Photo courtesy of the Order of Scathach

While young trick-or-treaters go door to door for candy, Wiccans in Vancouver will be communing with the spirit world.

“I was 17 or 18 when I discovered that witches were real,” recalls Angela Gallant, a Wiccan practitioner.

For more than 20 years, Gallant – a nurse and a mother of three – has helped to build visibility for neo-Pagans in B.C. through her work as an author, poet, musician, and priestess. This October, Gallant and others in Vancouver’s Wiccan community are preparing to celebrate one of the most important days of the year.

Oct. 31 is Halloween, but it is also a special day in the Pagan calendar: Samhain. Samhain is a time for new beginnings and for honouring the past. Many modern witches follow what is known as the Wheel of the Year, a seasonal calendar with eight Sabbats or celebrations to mark the changes on earth. Pronounced “SAH-win,” the end of fall celebration ushers in a new year and offers an opportunity to connect with the spiritual realm. According to Wiccan tradition, the veil between the mundane and spiritual worlds is at its thinnest during Samhain.

The connections between Halloween, witches, and Celtic culture go back for centuries.

“A lot of Pagan traditions relate to their roots in an older agricultural society,” says Gallant. “The end of autumn involved culling the herd and preserving the meat, but also selecting livestock to breed.” Gallant explains that Celtic societies may have associated the end of fall with death, but it is also an opportunity for growth.

“It’s about cleaning old life for room to make new life,” she says. These traditions, in part, have led to both our modern Halloween and to modern incarnations of the Wiccan and Pagan faiths.

A magical discovery

For many Wiccans, finding their spiritual path was a matter of self-discovery and serendipity. Kerr Cuhulain, a retired Vancouver police officer, is the Grand Master of the Order of Scathach, a Wiccan group of knights in Vancouver. Cuhulain is a prominent author and speaker on Wiccan topics whose study of Wicca began more than 40 years ago.

“As a kid, I was seeking it. I found a book on Wicca in the library and I realized ‘there’s a name for what I believe in’,” says Cuhulain.

Lily and Passia, whose last names have been withheld for privacy reasons, describe similar experiences from young adulthood.

“In childhood, I most enjoyed playing by myself in the earth, basking in the sunlight. The elements have always been a big part of what feeds me,” says Lily.

Like Cuhulain and Lily, Passia felt a thrill of recognition when she was introduced to Wicca.

“When I first [discovered Wicca], I realized that this is how I’ve already been thinking and working,” she says.

Today, Lily and Passia are members of the organizing pod for the Vancouver Reclaiming Society, whose annual ritual and fundraiser draws crowds of up to 400 Wiccans to celebrate Samhain together.

Oct. 31 marks Samhain for Vancouver’s Wiccan community

Coming out of the broom closet

Misconceptions about the Wiccan faith abound, which is why some practicing witches choose to keep their faith a private matter.

“There are hatemongers out there,” says Cuhulain, referring to individuals who conflate Wiccan beliefs with Satanism or other negative stereotypes. As a police officer, Cuhulain once received a call from a concerned citizen who witnessed people coming and going from a deconsecrated church in Surrey.

“The caller thought that it might be witches using the church to worship Satan or sacrifice cats. It turned out to be a ballet studio. Some people just think if we don’t understand it, it scares us,” says Cuhulain.

Such misconceptions can prevent people from sharing their faith publicly.

“Not everyone is ‘out’ as a witch,” says Lily.

In reality, the modern Wicca faith involves a diverse array of rituals and perspectives.

“Wicca as it’s practiced today is a very new religion, based on old practices rediscovered,” says Gallant.

For this reason, many varieties and branches of neo-Paganism exist. For example, Lily describes the Wiccan Reclaiming Society as one of both witchcraft and social activism. Gallant points to communities of witches focused on feminine or masculine aspects of Wicca, including feminist covens. Although some groups may emphasize certain aspects over others, there are a few common threads which run throughout the community. According to Lily, unifying elements include a reverence for the earth and a belief in magic.

“Religion is an individual path; it’s not a one-size-fits-all proposition,” says Cuhulain.

Raising the roof on a New Year

As the Wheel of the Year concludes, neo-Pagan families will be lighting torches or candles to guide beloved spirits home. They will be welcoming newborns, decorating altars, dressing up and completing rituals such as guided meditation and choral singing. At the Reclaiming Festival on Oct. 27, participants are invited to spiral dance to the heart beat of drums and the voices of a community choir at the Maritime Labour Centre.

“We believe that everyone should have a right to honour their beloved,” says Lily. “It’s incredible to witness the power of this time of year.”

To find out more about Wicca in Vancouver, readers are encouraged to contact the Congregationalist Wiccan Association of British Columbia at http://www.cwabc.org

For information about the Vancouver Reclaiming Society’s annual Samhain ritual, visit http://www.vancouverreclaiming.org