The Real Witches Of Halloween Blog Tour

Lyn at Witch Blog is hosting The Real Witches of Halloween Blog Tour! Here's more info:

Join the 'Real Witches' Blog Tour

Blog tours are a great way of getting to know new people and visiting blogs you might never have found otherwise. Usually, there's something you have to do to participate, which is all well and good but it can become quite difficult to find the time (I know I have this problem) to do something on schedule.

This blog tour, throughout October, requires no participation other than having a blog. It's about the real witches of Halloween finding other real witches and expanding our little virtual community. Each day I'll feature a new blog.

Want to join in the blog tour? Fill out this form and grab a button from the sidebar.

Write as a Guest Blogger

I would love you to be a guest blogger here at Witch Blog. Anything you'd love to share about Halloween would be fantastic; perhaps you've got a recipe you'd like to share, a Halloween spell or a spooky tale?

You don't have to be the world's most amazing writer (gods know I'm not) and you don't have to write the word equivalent of War and Peace either. A good word estimate for a guest blog article is between 250-500 words. You can write on any Halloween topic you like - it can be informative, factual, a personal story, a 'how to' guide or anything that takes your fancy. If you're stuck for ideas but would still like to be a guest blogger then how about writing on one of these topics?

Halloween traditions

Favourite Halloween recipe

How to make Halloween a happy holiday for the kids

How to survive Halloween if zombies attack (I didn't say it had to be serious!)

Top 10 Halloween movies

Top 10 Halloween books

A ghost story

Your memories of Halloween as a child

Tips for happy and safe trick or treating

Spells and rituals for Halloween

Still want to write a guest blog post for Halloween? Fantastic! What I need from you is (obviously) your guest blog post. The very first thing to do though is to fill in this quick and easy online form so I know who you are, how to contact you and what you're going to write about.

Then, when you've finished writing your Halloween guest blog post, you can send that to me by email (lyn at witch-blog dot com) on or before 26th September.

Being a guest blogger is a great way for shameless self promotion. So, don't forget to include a few words about yourself and let people know where they can find you (blog, Twitter, Facebook etc).

Sponsor a Giveaway

It would be fantastic to have some wonderful giveaways during October. Can you help? Could you sponsor a giveaway with, perhaps, something from your Etsy store or other hand crafted gift? Drop me an email (lyn at lyn@witch-blog.com) and let me know!

Tbg Why The Reluctance

NOTE: AFTER THE INTRO, THIS IS PART 1 OF A SERIES THAT CONTINUES THE THEME OF LOOKING AT "THINGS THAT ARE IN THE BIBLE THAT MANY PEOPLE OFTEN IGNORE". HOPEFULLY, WE CAN REMIND OURSELVES THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOVERS OF TRUTH, AND THAT WE NEED TO PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER THESE THINGS AFTER STUDYING THEM SERIOUSLY. God tells us that His ways are not our ways. He does things in ways beyond our limited understanding. Before you are tempted to criticize or oppose something that looks different from your past experience and understanding, ask God for wisdom and discernment. Examine why you might be tempted to oppose it. The Lord cannot be put in a box. He delights in doing things and revealing Himself in ways that may not fit our former paradigms.

So,why the reluctance amongst the Christian community in seriously studying and discussing certain things that are found within the pages of the Holy Bible?

Are we lovers or truth? Do we believe God's Word or are we like President Bush who doesn't think the Bible is literally true from beginning to end?

I believe it is a common, but very serious mistake, for any of us to subscribe to that kind of thinking. Either the Bible is all true or it's all false. You cannot pick and choose and only accept the passages you like and disregard and ignore those you dislike. Otherwise, you'll creating your own god (making an idol for yourself instead of worshipping the one, true God).

Besides, we know from Proverbs 25:2 that "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter..." Christians are supposed to be lovers of truth, we're supposed to seek the truth aggressively, and I'm hoping we can all consider that our current interpretations of prophecy may be slightly incorrect since we know that 1 Corinthians 13 also tells us that we see "through a glass, darkly" and that God told Daniel in Daniel 12:4, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

I have been saying for some time now that it's unfortunate that many of us only believe in those things the Bible tells us that make us feel good, safe, and happy. Alternately, we choose to ignore ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that we don't understand, cannot explain, and don't even want to think about if it's really true. That's not the Christian lifestyle.

Besides, by doing so, we give Satan a victory over us. Who needs to employ deception when we're ready, willing, and able to deceive ourselves?

Again, I want to argue that now more than ever is when we need to focus our complete attention on what we already know from the Bible, but are unwilling to accept as truth due to the implications.

WHO IS THIS SERIES FOR? WHO WILL BENEFIT THE MOST FROM READING THIS?

This new series is for those Christians who would suggest that Christians have no business discussing and analyzing various modern-day phenomenon amongst other things simply because they don't understand them or because they think there's no point to any of it.

What if we could understand it all? What if there was a point to all of it? What if all of these unexplained, strange things were directly connected to to Biblical prophecy, and that all the evidence (yes, there's actual hard evidence!) indicates that these "things" are all spiritual in nature? Would that get your attention and get you to change your mind?

While many Christians new to this subject matter will concede that that would certainly cause them to change their stance, I also believe that it is precisely at that point when those who remain skeptical will still caution against such studies because they will say that any discussion of these topics could lead well-meaning Christians astray and they could lead to "non-Christian" things like the study of Astrology or the worship of demons.

If you're one of these people please allow me to state that I understand perfectly well God's clear command regarding both and will stay away from it. I also understand His command to seek the truth of a matter. If ever there was a time to find the truth it's today in this day and age.

BESIDES, I WOULD ARGUE THAT IT'S MORE ABOUT FOCUSING ON "WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW FROM THE BIBLE", BUT ARE UNWILLING TO ACCEPT AS TRUTH DUE TO THE IMPLICATIONS.

Take for instance the study of Astronomy, which is often confused with Astrology. There's a BIG DIFFERENCE between the two not to mention the fact that the Bible contains Astronomical truths - - both literally and figuratively. So, there is a biblical mandate of sorts for us to understand what our Creator has already given us in His Word as well as in His creation.

That being said, it's significant that we try to get a handle on these types of unexplained things because all the evidence indicates that these are the spiritual forces that will play a MAJOR role in the fulfillment of end times prophecy. If nothing else, think of these kinds of discussions as "intelligence gathering" on our common enemy - - Satan.

I can understand why other Christians would be afraid to look at these types of things - Astronomy, Numerology, "Aliens/UFOs," Nephilim/Giants - - because we've been told over the years that these are all "pagan" and "occult" things, and that any serious study of them is inherently "evil" although the truth of the matter paints a much different picture.

In one sense, they're right - - these things are evil! Very evil! Yet, they have to also realize that Satan doesn't invent anything since he's never had an original idea. He's only taking those things that exist, and that are very important, and he attacks the things that are most important because he's efficient.

We know that it's a narrow road to salvation, but there are 101 ways to try to save yourself and make yourself believe that you're on the right path in life. Therefore, the things that are most important for Satan to distort are the things that are true; the things that have the most impact and power. The Gospel is obviously number one, and then also the idea of Jesus Christ coming back again. Everything is fair game to him.

As Christians, we MUST look at what the enemy is doing because the end times has a component to it that focuses on Christianity very precisely, and that's this idea that there's going to be this great lie, a great delusion coming - - the Great Deception - - and if you're not well versed in what's going on and especially in knowing the Word itself (knowing it inside and out and understanding that if someone throws something at you that no matter what it is it will NEVER negate the facts of the Bible) you're going to find yourself in serious trouble.

So, if you leave out things like Astronomy (that's in the Bible), Numerics/Numerology (that's in the Bible), the Nephilim/Giants (that's in the Bible), and Time Cycles in Heaven (that's in the Bible too!) you're disarming yourself and leaving yourself vulnerable during the coming Great Deception because ALL OF THESE THINGS have been stolen and usurped by Satan to use against us.

We have to know that this stuff is there or else the lie will work. That's what this series is all about - - calling attention to things that Christians need to start waking up to before it's too late.

It's all about leading people back to the truth and preparing them for what's to come. I mean, let's not forget that the greatest achievement of Satan was convincing the world that he (and hell) doesn't exist.

In these end times, we must be prepared for what's to come and try and warn others (the lost and unsaved) while there's still time, and before it's too late for them.

Please join me over the course of the next few days. Take some time to prayerfully consider everything before you dismiss it right off the bat. Then please feel free to share your thoughts and comments with the rest of us here.

Why the reluctance? Please join me to uncover the truth.

Origin: candle-magic.blogspot.com

The X Files 20Th Anniversary Blogging Die Hand Die Verletzt January 27 1995

This second season episode of "THE X-FILES" (1993 - 2002) is one of the sharpest, most stunning social critiques in the entire catalog.

In "Die Hand die Verletzt," Mulder and Scully deal -- "in storied New England" -- with the Satanist equivalent of "Cafeteria Catholics"," religious practitioners who pick and choose which edicts and dogma they want to believe in, and ignore the rest.

But when you're dealing with the Devil himself, it's dangerous to break faith, as the episode suggests in no uncertain terms.

"Die Hand die Verletzt's" brilliance arises from the inventive notion of "lapsed" Satanists: one-time believers who are now doing so well that they no longer find it necessary to obey the edicts of their (dark) Lord.

They are punished (egregiously...) for their trespasses, of course, and so the episode begs the question: why do humans insist on pledging fealty and devotion to divine beings, and then promptly impose their own judgment about that deity's wants and desires "over" its clearly stated ones?

In other words, if you believe in the Bible -- Satanic or otherwise -- how much personal "interpretation" is really allowed?

This "X-FILES"episode could have very easily -- and very controversially -- been a story directly about Christianity, and that's sort of the point. The episode critiques "the faithful" as people who claim to be of a certain "tribe," but who don't actually want to conform to their tribe's belief system. This fact alone might be read to suggest that there is no God.

Because, after all, if you really believed in a deity, why would you wish to incur his or her wrath?

Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the unexpected and unusual death of a high school student in Haven, New Hampshire, and Mulder believes the murder may be occult-related

Although Scully and Mulder don't know it, the school board and PTA in this sleepy town consists entirely of lapsed Satanists who have watered down their faith. As a result, an evil substitute teacher/demon Ms. Phyllis Paddock (Susan Blommaert) arrives (presumably from below...) at the local high school to wreak havoc and remind the wayward souls who "really" calls the shots.

Before long, a local teenage girl, Shannon (Heather McComb) claims to have unwillingly participated in black masses in her cellar, and to have performed as a "breeder" for her Satanist parents. Soon, she apparently commits suicide.

Mulder and Scully find no evidence to substantiate Shannon's report of devil worship in Haven, but even the duo from the F.B.I. soon feel the controlling hand of the devil at work through the extremeley frightening Ms. Paddock.

Once more, we can't sufficiently discuss an "X-FILES" episode without noting how cleverly it plays on real-life, current events of its time period.

In particular, the year 1992 saw the release of the F.B.I. report by Agent Kenneth V. Lanning (of the Behavioral Science Unit) on "Satanic Ritual Abuse"."

That report -- which is name-checked directly by Scully in the episode itself -- notes that there is no "corroborative evidence" for all the reports of Satanic abuse in America in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The author writes: "We now have hundreds of victims alleging that thousands of offenders are abusing and even murdering tens of thousands of people as part of organized Satan cults."

The reason for this mass delusion, or insanity, Lanning suggests, is that Satanism -- the old "Devil made me do it" excuse -- offers "the simple and clear cut explanation for a complex problem"," meaning child sexual abuse. Lanning also relates the Satanism "cult" fear directly to the "Stranger Danger" idea of the 1950s, which also created a mass scare in American suburbia, but didn't account for all that many cases of abuse, globally-speaking.

"Die Hand die Verletzt" turns such findings on their head, and makes a funny claim. There are Satanists everywhere in small-town America, the episode states, but --"humorously" -- they are no more devout or zealous (and therefore dangerous...) than most American Christians.

Apparently, faith of any kind is" really" hard to come by these days, to paraphrase John Carpenter's "THE THING "(1982)

By turns funny and ominous, "Die Hand dieVerletzt" is a sharp critique of human nature, and its apparent desire to believe in a Deity... but then second-guess that all-powerful deity for sake of personal convenience.

I had a Catholic college professor (and film instructor) who introduced me, back in the late 1980s, to the derogatory term "Cafeteria Catholic."

Cafeteria Satanists.

He explained that these people looked across the smorgasbord of Church doctrine and belief, and picked and chose what edicts they wanted to obey, as if choosing toppings from a salad bar.

This way, they could use birth control and not worry about their immortal souls.

Or they could be pro-life, but then instruct their pregnant teenage daughter to get an abortion if the need arose.

I'm not trying to pick on Catholicism per se, or even Christians in general here. I suspect the same "Cafeteria" approach is present in virtually all forms of faith, and perhaps even sci-fi fandom, as a reader suggested to me recently.

People claim they are true believers, but what they really mean is that they have selected a belief system that mirrors or reflects their "already-entrenched"belief system. In other words, they shop for a religion that mimics a pre-existing state of mind, and tend to ignore facets of that religion that simply don't line up with what they already like.

Mulder expressly comments on this very notion in the episode by remarking to a lapsed Satanist that indeed there is a difference "drinking grape juice instead of wine at communion".

"Die Hand die Verletzt" charts this universal phenomenon, humorously using Satanists as the "faithful" satirized. The Satanists are depicted as typical American suburbanites, worried that the musical "GREASE "has the "F"-word in it, for instance, and looking to climb the ladder of American success.

As long as these "good folks" believed that Satanism could make them upwardly mobile or successful, well, they were Satanists. But when they achieved their goals, it turns out they didn't need their "God" to help them anymore. He was cast-off, neglected.

What this episode of "THE X-FILES" describes, then, is a kind of selfishness about religious faith. These men and women aren't in it for a God of any kind. They are in it for themselves. They get to claim faith (and therefore "righteousness"), at the same time that they reserve the right for themselves not to do something that they don't like, or find unsavory (like sacrifice babies on an altar to Ba'al, for instance...)

What remains impressive about "Die Hand die Verletzt" is that the manner in which the narrative and tone travel from pointed satire of organized religion in America to stark, demonic terror, scene-to-scene.

The tipping point in that transition is a sustained, brilliantly-directed sequence in which young Shannon (McComb) reveals her personal history in a coven. The camera intently circles the young witness as she goes on and on, describing a litany of inhuman horrors. From this point on, the episode moves away from examining religious hypocrisy and delves full-bore into terror.

Rather surprisingly, "Die Hand die Verletzt" makes no bones about the Devil's existence as a "real" force on Earth. The kids in the woods raise a demon, Mrs. Paddock, and she is a terrifying embodiment of the Serpent.

In fact, once she begins prosecuting the lapsed Satanists, the overall suggestion is that Mulder and Scully couldn't stop her, "even if they had all the facts at their disposal". The episode thus casts a malevolent spell as it broaches its denouement, and our heroes are forced to reckon with the point of view that -- from a certain perspective, they were "in league with the Devil"on this particular investigation.

"It was nice working with you," Mrs. Paddock writes on a chalkboard in the local high school to confirm this idea. The message is chilling for what it suggests; for the idea that agendas aligned for a time, and Mulder and Scully were part of a plan beyond their own wishes, desire, or control.

The overall episode becomes funnier (and even tongue-in-cheek), however, when one starts to consider it in light of all the conspiracies about public schools acting as breeding grounds for the "evils" of secularism.

Then there's the belief that Satanists have infiltrated the Federal government and are persecuting Christians, and so Mulder and Scully's unwitting "alliance" with the Devil here suggests that imaginary conspiracy as well. Were the episode done today, it wouldn't be about the bugaboo of Satanism, but probably Sharia Law infiltrating schools and government. The monsters change, but the (loony) fears remain the same.

I often write that "THE X-FILES "is the "STAR TREK" of the 1990s, the pop-culture phenomenon that defined a generation. Episodes like "Die Hand die Verletzt" prove the point well. The episode works as social commentary, as tongue-in-cheek comedy, and in the end, as absolute horror show. Even better, the episode never feels off-message, or possesses the wrong tone. "Die Hand die Verletzt" holds a mirror up to the audience and asks us to consider the things we believe, and even, ultimately, the way that we put those beliefs to practice.

Next week, the epic double feature: "Colony/End Game"

Trick Or Treat

Here we have a complation of the longest list of folkloric supernatural creatures:

"What a happiness this must have been seventy or eighty years ago and upwards, to those chosen few who had the good luck to be born on the eve of this festival of all festivals; when the whole earth was so overrun with "ghosts, boggles, bloody-bones, spirits, demons, ignis fatui, brownies, bugbears, black dogs, specters, shellycoats, scarecrows, witches, wizards, barguests, Robin-Goodfellows, hags, night-bats, scrags, breaknecks, fantasms, hobgoblins, hobhoulards, boggy-boes, dobbies, hob-thrusts, fetches, kelpies, warlocks, mock-beggars, mum-pokers, Jemmy-burties, urchins, satyrs, pans, fauns, sirens, tritons, centaurs, calcars, nymphs, imps, incubuses, spoorns, men-in-the-oak, hell-wains, fire-drakes, kit-a-can-sticks, Tom-tumblers, melch-dicks, larrs, kitty-witches, hobby-lanthorns, Dick-a-Tuesdays, Elf-fires, Gyl-burnt-tales, knockers, elves, rawheads, Meg-with-the-wads, old-shocks, ouphs, pad-foots, pixies, pictrees, giants, dwarfs, Tom-pokers, tutgots, snapdragons, sprets, spunks, conjurers, thurses, spurns, tantarrabobs, swaithes, tints, tod-lowries, Jack-in-the-Wads, mormos, changelings, redcaps, yeth-hounds, colt-pixies, Tom-thumbs, black-bugs, boggarts, scar-bugs, shag-foals, hodge-pochers, hob-thrushes, bugs, bull-beggars, bygorns, bolls, caddies, bomen, brags, wraiths, waffs, flay-boggarts, fiends, gallytrots, imps, gytrashes, patches, hob-and-lanthorns, gringes, boguests, bonelesses, Peg-powlers, pucks, fays, kidnappers, gallybeggars, hudskins, nickers, madcaps, trolls, robinets, friars' lanthorns, silkies, cauld-lads, death-hearses, goblins, hob-headlesses, bugaboos, kows, or cowes, nickies, nacks necks, waiths, miffies, buckies, ghouls, sylphs, guests, swarths, freiths, freits, gy-carlins Gyre-carling, pigmies, chittifaces, nixies, Jinny-burnt-tails, dudmen, hell-hounds, dopple-gangers, boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies, wirrikows, alholdes, mannikins, follets, korreds, lubberkins, cluricauns, kobolds, leprechauns, kors, mares, korreds, puckles korigans, sylvans, succubuses, blackmen, shadows, banshees, lian-hanshees, clabbernappers, Gabriel-hounds, mawkins, doubles, corpse lights or candles, scrats, mahounds, trows, gnomes, sprites, fates, fiends, sibyls, nicknevins, whitewomen, fairies, thrummy-caps, cutties," and "nisses," and apparitions of every shape, make, form, fashion, kind and description, that there was not a village in England that had not its own peculiar "ghost".

Nay, every lone tenement, castle, or mansion-house, which could boast of any antiquity had its "bogle", its "specter", or its "knocker". The churches, churchyards, and crossroads were all haunted. Every green lane had its boulder-stone on which an apparition kept watch at night. Every common had its circle of "fairies" belonging to it. And there was scarcely a shepherd to be met with who had not seen a "spirit"!"

~Found in the writings of Michael Aislabie Denham (1859)

Source: wizard-notes.blogspot.com

Ice Saint Toxic People Banishing Spell

In southern Germany, the "eisbeilige "- the iceman days - is the brief cooling trend in May. The "ice saints," Mamertius, Pancratius, and Servatus, were celebrated on may 11. Along with Cold Sophie, these "strong lords" are pagan figures who were turned into Christian saints were said to bring cold weather during planting season. They'd kill a budding tree or a field of sprouting wheat the minute they touched it with their frosty fingers or blew on it with their freezing breath. Farmers learned early on not to set plants out until after the ice saints had come and gone.

Sometimes we find ice saints in our lives, people whose presence chills our blood and infects our happiness with frostbite. They're self-righteous, hypocritical, and extremely annoying. They're bigger control freaks than we are and insist that a household chore or a ritual has to be performed "their way or the highway." Sometimes they threaten physical harm. Sometimes they're psychic vampires who steal our energy. Sometimes they're thieves who steal our stuff or our work.

They're all toxic people. We need to get them out of our lives. One banishing technique I like - but which must be done with finely focused aim and a strong intention to harm none - is to put the ice saint right where he or she belongs: in the freezer.

Write the person's name and behavior on a piece of paper and bind it with black thread and thirteen knots. Say out loud exactly what the ice saint does that is toxic. Say out loud that you want to bind the behavior. You're not out to injure the person, just to protect yourself and get him or her out of your life.

Put the piece of paper in a little jar, fill it with water, and put it in your freezer. Then take real-life action to get the ice saint out of your life.

From: Pagan Every Day

Reference: mysteryvoodoo.blogspot.com