Halloween Brings Out the Witch in All of Us
Smoke rises into the crisp night air as the fire crackles on the soft red glow of burning embers. Small pieces of paper get tossed in only to be consumed by the dying flame.
On Sunday, to prepare for Halloween, Madison “Maddie” Hull, took some friends to the Medford Dollar Tree. One of the items she came out of the store with was a glass bottle for “some moon jar stuff.” She’s been planning to do a Full Moon Ceremony and is executing it on November 8th.
A Full Moon Ceremony is different for everyone, but to Maddie, “it’s a moment of clarity in the world and in that clarity it’s the perfect time to make affirmations and connect with your spiritual self.” The moon is connected to water and she describes the full moon as being “at high tide” and “that peak moment is the best time for affirmation ceremonies.”
This Full Moon Ceremony will have a fire where friends will burn papers with written intentions on them. Maddie says “writing your intention is physically putting it out there. By burning it, it releases the intention into the environment.”
Maddie is an independent, spiritual/energy witch. She works mostly with crystals, candles, and energy. This Full Moon Ceremony is one of her ways of celebrating Halloween as well as tapping into her Wiccan rituals.
Wicca is a “modern-day, nature-based pagan religion.” Each person practicing Wicca makes it their own. There are various rituals and practices among people who identify as Wiccan. Many celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, honor gods and goddesses, and incorporate herbalism and natural objects into rituals.
Wicca has been around forever and its celebration of Samhain, the Celtic festival Halloween originated from, takes on many forms from “traditional fire ceremonies to celebrations that embrace many aspects of modern Halloween, as well as activities related to honoring nature or ancestors.”
