Samhain. Death.
We are now approaching the season where we celebrate Halloween, which is a secular and marketing based festivity that contains symbols and traditions from various holidays and commemorations from around the world. Lets look into the celebrations of the Dead and Death. One of those is Mexico’s celebration referred to as the Festival of Santa Muerte (ST. Death). It is believed that death is to be celebrated as a transformation of the Soul, from flesh back to its source. Encouraging us not to fear death as it is inevitable.
Those who practice Tarot know of the card Death- ATU/Key 13. Even those who don’t get into the divination of Tarot are bound to know about this card through horror movies, books etc. It has quite the reputation. Back in the day, those in the British Isles referred to him as LORD DREAD or DREADLORD and October 31st is his Holy Day!
Death goes by many names and representations around the world.
In the Semitic version of the Asiatic Sana, he is known as Samara (Aryan), or Samarium, “the leveler”. He is depicted with a scythe, which most of us know that you can level things very well with a skillful usage of a such a tool. It was a very particular harvesting tool of the time.
He is the ever-feared image and is known as the JUDGE OF THE DEAD (for those with a guilty conscience), and is identified with the underworld King Yama and in the Sama Veda (Hindu), and he was called the “Storm god”, clothed in black clouds.
In the Rig Veda, he was Rudra, the god of storms and medicine (often shown with three faces) , and disease. The three faces representing the evolution of death.
In fact in Europe and Asia, the black clouds of storms became the usual depiction of this deity, dressed in a hooded black all-encompassing robe. The later version of him is called Satan, he was Prince of the Power of the Air, another way to say he has a “Stormy” nature.
The Celts know him as Her; and refer to her as The Morrighan. She is known as the washer at the ford, and it is she who determines which warriors walk off the battlefield, and which ones are carried away on their shields. This warrior goddess is associated with death in a way much like the Norse goddess Freya. She is represented in many legends by a trio of ravens, often seen as a symbol of death. In later Irish folklore, her role would be delegated to the bain sidhe, or banshee, who foresaw the death of members of a specific family or clan.
SAMHAIN, the Feast of the dead. Christianized as All Souls Day. The Medieval Gnostic’s called him SAMMAEL OR SATANAEL or at least they were accused of worshiping him as such. But the Worshiping concept is suspect as that was the accusation of those who accused them of heresy and wanted their land and supposed riches.
In early Britain, Samuel had a female counterpart, SAMOTHEA (Death Goddess) who seems to have been another form of SKADI or SCATHA. Samothea, was the goddess of the mysterious (Arcane) land of Hyperborean, the land where Pythagoras traveled to learn the arts of letters, astronomy, and science from this All-Wise Lady.
The Greeks had Hades, and his wife Persephone. The Roman’s Pluto and Proserpina. Rulers of the underworld and the germination of seeds, rebirth.
Qabalist’s know that Hermes/Thoth Is the Magician (Magus) of letters, words, and sound, while the Art of Forms (astronomy) is the Domain of Binah as the Star card and science from The Art Card (Alchemy) where He and She combine to make All, making the Dread Lord a Hermaphrodite.
Thus, one might say that Hyperborean was the Supernal Triangle of the Tree of Life, known as the World of Aziluth, which is across the Abyss and a place you can only reach after a death of your human realities, Sea of Styx. Styx is a goddess and river of the Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas.
The Egyptian Thoth (Ibis headed) was shown with Anubis (God of Death) at the scales of Maat, who judged the soul against the weight of a feather, if the soul were heavier than the feather they didn’t “pass muster “and Ammut (Crocodile god) would move swiftly and gobble them up.
According to the traditions of the pagan lunar calendar, festivals were celebrated on the “eve” rather than the day. Thus, Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve, was the original festival that was later displaced to the following day. The Irish called this Holy Night, the Vigil of Saman.
Christians of the day, described this night as heretical because of assumed practices, where magic charms and divination, reading the future with Witches and other objectionable rites were supposedly being performed. The Christians also felt that the act of bobbing for apples in tubs of water was unholy, because it was said to represent souls in the Cauldron of Regeneration.
Even today there are remnants of an old superstition that says if a girl peels an apple in front of a mirror, on Halloween, she will see the image of her future husband in the glass. This story is revised from a past belief in a deity, whom the ancient Celtics once called “The Apple Woman”. The Apple Woman is still honored on this day, as the goddess of both life and death. She would give away magical apples which were laced either with a benevolent enchantment or a malevolent poison (I guess Snow white is not an original story). The evolution of “Trick or Treat” is also said to come from the Apple Woman tradition. According to Celtic Texts, the Apple Woman lived in a beautiful, secluded forest by a sacred river (perhaps river of life and death). This may also be whence we derive the apple as a forbidden fruit (In the Garden of Eden) which also bestowed life or death. Of course the apple is not mentioned as the actual fruit that was eaten by Adam and Eve.
On November 1, 5AD, Pope Gregory declared this day to be All Saint’s Day, hoping to obscure pagan rites into a Christian affiliation. But as we know, this time year has been dedicated to the honoring of death and the dead by many cultures around the world way before then. Hallowe’en and All Saints have been known in diverse cultures as: All Hallowmas, All Soul’s Day, Mallowmas, The Druidic feast of the Spirits of the Air, The Day of the Dead and/or the Santa Muerte festival (Mexico and South America), Rite of Hella (Scandinavia), and Isia or Helaria (Egyptian recovery from death and rebirth of Osiris).
Today’s celebration of parties, and candy/gift giving also follows an original version of Samuele’s Day. The original divination was considered to be Oracular utterances by the Elder dead (Ancestors) who came up from their tombs on this day, bearing gifts for the children of their living descendants.
The practice of carving ghoulish faces into pumpkins comes from an Irish folktale that became entangled with the Day of the Dead. The practice of decorating jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes were carved to hold a candle. In fact, the name, jack-o’-lantern, comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack who also carved a turnip for a light of his own. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became a fun part of Halloween festivities.
The Legend of “Stingy Jack”
People have been making jack-o’-lanterns this time of year for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” Funny story it is. It goes like this.
“Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. A jolly time they had too. Then true to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink. Using his comical wit, he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. So the Devil obliged. But then Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, knowing that this would prevent the Devil from changing back into his original form.
Jack eventually freed the Devil, but did it under the condition that the Devil would not bother Jack for one year and that, if should Jack die, the Devil would not claim his soul. As promised the next year came and went and Jack was left alone. But then Jack would again trick the Devil. This time into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit for Jack. While the Devil was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.
But as Karma haunts us all, it would catch up to Jack as well. He would die soon after this last trick of his. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. And the Devil, had become quite upset by the tricks Jack had played on him. The Devil did realize that he had to keep his word not to claim his soul, but he could prevent Jack from entering into hell. So, he sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack carved-out a turnip to carry the coal in and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’ Lantern.””
Today, putting the pumpkin with a ghoulish face in front of homes, etc, represents a gargoyle type of character, that keeps “Jack of the Lantern” away by lighting his path. Some have even associated it with deterring evil spirits as well. What ever beliefs you hold about this commemoration of Death and the Dead, be sure to have a Blessed Samhain and a Happy Halloween.
Love Always,
High Priestess of Agape Covens