Go hang yaself.

LOL! Maybe he'll remember to put a box of candy under himself before
kicking the chair away.

"Robibnikoff" <witchypoo@broomstick.com> wrote in message
news:3smojlFp705oU1@individual.net...

Learn some history, you retard.

Tonite's your special nite isn't it Rob?

ALL HALLOWS' EVE, or Halloween, originated in the 7th century AD. It was
celebrated on 13 May and was a night for remembering deceased saints and
martyrs. The date was later changed to November 1 in order to Christianize
the pagan holidays Beltane and Samhain--festivals of summer, winter and
fire.

James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, said, "throughout Europe, Hallowe'en,

night which marks the transition from autumn to winter, seems to have been
of old the time of year when the souls of the departed revisited their

in order to warm themselves by the fire." Such ghosts walked the

retrieving offerings of food and drink (the treat) supplied by living

members. Darker forces roamed the night as well. Demons, hobgoblins,

on broomstick, all haunting the night with acts of mischief (the trick).

Real witches were also known to revel on Halloween night. According to

Myth & Magic, the witches of Aberdeen danced "round an old grey stone at

foot of the hill at Craigleuch, the Devil himself playing music before
them." Modern witches and Wiccans practice similar skyclad (nude)

traditions, calling on earth spirits and goddesses to visit their knife
drawn circles of power.

The Goddess Hecate

Hecate, the Titan earth mother of the wizards and witches, illustrates
perhaps better than any other ancient goddess, the connection between

the Celtic Halloween traditions, and the realm of evil supernaturalism.

As the dark goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, like Isis, was worshiped with
impure rites and magical incantations. Her name was probably derived from
the ancient Egyptian word Heka ("sorcery" or "magical"), which may explain
her association with the Egyptian frog goddess of the same name. This may
also explain the affiliation of frogs with witchcraft, and the various
potions of frog-wart and "hecateis" (Hecate's hallucinogenic plant, also
called Aconite), which supposedly sprouted from the spittle of Cerberus
(Hade's three-headed guard dog) that fell to the ground when Hercules

him to the surface of the earth.

Because her devotees practiced such magic wherever three paths joined,
Hecate was known by the Romans as Trivia ( tri "three," and via "roads").
Later, when the Latin church fathers compared the magic of the goddess
Trivia with the power of the Gospel, they found it to be inferior, and

the pursuit of Hecate's knowledge became known as Trivial Pursuit, or
inconsequential. But the fact that Hecate's followers sincerely believed

and feared her magic and presence was legendary. We find example of such
fear in the Argonautica, (Jason and the Argonauts) by Apollonius Rhodius,
when the sorceress Medea provided a spell for Jason to use in winning
Hecate's assistance:


Take heed now, that I may devise help for thee. When at thy coming my

has given thee the deadly teeth from the dragon's jaws for sowing, then
watch for the time when the night is parted in twain, then bathe in the
stream of the tireless river, and alone, apart from others, clad in dusky
raiment, dig a rounded pit; and therein slay a ewe, and sacrifice it

heaping high the pyre on the very edge of the pit. And propitiate
only-begotten Hecate, daughter of Perses, pouring from a goblet the
hive-stored labour of bees. And then, when thou hast heedfully sought the
grace of the goddess, retreat from the pyre; and let neither the sound of
feet drive thee to turn back, nor the baying of hounds, lest haply thou
shouldst maim all the rites and thyself fail to return duly to thy
comrads....
Jason bathed his tender body reverently in the sacred river; and round him
he placed a dark robe, [and] he cut the throat of the sheep, and duly

the carcase above; and he kindled the logs placing fire beneath, and

over them mingled libations, calling on Hecate Brimo [the Mighty One] to

him in the contests. And when he had called on her he drew back; and she
heard him, the dread goddess, from the uttermost depths, and came to the
sacrifice of Aeson's son [Jason]; and round her horrible serpents twined
themselves among the oak boughs; and there was a gleam of countless

and sharply howled around her the hounds of hell. All the meadows trembled
at her step; and the nymphs that haunt the marsh and the river shrieked,

who dance around that mead of Amarantian Phasis. And fear seized Aeson's
son, but not even so did he turn round as his feet bore him forth, till he
came back to his comrades.

Such magic, as illustrated in the fiction above, was fearfully employed by
people to appease Hecate. This was primarily due to her role as the
sorceress of the afterlife, but true believers also feared Hecate's

to afflict the mind with madness (as in the Dionystic curses), as well as
her influence over night creatures. She was thought to govern haunted

where evil or murderous activity had occurred. Such areas where violence

lechery had a history were believed to be magnets of malevolent spirits,
something like "haunted houses," and if one wanted to get along with the
resident apparitions they needed to make oblations to the ruler of the
darkness--Hecate.
Hecate's familiar (the night owl) announced the acceptance of the

and those who gathered on the eve of the full moon perceived the spooky
sound of the creature as a good omen. Statues of the goddess bearing the
triple-face of a dog, a snake, and a horse, overshadowed the dark rituals
when they were performed at the crossing of three roads. At midnight,
Hecate's devotees left food offerings at the intersection for the goddess
('Hecate's Supper'), and, once deposited, quickly exited without turning
around or looking back. Sometimes the offerings consisted of honey cakes

chicken hearts. At other time's puppies, honey, and female black lambs

slaughtered for the goddess and her strigae.

The strigae were deformed and vicious owl-like affiliates of Hecate who

through the night feeding on bodies of unattended babies. During the day

strigae appeared as simple old women, and such may account for the history
of flying witches. The same strigae hid amidst the leaves of the trees
during the annual festival of Hecate (held on August 13), when Hecate's
followers offered up the highest praise of the goddess. Hecate's devotees
celebrated such festivals near Lake Averna in Campania where the sacred
willow groves of the goddess stood, and they communed with the tree

(earth spirits, including Hecate, were thought to inhabit trees) and
summoned the souls of the dead from the mouths of nearby caves. It was

that Hecate was known as Hecate-Chthonia ("Hecate of the earth"), a
depiction in which she most clearly embodied the popular

that conversed through the cave-stones and sacred willow trees.

Whereas Hecate was elsewhere known as Hecate-Propylaia, "the one before

gate," a role in which she guarded the entrances of homes and temples from
nefarious outside evils (talk about Satan casting out Satan!); and whereas
she was also known as Hecate-Propolos, "the one who leads," as in the
underworld guide of Persephone and of those who inhabit graveyards; and
finally whereas she was known as Hecate-Phosphoros, "the light bearer,"

most sacred title and one that recalls another powerful underworld spirit,
Satan, whose original name was Lucifer ("the light bearer"); it was
nevertheless her role as the feminist earth-goddess-spirit Hecate-Chthonia
that popularized her divinity and commanded reverence from among the

people.

Modern Symbolism

The connection between ancient paganism and the modern customs and

of Halloween is easy to trace. The Hecatian myths adopted by Celtic
occultists continue in pop culture, symbolism, and tradition in the
following ways:

People visiting neighborhood homes on Halloween night represent the dead

search of food (the treat).
Masks of devils and hobgoblins represent evil spirits seeking mischief

trick).
Those who pass out candy represent the homes visited by the dead, or may
also represent worried individuals seeking to appease Hecate and other
nighttime terrors.
The Jack-O-Lantern (will-o-the-wisp, fox fire, fairy fire, etc.) is,
according to some histories, a wandering soul stuck between heaven and

Others claim the Druids left Jack-O-Lanterns on doorsteps to ward off evil
spirits. Another legend concerns a drunk named Jack who made a deal with

devil. Each claims to be the true origin of the Jack-O-Lantern myth.

"Robibnikoff" <witchypoo@broomstick.com> wrote in message
news:3smojlFp705oU1@individual.net...

Learn some history, you retard.

Tonite's your special nite isn't it Rob?

Real witches were also known to revel on Halloween night.

"Desertphile" <desertphile@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130981912.307028.319880@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

You seem to be the one who has the twisted sense of reality here. There
ain't no one who commented on this subject who does not feel sorry and
grieve for the dead woman-- even the people (such as myself) who made
jokes about her death.

How many jokes would you have made if it were your
mother, sister, wife, or girlfriend?

"Desertphile" <desertphile@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130981912.307028.319880@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

You seem to be the one who has the twisted sense of reality here. There
ain't no one who commented on this subject who does not feel sorry and
grieve for the dead woman-- even the people (such as myself) who made
jokes about her death.

How many jokes would you have made if it were your
mother, sister, wife, or girlfriend?

You seem to be the one who has the twisted sense of reality here.
There ain't no one who commented on this subject who does not feel
sorry and grieve for the dead woman-- even the people (such as
myself) who made jokes about her death.

How many jokes would you have made if it were your mother, sister,
wife, or girlfriend?