Spiritually What Is A Samhain Ritual As I Have Been Invited To One On Halloween Night

Samhain ritual?

The supper is called a dumb supper. All the props are fun but not necessary for ritual. I just had my Samhain ritual last night and we lit candles for the dead. Had a scrying mirror set up for those that wanted it and lit pieces of paper with things we wished to be repaired in the new year. The good thing about waiting this late in the year is that all the stores are already clearing out their Halloween stuff and you can get some deals. I picked up a besom at Michaels that way.
Here is the dumb supper performed in Salem .....

A banquet of sumptuous cuisine where the only sound heard is music chosen in memory of the departed. Bring photos and mementos to summon the souls of your loved ones on the other side as you partake in the most solemn of all the ceremonies of Witchcraft. The Dumb Supper is an ancient tradition where the dead attend the living for a magical night of communion!

The evening opens with a ceremony welcoming the dead, after which attendees are guided into the sacred space where the feast is served. From this point on, no one may speak. By remaining quiet, you will open your heart and mind to those who have crossed over. In years past, guests of the Dumb Supper have felt a ghostly touch, detected a scent of perfume, heard messages, and even witnessed physical manifestations of spirit energy.

Hope that helps
Blessed Be!

What will you be doing for Samhain? (Halloween)?

I have lived north of San Francisco off and on for many years, and I am finally going to the City for Halloween, Castro-Style. I am a hetero, somewhat square midwestern-type, but the gay district here is famous for their outrageous costumes, hard-core partying and just plain having fun. Soooo...have been wanting to see it firsthand for years now, and I am finally going to do it. Castro Halloween, SF style, is the most famous Halloween party this side of Rio---but, to honor you, my friend, I will set a place at the dinner table for my dear departed grandmother. Hope she shows up.

Any special ritual plans for Halloween/Samhain for the Satanists, Witches, Pagans and Wiccans out there?

Actually, I'm going to do a small solitary ritual and seasonal meal the night before at home.

The night of Samhain this year I will be participating in the ritual of a birthday celebration mixed with some Halloween festivities. One of my girlfriends is turning 40 - we have a red limo rented for the evening with a driver for us, and she and I and our guys are dressing up in costumes and hitting a couple local costume parties where other friends of ours will be - having a few cocktails, enjoying some dancing and hanging out with friends, and of course a cake at one stop for the birthday girl.

I'm dressing up as a black cat because this girlfriend has a black cat, which is of course the apple of her eye since she doesn't have children, so I'm making a "collar" with her cat's name on it for my costume. :) She doesn't know what I'm going to be and I refuse to tell her ahead of time- so I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it.

Simple Samhain Ritual? ?

why don't you do a bit of trick-or-treating, and drop the superstitious crap?

Did the druids really sacrifice children during Samhain?

Human sacrifice has occurred in many if not most ancient cultures. The Romans put an end to it in Europe, but had practiced it themselves earlier, and, amusingly, seemed to think it was worse to die for your god (even if voluntarily, as some sacrifices probably were) than to be forced into bloody combat to the death in the arena or to 'decimate' (kill one in ten) of the people in lands you were conquering.
The celts left no written records so no one can say for sure. Bodies such as those found in bogs do point to some kind of ritual killing, and also there are 'unnatural' burials found in storage pit and under ramparts at hillforts. These are always adults,and virtually all male. One was found by the evidence of pollens in his gut to have died in the spring--so not Halloween.
The websites that talk of the celtic Lord of the dead are amusing, because Samhain just means end of summer/beginning of winter. There is no real Irish death god, just two shadowy figures Donn (dark) and Bile, who play no real part in Irish legend. The Welsh Arawn, an underworld god, and Gwyn (a psychopomp who guides the souls of the dead) are a bit more prominent in legend, but still no talk of sacrifices to them.
One Irish legend, that of Cromm Cruach, does talk of a tithe of children, on Samhain eve, to Cromm, the bowed one of the mound. This legend was written down late, however, and may be again, a Christian gory fantasy. That said, it is interesting that the legend involves a stone circle (these circles were out of use a good thousand years before the Iron age era of druids) and certainly at some stone circles,especially the recumbents in Scotland, deposits of children's crania and earbones are found. I am suspecting Samhain is probably very much older than 'druids' and was probably some kind of 'day of the dead' back as long as 5000 years ago. The neolithic era had a strong 'cult of the dead/ancestors.' The bones/ashes found in stone circles may have immediately suggested 'sacrifice' to later comers, and although on occasion, some of them may have in fact been sacrifices, it is just as likely they were the remains of prominent tribal members and their families.

Halloween in Pagan Religions *ASATRU*?

Any of the old mythological traditions that have been reconstructed are pagan (Egyptian, Norse, Roman, etc). Also some people just have an earth based practice and use the label pagan without believing in deity or honoring a specific pantheon. Some people mix up pantheons. Paganism can be whatever you need it to be. A Book of Shadows is not a Wiccan Bible, it's a personal book written by the practitioner. Many include their spiritual journey, their own written prayers, spells, and rituals in the book. Why on earth would you believe that 100% of the victims of Salem Witch Trials weren't innocent? Most everyone who has been persecuted of witchcraft were executed because of land disputes and neighborly disagreements. The people that weren't innocent are the accusers! I suggest you study the Malleus Maleficarum and really understand what people were faced with when accused of witchcraft. Maybe then you will understand that innocent people were accused. ADD: "*I think that SOME of the people accused in the salem witch trials very well could have been witches. And there are probably some that were not punished." The problem with this is that you are thinking about something without supporting facts to prove that the possibility is there. Facts show that the basis of The Burning Times were land disputes and arguments between neighbors and jilted lovers. IF anyone actually practiced folk magic and was accused of such, the percentage would be extremely low (think 1% dear). And I have learning disabilities myself, that's not an excuse to get out of reading. If you really want to learn you will do it.

Is Halloween satanic?

The Encyclopedia Americana says: “Elements of the customs connected with Halloween can be traced to a Druid ceremony in pre-Christian times. The Celts had festivals for two major gods—a sun god and a god of the dead (called Samhain), whose festival was held on November 1, the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The festival of the dead was gradually incorporated into Christian ritual.”—(1977), Vol. 13, p. 725.
The book The Worship of the Dead points to this origin: “The mythologies of all the ancient nations are interwoven with the events of the Deluge . . . The force of this argument is illustrated by the fact of the observance of a great festival of the dead in commemoration of the event, not only by nations more or less in communication with each other, but by others widely separated, both by the ocean and by centuries of time. This festival is, moreover, held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, viz., the seventeenth day of the second month—the month nearly corresponding with our November.” (London, 1904, Colonel J. Garnier, p. 4) Thus these celebrations actually began with an honoring of people whom God had destroyed because of their badness in Noah’s day.—Gen. 6:5-7; 7:11.

Is Halloween A Satanic Holiday?

No more so than Easter. Both holidays have their roots in Pagan Celtic society, and perhaps going back to ancient Rome. Halloween's Celtic holiday was called Samhain and Easter's Celtic holiday was called Beltane.

Samhain was the Celtic New Year where they celebrated the ending of the harvest and honored their dead. These ancients were preparing for winter where it was thought that the world died and would revive itself when spring arrived thus it was an appropriate time to acknowledge their dead. The holiday was celebrated with a large bonfire, feast, and a place was set for a dead ancestor in the belief that the world was closest to the great beyond on this particular day.

By the same token Beltane was the spring holiday where life was celebrated and spring was welcomed. Like Samhain, it was celebrated with the lighting of bonfires. Today we see vestiges of this holiday in the Easter bunny, colored eggs, (both represent fertility), and May poles.

The Catholic church took both Beltane and Samhain and turned them into Easter and Halloween. Easter to celebrate the rising of Jesus from the dead and Halloween the eve of All Hallow's Day, (where people honor the dearly departed). The church had a hard time converting the Celts, (mainly the Irish), and as a result adapted their Celtic religious holidays and demonized their religion. For example, the use of a goat as a symbol of the devil; the goat was a representative of life and fertility. The Christians of that time viewed this as an act of worshiping an idol god and viewed it as evil.

As a result of Christianity winning out on the religious front, native Celtic religion was written in history as being evil and associated with witches, warlocks, and devil wordship. Today, the stigma endures.