Samhain Special - by Starla Knight

     Halloween will soon be here, as I’m sure you already know by the current spooky decorations taking over shopping centers, and homes you would secretly like to trick-or-treat at.  The sexy fairy, Harli Quinn, and Wonder-Woman costumes will entice us all to flights of fancy this ol’ Hallows Eve. You’ll probably come across a witch or two, and consider yourself lucky if you do discover a real witch, for Halloween, known to true witches as Samhain (pronounced Sow-en or Sah-win ) is their high holiday of the calendar year.

Samhain is the high holiday, or third and largest Harvest holiday, marking the end of the harvest season and the start of winter. It is the end of the six months of light and growth, and the beginning of the six months of dark slumber and winter for Wiccans, or those practicing the Celtic pagan rights.  Wicca, and most pagan pantheons throughout history that Wicca derives from, are fertility religions, not devil worshipers as most have been misinformed to believe.  Rather,  they find influence from the natural world around them, the changes of the seasons, the circle of life that encompasses us all.  Despite popular beliefs Witches, or Wiccans, can’t worship the devil, they don’t even believe in his existence.

Then how did the holiday of Halloween become to synonymous with Devil worship?

Wiccans, and other pagans, believe the veil that separates the living world and the world beyond thins around Samhain, and is at its thinnest on Samhain, October 31st. If negative spirits were to cross over to our world they would be spooked off by the scary faces carved into pumpkins (originally turnips) resting by the door, hopefully.  Pagan celebrations often include holding rituals, where they might gather in a consecrated circle, give thanks for the bountiful harvest, and ask for protection through the long barren winter months soon to be upon them. It may have been such practices which lead misinformed, ignorant, fear mongering people into persecuting the nature worshiping pagans to death, and associating Halloween with unmoral activities.

Unmoral heathen is the label more modern societies would place upon pagans, fertility religions are often misunderstood.  Fertility religions like Wicca and other Celtic pagan practices, see the importance of both sexes, that the world needs both female and male energies.  Mammals breed male to/with female to ensure the continuation of their species.  Birds, reptiles, fish, insects and even plants do the same. The world depends upon both energies, female and male.

At the same time, pagans are open to whatever sexual identity one assumes.  Our souls, or energies, that make us who we truly are will either be masculine or feminine,  we often have the ability to be fluid to both energies depending on what’s needed.  Pagans believe that it’s just as normal to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or anything in between, as it is to be straight.  Sexual activity between same sex partners has been documented in numerous animal species, on land and in the water.  It’s not just the reproductive organ we were born with that provides the feminine or masculine energies which make us who we are,  the world needs all those who seek to leave it a better place than how they entered it.

Pagans open-mindedness about sexuality follows suit in their natural look at sex, or intercourse.  To Pagans, sex is a natural part of life.  Sex isn’t something to be ashamed of, shunned, feared, or judged; as long as it’s between consenting adults.  Sex between a man and a woman is normal.  Sex between a man and a man is normal. Sex between a woman and a woman is normal. Sex between a man, a woman, and a man is normal. You get the point. Sex, in any configuration, as long as it’s between consenting adults, is believed to produce natural, positive energy.

Pagans believe the positive energy created during sex can be a powerful thing.  Which is why sex is sometimes included in rituals, in hopes that the positive energy created by the natural, consensual, intercourse aids in the creation and manifestations of their spells, otherwise known as prayers.
 

     Yes, pagans see their spells to be similar to monotheistic prayers.  Asking the universe, or a specific deity, for a specific (or generalized) outcome to a situation.  Holding a ritual and asking for a mild winter, good health, a good crop, a good job, or help with whatever issue seems to be plaguing them at the moment, is not that far off from a Christian prayer.  If the concerned are worried enough, perhaps the winter before was particularly harsh and livestock was lost, someone has been suffering from a grave illness, or a drought crippled the harvest this year, they might want to up the anti on their prayer (spell) and provide as much positive energy  to (as an offering for) the request as possible.

How does this mean  you are lucky if you happen to discover a real witch amognst all the racy costumes intended to entice you to fuck?  Because the real witch, lacking inhibitions and fear of judgment for the fornication in any flavor, will be more likely to rock your world in between the sheets. 

Lack of inhibitions has been suggested by sex therapists all over the world to increase the pleasure one receives, and gives, during stages of intimacy and intercourse.  If you’re lucky enough to be intimate with a witch, you can rest assured that there will likely be much less criticism of you on all accounts.  Which in turn means that you will be less inhibited and receive much more pleasure as well.

If you happen to be traveling to Australia, you might be luck to come across a professional witch. It even seems that Shaney Marie, from New Zealand plans to further expand this knowledge throughout Australia, as she’s recently moved from the exotic dancer profession and traded her stilettos for a broomstick as a sex witch.

“Sex witchery involves using ancient pagan ways of being able to unlock greater pleasure pathways. When I was a stripper, I noticed that most men were coming to me in search of deeper connections and had nowhere else to turn to.  I looked back to ancient times.  There were once temples where men would seek counsel and healing from erotic dancers,” said the priestess, who identifies as pansexual.  “Strip clubs [today] are about ‘power play’, and not an exchange of a deeper connection.  […] Spell-crafting can involve boosting pleasure.  It is one of the most powerful forces you can experience.  It’s like rocket fuel for manifestation.” (Manifestation is another word for creation, spells or prayers)

Marie, who also claims to be an eco-sexual, (one that  gets aroused by nature) believes that arousal can come from simple things, like a cool breeze.  She is currently available for face-to-face consulting, even via Skype, and claims that her current clientele ranges in age from the 20’s to 70’s, and number in the hundreds.  Marie also expects that number to rise as more and more people trade in religion for spirituality.  Marie also plans on taking her sex-witch services abroad and is currently planning a European tour of Amsterdam, London, Berlin and Ireland.  No plans yet, to bring her talents to the US.

Should you be concerned about possibly upsetting a witch and becoming hexed?  No.  Unlike what most Hollywood movies portray, witches rarely cast negative spells, or hex others, even when they have been wronged.  Witches traditionally believe that whatever magic  they do cast has the possibility of coming back to them three fold.  Most pagans believe that the universe, or karma, will handle any wrong brought upon them when the time is right.

So take a moment before casting the traditional Halloween witch to the side in preference for the more popular sex kittens, Harli Quinn’s and Wonder Woman’s, looking for tricks-or-treats. You could very well be pleasantly surprised by a witch.  Don’t automatically assume that everyone dressed as a witch is a true witch, as many wearing the pointy hat this season are not pagan, as it is a traditional costume.  At the same time, don’t assume that all true witches will be wearing traditional witch gear. They could be, but maybe they want to play at being someone other than themselves this Halloween, like most everyone else.

Like always my Lovies, I’d love to hear from you.  Have you had any wild experiences with any witches that either support or deny what I’ve written here?  What say you? Email me at starla.friction@gmail.com