I was hoping for more written word content speaking on sub stack as a whole that I've seen so far the written word is sacred something we should never go away from
I grew up in Communist Eastern Europe. And yet, our childhood cartoons mostly went along the lines of: Two kids in the village come across a sheep that's been injured. So they help her by pulling out a thorn out of her paw. Everyone's happy. The End.
We also had translations of Anne of Green Gables and Pippi Longstocking. Teaching us about friendship, loyalty, and resilience.
All of that is now forgotten. In this century, the Twilight franchise made kids obsessed with vampires, and there's been no turning back. Whenever I sit near a group of youngsters at a café, all I hear is "mantras," "tarot cards," "affirmations," yada yada. Why apply oneself when there's gotta be an easier and quicker way - that is the value set they all seem to inhabit.
I was just there at the end of September and I felt that uncomfortable vibe you mentioned the whole time I was there.. I actually couldn’t wait to leave despite the quaintness and beauty of the town.
I so agree with you. I love celebrating religious holidays culturally. That said, I just wanted to clarify something. Satanism, including the Satanic Temple in Salem, is not focused on witchcraft or occult practices or blood sacrifice or evil (however there are extremist groups in Satanism that do, as exists in every religion). Satanism is focused on individualism and secularism and anti-theism. I say this as a practicing Christian who happens to have an academic background in religion. According to some scholars, including the work of Carl Jung, Satan is not "evil" but is "the dark side of God" so to speak, and allowed to exist because he is a tempter, challenger, and accuser whose hardships can humble people (as with Job) or compel them to stand strong in their convictions (as with Jesus). I'm not a Satanist, nor do I want to be. I just want to clarify that point.
Recently, even before Halloy season I noticed several young women carrying full size "Chuckie" dolls like in our local indoors mall. They acted strangely almost catatonic. Any insight?
A long time ago, when I was a kid, Halloween was a kids holiday. It has presently been taken over by the adults - who were themselves once kids - in another regressive step for society. I recall a class trip to Salem over 60 years ago. The place seemed to be under a dark cloud.
The hippy thing did release a little healthy hedonism into the mix, but, as noted, failed to provide a working scaffold going forward. The hedonism took root and grew; the positive spirit of the time is long dead. A lot of demons and shortsighted philosophies have been turned loose in the world over the last several decades, resulting in a dangerous fracture of the social order headed nowhere good. Satan is certainly in the ascendant now. It will take a long time to dig a way out, if that is even still possible.
Naomi - you are right on target. From society erasing Christian holidays/observations to the occult in Salem, throughout our county and worldwide. This is spiritual warfare-good vs. evil. Charles Baudelaire was absolutely correct - "the devil's best trick is to persuade you that he does not exist". Oh....but he does.
Worked with a company based there, and have visited my coworkers on occasion. Salem definitely has a very unusual vibe I didn’t care for. Heavily pagan/Satanic feeling. I was there near Halloween and realized no way would I want to be present then!! Witches and warlocks galore.
Christians have nothing to fear from Halloween. We give out candy and let the kids go out. One Crusader with a real steel helmet, one Spaghetti Western bandit, one Spider-Man and one dragon. Dropped off the 15yo to go do whatever and grabbed a Mint Condition from Caribou for the wife on the way back.
The 12yo bandit handed out candy with his ventriloquist puppet (as a twin) and shot off his cap pistol. It’s a good night to visit the neighborhood. I had an Americano.
Very good exposition of the occultic piece of the witch trials, and the general demise of our Judeo Christian culture today; here and in Europe. I love your writing!
Thankyou! You are so inspiring and encouraging. I live in a country that is naturally conservative (only 30 million people in total) but we are nonetheless influenced deeply by American culture - I was raised on Arthur Miller's The Crucible in high school. Notwithstanding the dangers of false convictions, all the criticism of men that I have been 'raised on' and wailing about 'misogyny' seems largely a diversion from a subterranean misandry. Thank God I am learning to love myself instead of kill myself like so many men do. And HALLELUJAH for women like you. You are such a blessed, beloved light of the world. Thankyou for your transparency and your use, as one of our prophets Marcia Langton has said, of your position and knowledge to move things along rather than maintain the status quo. I've been such a fan of Dylan all my life, just realised you are like him- artistically always in a state of becoming, unwilling to allow the world to remain in a false peacefulness, conscience bothered, but not without joy and humour. God bless you.
Putting aside the subjective feelings of evil, let me bring up a missing aspect. Witchcraft in all its forms is categorically forbidden in the Torah.
Those who love GOD can trust His reasons for marking that spiritual path off-limits.
My conclusion from long observation: It's a spiritual gateway drug to darker things. And this linkage can be found in Israel's history, recorded in Tanach:
----------
"He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.... So Manasseh encouraged Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel." (2 Chron. 33)
"Furthermore, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin into which he misled Judah, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD." (2 Kings 21)
----------
King Manasseh had the longest reign in Judah's history - 55 years. No civil unrest, no attempted coup. In the northern kingdom, the murderer Arab and his witch-wife Jezebel also enjoyed a long and peaceful reign. Apparently the permissive environment, 'free' from Torah constraints, made the shedding of innocent blood easy to tolerate.
Those who don't acknowledge the Torah and Prophets, but simply love and affirm life, should be asking why the spiritually permissive environment that celebrates witchcraft today also encourages yearly representations of grisly death... dripping blood, horrible disfigurement, dismembered bodies, explicit torture, demonic apparitions, creatures imprisoned (held hostage?) in an undead existence.
Is it a coincidence that the grisly acts of Hamas - real cases of all this simulated gore flaunted at Halloween - have been actually applauded, or at least excused, by the most spiritually permissive sectors of Western society?
I was hoping for more written word content speaking on sub stack as a whole that I've seen so far the written word is sacred something we should never go away from
I grew up in Communist Eastern Europe. And yet, our childhood cartoons mostly went along the lines of: Two kids in the village come across a sheep that's been injured. So they help her by pulling out a thorn out of her paw. Everyone's happy. The End.
We also had translations of Anne of Green Gables and Pippi Longstocking. Teaching us about friendship, loyalty, and resilience.
All of that is now forgotten. In this century, the Twilight franchise made kids obsessed with vampires, and there's been no turning back. Whenever I sit near a group of youngsters at a café, all I hear is "mantras," "tarot cards," "affirmations," yada yada. Why apply oneself when there's gotta be an easier and quicker way - that is the value set they all seem to inhabit.
https://www.prageru.com/video/colonial-america-the-salem-witch-trials
I thought you'd like this video from PragerU.
I was just there at the end of September and I felt that uncomfortable vibe you mentioned the whole time I was there.. I actually couldn’t wait to leave despite the quaintness and beauty of the town.
I so agree with you. I love celebrating religious holidays culturally. That said, I just wanted to clarify something. Satanism, including the Satanic Temple in Salem, is not focused on witchcraft or occult practices or blood sacrifice or evil (however there are extremist groups in Satanism that do, as exists in every religion). Satanism is focused on individualism and secularism and anti-theism. I say this as a practicing Christian who happens to have an academic background in religion. According to some scholars, including the work of Carl Jung, Satan is not "evil" but is "the dark side of God" so to speak, and allowed to exist because he is a tempter, challenger, and accuser whose hardships can humble people (as with Job) or compel them to stand strong in their convictions (as with Jesus). I'm not a Satanist, nor do I want to be. I just want to clarify that point.
Recently, even before Halloy season I noticed several young women carrying full size "Chuckie" dolls like in our local indoors mall. They acted strangely almost catatonic. Any insight?
A long time ago, when I was a kid, Halloween was a kids holiday. It has presently been taken over by the adults - who were themselves once kids - in another regressive step for society. I recall a class trip to Salem over 60 years ago. The place seemed to be under a dark cloud.
The hippy thing did release a little healthy hedonism into the mix, but, as noted, failed to provide a working scaffold going forward. The hedonism took root and grew; the positive spirit of the time is long dead. A lot of demons and shortsighted philosophies have been turned loose in the world over the last several decades, resulting in a dangerous fracture of the social order headed nowhere good. Satan is certainly in the ascendant now. It will take a long time to dig a way out, if that is even still possible.
Naomi - you are right on target. From society erasing Christian holidays/observations to the occult in Salem, throughout our county and worldwide. This is spiritual warfare-good vs. evil. Charles Baudelaire was absolutely correct - "the devil's best trick is to persuade you that he does not exist". Oh....but he does.
Indeed he does.
https://baldmichael.substack.com/p/the-devil-is-in-the-detail-why-do?utm_source=publication-search
Worked with a company based there, and have visited my coworkers on occasion. Salem definitely has a very unusual vibe I didn’t care for. Heavily pagan/Satanic feeling. I was there near Halloween and realized no way would I want to be present then!! Witches and warlocks galore.
Christians have nothing to fear from Halloween. We give out candy and let the kids go out. One Crusader with a real steel helmet, one Spaghetti Western bandit, one Spider-Man and one dragon. Dropped off the 15yo to go do whatever and grabbed a Mint Condition from Caribou for the wife on the way back.
The 12yo bandit handed out candy with his ventriloquist puppet (as a twin) and shot off his cap pistol. It’s a good night to visit the neighborhood. I had an Americano.
I had lots of Haitians in my English class when I lived in South Florida. When I asked why Haiti is so poor the answer was, "the Voodoo."
Reflecting on Massachusetts as the "world headquarters of Satanism" helps explain so much to this native and long-time resident.
Very good exposition of the occultic piece of the witch trials, and the general demise of our Judeo Christian culture today; here and in Europe. I love your writing!
Thankyou! You are so inspiring and encouraging. I live in a country that is naturally conservative (only 30 million people in total) but we are nonetheless influenced deeply by American culture - I was raised on Arthur Miller's The Crucible in high school. Notwithstanding the dangers of false convictions, all the criticism of men that I have been 'raised on' and wailing about 'misogyny' seems largely a diversion from a subterranean misandry. Thank God I am learning to love myself instead of kill myself like so many men do. And HALLELUJAH for women like you. You are such a blessed, beloved light of the world. Thankyou for your transparency and your use, as one of our prophets Marcia Langton has said, of your position and knowledge to move things along rather than maintain the status quo. I've been such a fan of Dylan all my life, just realised you are like him- artistically always in a state of becoming, unwilling to allow the world to remain in a false peacefulness, conscience bothered, but not without joy and humour. God bless you.
Most of my life I regarded such things as "unreal."
Now I'm convinced that there is a definite reality behind it all.
All of which ends up bringing me closer to God.
Thanks, fren Doctor Naomi.
C
Putting aside the subjective feelings of evil, let me bring up a missing aspect. Witchcraft in all its forms is categorically forbidden in the Torah.
Those who love GOD can trust His reasons for marking that spiritual path off-limits.
My conclusion from long observation: It's a spiritual gateway drug to darker things. And this linkage can be found in Israel's history, recorded in Tanach:
----------
"He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.... So Manasseh encouraged Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel." (2 Chron. 33)
"Furthermore, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin into which he misled Judah, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD." (2 Kings 21)
----------
King Manasseh had the longest reign in Judah's history - 55 years. No civil unrest, no attempted coup. In the northern kingdom, the murderer Arab and his witch-wife Jezebel also enjoyed a long and peaceful reign. Apparently the permissive environment, 'free' from Torah constraints, made the shedding of innocent blood easy to tolerate.
Those who don't acknowledge the Torah and Prophets, but simply love and affirm life, should be asking why the spiritually permissive environment that celebrates witchcraft today also encourages yearly representations of grisly death... dripping blood, horrible disfigurement, dismembered bodies, explicit torture, demonic apparitions, creatures imprisoned (held hostage?) in an undead existence.
Is it a coincidence that the grisly acts of Hamas - real cases of all this simulated gore flaunted at Halloween - have been actually applauded, or at least excused, by the most spiritually permissive sectors of Western society?