Halloween has long been one of my favorite holidays. When I was little I loved dressing up to go trick or treating and bringing home lots of candy. My mom always made my Halloween costumes. One year she made me look like a monkey from the Wizard of Oz. The tail had a wire in it and as soon as I stepped out of the front door the neighborhood's dogs took off in pursuit. She said I grabbed my tail and ran as fast as I could while she laughed hysterically.
As do most holidays Halloween has its roots in several different traditions. In the Celtic tradition it was called Samhain (pronounced sow-in) and it was the celebration of the harvest and the end of a year. Traditionally all the fires were extinguished and the hearths cleaned to honor the changing of the seasons. Then torches would be light from one great fire and all the hearths would be relight and kept burning until the next year.
It was believed that the veil between the worlds was at its thinnest and it became a time to honor the ancestors and the souls of loved ones that had died. Eventually fear crept in and people began to create rituals to protect themselves. Men would light a torch and run around the boundary of their fields to ward off fairies and other beings that might cause mischief. Since the spiritual boundary is thinner angels are also better able to reach out and touch our lives, so it can also be viewed as a time of love and healing.
Somewhere around the birth of Jesus the Romans conquered the Celtic people. Slowly their celebration of the goddess Pomona replaced or blended with the Celtic tradition. Pomona was often depicted as a nymph, a goddess of orchards, particularly apples and nut orchards. Later as Christianity overtook the land the Catholics added All Saint's day and Soul Day or the Day of the Dead.
The word Halloween comes from middle English and refers to All Hallow Eves, or the holy evening before All Saints Day. Stories of witches and evil beings proliferated when the Catholic Church tried to stop the ancient practices of Samhain and encourage people to celebrate Christian martyrs and saints instead.Stories of witches and black magic began to grow and the original sacred nature of the celebration faded into history.
Halloween is a mixture of many beliefs and many traditions. I prefer to believe that the only thing that is real is love. I believe that only the pure unconditional love of God is real and that fear is an illusion created by our belief that we are some how separate from God. From that perspective I see Halloween as a wonderful opportunity to let go of any limiting or fear based beliefs and renew our connection to our spirit.
Next Thursday I will be talking more about the mythology and symbolism of Halloween. On Halloween night I will be doing a beautiful ceremony/prayer/meditation designed to honor our ancestors, help our loved ones move on, assist us in letting go of any fear or limitations and deepen our connection with the angelic realms. I invite you to attend.
With love and aloha,
Susan
Angels are everywhere, just open your heart and your mind and let the love in.
Somewhere around the birth of Jesus the Romans conquered the Celtic people. Slowly their celebration of the goddess Pomona replaced or blended with the Celtic tradition. Pomona was often depicted as a nymph, a goddess of orchards, particularly apples and nut orchards. Later as Christianity overtook the land the Catholics added All Saint's day and Soul Day or the Day of the Dead.
The word Halloween comes from middle English and refers to All Hallow Eves, or the holy evening before All Saints Day. Stories of witches and evil beings proliferated when the Catholic Church tried to stop the ancient practices of Samhain and encourage people to celebrate Christian martyrs and saints instead.Stories of witches and black magic began to grow and the original sacred nature of the celebration faded into history.
Halloween is a mixture of many beliefs and many traditions. I prefer to believe that the only thing that is real is love. I believe that only the pure unconditional love of God is real and that fear is an illusion created by our belief that we are some how separate from God. From that perspective I see Halloween as a wonderful opportunity to let go of any limiting or fear based beliefs and renew our connection to our spirit.
Next Thursday I will be talking more about the mythology and symbolism of Halloween. On Halloween night I will be doing a beautiful ceremony/prayer/meditation designed to honor our ancestors, help our loved ones move on, assist us in letting go of any fear or limitations and deepen our connection with the angelic realms. I invite you to attend.
With love and aloha,
Susan
Angels are everywhere, just open your heart and your mind and let the love in.
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Susan, this is an interesting change of reason to enjoy Halloween. I enjoyed it as a kids and also while my children were young but as they grew and left home , Halloween was not one of my favorite holidays to celebrate.
Thanks for this new insight and I will look foward to this Halloween and I will try to attend, online I hope, your celebration and prayers.
Thanks for educating us.
Joyful Samhain, Feliz Dia de los Muertos and Blessed All Saints Day.
Blessed Be
RF
Aloha Lynda and Rosalba,
I hope to see you on line Lynda. Rosalba I love the way they celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico. As a young girl I got lost in a huge cemetery and was terrified. I doubt I would have had the same experience if I had been raised to honor and celebrate the ancestors.
With love and aloha,
Susan
Thank you Susan, for the historical insight you have shared. A wonderful new friend shared this sight with me just recently and momentarily I will sign up for daily angel inspiration. I, too, enjoyed and was most enchanted with the coming of the autumn and Halloween celebrations. I am still looking at the world through a child's eyes, even though I just had my 58th birthday and feel like an old soul. I will be spending Halloween 2009 in a special place located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mts., a place called, Love Valley, North Carolina, the Cowboy Capital of NC. A country western saloon called The Silver Spur Saloon hosts a Halloween Ball in the evening with much music, dance, and celebration. To me, it is magical & mystical and the moon will (almost be full), shedding it moonbeams down upon us and the spirits and angels will definitely be among us. Thanks again for sharing the historical info. Much appreciated. Love & Light, Miss Charlotte
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