costuming and bonfires are vestiges of this pagan festival. By the way, you might be surprised to know that the Catholic countries of Europe and South America never celebrated Halloween.
Spirits rising in the pagan Celtic bonfire ritual on October 31 | For the Celtic pagans, Samhain marked the end of the year and the Autumn season that faded into history at dusk on October 31. The essence of Samhain is chaos and disintegration; a three-day period called “Time Which Is No Time,�?when the normal order was suspended. This chaos manifested itself not only in an unleashing of the spirit world on the earth, but in dark occult rituals and night orgies led by the Druid priests and witches. Disorder reigned: men dressed as women and women as men, people wore costumes of ghouls and ghosts to mix with the evil spirits or fool them so they would pass by without incident.
During the three days of Samhain, the Druid priests would make contact with the spirit world, departed relatives or the spirits that lived in the underworld who would give supposed guidance and inspiration for the new pagan year that was starting. During these days, the veil was said to be drawn that separated this world and the underworld, and journeys could be made from one side to the other. As in voodoo rituals, families set out food and wine for the spirits of their ancestors to refresh themselves after the long journey from the netherworld of Hell. Sweets were placed to appease wandering spirits. Then there were the uncontrollable evil spirits that came forth from the caves to devastate the land. Costumed Druid priests would parade about making loud noises to drive unwelcome spirits to the edge of town. Today it has become fashionable to make light of ghosts, spirits and such as just silly stories, but the pagans take them very seriously.
The pull of Samhain was darkness, the spirit world, divinations, and blood sacrifice. Again, as in voodoo, Druids predicted the future by reading the entrails and movements of the animals slaughtered for the great feast, known as the festival of meat. There were also human offerings to the demon gods, a frequent and common element in the religious rituals that were made only in the presence of a Druid. On the eve of Samhain, the Druid priests would burn the sacrificial animals in huge bonfires on hilltops at the “Fire Festivals.�?For this reason the Full Moon in October was often referred to as the Blood Moon. They also used the fires to predict the future.
An opening Samhain ritual to the Devil, revived today in many places | Today you will see that the druids, witches and wiccans of the neo-pagan movement vehemently deny and carefully hide the demonic aspects of the ancient cults and rituals they are reviving. They make no secret, however, that they are adoring the god of the Underworld and the Crone Witch goddess at their Samhain (also spelled Samhein or Sanhaim) festivals.
Halloween Christianized
With her good sense and wisdom, the Catholic Church took those pagan festivals and Christianized them, cleansing them of what was evil and demonic, maintaining what was sound or harmless, and adding what was holy and beneficial.
In Poland, Catholics decorate the tombs of relatives and pray for them on All Saints Day | Therefore, in the 7th century Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead observed on May 13 in the West. In 835, in part to halt the Druid practices in the Celtic lands, Pope Gregory IV changed the date of All Saints Day to November 1.
The bonfires were still lit in the Celtic villages on the night of October 31, but now to give light to the evening of festivities and games and keep away the spirits of darkness. Thus Samhain became All Hallows Eve, the holy eve before All Saint’s Day, later shortened to Halloween. Instead of attending occult rituals to the devils, the Celtic people assisted at Holy Mass on November 1, celebrating with joy all the Saints in Heaven. Families visited cemeteries to decorate graves with candles and flowers and pray for their loved ones.
On the next day, November 2, All Souls�?Day, they joined the universal Church in praying for the souls of their deceased relatives and friends. Instead of leaving wine and food to appease the spirits, the people baked little pastries called “soul cakes�?that were blessed and eaten at gatherings and distributed to the poor. The pagan festival had been Christianized.
Neo-Paganism revived
Neo-Paganism and Satanism are on the rise everywhere today, and at no time is it so obvious as at Halloween. Today’s witches and warlocks are openly practicing their Samhain rituals offered to the demonic spirits. The neo-pagans even advertise their festivals, acclimating the public to the worship of the Devil by introducing them to their less alarming rituals.
The public is invited to the Witch Festival | For example, the 2007 Samhain Festival at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve (25 miles west of Madison, Wisconsin) calls on the public to come ”explore the afterlife, connect with the recent dead and ancestors, walk the Labyrinth and draw tarot cards.�?There is a special program for the children, with mask making and spirit bags games. The pretext for all this revival of Paganism, Witchcraft and Satanism is to offer some fun for children and diversion for adults�?
Here is another advertised event: The New York Witch Festival claims 2007 will be its biggest and best ever, with Sacred Circles, tarot card readers, and a Samhain ritual inviting the spirits of the departed to join the living. They do not hide that the festival is “offered to the community in honor of the goddess.�?Isn’t this goddess the Devil?
Signs of the rise and acceptance of Neo-Paganism are everywhere. Anyone who visits a bookstore will find special sections at Halloween on magic, potions, spells, witches and vampires. One need go no further than e-bay to purchase a “Samhain blend�?of Magickal Herbs, “specially blended for use in Samhain spells and rituals,�?along with a Magickal Herbs eBook to learn the spells and uses.
Halloween is treated as an important date in the world of wizards and magic in the Harry Potter book series. The name Samhain appears as a title of a song from the album Mythical and Magical by a Heavy Metal band Pagan Altar. An article in the New York Daily News features an ex-Catholic mother who became a witch and celebrates “Samhain, not Halloween.�?If you look around you, you will find signs that Halloween is increasingly turned toward the occult.
Let Christianity re-triumph
As Paganism revives, Halloween becomes more and more incompatible with Catholic Faith. Some 20 years ago, neither adults nor children took witches or ghosts seriously; Halloween was just a night to go out in a costume and get a bagful of candy. Perhaps it was a lack of vigilance.
Readily available to all: A Samhain manual with spells and rituals to communicate with the dead | At any rate, in the present climate, the witches and wizards have returned with a vengeance. They are taking themselves seriously and asking our children to do so also. The pagans are taking advantage of the symbols of Halloween to breathe life into their pagan festival of Samhain with its rituals to the devils of the underworld. The underworld, which sounds a bit glamorous, should be exposed for what it really is, Hell.
In this context, it behooves Catholics to rethink the practices of Halloween. We have our Catholic feast days, the holy days established by the Church to give honor and glory to God and celebrate the Saints in Heaven and Poor Souls in Purgatory.
Let’s do as the Church always did, crush out the pagan practices and customs, and emphasize what is salutary and good for souls. Let’s not decorate our homes with witches, spider webs and bats. Instead of dressing as ghouls and vampires, children can wear costumes of their favorite saints to commemorate the approaching holyday. There’s no need to do away with Halloween, just get rid of pagan practices and symbols, and make it what it should be, a “holy eve�?before our Catholic feast days.
Posted on October 25, 2007
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I have many statements in regards to this one-sided, distorted, twisted article. however I am going to hold my opinions and comments down until everyone has a chance to read it, and respond to it. as i do not want to taint anyone’s view or perspective on it.. <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> I too can not wait to hear comments .. Blessed Be Lady Middy <o:p> </o:p> |
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Outrageous!!! I would call the article "Salem Revisted". I was hoping that most of the ignorance had died. Obviously, the individual writing the article knows nothing about pagans OR witches! |
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The thing that Christians don't get is that Pagsnism is much older than Christianity. Pagainsim isn't on the uprise it has always been there unlike their religion. My belief is that there is both good and ban in Paganism yes there are demons and negative spirits and some pagans call upon them to do their bidding but not all do. One thing I can't stand is when Chrsitians call Pagan Sabbats "holidays" these are not hilidays but Sacred and HOLY DAYS. Persoanlly I like the term Sacred. As far as the animal sacrifices and the divination by entrails well that happens in some Pagan traditions but again Not all Pagans do that kind of thing. Chriustians love to say that Jesus died on the cross for ALL OUR SINS , what they don;t get that Jesus did not infact "Die" his body was not in the tomb and he was seen, heard and even touched days later. How could Jesus have died if there was no body in the tomb. Then comes this. Their sins are washed away by the BLOOD of Jesus why not the Love or Light of Jesus NO it has to be the blood. They also wear their crosses as a reminder of Jesus untilamate sacrifice to us all and what is that symbol . An instrument of torture where many men and women died before and even after Jesus' crucifixion. Some Christians denominations don't accept Cathols as Chrsitian because of their worshiping and honoring the Virgin Mary, well Mary was Chosen and Blessed among ALL women to bear Jesus immaculately by God. This sounds very similar to how The God was concieved and the cycle. "Let’s do as the Church always did, crush out the pagan practices and customs, and emphasize what is salutary and good for souls. " How many times was that tried and failed? LOL |
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ok, time for my opnion. lol. I waited.. i do have a migrain so i am abit punchy lol. I grew up in a catholic home. I was taught pretty much what this woman is saying. So this article is not that surprising to me as far as her point of veiw. However what is surprising is that in this day and age people STILL feel this way . It has always amazed me the stupid legnths people will go to get "jesuses message" across. I am sorry, but I highly doubt any god would want you burning someone at a stake, or stoneing them to death in a town circle. I KNOW that this is not what this article is saying. But to me a Witch hunt is a witch hunt. and it doesn't matter the form. litterary or Litterly. What most catholics do not realize is that paganisim has been around MUCH longer the Catholicism or Christianity and it will be around after they fade away. That is because people eventually want to have their own beliefs. And not be told how they should worship their god. yes there are a few who need to be led by the nose ring.and there are those who still think listening to music or any self enjoyment is a sin. But those majorities. at least in the US are fading, especially since the "new age" movement is increasing by numbers and popularity and people are begining to realize that it is not as bad as churches would like people to believe. I understand in many cultures still today that there are religious zelouts (sp) who find it neccessary to "spread the word" or stamp out witch craft. But Please. Unless a major shift in sanity happens. I do not believe there will EVER be again a burning times. at least in the US. I surf craigs list often , looking for house hold objects, wedding supplies, :D, Or a new family pet. and it amazes me that even on there. You see the occasional un educated person speaking of animal sacrafices of cats and animals, what they dont realize is that that in the US culture it is very rare, and if it is found or done. it is not by a pagan or a witch, but by a completly different belief system. But yet the common Witch, Pagan is blamed for such an act. EVEN in the media, which REALLY offends me at least. Samhain is one of the fore most Pagan Holidays, that has been adopted into the main streem culture. NOT the other way around. I think these "good Christians" or "good Catholics" Would be VERY surprised to find out just what holidays of theirs was adopted from the pagan tradition and turned into something else. I think they would be surprised to find out, that they are the ones who worship the devil, not your common witch or pagan.and that there are more "GOOD WITCHES" then there are "GOOD CATHOLICS". Okay i am done... lol. I am more surprised that unless this woman owns this paper or where it was published, that it was allowed. as it is so biased. Thank you for the share Val. Hugs Blessed Be lady middy |
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oh also CAPPY did you know that the CROSS. that they like to wear is NOT a Christian or Catholic symbol. It is infact an old protection symbol much like the pentagram. It was only adopted by them because it is the stake that jesus was nailed to. It just happened to LOOK like the cross. there was no significance to that.as far as that is WHY they did it, etc.. I have to say I still wear one. It's a morigan celtic cross. But I still wear it. Because it's not theirs to own. Of course I also wear my triquartra and pentagram lol They are all protective symbols, and I refuse to allow their religion to cop it as theirs. And as far as Jesus, dying for our sins. I am sory I do not believe that. never have, I believe wrong time wrong place, plane and simple, I think it boiled down to politics. even back then . LOL.. Perhaps that is why I was kicked out of sunday school and not the fact I broke the preachers son's nose.. lol... just thought I would say Hugs blessed be lady middy |
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