Thursday, October 31, 2013

The True Meaning Of Halloween


By Lauren C. Dole

THE TRUE MEANING OF HALLOWEEN:.....We’ve all heard the allegations. Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to some pre-Christian festival among the Celtic Druids that escaped Church suppression. Even today modern pagans and witches continue to celebrate this ancient festival. If you let your kids go trick-or-treating, they will be worshiping the devil and pagan gods.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The origins of Halloween are, in fact, very Christian and rather American. Halloween falls on October 31 because of a pope, and its observances are the result of medieval Catholic piety.

It’s true that the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain celebrated a minor festival on Oct. 31 — as they did on the last day of most other months of the year. However, Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Feast of All Saints or "All Hallows" falls on Nov. 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III (d. 741) moved it to Nov. 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. And so the holy day spread to Ireland. The day before was the feast’s evening vigil, "All Hallows Even" or "Hallowe’en." In those days, Halloween didn’t have any special significance for Christians or for long-dead Celtic pagans.

In 998, St. Odilo, the abbot of the powerful monastery of Cluny in Southern France, added a celebration on Nov. 2. This was a day of prayer for the souls of all the faithful departed. This feast, called All Souls Day, spread from France to the rest of Europe.

So now the Church had feasts for all those in heaven and all those in purgatory? What about those in the other place? It seems Irish Catholic peasants wondered about the unfortunate souls in hell. After all, if the souls in hell are left out when we celebrate those in heaven and purgatory, they might be unhappy enough to cause trouble. So it became customary to bang pots and pans on All Hallows Even to let the damned know they were not forgotten. Thus, in Ireland, at least, all the dead came to be remembered — even if the clergy were not terribly sympathetic to Halloween and never allowed All Damned Day into the Church calendar.

But that still isn’t our celebration of Halloween. Our traditions on this holiday centers around dressing up in fanciful costumes, which isn’t Irish at all. Rather, this custom arose in France during the 14th and 15th centuries. Late medieval Europe was hit by repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague — the Black Death — and she lost about half her population. It is not surprising that Catholics became more concerned about the afterlife. More Masses were said on All Souls’ Day, and artistic representations were devised to remind everyone of their own mortality.

All Souls DayWe know these representations as the "Dance Macabre" or "Dance of Death," which was commonly painted on the walls of cemeteries and shows the devil leading a daisy chain of people — popes, kings, ladies, knights, monks, peasants, lepers, etc. — into the tomb. Sometimes the dance was presented on All Souls’ Day itself as a living tableau with people dressed up in the garb of various states of life. But the French dressed up on All Souls, not Halloween; and the Irish, who had Halloween, did not dress up. How the two became mingled probably happened first in the British colonies of North America during the 1700s when Irish and French Catholics began to intermarry. The Irish focus on hell gave the French masquerades and even more macabre twist.

But, as every young ghoul knows, dressing up isn’t the point; the point is getting as many goodies as possible. Where on earth did "trick or treat" come in?

"Trick or treat" is perhaps the oddest and most American addition to Halloween, and is the unwilling contribution of English Catholics.

During the penal period of the 1500s to the 1700s in England, Catholics had no legal rights. They could not hold office and were subject to fines, jail and heavy taxes. It was a capital offense to say Mass, and hundreds of priests were martyred.

Occasionally, English Catholics resisted, sometimes foolishly. One of the most foolish acts of resistance was a plot to blow up the Protestant King James I and his Parliament with gunpowder. This was supposed to trigger a Catholic uprising against their oppressors. The ill-conceived Gunpowder Plot was foiled on Nov. 5, 1605, when the man guarding the gunpowder, a reckless convert named Guy Fawkes, was captured and arrested. He was hanged; the plot fizzled.

Nov. 5, Guy Fawkes’ Day, became a great celebration in England, and so it remains. During the penal periods, bands of revelers would put on masks and visit local Catholics in the dead of night, demanding beer and cakes for their celebration: trick or treat!

Guy Fawkes’ Day arrived in the American colonies with the first English settlers. But, buy the time of the American Revolution, old King James and Guy Fawkes had pretty much been forgotten. Trick or treat, though, was too much fun to give up, so eventually it moved to Oct. 31, the day of the Irish-French masquerade. And in America, trick or treat wasn’t limited to Catholics.

The mixture of various immigrant traditions we know as Halloween had become a fixture in the Unites States by the early 1800s. To this day, it remains unknown in Europe, even in the countries from which some of the customs originated.

Witches - All Souls - All SaintsBut what about witches? Well, they are one of the last additions. The greeting card industry added them in the late 1800s. Halloween was already "ghoulish," so why not give witches a place on greeting cards? The Halloween card failed (although it has seen a recent resurgence in popularity), but the witches stayed. So, too, in the late 1800s, ill-informed folklorists introduced the jack-o’-lantern. They thought that Halloween was druidic and pagan in origin. Lamps made from turnips (not pumpkins) had been part of ancient Celtic harvest festivals, so they were translated to the American Halloween celebration.

The next time someone claims that Halloween is a cruel trick to lure your .children into devil worship, I suggest you tell them the real origin of All Hallows Even and invite them to discover its Christian significance, along with the two greater and more important Catholic festivals that follow it.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Forgiveness Prayer



From: The Faeries and Angels Magazine

Forgiveness Prayer: “I forgive everything, everyone, every experience, every memory of the past and present that needs forgiveness. I forgive positively everyone. I also forgive myself of past mistakes. God is love, and I am forgiven and governed by God’s love alone. God’s love is now adjusting my life. Realizing this, I abide in peace.”

by, Catherine Ponder


Friday, October 4, 2013

Most Benevolent Outcome



☆ Most Benevolent Outcome (MBO) FOR YOUR BANK BALANCE ☆ by: The Faeries and Angels Magazine

Guardian Angel, "I request a Most Benevolent Outcome that as I view and operate my bank account and bank balance each time, that I feel happy, at peace, and financially secure with positive expectations of a very healthy bank balance! Even better than I ever expected! and I also request a Most Benevolent Outcome to bring in financial Blessings and Miracles to my bank account which raises my Bank Balance up by hundreds and thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars divinely and miraculously in Most Benevolent Ways, and may the results be even better than I could hope for, expect or imagine! Thank You! "

REMOVING A CURSE



REMOVING A CURSE:..... Do yourself spell that works well by Gypsy Queen

November 17, 2012 at 11:46am

Removing the Evil Eye or a Curse

What you need:

  • Rosemary
  • Lavender
  • Black pepper
  • Cinnamon
  • Ginger root
  • 6 white candles
  • 1 black candle

Directions

This spell should be cast during a new moon phase

  1. First cast a magical circle (hail to the guardians)
  2. Next face the north and sit and meditate
  3. Mix the herbs together in a fireproof bowl or cauldron
  4. Get up and light your candles clockwise, all except for the black.
  5. When you have lit your white candles, use a white candle to light the black candle.
  6. Then light the mixture of herbs and spices.

Say:

Whatever evil comes to me here
I cast you back, I have no fear
With the speed of wind and the dark of night
May all of your harboring take flight
With the swiftness of the sea
And all the power found in me
As I will, so mote it be

Then in a loud voice say

I cast you out!

And blow out the black candle as hard as you can (careful or any melted wax will blow off the candle).

Let the mixture burn, then draw an eye on the candle and wrap it in a white cloth and bury it in your back yard.


Lemon Uncrossing Spell



UNCROSSING SPELL..To Break a curse ( YOu can do yourself)

November 17, 2012 at 12:14pm

Lemon Uncrossing Spell by Gypsy Queen

(to break a curse)

In a sachet, combine the following herbs: St. John's Wort, sage, calamus and dragonsblood powder. Set the sachet aside for later. Fill an incense brazier with dragonsblood incense. On your altar, you will need an athame, a whole ripe lemon, 1 white and 1 black candle, a bowl of salt and a bowl of water. You will also need a glass or ceramic plate to set the lemon on when you are done. Do not use paper or wood.

Light the candles and the incense. Hold the lemon in both hands and visualize it magnetized and drawing the negative spell away from you. Dip your athame in the water then slice the lemon into three pieces. Set the athame aside and visualize the lemon drawing the negativity away from you and into the pulpy fruit. Repeat the following:

As sour as this lemon be
Charged and cut in pieces three
With salt and water I am free
Uncross me now, I will it be.
Let this lemon do it's task
It's cleansing power I do ask
As this lemon dries in air.
Free me from my dark despair.
Uncross! Uncross! I break his curse.
But let not my simple spell reverse.
I wish no ill, nor wish him pain
I wish only to be free again.

Take each lemon slice and dip it in the salt, making sure it is well coated. Set the slices back on the altar and say:

As it is my will, so mote it be!

Leave the lemon pieces on the altar where they can dry. Once dry the spell is complete and the lemon can be thrown away or buried. If however the fruit rots instead, you must repeat the spell. While waiting for the fruit to dry, keep the sachet with you at all times. It will help to protect you from the effects of the spells and turn away any negativity sent in your direction.


HOW TO REMOVE A CURSE YOURSELF



HOW TO REMOVE A CURSE YOURSELF by Gypsy Queen

Things that are required:

  • Candles
  • Match box
  • White cloths which have pockets
  • Personal items or belongings to the person whom you have cursed

The Process:

First of all you will have to make a full fledged plan. The best time to remove a curse is at night preferably on a full moon and, it can also be done on any night after midnight. It should be performed alone as it is safe in that manner. so, you will have to select a safe location.

You will first have to take a bath and wash your hair with odorless soap, dry yourself properly and dress up in white clothes. Use of perfume and jewelry is completely prohibited.

Gather small personal items and white candles; take out a small piece of white cloth and short piece of string, keep these items together in the pocket of your garment. Take them out only at your chosen abandoned place after midnight.

Make your self familiar with that place, do not make any kind of noise and keep yourself calm. Take deep breaths and concentrate or meditate on the person of concern at that time.

Take out all the stuff like personal items, string, fabric from your pocket, place them at the centre of the fabric and tie it with a string. Hold these items in your left hand and put the candle in your right hand.

You will follow this ceremony as it is if you want to get rid of curse. Put the candle in front you, slightly tilted towards you and keep repeating this chant at least seven times while looking at moon.

“Curse of the evil eye
Under my wrath today you die
Burn the words, to hell they go
With ease shall your energy now flow?”.

After repeating it seven times, open your eyes and put the tied piece of .cloth in the ground where the candle has been dripped. Once you are finished with this process you can just relax because after that you will be free from the curse.


Thursday, October 3, 2013

Prosperity Spell



PROSPERITY SPELL by....Gypsy Queen (Lauren C Dole)

Do this spell when the Moon is out and shining brightly.

  • poppet made out of green cloth, leave the head open chamomile for money
  • rosemary for luck basil for success needle and thread
  • Directional elementals (earth, incense for air, fire, water)
  • Altar Devotion, Casting the Circle

As you walk around the circle three times, imagine a green, soothing mist trailing from your fingers, enveloping you and enclosing your magic circle.

"I conjure the magic circle
I am safe within the Goddess' womb
A sacred place, a world apart
Where enchantment births and magic starts
With Air and Fire, Water and Earth
I circle round the Mother's girth This circle is sealed"

Drawing Down the Moon

Stand holding your athame, legs slightly apart, arms at your side. Breathe deeply. Raise the athame to your lips, holding it with both hands, and then point it toward the moon. Feel the energy of the moon move through the athame, down your arms and into your whole being.

Invocation to the Goddess

"Wondrous Lady of the Moon Mistress of all magic and protectress of all Wicca
Life-giving mother I greet you at the waxing of the moon's power I invite you to
attend my Full Moon rite"

Invocation to the God

"Radiant King of the Heavens Master of beasts wild and free Horned stag I greet
you at the waxing of the moon's power I invite you to attend my Full Moon rite"

Meditation and Chant to the Goddess

Sit with your spine straight, legs crossed, hands in your lap. Close your eyes and visualize the Goddess, however she appears to you. Feel her arms around you in a protective embrace. When you have the vision firmly planted, begin chanting softly:

"Starry Goddess, Full of Light I honor you this Full Moon Night"

Repeat, feeling your energy grow. This energy will be used during the following spellworking.

Spellworking

Cleanse and consecrate poppet for workings of magic. Stuff it with the herbs. Sew the opening closed.

"Goddess of Opportunity Bring good things in life to me I'll be alert to all you send Goddess be my helpful friend"

Repeat 3 times, envisioning the opportunities you wish to come to you.

Reverse Lunar Draw

Raise the athame to the moon, then bring it to your lips and back down to your side, releasing the energy you built during the Drawing. Thank the Goddess and God. Release the Circle. Walk back around the circle, pulling the mist back into your hands. Place the poppet in your closet, your car, your handbag or somewhere else close to you. You can re-work this spell at the next full moon if you feel it's necessary.

Good things will soon come.


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Prayer



Dearest Creator, I know that You are the source of all my good and that You provide for me in all ways. Please help me release the fears that block me from receiving Your gifts. Please help me feel the emotions of peace, gratitude, and financial security and to know that I am Your child upon whom You bestow great blessings. I now stay open to Divine guidance, which perfectly leads me to situations, people and opportunities that are part of Your plan for my financial peace. I now see and feel myself and every-one else as completely financially secure, and my heart overflows with gratitude and joy at the abundant universe that You created. Thank You.

*From the book "Healing with the Angels" by Doreen Virtue