Samhain :: Ancient Festival of the Dead

"A gypsy fire is on the hearth,

Sign of the carnival of mirth;

Through the dun fields and from the glade,

Flash merry folk in masquerade,

For this is Hallowe'en!"

(Author Unknown)

 

 

Most academic scholars believe that Halloween is simply a Christianised feast influenced by the Pagan Samhain.

Samhain (pronounced sow-en) has been celebrated in Britain for centuries as it marks an important date on the Pagan calendar: the Festival of the Dead and the Celtic New Year. However, many countries, such as Australia, do not recognise Halloween, whilst for other countries, Halloween involves dressing up, trick or treating, carving jack-o-lanterns and participating in themed games such as apple bobbing.

Mischief and jovial aside, Samhain also represents the thinning of the veil; the time of year when it is believed that the Otherworld can be reached more readily.

The idea that Samhain is a juncture between our world and the Otherworld led to a popular belief that on this night, time would stand still. During Samhain the natural order of life was thrown into chaos and the earthly world of the living became hopelessly entangled with the world of the dead.

The world of the dead was itself a complicated place. Here roamed not only spirits of the departed, but also a host of gods, fairies and other creatures of an uncertain nature. An unwary traveller might expect to encounter any one of these creatures during this time, and it was advisable to stay indoors. Ghosts were everywhere. They may or may not have been harmful to the living.

Superstition states that all fires on this night must be extinguished and could only be relit from the great flames of Tlachtga. This, of course, is not to be taken literally; rather, it symbolised the brief and temporary ascendency of the powers of Darkness at this time of year.



Tlachtga, where the great fire of Samhain would be lit

There are many superstitions surrounding Samhain, some of which include:

~ If you hear footsteps behind you, don’t look back as it may be the dead following you.

~ Carry a lump of bread in your pocket, so that if you come into contact with a ghost, it will serve as an offering.

~ A child born on this night will have the gift of second sight.

~ If you come across a spider, don’t kill it as it may be a dead relative.

~ Bridges, crossroads and burial sites are areas to avoid, as the dead mingle freely with the living.

~ Don’t sit underneath a Hawthorn tree or you might be kidnapped by the Little Folk.

~ If you look into a well, you might see twelve months into the future.

~ Oatmeal and salt placed on children’s heads will protect them from evil.

~ Go to bed early in the event you encounter something from the Otherworld.

Although the spirits were thought to be benign, they needed some sort of appeasement in the form of ritual offerings. So long as the offering was forthcoming the spirits were happy and benevolent. However, bad luck would descend on the household if they weren’t appeased.

Some remnants of this tradition may have survived in the modern celebration of Halloween, in the custom of "trick or treat". Children, dressed in costume, invite the household to make a donation or face the consequences. The 'treat' may represent the ritual offering, whilst the 'trick' (nowadays a harmless prank) may have, in antiquity, represented the malevolent consequences of inadequately appeasing the ancestral spirit on this night.

Queen Maeve by J C Leyendecker

Irish mythology is littered with references to the magical significance of Samhain. It marked the end of the fighting and hunting season for the warrior troop known as the Fianna. At Samhain they retreated into winter camp, quartering themselves on the general population until the return of Summer at Beltainne (Beltane).

Fionn mac Cumhaill chose Samhain as the time to present himself before the court at Tara, while it was also during Samhain that the god Lugh made his dramatic entrance to the same court. In the legendary Irish poem Tain Bo Cualigne, Queen Maeve waits until Samhain before setting out on the great Cattle Raid of Cooley in order to capture the prized bull of Ulster.

It is interesting to note that when the early writers wished to impart a magical quality to events they were depicting, they choose the Festival of Samhain for the occasion.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

 

 

Further reading:

A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles by Steve Roud

Tlachtga: Celtic Fire Festival by John Gilroy

 

 

Laura  

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Past Life Regression :: True experience or mere suggestion?

Khepri, Egyptian God of rebirth

Past life regression is a process that involves hypnosis or deep meditation techniques in order to recall what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations.

 

The question, however, is whether these "recollections" are indeed past life memories, or simply a matter of suggestion. Are they evidence of a true experience, or simply  mere fantasies brought to life?

 

I have actually undergone a "past life regression", and yet I'm still not convinced as to the answer.

 

Many years ago I booked myself in to see a professional therapist. By way of a disclaimer, I was already a firm believer in reincarnation, and felt that I had had many past lives prior to seeing the therapist, yet I decided to do it anyway as I was curious to see how regression therapy worked. Even more than that, I wanted to discover if, under hypnosis, I would be able to recall specific dates or names (geographic or other), in order to carry out my own research to validate my previous experiences.
 

Yet whilst being a believer in reincarnation, I must admit that I was sceptical of the entire regression process. I often wonder if this niggling doubt affected the outcome of my session.

 

My past life regression happened like this:

 

The therapist was a lovely, older lady who carried out these regressions in her home. The house reminded me of my grandmother, both warm and welcoming, so I had no problem reclining in the chair whilst she talked me through the first phase of the regression: relaxation.

 

It was during this stage of the hypnosis that I was asked to walk down a winding stone staircase into a hallway, and then stand in front of any door. I then had to enter that door, through which was a room of wood panelling. A study. It was dark in this room, apart from the lighted candle I was holding, dressed in a white smock, I could feel the cold wooden flooring beneath my feet. I told the therapist my name was Josephine - the first appearance of a possible past life, which had not been a happy life at all. I knew that I had been married with two children, that my husband was a rogue and had many a mistress. The therapist fast tracked me to the end of this life. My family was struck by the plague. My two children died in my arms and I openly cried during the regression session.

 

The process of walking down a winding staircase and selecting a door was then repeated, several times, and behind each door was revealed to me another, apparent past life.

 

The first 45 minutes of the session revealed no dates, nor any specific name/surname combinations that would facilitate further research to prove, once and for all, the existence of past lives. However, the final fifteen minutes of the regression were, for me at least, the most revealing.

 

As I walked through the final door, I found myself in a sandy alleyway in Egypt. I explained  to the therapist that I was a priest of the god Amun, before going on to explain several everyday events in my life. This included the existence of a young nephew that I treated as if my own son. This life was not glamorous; it was one that involved hard work and much loneliness.

 

It became apparent during this final regression that I had a great aversion to black snakes (specific to this colour only). My reaction was not one of fear, per se, but of superstition. I knew that black snakes were a dark omen.

 

It was particularly interesting to me that Egypt featured as the location in this final regression, since I had studied Egyptology at University. Even more than that, though, my interest in Egypt was focused on the religion of the Ancient Egyptians, even though in my current life I would not identify as being a particularly religious person.

 

Yet whilst there were certainly correlations between my interests in this life and the past life regression, I remain unconvinced that the regression experience I had was not brought about by some kind of suggestion, either by the therapist, or by my own subconscious.

 

In truth, I believe that the evidence of our past lives is all around us, and we don't need to engage therapists to discover them. Deja vu is a phenomena experienced by most people; that sense of familiarity and conviction that the current situation that one finds themselves in has actually occurred before.

 

Why is it also that certain people seem to be drawn exclusively to certain periods in history?

 

Or why the sense of “home” is found somewhere other than the town, city or country one was born in?

 

Or why  people seem to excel in certain subjects but fail in others?

 

So, whilst my own past life regression was not a convincing experience for me as a whole, I'm disinclined to dismiss the results of it entirely, and write them off as nothing more than simple fancies.

 

What I believe is that certain past life experiences leave an emotional imprint on our being, and then, occasionally, reveal themselves to us.



 

Laura  

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A Case in Point :: Reincarnation & the Cathar Perfect

The Cathars were a Christian sect that lived in Europe between the 11th
and 14th Centuries, and who held a  strong belief in reincarnation, one of the
many facets of their religion that made them so unpopular in Rome, and which
would ultimately lead to their demise.

"Kill them all. God will know his own."

- Arnaud Amaury, Cistercian Abbot, 13th Century

In our last post, Recycled Souls, we considered the Hindu and Buddhist belief in reincarnation and past lives. It is not particularly surprising to hear of cases of reincarnation amongst societies such as the Hindus of India, the Buddhist Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, or even the Dalai Lama of Tibet. These are, after all, present, existing religions and cultures, and if we were to consider the "evidence" for past lives from these alone, there'd be undeniable proof of it.

 

Yet, that is not how we consider the world, or the people in it. One's willingness to accept, well, anything is strongly influenced by one's cultural impressions and societal pressures. Perhaps it is no wonder, then, that in a non-Hindu, non-Buddhist society, reincarnation and past lives remain on the fringe of what is considered acceptable belief. The claims of same are few and far between, and those that are brought to light are generally viewed with caution and suspicion.

 

However, there are some (in)famous reincarnation claims. Take, for example, the case of reincarnation made by Dr Arthur Guirdham in the 1960s and 1970s. Dr Guirdham, a British psychiatrist, was working in a mental hospital in Bath when he encountered a female patient suffering the terror of a recurring dream that Dr Guirdham was astonished to discover resembled his own - one that had haunted him for more than thirty years.

 

Upon further investigation - and without the aid of drugs or hypnosis, it is said - the woman went on to reveal to Dr Guirdham the details of her past life as a 13th Century Cathar, a life which she had shared with Dr Guirdham, when he was known as Guilhabert of Castres, a Cathar Perfect.

 

Over time, Dr Guirdham came to know other patients in Bath who also claimed to have lived past lives as Cathars, with Dr Guirdham supposedly substantiating their claims through historic references. Dr Guirdham went on to write and publish a series of books that spurned a cult following, inspiring many from the UK to travel to the Languedoc in south-west France, lands that were once home to the Cathars. Previously a forgotten medieval Christian sect, Dr Guirdham's claims of reincarnation thrust the Cathars into the spotlight more than 800 years after their annihilation by the Church in Rome, and not necessarily for all the right reasons.

 

But who were the Cathars, and what were their thoughts on reincarnation?

 

In his book The Perfect Heresy: The Life and Death of the Cathars, Stephen O'Shea writes about the Cathar Christian beliefs, and why they were so at odds with the Christian Church in Rome:

 

"The god deserving of Cathar worship was a god of light, who ruled the invisible, the ethereal, the spiritual domain; this god, unconcerned with the material, simply didn't care if you got into bed before getting married, had a Jew or Muslim for a friend, treated men and women as equals, or did anything else contrary to the teachings of the medieval Church."

 

What was important to the Cathars was how one chose to live their life. The consequence for failing to follow 'the good' was plain and simple:

 

"It was up to the individual (man or woman) to decide whether he or she was willing to renounce the material for a life of self-denial. If not, one would keep returning to this world - that is, be reincarnated - until ready to embrace a life sufficiently spotless to allow accession, at death, to the same blissful state one had experienced as an angel prior to having been tempted out of heaven at the beginning of time. To be saved, then, meant becoming a saint. To be damned was to live, again and again, on this corrupt earth".

 

So, the Cathars, although Christian, had a strong belief in reincarnation. Whether or not they believed one could remember the details of a previous life is unknown; however, there is the distinct impression that a Cathar, no matter their status, had no control over whether, or how, or when they might be reincarnated, which begs the question: How was it that Dr Guirdham and his Cathar patients all came to be in Bath at the same time? Even if reincarnation is possible, the chances of this occurring seem remote at best.

 

So, why then, the Cathars? Dr Guirdham and his patients could have lived previous lives in a multitude of cultures, societies, and religions stretching right back to the first humans, but they didn't. Was it pure coincidence that the doctor's claims of past lives were rooted in a religion that harboured a core belief in reincarnation? In this writer's opinion, probably not.

 

What is most interesting about reincarnation, from my perspective at least, are those cases that appear from time to time outside of those societies, religions and cultures from which we expect it. It poses the question that if one has no previous knowledge or belief in past lives, and has no comprehension of what it means to be reincarnated (such as in children), then where does this sensation of having lived before (and all the ideas and memories attached to it) actually come from?



Curious to know more about the Cathars? Try these links:
Cathars & Cathar Beliefs in the Languedoc
Cathar Country

Or read this book (highly recommended):
The Perfect Heresy: The Life and Death of the Cathars by Stephen O'Shea

Dr Arthur Guirdham's Cathars:
Reincarnation: Fact or Fallacy?
UK Mind Manipulation: Research Update - Bailbrook
Books by Dr Arthur Guirdham at Amazon.com

 

Sarah  

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Recycled Souls :: Reincarnation, Rebirth & Past-lives as Life After Death

The Buddhist Wheel of Life is a pictorial
representation of the Buddhist belief in the
cycle of birth and rebirth.
buddhism.about.com

"For those who remember their past lives, rebirth is a clear experience. However, most ordinary beings forget their past lives as they go through the process of death, intermediate state and rebirth." - Dalai Lama


 

 

During our recent summer/winter hiatus from G&G, I had the most vivid, frightening dream. It was a dream that hijacked another, mundane, meaningless dream. A dream that could constitute a nightmare. In this dream I had been a man, running for my life on a cold, lonely beach at dawn, pursued by a frightening enemy. Just as the morning sun began to creep above the horizon, I suffered my fate - slaughtered by an organised band of twenty or so Vikings.

I woke from this dream at the moment of my death. I had never dreamt of this before, and Vikings have never constituted a specific historical interest of mine, so to dream of them in such a vivid, frightening manner seems to me rather random.

Just like the dreams I've had since early childhood, where I am laid out on a table, my stomach sliced open and disembowelled. The pain and the horror of the event is so overpowering that everything else in the dream is irrelevant. What matters in this dream is not who I am or what I may have done to deserve such a punishment. The purpose is to relive the pain and the horror of it, over and over again.

 

I'm certainly not the only person on the planet to be haunted by dreams that seem to relive a moment from a life that is so far removed from my own that it leaves behind a plethora of questions, mostly about life, and death, and life-after-death.

Have I had fleeting glimpses of a previous existence, or are these dreams merely fantastical imaginings conjured by an over-active brain?

 

Once-upon-a-time, I would never have considered the possibility of a past-life. I was brought up to believe that death brings with it a patient wait for Judgement Day, upon which my one-and-only existence would be scrutinised, and my one-and-only eternal soul either ascended into Heaven or damned to the fiery pits of Hell. I had one chance to get it "right"; stuff it up and I'd be paying for it for the rest of forever.

But, of course, life experience has taught me that neither life, nor death, are quite so simple. A belief in reincarnation, of being repeatedly reborn into new skin and a new experience, has been the cornerstone religious belief of millions of people for thousands of years. Who am I to say it is wrong, without first truly considering its possibility?
 

REINCARNATION AND REBIRTH

"Carnate" means "of flesh", so to "reincarnate" is to "re-enter the flesh".

The two major religions in the modern world that believe in reincarnation, rebirth and past-lives are Hinduism and Buddhism. However, these beliefs, whilst similar, are not identical.

Hinduism is the oldest religion in India: Five thousand years and counting. It is still practised today, by over 80% of the population. A belief in reincarnation is at the core of Hinduism, wherein the soul is eternal and reincarnated many times, as human, animal or plant. Each existence provides the opportunity for experience, and therefore to evolve spiritually. Reincarnation ends only when the soul has no further lessons to learn, at which point it "graduates" from physical birth.

The Himalayan Academy defines it thus:

"At death the soul leaves the physical body. But the soul does not die. It lives on in a subtle body called the astral body. The astral body exists in the nonphysical dimension called the astral plane, which is also the world we are in during our dreams at night when we sleep. Here we continue to have experiences until we are reborn again in another physical body as a baby. Each reincarnating soul chooses a home and a family which can best fulfill its next step of learning and maturation. After many lifetimes of following dharma, the soul is fully matured in love, wisdom and knowledge of God. There is no longer a need for physical birth, for all lessons have been learned, all karmas fulfilled. That soul is then liberated, freed from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth."

Hindus believe in previous lives regardless of whether or not they are remembered - some remember, but most do not. The importance is not in the remembering; it's the undisputed knowledge that one has lived before and the current existence in which they find themselves offers important lessons to be learned. Each life, or existence, is one step closer to spiritual fulfilment; one cannot go "backwards" on their journey.

The Buddhist belief in reincarnation is somewhat different. In fact, some Buddhists argue that reincarnation in and of itself is not a Buddhist principle at all, since Buddha did not teach it. However, the idea of being "reborn" is a powerful aid in the Buddhist teachings, as it gives cause for its students to heed their lessons - a form of social control, if you like. The Rev. Takashi Tsuji, a Jodo Shinshu priest, described it as follows:

"Fear of birth into the animal world must have frightened many people from acting like animals in this life. If we take this teaching literally today we are confused because we cannot understand it rationally...A parable, when taken literally, does not make sense to the modern mind. Therefore we must learn to differentiate the parables and myths from actuality."

But reincarnation is a core belief in many Buddhist societies. Take for example the Sinhalese, the Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka. The hierarchal construction of their society deems men to be greater than woman - physically, mentally, and spiritually. Therefore, a Sinhalese woman's defining aim is to ensure she adheres to the social constructs of her society, so that she may be "reborn" as a man, which will bring her one step closer to spiritual enlightenment.

Buddhism is also the major religion in Tibet, and the Dalai Lama writes quite extensively on the subject of reincarnation, stating that if there is no reincarnation then "we would also have to accept that the world and its inhabitants come about without causes and conditions".
 
It is interesting to note that belief in past and future lives was already present amongst the indigenous peoples of Tibet when Buddhism first arrived to the region, so perhaps it is not such a surprise that reincarnation plays an important role in the Buddhist life they have since adopted.
 
However, the evidence of past-lives in the form of remembering them is not limited to people who identify as being Buddhist, or Hindu.
 

REMEMBERING A PAST-LIFE: THE EVIDENCE
 

"The world just doesn't work as we think or assume it does. The cases I have examined don't come under a normal explanation of how we perceive the world." - Dr Jim Tucker, M.D.

 
In 2004, the parents of James Leininger came out with claims that their young son had vivid memories of his past-life as a WWII fighter pilot by the name of James M. Huston Jr., who was shot down over the Pacific by the Japanese in 1945. They claimed that from an early age their son would wake from terrifying nightmares, screaming that a plane was on fire and he couldn't get out. Young James took to writing his name as "James 3", and seemed to have knowledge about the workings of military aircraft far beyond his years.
 
The story of James Leninger has become one of the most compelling and fascinating claims of reincarnation in modern times. Born and raised in the USA to successful, professional parents, his life could not be more different from the Hindus of India, or the Buddhists of Tibet, and yet here he was, a child of pre-school years, displaying evidence of having lived before his present life.
 
But James' story isn't exactly unique; in fact, in recent years there have been a number of children who claim to remember their previous lives as somebody else. Investigations have been made, and books written on the subject, such as Thomas Shroder's Old Souls and Dr Jim Tucker's Return to Life. Whilst not entirely convincing, they do present a fascinating argument for further investigation into past-life claims, particularly outside of communities and religions that already harbour such a belief.
 
 
RECYCLED SOULS: RETREIVING PAST-LIVES
 
Not everyone has the fortune (or misfortune, depending on one's perspective) to remember a past-life and death; however, there are means by which the unenlightened can apparently retrieve the details of their previous existences. 
 
Hypnotic past-life regression is a popular method through which one may be able to discover and relive a past-life. This service is offered by certain hypnotherapists and psychologists as a means to assist in the relief of emotional stress and trauma suffered by their clients, something that may have been brought about by the experiences of a past-life, and/or death.

Meditation and psychic readings may also reveal the details of a past-life, such as in the form of a specialised Tarot Reading.
 
There is also the possibility that dreams are a means through which our past-lives are revealed to us. Therefore, dream interpretation and the practice of lucid dreaming may also be powerful tools in unlocking the secrets of a prior life. 
 
Whilst I don't necessarily believe my dreams of Vikings and violent death are past-lives being revealed to me via the mechanics of REM sleep, I do find it a fascinating possibility, one that I am curious to explore further. I mean, who wouldn't? Life is so fleeting, painfully short, and I can appreciate that there is comfort in believing there has been much before, and yet even more still to come.

 

 
Do you believe in reincarnation and/or past-lives as a form of Life After death? Why, or why not?



Curious to discover more? Try these useful and fascinating links:
Alliance of Religions and Conservation: What do Hindus believe?
Kauai's Hindu Monastry
The Wheel of Life: An Illustrated Journey through the Bhavachakra
The Wheel of Life: Samsara, Birth, Rebirth, Liberation
Reincarnation in Buddhism: What Buddha didn't teach
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet: Reincarnation
Parents think boy is reincarnated pilot
10 Interesting Cases of Supposed Reincarnation
New book reveals children who believe they have been reincarnated
Eckankar: Reincarnation and past-lives
My Psychic: How to remember past-lives
wikiHow: How to Remember your past-lives
 
And these books:
A Celebration of Demons: Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Healing in Sri Lanka by Bruce Kapferer
Return to Life by Jim Tucker
Old Souls by Thomas Shroder
 

Sarah  

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