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Samhain in the Aftermath of
September 11, 2001
by Dana D. Eilers
"We need an article about
Samhain." I have a pretty standard approach to writing
articles like this. First, I discuss the pronunciation and
history of the word. Then, I explore the history of the Sabbat
and its ancient origins, tracing them up to modern times.
Finally, I offer samples of various modern practices utilized by
modern Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans around the world to celebrate the Sabbat.
Before the events of September 11,
2001, this would have been the outline for this article.
Somehow, the puny attempt to discuss Samhain in this manner seems
dwarfed by larger happenings in the world today. Most of my
attempts to live life as I used to seem rather puny nowadays.
The truth of the matter is this:
as Mabon, the autumunal equinox approached, we Pagans were preparing
to greet the returning night for the hours of daylight were
waning. We were gathering to pass through the gate that
separates the light half of the year from the dark half of the year.
Suddenly, violently, and heinously, we were all catapulted through
that gate into a darkness that struck us far deeper than we knew at
the time. Now, we have had an opportunity to exist in that shadow for
a while, and we begin to realize just how dark the world is becoming
as a consequence of that dreadful September morning.
So, Samhain is upon us now.
There are the usual things to be said. It is the Witches' New
Year and The Feast of the Dead. It is a time for remembering
ancestors and giving thanks to those, whether animal or human, who
have given up their lives so that the living can get on with the
business of living. It is the night when we welcome the spirits
into our houses and into our psyches. It is that moment in the
Wheel of the Year when the veil between this world and the next is at
its thinnest so that we may most accurately perform acts of The
Sight, divination, soothsaying, and fortune telling. We know it
as the entrance onto the Celtic winter when, with the long hours of
darkness, we can be introspective, contemplative, and wander the
darker recesses of our spirits as we can no longer labor outside into
the evening hours.
So, what exactly is the meaning of
Samhain for us Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans in the aftermath of
September 11, 2001?
Let us be remarkably honest with
ourselves: we are not Christians. We are not required to walk
paths of lightness, love, and forgiveness 24/7, although this option
is available to us, certainly. However, this is Samhain, and we
are Pagans. We recognize, welcome, and try to understand the
darkness, the shadows, and the night. These are not merely
symbols: these are very real and quite factual in their
existence. As Pagans, Witches, and Wiccans, we know that
darkness does not equal "Evil." We should not fear
these roads less traveled by. Thus, we are free to walk these
twilight paths, if we so choose. We have the freedom to amble
down by-ways that pierce and curve our fears, that traverse those
parts of ourselves which we really would rather not look at. Our
philosophy does not declare such journeys as sinful or
forbidden. In fact, we undertake such travels secure in the
knowledge that the spring equinox comes in March and with it, the
return of the light. We hold onto this knowledge, and it acts
as our beacon during the process of realization and discovery which,
of necessity, takes us into the dark.
Realizing all of this, how do we
approach Samhain this year? When we gather in our covens,
circles, groves, and groups, or when we prepare ourselves as solitary
practitioners of our spirituality and of our art, let us remember
what occurred on September 11, 2001. Let us remember the dead
who may, to some of us, be faceless and nameless, but who were
all connected to other people in webs of love, support, and
devotion. Let us remember the families and friends of the dead,
for they grieve and face a loss or an emptiness which most of us
cannot guess at. Still, if we areweavers of energy and
manipulators of forces that the eye does not see, we could feel this
pain if we tried. This is a time to try.
Let us cast our Sight across the
great puzzle of life and death because if we do so, we will see the
rents and the tears in the fabric of the cosmos wrought by the events
of this day. We must realize that it not only one day: it
was years of days in planning and in making. So, let us also
cast our Sight into the hearts and minds of the perpetrators, the
planners, and the conspirators to discover the reasons why people
from a faith which calls for peace would act so inhumanely with such
great spiritual conviction. We, as Pagans, Witches, Wiccans,
and manipulators of the other worldly forces might be the only people
on the earth who are a) capable of "going there," and b)
capable of coming back from there with any real insight. It
would be a form of post-apocalyptic shamanism, done on a scale never
before contemplated. It is time to contemplate such a scale.
In short, let us rise up as a
spiritual people on Samhain, when the veil is thinnest, and look into
the darkness to see what is in it. Let us really try to wrap
our heads around it and understand it. In understanding, there
may be a way out of this mess.
Part of that understanding is
this: the Dark Goddesses will have their due, as we are so
frightfully reminded. Their aspects walk among us no matter how
much we try to whitewash them or sanitize them. The ancient
deities of death, destruction, and war are very much alive, no matter
the monotheistic, patriarchal rhetoric in which they are
clothed. What the monotheistic patriarchs forget, however, is
the light-in-darkness theory that we Pagan folk know. Despite
Her fearful visage as Mother Death or the Queen of Phantoms,
the Morrigan was also Ana the Virgin; Kali was the Dark Mother, but
She was also the womb and the giver of life; Athena waged war on the
Trojans, but She also brought wisdom, sustenance in the form of the
olive tree, and beauty in the form of art to the people of Her city.
Let us help the world remember
what the world will have a tendency to forget: that even in the
darkness, there is a speck of light somewhere which will eventually
transform into an inferno of blazing reality. That is the way
the pendulum swings and the way that the wheel turns. We must
help the world to remember that even in this dark time, there is much
to be grateful for.
Finally there is this: the Pagan
community grapples with the issues of waging war versus the
opportunity to heal great breaches in humanity's net of understanding
and of tolerance. We align ourselves with mighty predators such
as hawks, eagles, owls, bears, wolves, the cats in all their forms,
dragons, and snakes. These are forces of nature which live
according to the call of instinct and survival. Justice and
mercy are our concepts, not theirs. We call upon deities rich
with dark power such as Hecate, Hades, Cerridwen, Kali, and
Odin. Look at them carefully before you invoke these or call
their names. Be certain of what you call forth when their names
pass your lips. We are a modern people who are, perhaps, too
squeamish for such primitive and elemental forces. Beauty and
ugliness, pain and well being, war and peace, killing and mercy,
vengeance and understanding?should all have their place in the Pagan
view of the cosmos. Each of us, as individuals, must weave
these threads into the fabric of our being and come to an acceptance
of the cloak it creates. There is no better time to do this than at Samhain.
I remember that as the Gulf War
was waged a decade ago, a call went out among the Pagan people at
Imbolg to bring the war to an end. It had gone on long enough,
we decided.. Like so many others, I came together that night
with a group of like-minded Pagans, and we made magic for the ending
of conflict in Kuwait. Not long thereafter, open warfare in
Kuwait stopped.
Then, as now, I believe in the
power of magic. I believe in our power to affect the
world. Samhain opens a door between this world and the next.
All the power of the present world and the Other World is available
to us at this time. This Samhain, do not squander that power. Make
the most of the opportunity presented, howsoever you view it.
The magic we make could change history.
Dana D. Eilers |
