Happy Halloween!!! Or Blessed Samhain or Joyous Winternights!!! Whatever your persuasion may this day bring you joy, fun, and laughter. I have to work today but have every intention of lighting up my jack-o-lanterns later and getting a picture while putting down some rum. As winter comes to the north, may you enjoy all life has to bring! Seize the day and enjoy it!!!
One writing note is that there will be no Rogue Wizard today. I am working on the final parts of that series as far as story arc so by the end of the year it should be done.
I want to take the time to also thank all of you who read me. While I do this blog for very personal reasons, I have to admit the likes and comments are appreciated. You give it a little more value than personal reflection. Thank you all you witches, ghouls, zombies, vampires, ghosts, goblins, etc. You are awesome.
Have some fun tonight.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Say hello to the Brothers Grimm. I don’t know if I can call myself a pumpkin artist yet, but I have to say I enjoyed the artistic moment of creating these two more than I thought i would. I haven’t carved a pumpkin since my kids were little. It is an enjoyable experience and next year I want to plan it out better. The Brother’s Grimm represents fear and joy, two very palatable emotions at Halloween.
As we get closer to Halloween I have to say I am enjoying this holiday personally more than in years past. I like writing about things magical and strange and so the holiday fits me. My personal history with Halloween also factors in as for many years I was told I couldn’t celebrate it because it was Satanic. I never completely bought it, but it was a constant nagging in my life from Chrisitan culture.
More properly now I know this has nothing more to do with Satan than it does with God. Samhain and the pagans that celebrate it has very little to do with either and is more about welcoming the coming of winter. The Wild Hunt is released and the time for hearth and home is at hand. The time for appeasing the spirits and honoring the dead is more what this has to do with than anything else and the Abrahamic traditions of Satan and Yahweh have nothing to do with it.
Time to Look Through the Eye:
“To see the truth, change one eye for another”
Faith:
The real issue of faith in the holiday known as Halloween, Samhain or Winternuights, to those of a more Norse persuasion such as myself, is this belief that the veil between our world and the spiritual one becomes thin which allows the two to merge or cross. While not a believer myself I find this idea fascinating. It represents something that I cannot get over this idea of multiple worlds that collide sometimes, alternate realities that when they merge they create another alternate reality.
For me, it is the changing of the tide so to speak as one season moves into another as winter and summer collide to create fall is in its own way ‘magical’. Sure it is a more naturalistic explanation of things but the concept is the same. The continued faith that Summer will give way to winter and then Winter will give way to Summer in their turn.
Meditation:
Halloween causes me to meditate more on the joys fo life and celebrations I have missed out on because of a Christianity I no longer believe in. If I see anything in it now, it is the desire to enjoy life and celebrate its seasons and moments with a little more fervor. At least as much fervor as an INFJ type can muster. I find it interesting as I meditate on how religion can rob you, the greatest thing I have lost is the celebration moments and fun times simply because some world view wanted to tell me not to do this or don’t touch that. If my meditations have led my thoughts into any direction it is the freedom from religions’ persuasive power to bind one’s thoughts when such binding is not necessary.
Mystery:
I will be honest, this filter of Odin’s Eye has become problematic as an Athiest. I mean having a theology degree can be helpful down the road as I write books challenging theology, but for a life filter that looks at life’s intangible elements, the artistic and ‘spiritual’ side of it, theology is becoming more and more useless to me. Its a set of clothes that no longer fits. This relates to Halloween in that it is this time of year that calls me to be different.
So today, in the spirit of Halloween, I announce a change from Theology to Mystery as part of Odin’s Eye. More in the spirit of the Viking Runes and trying to find their meaning. The mystery is something that might always be there but is something I will no longer use as an excuse, just an identification marker of that which I don’t understand that I am trying to discover its secrets. It fits far better with my concept of myself which is rapidly evolving.
Spirituality:
I guess I have a lot of tolerance spiritually speaking for the pagans of this world. I get you guys far more than any other religion and at least I think you are starting with the right place – looking at the world around you and within yourselves. Looking at what both are for yourself and not what some supposed ‘man of god’ tells you. I respect that level of individuality a lot. Probably the most spiritual thing a human can do is be themselves.
Conclusion:
In the future, I think Halloween will remain my favorite holiday and I plan on celebrating with the same enthusiasm next year as some others celebrate Christmas. I know now this holiday represents my turning into being an individual instead of a religious robot more than any other.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
I am going to talk about modern Halloween and why it is now my favorite holiday. Mostly it is because for a long time I was told as a Christian that it was satanic or full of witchcraft. It is a Wiccan holiday in its original form but also pretty basically pagan as well. Much fo what we see is hold over symbols from a bygone age that survive in large part because it is a fun holiday.
In the United States, the retail business has realized something – it is the second most money grossing holiday of the year. Literally, second only to Christmas now. Easter has fallen to third and Valentine’s fourth. It has become more than a holiday for kids trick or treating. Adults here have very adult Halloween parties without the kids. I mean you are dressed up as something else and often people cannot tell who you are if you do it right. Add alcohol, candy, and sensuality and you get the modern American US Halloween.
Most 0f the pagan roots of this holiday are lost and that is probably, on the one hand, Ok and on the other hand. something for those of us that like to dig deeper is missing.
Oh, yeah I am using the pin-up girls again for this one. This time though vintage classic ones that I love. It’s not very politically correct, but 1) it’s Halloween and 2) I don’t give a fuck what the language-thought nazis say.
Time to Look Through the Eye:
“To see the truth, change one eye for another”
Faith:
I am going to deal with the more Wiccan holiday of Samhain in this one that is now modern Halloween. This is actually the biggest festival of the Wiccan calendar and thus most celebrated. It’s opposite number and Spring festival is Beltane. You might say these two festivals bookend Summer and Winter. A festival of the dead, spirits and thus full of the familiar phrase – trick or treat. This reflects their appeasement of those prankster spirits and thus have them pass over your place. The Jack-o-Lanterns and many other customs reflect this.
I don’t believe in the supernatural but I find the whole holiday interesting because it is such a quilt work of different pagan traditions that it is fun to guess where which tradition came from and how it came to be. I have faith this is a fun and interesting holiday.
Meditation:
Like Beltaine, I feel that this holiday reflects the very human need to blow off steam. We can’t be good all the time and sometimes you just need to go and be a little naughty and mischevious. Beltane is perfect for this and Halloween even more so. My meditations on human nature simply lead me to think that people need to stop being so good for a couple days a year and Halloween is one of those days.
Theology:
Growing up this was Satan’s holiday. We didn’t participate or were told not to. my father this was bullshit, Chrisitan though he was. He was the one that told me that there is a great deal of difference between what something was and what it is. He felt what Halloween is now was more about having a good time and in some respect connecting with your neighbors.
Of course, the average Wiccan doesn’t believe in or worship Satan any more than they do the Chrisitan god. But people have a way of trying to make you inferior for a stupid reason like they don’t do holidays like this while you do; so you are morally less than them. Got sick of this shitty theology long before I left Christianity.
Spirituality:
I do find the idea of appeasing the spirits to be an interesting spiritual concept in paganism. The one area of Norse mythology that is rich but extremely complicated so I don’t address it is the whole issue of earth spirits, elves, and dark elves. It would be a fascinating study and probably relates to Winternights and Halloween a lot. I just look at it with awe as to how complicated it seems.
For myself, the connection with the past, the spending time with people as a community celebrating something is enough. It is these connections and having fun with them that denote my ‘spirituality’.
Conclusion:
Why do I like this holiday so much? Because of all the holidays in the US calendar, it has nothing to do with God, Christianity, Patriotism, or anything like them. It remains truly pagan despite Christianity making November 1st All Saints Day. Halloween gives November 1st the middle finger and that just makes me smile.
I also like the grey side to Halloween – the naughty side to it. It gives new meaning to the words – ‘trick or treats?’ and that is very Ok with me. Just remember sometimes the answer to that question is – yes.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Last year I had very little time to discuss my favorite holiday – Halloween but also I was just developing in my understanding of pagan holidays and what they meant to me. At this point, with The Grey Wayfarer heading into its second year, I think and feel it is time to look at what we are celebrating at this time of year and have a little fun.
In pagan terms, Halloween translates to Winternights for the Norse Tradition. Winternights runs from October 29th to November 2nd so there is more to it than a single day although the Winternights Festival is October 31st. Winter begins officially for pagans on this day and the Wild Hunt is said to be released. It is at this point all the darker beings and spiritual forces are venerated or perhaps it is best said – appeased from the Norns to Hel the goddess of the dead.
This is after all about honoring the dead from the past year and harvest which is basically the beginning gathering dead plants and butchering animals that won’t last the winter in preparation for winter.
There is a custom I find interesting in regards to harvest and the Norse religion. Leaving the last bits of the harvest – the ‘last sheaf’ as it were – for Odin. The god of the dead and all-father gets part fo the harvest to signal its end as he is the one said to lead the Wild Hunt. The point being that roads and fields no longer belong to humans but to The Hunt.
Time to Look Through the Eye:
“To see the truth, change one eye for another”
Faith:
When I look at winternights from a faith perspective, it is not so much a celebration of all the spiritual forces for me but of the finality of life as being part of life itself. Everything comes to an end. The Hunt becomes symbolic of how the winter washes the leftovers away and begins life anew in the Spring. Nature is a wonderful force of life, death, and renewal and we need to have some awe and wonder about that.
Meditation:
I have been asked what meaning in life that an atheist can possibly have. It is a good question as many people think without life after death life doesn’t mean much. I would say then they haven’t really defined for themselves or discovered the meaning of their life. As an atheist, I define my own meaning and that is what scares people. People who think others should be controlled would not like this as they use either religion or politics to do so. For me meaning has been found in my times of meditation as I build my life myself. People who understand this level of liberty are truly free.
Theology:
Theology’s only use for me these days is to point out flaws in theology. It is a fun exercise to be a theologian who is effectively an atheist. In a sense, I start theologically now from zero and people need to show me how and why I should add to that. The issue for winternights is that I look at its celebration as recovering a lost heritage not some reference to gods or goddesses in any other way than that.
Spirituality:
Holloween offers me a chance to be in connection with my fellow weirdos as far as the general spirit of the holiday. I don’t have much money, so a costume is out but I think that my own addition to the creative spirit of this holiday will be to carve a pumpkin or two. Someday, I want to join this and other celebrations with a full heart and effort. But I feel some major change is needed both in the realms of practicality and in mind and heart.
Conclusion:
This opening part has been about the holiday. The next two will be some of my personal thoughts as we get closer to it and the final part will drop the day before Halloween itself. You might even get a few personal pictures as we head toward and through winternights.
One final note: you have probably noticed all the wonderful pin-ups in this post. I love pin-up girls as an art form plus they are sexy as hell, and Halloween has a lot of them. This week all of them come from one of my favorite artists – Matt Dixon. I prefer the more vintage classic artists, but Dixon has his own style that is edgy and I like that.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods and goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves, and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.
We also don’t take an offering here. We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it. Let’s be honest, offerings are not giving to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it. Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never see a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.
Probably and additional announcement is that the Pagan pulpit will be more and more taking on a more personal touch – mine. I really am kind of combining a lot of things here from an old blog that I liked. It will be my musings on things from music to poems and other things. My thoughts will be front and center and they are about my weekly journey. If by sharing these things with you, you are helped a little in your own journey than that is bonus and a joy to me.
Opening Song: Metallica – Creeping Death (Live Seattle 1989)
One of my favorite Metallica songs. The final plague on the Egyptians turned into a metal song. Awesome.
Poem:
“Awaiting the Valkyrie”
The war of life will someday claim my soul.
May I live a life worthy of song.
Broken and wounded I may be,
But my heart longs to see the Valkyrie
To take me to a place of the honored dead.
Whose stories forever ring throughout the ages
The soul at last at peace
Celebrated and immortal.
– Ed Raby, Sr. – October 30, 2018
This poem probably speaks to the occasional long that we all have for things to be over. When my end comes, I would like to be remembered well.
Meditation:
People ask me all the time why I like stories. Well because all stories resonate with my own. It’s what makes our existence common; that we all are a story.
Song of Preparation:
This isn’t my favorite Three Door’s Song, but it definitely hits the heart of all of us in what we want and how we feel about those closest to us that have passed into the unknown.
Text: Havamal 77
“Your cattle shall die; your kindred shall die; you yourself shall
die; one thing I know which never dies: the judgment on each one dead.”
Sermon:
Coming off Halloween there is always that element where one thinks about death. I mean we have skulls and bones everywhere. The undead walk from zombies to vampires to mummies. Our popular mythology is laced with characters that overcome and cheat death. In religion, the afterlife is a common thread.
When I was a Christian, the view I often had been that heaven or some afterlife was necessary to give life meaning and purpose. Perhaps this is one truth that many religions hit on, as death seems to take away everything. Ecclesiastes is a great book for pointing this out but the conclusion is a bit of logical leap as the only meaning to life it gives is to fear God and do what he tells you. I don’t think that works for me anymore or for perhaps a lot of you.
The painful truth is that death might genuinely be the end of it all for each of us or that the afterlife is nothing like we expect. That’s the problem, it really is an unknown.
So how to find purpose and meaning to life with the reality of death ever before you? There have been many theories and perhaps this is why we are incurably religious as a species. We don’t like the thought that we will end. We want to continue and so we hope that something is on the other side of death. But in the end I think Marcus Aurelius hit it on the head. We should live a good life. If God, the gods or whatever are just, they will look at the virtues you have lived by not how devoted you were. If they are not just, then we should not want to serve them anyway. If there isn’t any gods or afterlife; then well, we have the memories in the hearts of those we loved as our final thoughts.
Of course you are left to yourself as to which virtues make up your good life. For me the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru form a good solid list and one that, regardless of who I meet and what religion they may or may not have, can be respected. The Havamal reminds us that the one thing that does not die is the judgement of the dead. The best way then to face death is to live life and live it fully.
Parting Song: Zergananda – The Path to Valhalla
Epic and one view of many. I personally think any view of the afterlife that involves courageously facing ones death is a good one.
Have a Great Week
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Just a message for all of you ghouls, vampires, zombies, ghosts, mummies and werewolves and witches out there this evening. Have a Happy Halloween and enjoy the day your way. It should be noted that this is the 31st straight day of posting on The Grey Wayfarer so we have hit our first month milestone. A great day to do that.
I want to thank all of you for following, liking or commenting over this month. As always thanks for reading.
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Of course you are left to yourself as to which virtues make up your good life. For me the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru form a good solid list and one that, regardless of who I meet and what religion they may or may not have, can be respected. The Havamal reminds us that the one thing that does not die is the judgement of the dead. The best way then to face death is to live life and live it fully.
The Grey Wayfarer 