Pagan Culture

Halloween is an observance celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most common in the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand.Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.The term "Halloween" is derived from Hallowe'en, an old contraction, still retained in Scotland and some parts of Canada, of "All Hallow'sEve," so called as it is the day before All Saints day (observed by some Christians, including Roman Catholics), which used to be called "All Hallows," derived from All Hallowed Souls.  In Ireland, the name was Hallow Eve and this name is still used by some older people.

Halloween was formerly also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries and given a Christian reinterpretation. In Mexico, All Saint's Day, following Halloween, is the Day of the Dead. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit. In Britain and Ireland in particular, the pagan Celts celebrated the Day of the Dead on All Hallows Day (1st November). The spirits supposedly rose from thedead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the Romans invaded Britain, they embellished the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the harvest and honoring the dead. These traditions were then passed on to the United States. Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the "liminal" times of the year when the spirit world can make contact with the natural world and when magic is most potent (see, for example, Catalan mythology about witches). Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capital of the World," celebrates with a large civic parade.

SymbolsHalloween's theme is spooky or scary things particularly involving death, magic, or mythical monsters.Commonly-a......

Creativity and poetic expression are important within Wicca, down to the way we behave morally in the world; so trying to pin down what Wiccan morality is has been difficult at best. Graham Harvey (2000), a scholar of earth-centered religions, emphasizes the importance of understanding the life and philosophy of Neo-Paganism in addition to its ritual and poetry, but this is next to impossible if Wiccan thinkers do not fully contemplate the system of morals we live by, teach by, and believe in.Some authors write about Wiccan morals, but neglect to thoroughly analyze the contents, or overlook connecting with other Wiccan moralist and traditional philosophers. The main purpose of this article is tolay the groundwork for dialogue about Wiccan morals by outlining four core concepts: will, love, harm, and reciprocity. This article pieces together the different concepts posited by Wiccan moral philosophers.

I concentrate on what I see as the major concepts. Within are discussions about the Wiccan rede and three-fold law, as well as comparisons to traditional ethical theories.

Wiccan Morality Wiccan morality has seven core aspects: the universe’s interconnected-ness, the practitioner’s personal responsibility, love for everything and desire to help, the will, harm, reciprocity, and the Wiccan paradigm, which includes a concept of virtue. The seven aspects are interrelated, and all of them are essential to Wiccan morality. The seventh aspect, the Wiccan paradigm, is theleast developed, and for brevity, I will not analyze it within this essay. Also, I skip over the foundational belief of interconnected-ness and personal responsibility so I can more completely discuss what I think is the more uniquely Wiccan aspects.

The Will The will is an important concept in Wiccan morality because it is an integral part of how a person can affect the world (magickally and mundanely). The will is a person's ability to desire, think, and act—in short it is a person's agency. Will is much more than the desire or emotions a person has; Robin Wood calls it an intense focus that includes action devoted to a goal (Wood, 1996: 144). So, my will is the part of me that not only wants to write this article, but is also devoting focus and action to see its completion. My will is not my desire to leave myco......

The Principles of Wiccan Belief are perhaps the most overlooked document in Wiccan history. No other charge, rede, creed or manifesto has had the potential to unify so much of the Pagan world with so simple a concept; a short set of thirteen articles outlining and defining the American experience of modern Witches. And yet, many modern Wiccans know nothing of their existence!In the spring of 1974 modern Wicca was entering a crisis very similar to what the early Christians experienced. Everyone believed something different. While this certainly isn’t a bad thing, it can become somewhat confusing.The Wicca that modern Dianics refer to is obviously not the same Wicca as BritishTraditionalists'.

The Council of American Witches saw the difficulties this could cause in those early days of the Wiccan movement and decided they could make a difference. Lead by chairman Carl Llewellyn Weschcke (who later went on to found Llewellyn Publications, the largest Pagan publishing house to date), the Council issued the Principles of Wiccan Belief in an effort to unite the community and educate the rest of the world as to what we were really up to.

The Principles of Wiccan Belief The Council of American Witches finds it necessary to define modern Witchcraft in terms of the American experience and needs. We are not bound by traditions from other times and other cultures, and owe no allegiance to any person or power greater than the Divinity manifest thoughour own being. As American Witches, we welcome and respect all life-affirming teachings and traditions, and seek to learn from all and to share our learning within our Council. It is in this spirit of welcome and cooperation that we adopt these few principles of Wiccan belief. In seeking to be inclusive, we do not wish to open ourselves to the destruction of our group by those on self-serving power trips, or to philosophies and practices contradictory to these principles. In seeking to exclude those whose ways are contradictory to ours, we do not want to deny participation with us to any who are sincerely interested in our knowledge and beliefs, regardless of race, color, sex, age, national or cultural origins, or sexual preference. In the preamble to the Principles we can see the driving force behind the entire document-- unity. ......

A number of Viking monuments feature a curious design known as the valknut, the "knot of the slain" or, more loosely, "the knot of death". On an 8th century CE picture stone from Hammers in Larbro, Gotland, it consists of three interlocking triangles.This stone, now in Stockholm's National Historical Museum, is divided into several panels; one of the central panels, in which the valknut occurs, depicts several motifs that suggest some sort of connection with the cult of Odin - an eagle, a flying figure - possibly a valkyrie - holding a ring, a man being hanged from a tree and a group of three warriors - with shields and upraised swords - led by a fourth man who seems to be holding a largebird of some kind.The valknut is adjacent to the eagle and below it are two men, one with a spear, who appear to be engaged in placing a corpse inside what looks like a burial mound.

Between them and the hanged man is what appears to be another, smaller, valknut of the same design. This type can also be seen on a rather splendid golden ring discovered near Peterborough, Cambs, and currently on display at the British Museum in a cabinet labeled as containing Anglo-Saxon "secular" metalwork. Another picture stone from Gotland (Tangelgarda also in Larbro) has a panel showing a rider being welcomed by a woman holding a drinking horn with four men who are holding rings. The woman may be a valkyrie, a "chooser of the slain", one of whose functions was to serve ale to the Warriors in Valhalla, another pointer to the cult of Odin. The rider has a valknut behind hishead and there are two more among his horse's legs. On this stone, which can also be seen at the Swedish Museum, the valknut is made up of a single line, interlaced to make three triangles. Similar to the Tangelgarda design, but slightly more rounded, is that carved onto one of several "hogback" monuments at Brompton, Yorkshire, and probably dating from the 10th century CE. The end-beasts of this particular hogback - these monuments are based on Viking Age houses (although to this eye they have more than a passing resemblance to long barrows) and the end-beasts are situated at what would be the gable ends - are easily identifiable as bears, again suggesting the cult of Odin, who was patron of the Warriors known as berserkr or "bear-shirts". The purpose of the hogbacks is uncertain; no graves have been found with them so they were certainly not tombstones.Hogba......