Halloween ~ its frightening history & ten top scary stars

October 31, 10:03 AMAtlanta Astrology ExaminerPatricia Lantz

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Halloween has it roots in Samhein, the Celtic New Year, which started with the night of death. During Samhein, ghosts, demons and other fallen beings walk the land. It was the day when the realm of the dead crossed into the realm of the living in search of  human hosts whose bodies would give the dead life for the coming year ~ if unsuccessful the ghost passed back into the land of the dead at dawn.

To stave off these ghosts and  demons the ancient Celts carved scary faces into gourds which were then lit with candles, scary masks were worn so the living could pass as demons and treats were passed out in an attempt to appease the hungry dead.

All village fires were doused on the night of death. The only fire left burning was kept in a central druidic sanctuary and then brought to a local village bonfire, where the local druidic high priests held vigilance. Living humans were placed in these bonfire as human sacrifices. Then, in the morning light of the Celtic New Year the fire of human sacrifice was used to re-light the fires in the homes of the villagers.

Halloween's ghosts and creepiest creatures did not just appear out of thin air ~ most have been instilling real fear in the mind of man for a very long time.

The Top Ten Scary Stars of Halloween

The Jack-o’-Lantern, carved from the nutritious pumpkin, is Halloweens most famous symbol. The practice of carving and lighting the gourd was a Celtic custom brought to America by Irish immigrants. The glowing and frightening faces emanating from the pumpkins are meant to frighten off the evil spirits who roam the streets on Halloween night.

Want to be a ghost? Poke two eye holes in a bed sheet and you've got the easiest Halloween costume around. But it takes a lot more to become a real ghost. First you have to die, maybe tragically, and leave part of your soul hanging around earth to spook relatives and haunt houses. Parapsychologists explain this by arguing that energy ~ including what's in the body ~ can never be completely destroyed.

Witch costumes frequently top the list at Halloween, but a witch with her pointy black hat and warty nose is relatively recent depiction which would make you believe that picking a witch out of a crowd would be easy. But, good luck picking a real witch out of a crowd. Witches have a long and tragic history ~ though thought to possess magical powers and to be connected with the natural world. Witches like all pagans, become demonized haunted and burned at the stake as heretics by the early Christian church. The witch hunts reached their peak in medieval Europe and 17th-century America.

Vampires have appeared in cultural folklore for thousands of years, though the fanged-and-coiffed version we know comes from the 18th and 19th-century myths of Eastern Europe. There it was believed that someone who was born with deformities or died an irregular death could, after burial, rise again to terrorize the living. Vampires are the “undead” and need to feast on human blood to feel alive.

Bats are blind, they hang out in caves and inspire masked crusaders. So how did bats become associated with Halloween? The bat can thank vampires for that. Like their Draculian counterparts, a small number of bat species actually subsist on animal blood ~ vampire bats have even been known to attack humans on occasion.

Werewolves, normally well-mannered until the Full Moon arrives, are cursed shape-shifters that have appeared in the legends of nearly every culture going back to ancient Greece. Like witches, they were hunted in medieval times and blamed for community murders that couldn't be explained in any other way. The violent werewolf stories of old now are kept alive by the fright films of Hollywood.

Zombies are another king of Hollywood fright films. Zombies are individuals who have been revived from the dead through black magic. Zombie culture stems from the voodoo religion of Haiti, where it is still believed that people can fall into mindless trances just like the walking dead. This has been documented on film, but an ethnobotanist investigating the claims in Haiti found a toxic drug that could actually induce the zombie-style catatonic state.

A demon can represent malevolent ghost, a fallen angel or a puppet of Satan. Like the notion of evil itself, they have ancient origins and appear in folklore and literature across the world. Pop culture's most famous and most talented demon possessed Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" and frightened the masses with it's rotating head and spewing venom.

Gargoyles, those frightening stone monsters protruding from cathedrals worldwide were incorporated into Gothic stonework as early as the 13th-century to keep rain water off cathedral roofs ~ their mouths served as an ejector spouts. More spiritually, gargoyles were supposed to protect the congregation from the ever-present evil forces lurking outside.

Last, but certainly not least, is the goblin of fairy tales fame. But the small and furry goblin is more mischievous than menacing. Legends tell of goblins hiding out in forests, pulling pranks and sometimes switching human babies for their own. Unlike some of the other creatures mentioned above the goblin was never connected with religion and likely this saved it from causing any real panic in medieval towns.

So there you have it...The top ten Stars of Halloween...

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Patricia Lantz is a practicing astrologer and hypnotherapist living in Atlanta Georgia. She can be reached by calling (678) 763 0552 or by visiting her home on the web at www.astrology-hypnotherapy.com. Patricia is also the Astrology Editor for All Things Healing,  an online community for spiritual and healing practices.