Llewellyn's 2013 Witches' Companion by Lupa

Author:Lupa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: witchcraft, witch, wicca, spells, sabbats, rituals, paganism, pagan, almanac, annual, annuals, 2013
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2012-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

[contents]

The Witching Hour

Blake Octavian Blair

Midnight and the dark hours surrounding it are a mysterious and celebrated time amongst magickal people. This time period of the day is often dubbed the witching hour. The magickal moment of 12 a.m. marks the changing of one day to another, a gateway, a portal, a cusp. Darkness blankets the land and the sounds of nature play like a symphony, each in part, the trees rustling form their own natural woodwind chorus, the crickets chirping out their own string section riffs, and even the occasional hooting owl is like an elusive saxophone solo in the night. The moon high in the sky hovers above, observant of it all like a silvery cosmic conductor. Despite all of this, midnight can seem to be quite silent. However, be still with yourself and let your senses sharpen. The magick of the witching hour is palpable—energy and life are buzzing, for Mother Earth never sleeps.

Granted, a good many of us usually are asleep at this time. There are those who must work the night shift and also those who are self-professed night owls, but the vast majority of the human population is slumbering soundly. This is in no small part why the midnight hours provide a good time to do workings under the cover of darkness. It is much easier to deposit spell materials at crossroads and cemeteries when they are clear from bustling traffic and possible onlookers! Historically during eras and in areas where it was dangerous to your life to be known as a Witch, if you were clad in a dark robe you needed only to slip into the safety of the shadowy darkness to become invisible to the threat of possible discovery. Another practical provision this time of day provides is an opportunity to set up for meditative path-working in peaceful quiet, when other members of your household are asleep.

Historically the term “witching hour” is said to have European origins. Some traditions specifically allot the hour of midnight on the night of the full moon as the witching hour; others say it is the hour prior the 12 a.m.; others designate a large window of time at various points in the middle of the night, regardless of moon phase. Clearly there is some leeway as to when you can utilize the energy of the witching hour. Perhaps we could more accurately adapt the term to the plural, witching hours. What is agreed upon is that the connection to the moon is undeniable and the term has long-standing ties to ancient cultures worshipping moon goddesses of fertility and witchcraft. Critics of witchcraft often cast an undesirable light upon the term and the activities associated with it, saying that 3 a.m. (a time popularly cited within various traditions’ time windows for the witching hour) is associated with the devil and evil forces, while 3 p.m. in contrast is associated with benific forces and the crucifixion of the Christ. As Witches we feel this is a grave malignment of the term.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.