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Witches, Occultists, Satanists And Halloween
Why Witches, Occultists and Satanists
Celebrate Halloween and Why You Should Not
MICHAEL
SNYDER
On Oct. 31, most people will
simply ignore the dark side of Halloween.
The vast majority of the population
will dress up in costumes, go to parties and eat candy without ever even
considering where the holiday came from or what certain people are doing behind
closed doors.
But the truth is that
Halloween night is one of the biggest nights of the year for witches,
occultists and Satanists.
All over America, those who
are deep into the dark arts will contact the dead, cast spells and conduct
blood sacrifices.
As you will see below, there
is a reason why animal shelters across the country ban the adoption of black
cats this time of the year.
But even our
"innocent" Halloween traditions such as dressing up in costumes,
"trick or treating" and carving jack-o'-lanterns all have their roots
in ancient pagan practices.
And every year the costumes
for our young girls become even more sexually suggestive, the horror movies
become even more demonic, and the public's fascination with the occult just
continues to grow.
It truly is a festival of
death, but most people don't seem to care. In fact, experts are telling us that
Halloween has now become America's second biggest holiday.
According to the National
Retail Federation, nearly 70 percent of all Americans plan to celebrate
Halloween this year, and spending is expected to shatter the all-time record.
According to the National
Retail Federation's annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights &
Analytics, total spending for Halloween is expected to reach $8.4 billion, an
all-time high in the survey's 11-year history.
U.S. consumers are expected
to spend an average of $82.93, up from last year's $74.34, with more than 171
million Americans planning to partake in Halloween festivities this year.
To give you some context,
total Halloween spending for 2009 came in at just $4.7 billion. So to say that
the celebration of Halloween is growing would be a tremendous understatement.
Sadly, most people have no
idea where this holiday originally came from. The truth is that a long time ago
Catholicism attempted to "Christianize" an ancient pagan holiday
known as Samhain:
The origins of Halloween are
Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices
to gods in Druidic tradition.
In what is now Britain and
France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the
lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only
by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves.
The waning of the sun and the
approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty
tricks.
Believe it or not,
most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and
superstitions.
On the Wiccan calendar,
Samhain is one of the most important points on "the wheel of the
year." Wiccans believe that it is the day when "the god dies,"
and subsequently they celebrate his rebirth at Yule.
It is also a time when they
believe that the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest, and so
it is an opportune time for them to contact the dead.
The following is much more on
what Wiccans believe about Samhain from wicca.com:
Samhain, (pronounced SOW-in,
SAH-vin, or SAM-hayne) means "End of Summer," and is the third and
final Harvest. The dark winter half of the year commences on this Sabbat.
It is generally celebrated on
October 31st, but some traditions prefer November 1st.
It is one of the two
"spirit-nights" each year, the other being Beltane. It is a magical
interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and
the Thin Veil between the worlds is lifted.
Communicating with ancestors
and departed loved ones is easy at this time, for they journey through this
world on their way to the Summerlands.
It is a time to study the
Dark Mysteries and honor the Dark Mother and the Dark Father, symbolized by the
Crone and her aged Consort.
Originally the "Feast of
the Dead" was celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving food offerings on
altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead."
Today a lot of practitioners
still carry out that tradition. Single candles were lit and left in a window to
help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home.
Extra chairs were set to the
table and around the hearth for the unseen guest. Apples were buried along
roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no descendants to provide
for them.
Turnips were hollowed out and
carved to look like protective spirits, for this was a night of magic and
chaos.
The Wee Folke became very
active, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans. Traveling after dark was was not
advised. People dressed in white (like ghosts), wore disguises made of straw,
or dressed as the opposite gender in order to fool the Nature spirits.
The ancient practices
described in those paragraphs sound very similar to what we do today in many
ways, but without a doubt some of the traditions have evolved.
For example, instead of
carving turnips, those who celebrate Halloween carve pumpkins today.
You may not realize this, but
Wicca is actually one of the fastest-growing religions in America. And on Oct.
31, Wiccans all over the nation will get together to conduct rituals and cast
spells.
Here is a blurb from Wikipedia about the Wiccan belief
in "magic":
During ritual practices,
which are often staged in a sacred
circle, Wiccans cast spells or
"workings" intended to bring about real changes in the physical
world.
Common Wiccan spells include
those used for healing, for
protection, fertility, or to banish negative influences.
Many early Wiccans, such as Alex Sanders, Sybil Leek and Alex
Winfield, referred to their own magic as "white magic," which
contrasted with "black magic,"
which they associated with evil and
Satanism.
Sanders also used the similar
terminology of "left hand path"
to describe malevolent magic, and "right
hand path " to describe magic performed with good intentions; terminology
that had originated with the occultist Helena
Blavatsky in the 19th century.
Some modern Wiccans however
have stopped using the white-black magic and left-right hand path dichotomies,
arguing for instance that the colour black
should not necessarily have any associations with evil.
If you are not familiar with
these things, you may scoff at such practices. But the cold, hard reality of
the matter is that they are very real.
The dark side has power too,
and those that have come out of witchcraft can tell you some stories that will
stand your hair on end.
Wiccans think of themselves
as "good," and so they tend to reject blood sacrifices and things of
that nature.
But for those who are deeper
into the occult, blood sacrifice is an essential part of Halloween.
As I mentioned above, many
animal shelters all over the nation ban the adoption of black cats this time of
the year.
It's the week of Halloween,
and maybe you don't know this, but if you suddenly wanted to adopt a black cat,
you would probably have a hard time.
That's because thanks to
their association with witchcraft, accepted wisdom holds that Halloween is a
time when people ritualistically mutilate black cats.
To test if this really was
still accepted wisdom, I contacted some animal shelters near to our Los Angeles
office, and they all told me they wouldn't let me adopt a black cat.
One, The Lange Foundation - the
type of animal rescue that takes in cats from city shelters before they can be
euthanized - was willing to talk to me on the phone and explain: If someone
were to call and ask specifically for a black cat, that would trigger the
policy.
"I would say 'not today!'" said
one of the foundation's board members, Diana Nelson.
You may not want to believe
it, but animals will be killed and little children will be abused on Halloween
night.
The following is what one ex-witch has shared regarding her
experiences:
“My parents told me before we went around
the neighborhood we were going to go by the church (Mormon Church) to get some
candy there. The church was very close to my grandmother's house, and I knew so
from going often.
“We went to the church and what happened next made my blood
curdle. I was given candy, but that was just a prelude to the sexual abuse that
would happen in a satanic ritual.
“On Halloween Satanists use young children, such as myself, as
sexual idols to worship. Other children receive a far worse fate. Death.
“I know for some this is more than you can even think to
believe, but it is true. I can barely write these words because the pain of the
truth is almost more than I can bear.
“If it wasn't for the grace and love of Jesus Christ, would not
even be here writing this at all.”
You
may say, "It doesn't mean that to
me," but you are just fooling yourself.
Could you take a Satanic
Black Mass and turn it into a celebration of Jesus?
Of course not.
And yet so many Christians
fully embrace Halloween and pretend that there is nothing wrong with it.
For the record, Satanists
absolutely love Halloween.
The following comes from the
official Church of Satan website:
“Satanists embrace what this holiday has
become, and do not feel the need to be tied to ancient practices. This night,
we smile at the amateur explorers of their own inner darkness, for we know that
they enjoy their brief dip into the pool of the ‘shadow world.’
“We encourage their tenebrous fantasies, the candied indulgence,
and the wide-ranging evocation of our aesthetics (while tolerating some of the
chintzy versions), even if it is but once a year.
“For the rest of the time, when those not of our meta-tribe
shake their heads in wonder at us, we can point out that they may find some
understanding by examining their own All Hallows Eve doings, but we generally
find it simpler to just say: ‘Think of the Addams Family and you'll begin to
see what we're about.’"
Satanists consider Halloween
to be one of the most important "holidays" of the year.
On page 96 of the Satanic
Bible, Anton LaVey wrote the following:
"After one's own birthday, the two
major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht (May 1st) and Halloween."
Isn't that lovely?
Despite all of this, most
Christians in America will happily celebrate Halloween on Oct. 31.
In fact, one recent survey
found that just 8 percent of
all Christian pastors want their congregations to skip the holiday altogether.
Instead, most of them want
their members to invite people to a "Christian version of Halloween"
at their churches.
The following comes from LifeWay Research:
“Two-thirds (67 percent) encourage church
members to invite friends and neighbors to a fall festival, trunk-or-treat or
judgment house. Pastors at bigger churches (those with 250 or more in
attendance) are most likely to ask church members to invite their neighbors (86
percent) to an event at the church. Those from small churches (50 or less in
attendance) are least likely (48 percent).”
If the gospel is preached, I
am all for people going to church on Oct. 31.
But all too often these
"alternative celebrations" are nothing more than repackaged versions
of the same Satanic holiday that the world is celebrating.
I like how Pastor Jamie Morgan described what
our approach to this day should be.
Setting aside a day to
celebrate evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the demonic brings
disdain to God. Period.
A Christian celebrating
Halloween would be like a Satan worshiper putting up a nativity scene at
Christmas while singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"
The two just don't go
together. Jesus has nothing in common with Satan (2 Cor. 6:14), and neither
should we.
And the truth is that God has
wanted us to have nothing to do with occult practices from the very beginning.
The
following is what Deuteronomy 18:9-13 says in the Modern English version:
“When you enter into the land which the
Lord your God gives you, you
must not learn to practice the abominations of those nations.
“There must not be found among you anyone
who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or
uses witchcraft,
or an interpreter of omens, or a sorcerer,
or one who casts
spells, or a spiritualist,
or an occultist,
or a necromancer.
“For
all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and
because of these abominations the Lord your God will drive them out from before
you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”
There will be many people who
will read this article and will continue to celebrate Halloween just as they
normally do.
If that is you, then you need
to understand that engaging in dark practices can open up doors to spiritual
darkness for yourself and your entire family.
If you do that, then that is
your choice, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed are
solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Charisma Media.
Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for
Congress in Idaho's First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can
get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book
entitled "Living A Life That Really Matters" is available in
paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.
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