hugs,
Seadna

The Sage October newsletter reads: "Halloween is a time of both religious and 'pagan' beliefs."

I believe the above sentence is somewhat misleading.  Many people define their religion as pagan. Beliefs concerning Halloween that are pagan are religious beliefs for us.  Particularly at this time of year, misconceptions and misinformation about pagans and Halloween abound.

Halloween as it is currently celebrated, and indeed as most modern Christian holidays are, was originally a pagan celebration. Modern pagans still celebrate it as one of their most solemn holy days. It marks the midpoint of the old and new pagan years, and is believed to be a time when contact with the next world and loved ones who have passed on is more easily accomplished. Rather than Halloween, most pagans use the older Celtic word Samhain, which translates as "end of summer" to mark the seasonal change the day represents.

''Paganism' is a general term for polytheistic religions old and new, with 'Pagan' used as the adjective and adverb as well as the membership term. The overwhelming majority of all the human beings who have ever lived were or are Pagans."
-- Quoted from noted pagan author and speaker Isaac Bonewits homepage.

More information explaining paganism is available at: Defining Paganism: Paleo-, Meso-, and Neo-.

A. What is the purpose of a witch's familiar?

Animals, most likely kept only as pets, that were associated with women charged with witchcraft were often killed as "familiars" or assistants. They were believed to participate in the witch's alleged "consorting with the Devil" (a Christian deity, not recognized in ancient or modern pagan beliefs).  People claimed all sorts of powers for these pets, from shape-changing to speech. There is no historical evidence of cats serving witches as anything but pets and companions. 

"The rise of Christianity in Europe heralded a fundamental shift in attitudes to cats. During the Middle Ages, the cat's links with the ancient, pagan cult of the mother goddess inspired a wave of persecution that lasted several hundred years. Branded as agents of the Devil, and the chosen companions of witches and necromancers, cats, especially black ones, were enthusiastically tortured and executed during Christian festivals all over Europe. It was also believed that witches disguised themselves as cats as a means of traveling around incognito, so anyone encountering a stray cat at night felt obliged to try and kill or maim the animal."
-- James Serpell, historian, from Best Witches: Cats.

B. Where does the word warlock come from?

In an attempt to ostracize those who followed the old religions from the realms of popular society, the Church categorized Witches as warlocks.  The word "warlock" translates as the Scottish Gaelic term for a liar, oathbreaker, back-stabber, or someone generally not to be trusted. Many people use this as a term for a male Witch in contemporary society, but any Witch referred to as such will be greatly insulted by the term.

C. Who was Gaia?

Gaia, known as Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for "land" is ge or ga). She was an early earth goddess of the Greek people.  Gaia being the primordial element from which all the gods originated was worshiped throughout Greece, but later she went into decline and was supplanted by other gods. In Roman mythology she was known as Tellus.

-- From the Encyclopedia Mythica

D. What is the Waite Deck?

The Rider-Waite Deck is a popular version of a Tarot deck of cards, used in divination.

E. What is Oidhche Samna?

In modern Irish, it translates to "Samhain Night" or Halloween.

F. What was the original purpose of a bonfire?

A bonfire, or balefire (meaning "need fire") was a major part of ancient celebrations of Samhain, or Halloween. The fire represented the life-giving sun beginning its journey back toward the spring season. For the ancient Celts and for many modern pagans, October 31, not December 31 marks the turning of the new year.

"We DO know that this festival was characterized as one of the four great "Fire Festivals" of the Celts. Legends tell us that on this night, all the hearth fires in Ireland were extinguished, and then re-lit from the central fire of the Druids at Tlachtga, 12 miles from the royal hill of Tara. This fire was kindled from "need fire" which had been generated by the friction of rubbing two sticks together as opposed to more conventional methods common in those days.(7) The extinguishing of the fires symbolized the "dark half" of the year, and the re-kindling from the Druidic fires was symbolic of the returning life hoped for, and brought about through the ministrations of the priesthood."
-- W.G. Wood-Martin, Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland

G. Where did the idea of trick or treat come from?

Modern trick-or-treating is a blend of several ancient and modern practices. They are listed, with references, at The Real Origins of Halloween.  They include (quoted from website):  Customs developed of beggars, then children, asking for "soul cakes" on All Souls Day. At some other Medieval times and places, costumed holiday parading, singing and dancing at May Day, Halloween, and Yule became popular in Ireland and the British Isles. Originally these costumed celebrants were adults and older teens, who would go from house to house demanding beer and munchies in exchange for their performances. In 19th Century America, rural immigrants from Ireland and Scotland kept gender-specific Halloween customs from their homelands: girls stayed indoors and did divination games, while the boys roamed outdoors engaging in almost equally ritualized pranks, which their elders "blamed" on the spirits being abroad that night. Things got nastier with increased urbanization and poverty in the 1930's. Adults began casting about for ways to control the previously harmless but now increasingly expensive and dangerous vandalism of the "boys." Towns and cities began organizing "safe" Halloween events and householders began giving out bribes to the neighborhood kids as a way to distract them away from their previous anarchy. The ragamuffins disappeared or switched their date to Halloween.  The term "trick or treat," finally appears in print around 1939.

H. Why did people originally dress up on Halloween?

Samhain, or Halloween as it is known today, has it's first recorded celebration with the Celtic peoples. Samhuinn, from 31 October to 2 November was a time of no-time.   Celtic society, like all early societies, was highly structured and organised, everyone knew their place. But to allow that order to be psychologically comfortable, the Celts knew that there had to be a time when order and structure were abolished, when chaos could reign. And Samhuinn, was such a time. Time was abolished for the three days of this festival and people did crazy things, men dressed as women and women as men. Farmers' gates were unhinged and left in ditches, peoples' horses were moved to different fields, and children would knock on neighbours' doors for food and treats in a way that we still find today, in a watered-down way, in the custom of trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en.
-- Author: Philip Carr-Gomm, Elements of Druid Tradition

I. What is a dumb supper?

A silent, saltless meal offered at Samhain to ancestors who have passed on.

J. What is a blood moon?

The term Blood Moon refers to the modern month of approximately October. This was the time of year for ancient Celtic peoples that animals which would not be kept over the winter.