enjoy reading about magpies<\/a> and revel in the fact I jinxed myself and got swooped for the first time in over 7 years after posting that one!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nFor those of us who tend towards Hellenism, other forms of polytheism and especially those of us who are Hekatean, the question comes up at some stage as to whether it is appropriate to observe Samhain and honour our gods of the dead, usually specifically Hekate, during that observance.<\/p>\n
It may seem like an odd thing to ask, but when you really think about it \u2013 how often is Hekate mentioned in regards to Samhain? Or any festival that isn\u2019t specifically Hers, for that matter?\u00a0 And how often is Hades or Hela mentioned in regards to Samhain and Halloween?<\/p>\n
The answer is, not as often as you might at first think.\u00a0 Which seems unusual, they are deities of the underworld, They are heavily connected to death and the dead, so They surely should have Their place in a festival that is all about the dead.\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t They?<\/p>\npublic domain via pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIs it Appropriate<\/h2>\n This question arises from the fact that most of the deities being asked about are not actually connected to Samhain, traditionally.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t Celtic, and Samhain is a Celtic festival.\u00a0 So the real question then becomes, is it appropriate to place a deity into the festival of another tradition, that is possibly reserved for another pantheon?<\/p>\n
The answer to that isn\u2019t so simple, because there isn\u2019t any one answer.\u00a0 It entirely depends on the deity you are trying to place into the festival, and on the tradition the festival comes from.\u00a0 In the case of Samhain specifically, I can\u2019t say for sure because I am not a Celtic Recon and don\u2019t know much about the \u201crules\u201d in that tradition.\u00a0 So if it is okay to place a Hellenic or Kemetic or Heathen God into their festival, is not for me to say.<\/p>\n
But if I have to be honest here too \u2013 Samhain has become more than a Celtic festival now.\u00a0 It\u2019s become part of multiple forms of Paganism, and many of those forms have little to no connection to the Celtic religion.\u00a0 So perhaps the question is moot, it\u2019s not purely Celtic any more so, what does it matter?<\/p>\n
But the question still exists, would Hekate (or insert other deity) mind being placed into the festival? As I said above, it depends on the deity.\u00a0 Some may not like it, others would probably love it, and some probably don\u2019t care either way.\u00a0 I won\u2019t answer for Them, not even for Hekate \u2013 but I would say I haven\u2019t heard of anyone getting in trouble from Her for honouring during Samhain, so that suggests She at least doesn\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n
Samhain is for the Dead<\/h2>\n But this where I come up against a wall.\u00a0 Even if every deity was okay with the idea of being in a festival of another pantheon, or having another deity join Their festival \u2013 Samhain, for many Pagans, is for the dead.<\/p>\n
Samhain is a liminal time when the veil between the worlds is thinnest, when the dead (and other Otherly beings) can cross into our world with some ease.\u00a0 Samhain is a time to honour the dead, appease the dead, remember our ancestors and give them offerings if our tradition calls for such.<\/p>\n
So the question then becomes, is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?<\/p>\n
I personally do not observe Samhain, however I do feel that April and May \u2013 mid-Autumn here in Australia \u2013 have a feeling of death upon them.\u00a0 Admittedly this is partially influenced by a couple of death related things happening in May, but I also note that ANZAC day, a day for honouring Aussie and Kiwi soldiers (Dead and alive) happens on the 26th of April.\u00a0 It\u2019s also just a feeling in the season.\u00a0 So while I don\u2019t do Samhain, I do feel a push to death and ancestral work in mid-autumn anyway.<\/p>\n
And that push is to work with and honour the dead themselves.\u00a0 Not the Gods of death, but the dead.<\/p>\n
The Gods are Secondary<\/h2>\n So in my practice, this time of year \u2013 mid to late autumn \u2013 is for focussing on the dead themselves.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean the Gods of the dead do not have a role to play in all of this, but it does mean They are not the primary focus \u2013 They are the secondary focus.\u00a0 They are on the periphery, and some of the time They would only be honoured by extension.<\/p>\n
Of course I would feel the need at times to pray to Them to help guide the dead, and I would offer up thanks for Their work with the dead. So there would indeed be some focus on Them specifically, but that focus would still be primarily about the dead.<\/p>\n
But for most of it the focus would be almost exclusively on the dead themselves.\u00a0 The Gods though, are the Gods not honoured through that practice anyway?\u00a0 I think so, but I expect not everyone would agree.\u00a0 I think, by honouring the dead you are honouring the Gods of the dead by extension.\u00a0 If you leave an offering for the restless dead at a crossroads, without mentioning Hekate \u2013 is She still honoured by it, since She leads them?<\/p>\n
In some ways you might be honouring non-death Gods by extension as well.\u00a0 When you honour a lost child, do you honour a mother Goddess?\u00a0 When you honour a fallen warrior, do you honour a warrior God?\u00a0 When you honour a fallen sailor, do you honour an oceanic God?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the same as when you offer to a deity specifically, when you do a ritual for a deity.\u00a0 But it is still a manner of honouring Them, by honouring who They are and what They do and what They are about.<\/p>\n
Perhaps.\u00a0 But as in all things, your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n
The Gods in Samhain<\/h2>\n So, is it okay to honour Hekate or another death deity during Samhain? I don\u2019t think there is really anything wrong with it, generally speaking.\u00a0 But it\u2019s dependent on your tradition, your practice and what your primary focus is on Samhain. And of course it always depends on the deity!\u00a0 If They don\u2019t want any part of it, please don\u2019t force it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget to ask Them first, it\u2019s always better to ask than to do it and then beg for forgiveness later.<\/p>\n
Just remember what Samhain is all about, in your practice.\u00a0 If it is for and about the Gods, then so it is.\u00a0 But if it is for and about the dead, don\u2019t put them in second place.\u00a0 They matter too, and they deserve your focus.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,42,13,62],"tags":[80,22,33,113,8,20,32,29,25,23,58,127],"class_list":["post-949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calendar-events-festivals","category-general","category-paganism101","category-ritual","tag-ancestors","tag-deities","tag-festivals","tag-hecate","tag-hekate","tag-opinion","tag-paganism","tag-polytheism","tag-religion","tag-rituals","tag-sabbats","tag-the-dead"],"yoast_head":"\n
Samhain - for the Dead or for the Gods?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samhain - for the Dead or for the Gods?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hearth Witch Down Under\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePaganVeil\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-04T22:08:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-24T03:32:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/10\/cemetery-559246_960_720-pixabay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"316\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bekah Evie Bel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thepaganveil\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bekah Evie Bel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html\",\"name\":\"Samhain - for the Dead or for the Gods?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-04T22:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-24T03:32:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#\/schema\/person\/4fad88778c6fe8fc986d6ac7c0702ebf\"},\"description\":\"Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Samhain – for the Dead or for the Gods?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/\",\"name\":\"Hearth Witch Down Under\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#\/schema\/person\/4fad88778c6fe8fc986d6ac7c0702ebf\",\"name\":\"Bekah Evie Bel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76ee66f5182ea8791be935ab1f8a5901?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76ee66f5182ea8791be935ab1f8a5901?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bekah Evie Bel\"},\"description\":\"I am an Aussie Hellenic Revivalist, Domestic Pagan, Hearth Witch and Devotee of Hekate and the Covenant of Hekate. I was raised Agnostic, bordering on Atheist and became Pagan long before I knew the label existed in a modern sense. My \\\"conversion\\\" to Hellenism is fairly recent so I am still in discovery mode, and you get to share that journey with me. I was admin and owner of the Pagan Veil social network for 4 years and have a minor presence within the Aussie, Pagan and Aussie Pagan Homeschooling communities.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePaganVeil\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thepaganveil\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/author\/bebel\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Samhain - for the Dead or for the Gods?","description":"Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Samhain - for the Dead or for the Gods?","og_description":"Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html","og_site_name":"Hearth Witch Down Under","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePaganVeil","article_published_time":"2016-10-04T22:08:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-01-24T03:32:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":316,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/10\/cemetery-559246_960_720-pixabay.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bekah Evie Bel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@thepaganveil","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bekah Evie Bel","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html","name":"Samhain - for the Dead or for the Gods?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-04T22:08:35+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-24T03:32:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#\/schema\/person\/4fad88778c6fe8fc986d6ac7c0702ebf"},"description":"Is it really appropriate to take the focus off the dead and put it onto the Gods?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/samhain-for-the-dead-or-for-the-gods.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Samhain – for the Dead or for the Gods?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/","name":"Hearth Witch Down Under","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#\/schema\/person\/4fad88778c6fe8fc986d6ac7c0702ebf","name":"Bekah Evie Bel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76ee66f5182ea8791be935ab1f8a5901?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76ee66f5182ea8791be935ab1f8a5901?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Bekah Evie Bel"},"description":"I am an Aussie Hellenic Revivalist, Domestic Pagan, Hearth Witch and Devotee of Hekate and the Covenant of Hekate. I was raised Agnostic, bordering on Atheist and became Pagan long before I knew the label existed in a modern sense. My \"conversion\" to Hellenism is fairly recent so I am still in discovery mode, and you get to share that journey with me. I was admin and owner of the Pagan Veil social network for 4 years and have a minor presence within the Aussie, Pagan and Aussie Pagan Homeschooling communities.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePaganVeil","https:\/\/twitter.com\/thepaganveil"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/author\/bebel"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Honour](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/10\/cemetery-559246_960_720-pixabay.jpg\")