Deconstructing Samhain

Deconstruction of Samhain

The Bible instructs us not to partake in the worship of other deities. This is the sin that caused the fall of Solomon, and the power behind the err of Balaam. Yet to this day, believers have given themselves over to worship through passivity under the guise of ignorance.

Now I say this with love and grace, as the idiom goes ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ Yet I think that when one opens their understanding to the extent of our spiritual battle that is in occurrence daily. Then we can perhaps grasp that the enemies’ tactics are voluminous. He wants continually to usurp worship away from God, away from the glory of heaven Jesus our lord and saviour.

The growth of neo-paganism is perhaps a reflection of the corporate churches’ ambivalence to all things dark, and the non-engagement in spiritual warfare. Paganism, Wicca, and the like have grown exponentially in the last few years. The old festival of lighting the fires at the hill of ward every Samhain (Halloween) has re-emerged. Wicca is outpacing Christianity, satanism in the last UK census saw a growth of 156% whilst Christianity and certainly church attendance is on the wane.

I believe this is prophetic, marking the emergence of polytheism as a prelude to the soon-to-come formalized Harlot of Babylon's false religious system.

In a recent discussion with Zak Spiro, we both agreed that this was largely a result of compromise in the church. The church is called not to embrace the system of the world but rather to be sanctified, set apart from it.

In this short article, I want to look at some of the key elements behind Samhain or Halloween from an Irish historical and mythological perspective, in order to encourage lovingly Christians to de-entangle themselves from the neo-paganism, that has infiltrated many bodies and denominations.

The Birth of Samhain

I have heard quite a few Christian teachers try to downplay the pagan association of this holiday. Claiming the only evidence, we have for this, is based on 9th Century writing and in their opinion after the fact. Yet the issue here is stark and should not be ignored. Formalised writing wasn’t adopted in Ireland until the 7th century and as such this would mean historically 9th century written accounts should not be seen as after the fact. On top of this, we know through archaeological evidence that the Hill of Ward the religious mound of Ireland in pre-Christian times, put a major emphasis on this holiday (summer's end or Samhain) and the Hill of Tara which each year at sunrise on Samhain sees that the ancients had positioned the megalithic structure in line with the sunrise on this date.

In fact, this lighting up of the megalithic space behind the mound of hostages on the hill of ward is seen to be an event associated with a pagan god called Lugh. Lugh who Julius Caesar identified as Mercury, a planet the ancient Greeks often associated with the being Apollo. Apollo who is mentioned in Revelation 9 as Apollyon or in second Thessalonians 2, the term perdition in Greek Apologetic. All perhaps references to this false God.

At its core, the pagan entity Lugh is seen as a savior of man. He takes on Balor the giant with the evil eye and defeats him. So, what’s wrong with that? Well, when you look closely at this entity associated with Samhain and other festivals it might shed some light, pardon the pun.

You see Lugh has his specific festival on the 1st of August coincidentally close perhaps to the end of the Hebrew month Tammuz. Tammuz is referred to in Ezekiel 8 as the object of jealousy. The son of Nimrod and Semiramis appears in ancient biblical history as a personification of the attempt of the enemy to replace Christ with an alternative, a pseudo-Christ or anti-Christ. In fact, in Irish mythology, the same festival is seen as having connection with Crum Dobh an entity later identified as a devil type. So, Lugh and Crom dubh are connected in date. Crom Dubh is seen by some as the deity of Samhain. In that, he is one who seeks to trade with man, and his currency is souls.

In this way Lugh ‘light’ I believe is synonymous with an anti-Christ type hero who comes on the scene as a Mr Fixit. Crom Dobh seeks to trade for the souls of man and both these entities relate to Samhain or Halloween.

The Horned God

The Cernuous or the horned God also known as the green man is connected with paganism as perhaps the oldest Celtic deity. He bears a striking resemblance to the Greek figure Pan. A figure who it would seem that Jesus infers as an entity of hell. In Matthew 16 when Peter has the revelation of who Jesus is, Jesus replies with ‘Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This statement was made at Caesarea Phillipi at the foot of Mt Hermon at a place known colloquially as the gates of hell. This was in fact the cave of Pan.

On Samhain eve it is said that the horned deity walks through the forest and leaves a trail for others to follow. Friends we are told to follow Christ, even passive participation in Samhain and pagan holidays is giving permission of sorts for other spirits to lead and at least ignorance-based following.

The Morrigan

The Morrigan is the tripartite Phantom Queen. She is the deity of battle and strife and most probably the root of the Irish death demon the banshee! The Morrigan is associated with Halloween and the Oweynagat the cave of cats, the Irish gates of hell seen by many as the birthplace of Halloween. The Morrigan is, I believe the early example of the tripartite witch goddess (the crone, the mother, and the maiden) embraced in wicca. However, I believe she is an example of something more. I believe she is a personification of the Harlot of Babylon, perhaps dating back to the original Babylonian harlot Semiramis.

Every Samhain the head of the Tuatha De ‘The god tribe of Ireland’ The people who taught magic, and metallurgy to the natives. The god tribe said to have (according to the Book of Invasions) descended from the clouds upon the Island in flying ships. Dagda the head of this tribe, who I think you are hard-pressed not to see as fallen angels or bene Ha Elohim, was also a storm God!

Like Baal Hadad, Zeus, etc. On Samhain, this false storm god (perhaps Baal) would have intercourse with the Morrigan. A picture of the dragon and the harlot perhaps?

Traditions

Trick or Treating

We can get caught up looking at little trails trying to find the origin of this, but the truth is Trick, or treating was not a thing in Ireland as it is now. When I grew up, we never asked for sweets, the common phrase was ‘Any money for Halloween ‘and the reason for this is that it was initially a tax.

A Tax of the dreaded Fomorians (the giant race) in my belief Nephilim. This tax also shows its demonic roots. The Fomorians would appear at Samhain eve and demand a payment of 2/3rd of three items. The figure 2/3rd is perhaps in someway a reflection of the amount of the deficiency of the fallen host of heaven. In that 1/3rd fell with Satan, or perhaps you can see the connection when converted to percentage 66.6%?

Perhaps you think I am being too hard-lined in regard to the dangers of trick or treating and the source of this, but let’s go further. The term for moiré in Irish is the Irish word for ‘demons. Considering I would argue that it was the souls of the disembodied giants /Nephilim who became the Rephaim (disembodied spirits) and hence the demons, then perhaps there is a bit more weight to the dangers of this practice. I think the demonic roots are made evident though in the tax itself. 2/3rds of corn 2/3rds of milk and 2/3rd of the children.

You see at its root this Pagan practice highlighted on both the wiccan and satanic calendars is rooted in trade! Ezekiel 28 tells us in regard to lucifer that in his heart was found the abundance of trade. This is not something a Christian need to be involved in. We don’t trade with spirits, when we do so we are effectively disobeying Ephesians 4:27 ‘Give no foothold to the devil’ The enemy looks to trade, and this is what this is all about. Trade your sanctification for compromise and your light dwindles under the effects of the darkness. Light has no communion with darkness.

I will finish with this.

There is a story of the Dullhalin the headless horseman in Irish mythology. The emergence of this entity upon the plain was a result of a trade gone wrong. The myth goes that an old Irish Chieftain made a deal with Crom Dobh, in return for a bountiful harvest, he promised this devil 200 souls. However, after the harvest was bountiful, he was introduced to a new religion, namely Christianity in legend through the teachings of St Patrick. He realized that this God requires no sacrifice, no trade only gives freely so he defaulted on the deal, leading the Crom Dubh or devil to send his rider to collect what he was owed.

The lesson here we don’t trade with darkness, we don’t submit out of fear, fun, or ignorance to other entities as this is worship. We as the church are to remain as salt and light and be sanctified onto Jesus and the kingdom of heaven.

Pastor Gary Mckibben        

Victory Church,

Belfast North Ireland