Facts On ---- Halloween -- Chapter Four

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Is Halloween related to modern occult practices?

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   Although Halloween as commonly practiced today is a seemingly innocent time for most youngsters, it is a very serious observance for many witches, neo-pagans and other occultists. Before we proceed, it should be noted that the historic and contemporary occult associated to Halloween have produced something of a "crossover" effect to the larger society so that in some instances the observance of Halloween is not even a seemingly innocent practice. Reading through various histories of Halloween one is struck by the large number of superstitions and divinatory practices involved.
   Of concern is how superstitions may regulate or control one's life in unsavory ways. Further, true divinatory practices are almost always consequential, as we discussed in our Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs (Harvest Hose Publishers, 1996). Indeed, since the last quarter of the nineteenth century Halloween has been regarded as a time "for working charms, spells, and divinations." As we've noted before, this may be related to the ancient Druids since Samhain marked the beginning of the new year, which resulted in an interest in divination and fortunetelling to ascertain what the coming year would bring.
   On Halloween, it was believed (and still is in some places) that following a particular ritual may allow an apparition of one's future mate to appear to you: "Many beliefs arose about how to conjure up the image of one's future wife or husband. Girls believed that if one sat at midnight before a mirror eating an apple, the image of her future husband would suddenly appear before her. If no image appeared it was taken to mean that the girl would remain a spinster." In  Ireland, "on Hallow Eve Night the spirits of the dead rise and go on the earth, girls at the hearth play at divining the identities of future mates, and in the past boys dressed in suits of white straw and caroused over the hills in the company of the dead, attacking the homes of men who kept their daughters from the cohort of bachelors." Others believe "an apple peeling thrown over the left shoulder will curve into the initial of the one you will marry." In Scotland, if a girl went into her room at midnight on the fatal eve [Halloween] and sat before her mirror and cut an apple into nine slices and held each slice on the point of her knife before eating it she might see in the mirror looking over her shoulder the face of her future lover and he would ask for the last slice." As we've noted, the use of fruits and nuts for divination on Halloween was borrowed from the Celts and Romans. In fact, "The use of nuts for divination was so common that even in America Halloween was once known as 'Nutcracker Night.'
   Halloween is also a common day for children to pull out a Ouija board and attempt to contact the ghosts and spirits that are believed to be roaming about. But as we documented in our Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Ouija boards are anything but an innocent pastime and may lead to such serious consequences as metal illness or spirit-possession.
   Divination concerning one's death was and is practiced on Halloween. On Halloween in North Wales, every family built a large bonfire near their house. The fire, termed Coel Coeth, became a means of divination. Each member of the house would throw a white stone into the fire having marked it for later identification. In the morning they returned to the ashes in search of their stones. "If any stone was missing, the Welshman believed that its owner would not live to see another Halloween."
   Others believed that if one ate a crust of dry bread before going to bed on Halloween, his wish would be fulfilled.
   In the southern United States, there is a custom based on the Druidic belief that the struggles of victims of human sacrifice revealed omens of the future: "Alcohol was put in a bowl and lighted and 'fortunes' in the shape of figs, orange peel, raisins, almonds and dates, wrapped in tin foil were thrown into the flame. The girl who snatched out of the burning the best thing would meet her future husband within a year." Under the subheading of "Halloween Charms," one popular book for children gives a description of British customs involving rituals for divining different aspects of one's future.
   The concern over such activities can be seen in the following statement from the American Book of Days: "Various methods of divining the future were used on Halloween and the results were accepted in all seriousness." In other words, when we are dealing with a sober approach to divining the future - with subjects such as overall fortune, marriage partners, or life and death - the consequences in people's lives may be much more than mere games.
   Today, other occult practices are found on Halloween. In New Orleans, "The Voodoo Museum usually offers a special Halloween ritual in which people may see true voodoo rites." And in Salem Massachusetts, a Halloween festival occurs from October 13 to 31 and includes a psychic fair.
   In contemporary witchcraft, Halloween is also considered a special night. A standard book on neo-paganism reports the following as the key celebration days of witchcraft: "The greater sabbats are: Samhain (Halloween or November eve), the Celtic New Year; the days when the walls between the worlds were said to be thinnest and when contact with one's ancestors took place; Oimelc (February 1), the winter purification festival...Beltane (May first,) the great fertility festival...different Craft traditions...treat the festivals in diverse ways. But almost all traditions at least celebrate Samhain and Beltane." Some witches even request a day off from work for their special day while others have actually sought to have schools closed to commemorate their great sabbat.
   Many satanic groups also consider Halloween a special night in part because Halloween "became the only day of the year in which it was believed that the devil could be invoked for help in finding out about future marriages, health, crops, and what was to happen in the new year." Indeed, witchcraft and Satanism share certain other commonalities. Although they are distinct entities, and, even allowing for a qualified legitimacy to the modern neo-pagan claim of disdain for Satanism perse, there remains clear biblical precedent that the devil is the source of power behind witchcraft and all forms of the occult. Former witch Doreen Irvine observes, "Witchcraft of the black kind is not far removed from Satanism...Black witches have great power and are not to be taken lightly...They [may] exhume fresh graves and offer the bodies to sacrifice to Satan."
   In addition, there are human sacrifices that take place in certain Satanist and neo-pagan groups. Human sacrifice also occurred regularly among the druids. According to Roman historian Tacitus, the Druids "cover their altars with blood" of victims, mostly criminals; according to Caesar, human sacrifice was a common and frequent element in Druidism. In large cages scores of people were burned alive at once; the larger the number of victims, the greater the yield of crops. But if the gods were not appeased by the sacrifice of criminals, innocent victims were also offered. (According to Lucan, a first century Latin poet, in his Pharsalia, three Celt gods in particular were hungry for human souls-Teutates, Esus, and Taranis.) We noted earlier that the struggles of the dying victims were held to contain predictions of the future. The Druids had full confidence in human sacrifice as a method of divination. According to Spence, "Horrible indeed was the method by which the Druids divined future events after a human sacrifice. 'The Druids,' says Tacitus, 'consult the gods in the palpitating entrails of men,' while Strabo informs us that they stabbed a human victim in the back with a sword and then drew omens from the convulsive movements made by him in his death-struggles. Diodorus says that they augured from the posture in which the victim fell, from his contortions, and the direction in which the blood flowed from the body. From these, 'they formed their predictions according to certain rules left them by their ancestors.' "
   We will discuss the relationship between witchcraft and Halloween later. However, the previous material indicates that Halloween of past and present can be much more than merely a day of children's trick or treating.  

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Taken from The Facts On Halloween, by, John Ankerberg and John Weldon
Published by Harvest House