The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/samhain)
Halloween fell on a weekend, and predictably, the Amen pew trembled. “HallowMonday” has returned, bringing not only pearl-clutching and performative outrage about witchcraft, but also a serious incident in Georgia. The Wild Hunt also received its annual reminder that we are the “mouthpiece of Satan.”
During the time of Judgement, we have a choice: Are we the message or the messenger? Do we heed the call to embrace renewal and the push to awaken our true selves?
In this week’s Pagan Community Notes: The Great Wheel turns once more. Blessings of the New Year to all—may your ancestors strengthen you with their wisdom. Samhain blessings to those in the North, and Beltaine blessings to those in the South. Star offers this week’s Tarot reading, Cherry Hill Seminary announces its Samhain Kispum, and the House of Black Cat Magic celebrates the premiere of Blacklisted, produced by the Fetzer Institute.
A Christian ministry disrupted Salem’s Psychic Fair and Witches’ Market, harassing vendors, anointing booths, and desecrating an Ancestor altar amid a surge of anti-Halloween activism portraying Halloween and Samhain as “demonic” and urging believers to “oppose darkness.
“If you are part of the 0.4% of Americans that identify as ‘Pagan or Wiccan,'” writes Diana Helmuth, “October marks the time of year where the rest of America remembers that you exist. But the dizzying rise in occult content and online Witchcraft hashtags tells us another story.”