A Wiccan Hallowe'en?

How do Wiccans Interpret Hallowe'en (Halloween)?

Most people celebrate Halloween as a children's holiday of candy and costumes. However, I will be celebrating tonight as Samhain ("Sow-wen"), the Celtic New Year, the night for remembering loved ones past and looking toward the future. For I am a Neo-pagan, a follower of the Old Religion, a Wiccan. I am a Witch.

Cecylyna Brightsword, 'A Witch's Thoughts on Halloween'.

November Eve, All Hallows' Eve, the Gaelic fire festival of Samhain, now generally called Halloween, represents the summer's end, when the Earth Goddess turns over her reign to the Horned God of the Hunt, the transition from life to death, from an agrarian time to one of hunting, from summer to winter, from warmth to coldness, from light to darkness.

L. L. Martello, Witchcraft: The Old Religion.

How is Hallowe'en (Halloween) celebrated by Wiccans?

Wicca was invented by Gerald Gardner during the late 1940s and early 1950s. This is not a criticism, it is a fact. The following ritual was first committed to paper circa 1949 in Gardner's prototype of the Book of Shadows. It was originally called November Eve, although many later Wiccans have preferred to resurrect the old Celtic name of Samhain for this festival.

The Ritual

[All:]

Eko, eko, Azarak
Eko, eko
Bazabi lacha bachabe
Lamac cahi achababe
Karrellyos

Lamac lamac Bachalyas
Cabahagy sabalyos
Baryolos

Lagoz atha cabyolas
Samahac atha famolas
Hurrahya!

[Form the Circle]
[High Priestess assumes the Goddess Position]
[High Priest gives the Five-fold Kiss to the High Priestess]
[All are Purified]
[High Priest assumes the God Position]
[With the Athame the High Priestess invokes]
[High Priestess:]

Dread Lord of the shadows, god of life and the giver of life. Yet is the knowledge of thee the knowledge of death. Open wide, I pray thee, thy gates through which all must pass. Let our dear ones who have gone before, return this night to make merry with us. And when our time comes, as it must, O thou the comforter, the consoler, the giver of peace and rest, we will enter thy realms gladly and unafraid, for we know that when rested and refreshed among our dear ones we shall be born again by thy grace and the grace of the Great Mother. Let it be in the same place and the same time as our beloved ones, and may we meet and know, and love them again. Descend, we pray thee, upon thy servant and Priest [give name].

[High Priestess gives the Five-fold Kiss to the High Priest]
[Initiations, if any, may be conducted]
[All are Purified]
[Ceremony of the Cakes and Wine is enacted]
[The Great Rite is performed, actually or symbolically according to circumstance]
[Dismiss the Guardians, Close the Circle, conclude with feasting and dancing]

Commentary

The italicised section in the above is a direct quotation from the Gnostic Mass (Liber XV O.T.O. Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae) of Aleister Crowley.

Sources

Crowley, Aleister, Magick. Guild Publishing, 1986.
Gardner, Gerald, 'Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical,' unpublished, 1949.
Gardner, Gerald, 'The Book of Shadows,' unpublished, 1953.

Further Reading

• Ruickbie, Leo, Witchcraft Out of the Shadows. Robert Hale, 2004.
• Ruickbie, Leo, Open Source Wicca: The Gardnerian Tradition. WICA, 2007.

More Hallowe'en from Witchology.com

• Origins of Hallowe'en
• What is Samhain
• Hallowe'en Spells and Magic
• A Wiccan Hallowe'en
• Hallowe'en Misinformation
• Hallowe'en Traditions
• Hallowe'en Events Guide
• Free Download: Hallowe'en Information Sheet (497kb pdf)
• Free Download: Hallowe'en Spells (352kb gif) or (461kb pdf)

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