Honoring Those Who Have Passed Before Us.
All Hallows Eve, The Festival of Element of Water, Samhain, All-hallows, All-hallowmas, Halloween, All Saints Day Eve, The Day of the Dead and Fete de la Toussaint.
From the beginning of time and as far as we know, all cultures have celebrations and holidays to honor the dead. Yes, to honor those who have passed before us. The celebrations are often enjoyed as honoring the dead, parties, festivals, ceremonies and rituals that complete a cycle of birth and death, and that provide us a way to keep in line with a harmony and order of the universe.
In ancient times, this day was a special and honored day of the year to honored our ancestors. This holiday goes by many names. Most know it as Halloween. However Pagans, Witches and Magick Practitioners know it by other names. Some of which are: All Hallows Eve, All-Hallows, All-Hallowmas, The Festival of Water, Samhain, All Saints Day Eve, The Day of the Dead, Dia de la Muertos, Fete de la Toussaint. I can go on and on because there are so many names but I listed above the most commonly known.
By whatever name it has been called, this special and propitious night preceding ‘All Hallows day’ has been considered for centuries as one of the most magical nights of the year. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the otherworlds is opened. In this time when the veils between the worlds were thinner people could sense, feel and see the other realms and dimensions. It is a time in the year when the spiritual and material worlds merge for a night and day on the evening of October 31st and day of November 1st that is favorable for all wanting to access the full potential of communication with their ancestors, participate in divination and perform magickal creations.
Each year on October 23rd, the veils begin to open and are almost completely open at dusk on All Hallows Eve, which is the day that the veils are around 81% open from sunset on October 31st to sunset on November 1st. It is the beginning of the holiday most commonly known as Halloween.
In ancient times people would begin to stay silent on this day, until October 31st at dusk, the period of twilight between complete darkness and sunrise, in order that they would be aware of the ancestors who were thought to have the ability to begin to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.
On October 23rd, and for the next 9 evenings, many also began to dress in their best clothing often with a mask to disguise themselves as those who passed before them. Then they visited people’s houses or went door-to-door in song in exchange for food. They did this until October 31st, when the veil was almost completely opened. Then on October 31st and/or November 1st, during a meal a place was set at the table for their ancestors.
Since the late 20th century Pagans, Wiccans, Neopagans, Druids and other magickal traditions have observed All Hallows Eve, in their traditions specific name or something based on it such as some Christians with All Saints Day, some Mexicans with Dia de la Muertos and some French with La Fete de la Toussaint as a religious holiday. Where ‘The Festival of The Element of Water’ is celebrated as an energy system that all can partake in. This is the way that magickal initiates, people who practice High Magick add the energies of this nine day period to their magickal practice as well as to there spiritual path.
The Festival of The Element of Water has all the same components of All Hallows Eve. This is our only festival with pagan roots that still remains a purely secular holiday only it is known widely as Halloween, specifically to lay people. In addition, the knowledge of the start day being October 23rd, is observed as an esoteric knowledge. It is believed to be a truly magickal time of the year.
Initiates who honor this festival observe it in two different ways. In both cases we keep in mind the true magickal potency of this time by connecting to the other side of life in remembrance of our ancestors. We use the time between Sunset on October 23rd and Sunset on October 31st as a time of silence and reflection on the areas of our life that we need to end. That is to end, the parts, things or remove people that do not serve us. Rituals, prayers and/or meditations are performed as a symbolic way to get rid of that which does not serve us. Then we understand and know that it is now symbolically dead.
When the vails have closed, the coming days give way for planning in the dark phase of the year that begins add dusk on November 1st. This is the time halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. We give up what does not serve us for what will be created in the light half of the year. Then we harvest the new by the next All Hallows Eve.
The first way the energy is honored is with sacred rituals and ceremonies that begin at dusk on October 23rd, Then rituals are performed each day until All Howell’s Eve when candles are lit as they connect to the other side and we remember those who have passed before us. We use this as a time to send love and gratitude to the dead, to light their way back home. Then we follow with a large celebration on All Hallows Eve.
The second way that we honor this energy is to have a group ritual of initiates on the 23rd, where next the practitioners proceed, in the days leading up to All Hallows Eve, by honoring and visiting their ancestors in silence and accessing ancestral knowledge from them. In these days we may also like candles or perform other solitary activities to honor our own ancestry. Then we have sacred rituals and celebrations at dusk on October 31st. Then finally beginning at dawn on November 1st., we observe and participate in a day of connecting with those who passed before us, a day of divination and Magick. This would be the three fold days of the festival and is observed solitary or with a group. Those who practice High Magick honor this to be a magickal time of the year, but it is especially perceived as an energy form that can be accessed by all.
High Magick practitioners benefit greatly from this energy system where the vails are open allowing us to honor those who passed before us, knowing that they have just moved from one world to the other and we will do the same. On this powerful day we not only harvest what we have created the year before but we also begin the creation of what will be harvested for the year to come. And finally it is the best time to get rid of the people or things that are not supporting you in your life.
The least you can do. Spend time on All Hallows Eve to honor your family members who have passed to another realm, contemplate what you need to remove in your life and plan the steps you need to take to manifest an abundant life.
Tori Valspirit
©10/21/22
Fun Facts:
The origin of this day has connections to the ancient Egyptian culture as a time of getting rid of what does not work. The first day of the astrological sign Scorpio was celebrated as the day when the veils began to open.
Trick-or-treating is a festivity that was derived from an ancient Irish and Scottish practice called “guising” that took place on the days leading up to Samhain. Modern day Halloween is mostly derived by this Celtic tradition.
Halloween or All Saints’ Eve, is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints Day.
©10/23/2022
