The Tarot card that can suggest a vivid dream, a vision, a psychic or supernatural experience or even a ghost during a reading is The moon map.
Halloween is called the season of ghosts. Why is that?
Celebrated on October 31 each year, Halloween or All Hallows Eve marks the midway point between the northern hemisphere’s autumnal equinox, September 22, and the winter solstice, which will occur on Tuesday, December 21 in 2021.
Halloween began 2,000 years ago as a pre-Christian Iron Age festival among the various peoples of Britain and Northern Europe, known as the Celts.
In parts of Britain and the Republic of Ireland, Halloween is still mentioned Samhain (pronounced Sow-an, from Gaelic/Irish) means ‘end of summer’.
From the age-old survival standpoint of food production, harvesting and storage, this is a critical turning point of the year, as the days shorten, the nights lengthen, the vegetation decays, the temperature drops – and possibly more people get sick.
From Halloween in the Anglosphere to Alfblot in Scandinavia and the Day of the Dead in Spanish-speaking countries, October 31 – November 3 is a festival that marks the end of the harvest season.
Now we prepare for the decay of vegetation, the coming darkness and the possible hardships of winter. This seems like a natural time to remember the commemoration of the dead.
Russia does not celebrate Halloween, nor is it endorsed by the Orthodox Church, although it has been gaining popularity among young people since the 1990s.
In France, Halloween is not a traditional festival, but here too certain elements can be celebrated, imported from the US in the twentieth century, but La Toussaint or All Saints’ Day is a widely celebrated national holiday on November 1.
Liminal spaces
This time of year represents a ‘liminal’ space, a threshold – a kind of doorway, an ‘interspace’ between outside and inside, one room and another, or between summer and winter, night and dark, and therefore symbolically, between life and death.
Being half awake or half asleep is an intermediate state of mind or consciousness in which we can have a powerful frightening or psychic dream experience.
Each liminal “in-between space” is understood as a sacred or magical space, a gateway through which ghostly or magical (magical) things can manifest.
A doorway is a space that needs to be protected. Intersections are in-between spaces and represent a choice of directions or possibilities.
Hecate, goddess of ghosts and crossroads
There is no presiding god or deity of Halloween. Hecate is an ancient goddess of the night, the sky and the waning moon. Over the centuries she has become inextricably linked to ghosts and witchcraft, and with that also to Halloween. Hecate is seen as the chief goddess in charge of witchcraft, with modern-day followers among Neo-Pagans, Wiccans, and lone occult or magical practitioners.
She’s a necromancer, one who can talk to the dead,
Mythology
The name Hecate comes from ancient Greek and means ‘from afar’ or ‘worker from afar’. This remote working has the character of a spell.
Hecate was the daughter of the TitanPerses, and the nymph Asteria, and this gave her powers in heaven, on land, and on sea. But her story goes back way before the Greeks, to the Anatolians (Asia Minor) and before, possibly to the Babylonians and Sumerians who knew her as Innana, Queen of Heaven, and later as the goddess Ishtar associated with love . beauty, sex, war, justice and political power.
Later, these more ancient storytelling traditions were absorbed into Greek mythology alongside the Romans, who spread the mythology as they expanded their empire.
Hekate’s kindness
Hecate is a tutelary goddess of dogs. In Greek myth, the tragic Queen Hecuba of Troy deliberately jumped overboard a Greek ship and drowned when she was taken into slavery after the fall of Troy. Hecuba was broken with grief, distraught at the death of her king and so many of her children, and at the fall of her city and the downfall of her people at the hands of the Greeks.
Hecate saved Hecuba’s drowned soul and turned her into a dog, comforting her with forgetfulness, to be freed from her memories of sorrow. This dog is Hecate’s beloved companion and is a friendly, familiar spirit, not like the three-headed dog Cerberus (his name means ‘Spot’) who guards the gates of the underworld.
Now she is invoked as a protector of all dogs, and also she is a protector of the house (as a good dog is). Hecataea stood at intersections and doorways, for good luck, asking her to keep away any unwanted visitors, including evil spirits.
Hecate became one of the many gods worshiped in ancient Athens as a protector of the Athenians oikos (household) next to Zeus, Hestia, goddess of the hearth, the messenger god Hermes, and the sun god Apollo.
Hecate is considered a dark deity because of her associations with witchcraft, but she stands for both dark and light, death and birth, and as the protector and guardian of mothers, dogs and owls.
Magical traditions, symbols and practices
Her colors are black and red.
Her symbols are keys, torches,
Her totem animal is the dog and the Barn Owl, also known as the screeching owl.
How can Hecate help us?
-Protection of the household, the family, mothers, children and childbirth.
-Help to eliminate harmful situations
-Help for lost or sick pets and animals, especially dogs.
Help requested from Hekate
1/ Attitude
As with any request, care and respect are required.
2/ Naming
How do we pronounce her name? There is no wrong way per se. Today, her name is often pronounced Heh-kah-tay or Heh-kah-tee, with her name being pronounced with no emphasis on the middle. But to the ancients she would have been Hecate, pronounced Heh-KAH-tay or heh-KAH-tee with the emphasis on the middle syllable. This honors her oldest lineage, as far as we can be sure.
3/ Time
The best time to make a request to Hecate is during the waning crescent moon or at the New Moon. A free online lunar calendar will easily identify these dates. (Halloween 2021 will be a waning crescent moon)
4/ Place/rituals
Decorate and dedicate a small corner, perhaps in a windowsill with a view of the moon if you can see it, decorated with artwork of Hecate, the moon, dogs, owls, keys or other totems.
5/ Gifts and favors
It’s only polite to say thank you when you ask for help with something, or to acknowledge that you’re getting help. For example, we would:
– Burn a candle or an incense cone (be careful not to leave it unattended)
– Offer a small glass of mead, or a spoonful of honey in water. Hecate likes honey, pomegranates (just like Persephone), lavender, garlic (unlike vampires), bread, candy, and anything in the shape of a crescent moon (she’d probably enjoy a virtual croissant)
– Make a donation to support rescue dogs or a local owl sanctuary, and tell her you’re doing this on her behalf.
– As with a birthday cake, offer a piece of cake or a cupcake with a candle. Make your request. Blow out the candle.
