74 Comments
Oct 26, 2022·edited Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

Once more Dr Tess comes up with insightful uncommon sense. Opening the door and engaging with the youngsters with a smile and a lot of love will do more for their self-image (and be more of long-term value) than any sugary potion. Find something fun to give them and be kind. Most of the time they're just regular kids. Give them love. Ask their names. Show an interest - and let them go away with a warmed heart.

Expand full comment
author

True words of loving wisdom Andrew, thank you so much for sharing this.

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

I enjoyed reading this. We have had the beautiful opportunity to attend a Samhain gathering for a few years now. This year my family is hosting a gathering with our homeschool community. All the parents make treats, we’ll sing, have a fire, share foods of ancestors and rejoice. It’s such a beautiful tradition that I feel grateful for my child to be a part of.

Expand full comment

Homeschool ? Teach them this!

Anton LaVey, the founder of the church of Satan, himself declared that by dressing up, either by wearing a costume or by coloring oneself in celebration of Halloween, signifies that you allow Satan to own you. He further said that when you adopt the pagan practices, you subconsciously dedicate yourself to the devil. He took joy in Christians who take part in the tradition, saying:

I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.

LaVey’s statement is corroborated by a former Satanist, John Ramirez, who said that when you dress up even as an angel or a mermaid for Halloween, “you give the devil the legal rights to change your identity.” Ramirez further warned that there’s a much darker reality in Halloween beyond costumes and candy. The former Satanist turned Christian pastor said in an interview on CBS News (October 20, 2018):

I was a general to the kingdom of darkness in witchcraft. I would sit with the devil and talk to him like I’m talking to you today. It was that kind of communication. It was that kind of relationship.

Why Christians should not celebrate Halloween | Meer

https://www.meer.com/en/58292-why-christians-should-not-celebrate-halloween

Expand full comment
author

Please stop spamming commenters with the same comment.

Expand full comment

This is not spamming .....this is people genuinely caring about the truth of Halloween to be exposed. God bless all those that stand up against it.

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

Halloween is not recognized or celebrated in Thailand where I am, but there is a related festival around the 12th lunar full moon which usually falls in November but in 2020 did indeed fall on October 31st. It is called Loy Krathong and is all about the magic and mystery of the season with the lanterns floating high in the sky, alms for the dead and krathong boats with wishes for the year. This had me reminiscing to the many fall bonfires we had over the years growing up. With the excess mortality so elevated for so long I don't have great tolerance for real horror movie Halloween shows...

Expand full comment

Great topic. I'm in Mexico, and Dias de muertos still stays with what you have described. In altars photographs of the deceased are placed along with their favourite food. In the past, the bones of the dead would be taken out of the crypt to be remembered. That isn't done so much anymore, if at all. At least not in 'proper' society. The catholics stopped the practice.

Processed sugar as toxin. Thank you writing that.

Expand full comment

“Imagine it: music and dancing under the stars with the people we love, the spirits of our ancestors dancing with us”.

A wonderful turn of phrase & vision, Tess. Thank you.

Expand full comment

Our highly commercialized world distorts everything towards buying and selling. Consumption, spending and work.

Valentines day. Christmas. Easter.

They have a myriad of older and deeper meanings than what we typically see today. They have been painted over by the big corporations.

Guy Fawkes is coming up soon too. Remember remember...

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

What a lovely post, Tess. I’ve always been attracted to Samhain and celebrating this way, like the ancients. I think I will now actively seek to do it, instead of just thinking about it. The candies these days are wretched. I don’t remember them tasting like they do now. The quality is completely lacking. Thank you for the reminders!

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

Over Here, Hallowe'en seems to have merged with Bonfire Night. Popular traditions evolve, until the original idea seems to be a very faint vestige. Look at some of the popular miscoceptions about recent pharmacological interventions, for instance....

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022·edited Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

Describing Samhain as "remembering the dead, being together, sharing food and making space for the unseen but not forgotten," is beautiful and accurate to what I experienced as a child. Did you practice Samhain when you were younger, Dr. Lawrie?

The connection with community is something that I reflected on this year, as well. I long for those happy days running about with friends and returning home to spend time with my family. We would put out a plate at dinner, and offerings at night. If readers would like to see what Samhain felt like to a Canadian as a child, please be welcome to have a read. A part two will be up in the next week or two.

https://oicherua.substack.com/p/samhain-rituals-part-1

(I hope that sharing this here is acceptable etiquette)

Expand full comment

NOPE it's all devil worship. As for me and my house........

Expand full comment

I agree .... It is indeed and needs to be outlawed.

Expand full comment

Actually no not outlawed but it has to be viewed for what it is. Anything that has to deal with the devil is something that can/will infiltrate your life and not for the good.

Expand full comment

I’m kinda coming around to this line of thinking. I know you’re probably right but there are some things hard to let go of. No jack o lanterns?

Expand full comment

NAH .. don't need it really. And think of how much money you save not only on not buying candy but on the old waist line eating the leftovers!! LOL

Expand full comment

Amen! Refreshing seeing wisdom here. Incredible folks can be awake on o much of Covid and be in the literal dark about the more important spiritual things! I'd rather have a Covid jab that can kill the body than be in hell for eternity.. the spiritual fat more important n eternal and what the world needs the most to know about in this late hour!

Anton LaVey, the founder of the church of Satan, himself declared that by dressing up, either by wearing a costume or by coloring oneself in celebration of Halloween, signifies that you allow Satan to own you. He further said that when you adopt the pagan practices, you subconsciously dedicate yourself to the devil. He took joy in Christians who take part in the tradition, saying:

I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.

LaVey’s statement is corroborated by a former Satanist, John Ramirez, who said that when you dress up even as an angel or a mermaid for Halloween, “you give the devil the legal rights to change your identity.” Ramirez further warned that there’s a much darker reality in Halloween beyond costumes and candy. The former Satanist turned Christian pastor said in an interview on CBS News (October 20, 2018):

I was a general to the kingdom of darkness in witchcraft. I would sit with the devil and talk to him like I’m talking to you today. It was that kind of communication. It was that kind of relationship.

Why Christians should not celebrate Halloween | Meer

https://www.meer.com/en/58292-why-christians-should-not-celebrate-halloween

Expand full comment

I just saw an interview with someone in the same vein (maybe him I don't remember) on GAB. I watch Greg Locke out of TN. Yes I know that he is ridiculed a lot but he is now casting OUT devils in Jesus' name every week. Recently had a conference. Global Vision Bible Church

Expand full comment

Up to the last paragraph I would have shared the article - I feel a need to give a heads-up in case you really don't realize - children are the treat for folks who still celebrate ancient ways of Halloween. Insider whistleblowers and other witness survivors have shared, there is a large group, roughly 1% of the population who tortures and sacrifices children on Halloween, and other dates on the calendar that I don't know. Well meaning article, poor taste to suggest celebrating Samhain on Halloween when so many people know that some children are going to be harmed.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you for sharing your perspective, Jennifer. A Better Way is about understanding our inherent power and responsibility in making positive change. How that looks really is down to the individual, their background, their own cultural context. I received an email today from someone recalling their childhood memories of celebrating Samhain in Ireland. It was full of love, fellowship and community spirit - I've asked her if I can share it here and waiting to hear back.

Expand full comment

Truly? I hope that they will give you permission! Hearing about different harvest and death ritual traditions is fascinating, especially because there are so many common themes that manifest in different ways

Expand full comment
author

I have permission - here is what she shared: "I grew up in Ireland in the 70's. We dressed up and knocked on neighbours doors and got seasonal fruit, nuts and apples for halloween. We sometimes sang a song or recited a poem for our gifts. We often had bonfires to burn dead branches from our gardens. A cleansing before the winter months to prevent disease from spreading. An ancient and natural tradition. The trick or treating came over to us from the US along with the teeth rotting candy. That's all we see now.

A return to nature would remind us of why the samhain festival began."

Expand full comment

Yes Jennifer, we are starting to see the exposure of the real meaning of Halloween.

It is a celebration of all that is evil and actually has its roots in Baal worship , where this God required the sacrifice of babies.....

There is nothing warming or friendly about Halloween and for it to be portrayed as being so, is to buy into the deception perpetrated throughout the generations.

Think on the good the kind and the loving and celebrate with family at Thanksgiving at Christmas. Halloween needs to be outlawed.

Expand full comment

Outlawed? Nothing wrong with celebrating our dead loved ones, gathering together, remembering them, sharing food, and dancing around the fire. I used to love Halloween as a child, going door to door, getting sacks of candy that my mother said, “will rot your teeth right out of your mouth!” Still we enjoyed ourselves, dressing up, having fun with our friends. Outlawing evil, while we all wish we could, is not the way out of evil. Just an opinion from a lover of this time of year, the end of harvest and the beginning of a quiet, contemplative winter season.

Expand full comment

Good points. Banning something just makes it seem more desirable, too often. More open recognition there is a problem is needed.

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022·edited Oct 26, 2022

Are you sure you ain't mixing up the Baals with the Moloch?

Expand full comment

Both required child sacrifice. I hope this helps you .

Expand full comment

Not really but never mind. Thank you anyway.

Expand full comment

My God, I (Dutch) did not have a notion of this origin of a celebration that has never been in my calendar anyway.

Expand full comment

Awesome keep that evil holiday out of your life n kids'👌

Anton LaVey, the founder of the church of Satan, himself declared that by dressing up, either by wearing a costume or by coloring oneself in celebration of Halloween, signifies that you allow Satan to own you. He further said that when you adopt the pagan practices, you subconsciously dedicate yourself to the devil. He took joy in Christians who take part in the tradition, saying:

I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.

LaVey’s statement is corroborated by a former Satanist, John Ramirez, who said that when you dress up even as an angel or a mermaid for Halloween, “you give the devil the legal rights to change your identity.” Ramirez further warned that there’s a much darker reality in Halloween beyond costumes and candy. The former Satanist turned Christian pastor said in an interview on CBS News (October 20, 2018):

I was a general to the kingdom of darkness in witchcraft. I would sit with the devil and talk to him like I’m talking to you today. It was that kind of communication. It was that kind of relationship.

Why Christians should not celebrate Halloween | Meer

https://www.meer.com/en/58292-why-christians-should-not-celebrate-halloween

Expand full comment

Once a Satanist, always a Satanist. I wouldn't want Mr. Ramirez to collect my garbage.

By the way and while you're at it why not cancel all Christian holidays as well? Most have some spots that would please a leopard.

Expand full comment

The secret keeping group is really good at keeping secrets because they kill people or destroy their career and reputation by working together with the controlled media and other ways. The insider group also has been described as "training" their children with the DID inducing methods that cause mental anguish if you try to break the code of silence. Queen Elizabeth was accused of taking part in some sort of ritual in Canada with a group of children, lots of witnesses. And it was all hushed up, no charges. Queens can abuse children it seems.

Expand full comment

Queens can do pretty horrible things to children. I live in a monarchy with persistent rumours on that head.

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022Liked by Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​

It’s what the candy makers use to make the colours brighter eg. Skittles Instead of sweets we could offer any children that call fruit ,apple or orange packet of dried fruits and nuts .

Expand full comment

When I was a child, apples & mandarin oranges, packets of raisins etc., were commonly found in my bag, which was an old pillow case.

That was around the time parents began finding "razor blades" pushed into the apples. According to "news reports".

Well, that was the end of THAT, eh?

Expand full comment

Hopefully young children will be accompanied by an adult when trick or treating and just a piece of fruit offered no razor blades I personally dislike Trick or treating

Expand full comment

Dear Doctor Tess you are close - but there are deeper meanings From the bible it is clear that talking and interacting with the dead (who know nothing) is to interact with satanic demons. The papacy is happy to do so as it has a quite different agenda to that of Christ. Moving on to sugar - watching the societal impact of the rise of inflammatory disease during Queen Vic's reign and the closely associated tobacco and alcohol - i noted the close association with the two paths. The embryological implications took a little unravelling - but I claim to have been guided. It is tobacco -alcohol - sugar that expels the cranial Neural Crest cells leading to suboptimal midface growth of the upper airway - from there to chronic intermittent hypoxia and thus to (Greg Semenza 2013 Nobel prize for HIF1a) the inflammatory process. It is this that subtends today's pathology - from endothelial failure (leaky gut; vascular disease; BBB/Alzheimer's as indicated by Macey/Kherandish-Gozal in a pilot of 13 snoring 5-10 year olds vs 138 non-snoring. It was the snoring that made the regional cortical thinning and increases of tissue density ~ classic AD signs. Covid is a critter with a dark history linking back to the Carnegie formation of the Federal State Medical Boards and the dissolution of nearly 2000 homeopathic and naturopathic medical schools replaced by pharma-based plants. Please do not waver in what you are doing. I am focussed on spreading the above and supporting it in research and clinical application. The past week young mothers all declared in their own way that their chronic global pain esp. vulvodynia- PCOS Endometriosis low back and neck/shoulder girdle along with brain fog has been more intense than child birth. These radical changes influence babies at 6 months (snore/mouth-breathe and breath-hold go on until age four - on a dose-dependant manner creating a large group of 7-8 year olds who have missed so many milestones they are special-needs children. I suspect that those who don't fall into a smaller -suboptimal naso-maxilla don't generate high levels of inflammatory chemicals (Goldbart 2012 exhaled breath condensate in non-obese snoring 3 year olds) and are much less exposed to the perils of Covid. As a volunteer researcher into Covid for a Government I am continually horrified at the widespread duplicity that is simply accepted, lauded and applauded. God bless you and those around you for insight and love. Dr David Zimmerman BDS DAACP Cert Musc Sk. Pain Mgmt. Auckland New Zealand.

Expand full comment

This year I'll be dressed as the Reaper in honor of all of those who have been vaccine murdered. Good post.

Expand full comment

Send us a dressed-up picture please.

Expand full comment

Check my Substack after Halloween. I already have the scythe.

Expand full comment

I agree that Halloween used to be more about neighbors and friendship than store bought candy. I grew up in a small town where most made cookies, popcorn balls, divinity, fudge, and countless other homemade delights. Some passed out pencils, erasers, pens, crayons, and other consumable school supplies. A few neighbors passed out candy purchased at the store and the occasional neighbor passed out nickels or pennies. Kids only knocked on doors on the street they lived and a street adjacent on each side. Parents went out with the kids having pieced together homemade costumes and enjoying quick conversations with neighbors about how creative the foil covered box was that made one of us look like a robot was or explaining who or what we were pretending to be. The entire trick or treating lasted for a couple of hours starting just before dark and ending just after dark. We didn’t go to the door of strangers. It was a time to visit friends, share small homemade treats and school supplies. The evening generally ended with coffee for the adults and hot chocolate for the kiddos and samplings from our treats bags. Parents laughed and chatted while we sprawled our bounty on the carpet and negotiated exchanges for favorite homemade treats or school supplies.

Expand full comment
Oct 26, 2022·edited Oct 26, 2022

Lovely piece. Somehow the things you write, no matter how different the topics, all fit together so beautifully. That only comes to pass when words emanate from a true and pure soul. Tess, you ARE a light. It is a joy to find you in my mailbox.

Expand full comment