Hello everyone. I’m Dr Angela Puca and welcome to my Live Symposium and obviously happy Samhain or Halloween or how ever, you celebrate this festivity and this day in the Northern Hemisphere and I guess also happy Bealtaine for those who celebrate in the Southern Hemisphere. But yeah, being in the Northern Hemisphere today it will be about Samhain.

So thank you, everybody, for coming let me see who’s there.

Oh, hi Astrogypsy and Liesl and Alan and Ron, Neha, Kai and Andrew of course. Carlos, Craig. Yeah, it’s really nice to see you guys. Oh and Jeanette, of course, Jeanette Waverly. Stephen Keffer, he says happy Halloween, I mean Samhain. Yeah, thank you, everyone, for being here and I hope more will join.

The first thing that I’d like to say, as we start this live stream, is that I’d like to, you know, since this is a festivity to honour the dead, I’m wearing something from my Dad, which is this ring, he passed away 11 years ago. And this is from a friend and colleague who unfortunately disappeared a month ago, Rosemary. So I thought it would be nice to bring them along, in a way, and celebrate with us since, as we will see, this is a festivity where there’s the belief that the dead can communicate with us more easily and can access these worlds. So perhaps it might be nice to allow them to feel, in case they are able to, feel remembered.

Hi James, nice to see you in the chat. And also I hope that you are liking the background music, it is from one of my best friends and he wants to be called Mr Cup. So thank you, Mr Cup, for providing the music. Quite last minute, to be fair. Yesterday I told him I need the music as a background for my live stream but he was really nice and he made it, so hopefully, you will like it.

Hi Cipriano, another one of my close friends. It’s nice to see that all of you are wishing me and the others a happy Samhain or happy Halloween or however you celebrate this festivity

Oh, Ron says, I’m wearing my mother’s silver ring as always. Oh, that’s nice and Neha says, that the music was awesome. Oh, the intro music actually is from my band, the Erose Music Band and even the outro, I don’t know if you ever noticed that the outro of all of my videos are actually sung by me. And these are songs from my past life, before academia, where I used to be a singer. I guess that I’m still a singer but I’m not singing anymore. But yeah, we will see perhaps in the future I will start again.

But today I’d like to give you a very short talk, presentation on Samhain. But then also I’d like to interact with you guys so be ready to tell me things, your traditions, what you do on this day, you know, in case you come from different countries with other traditions in your country. I will share a tradition from my home region in Italy as well because I thought it would be interesting.

Raziel is saying I knew that was you singing. Yeah, I think that not everybody realizes that it is me singing in the outro of my videos but yeah “We are the Children of Darkness.” That’s the name of the song.

So, moving on to the short talk because otherwise, I’d like to interact with you guys as always. Do you know that if you want to ask a question directly to me it makes it easier for me to immediately tell which ones are questions for me, because I know that you also interact among yourselves, which is absolutely fine and I actually encourage you to do so but in order for me to, at a glance, immediately understand that that is a message for me please put QUESTION in caps lock so that it’s easier for me to gather whether the question is for me.

So, today we will be briefly discussing, as I mentioned, Samhain. And I think that now is pretty much common knowledge that it is likely that the modern festival, the contemporary festival of Halloween, comes from Samhain that was an ancient Celtic festival and Samhain, likely comes from Samain. It’s pronounced like this, in modern Irish and it’s not certain what the pronunciation would be in old Irish but it likely meant summer’s end. And it was believed to be a liminal time, where the gates between this world and the next open and it is possible to communicate with the spirits of the dead and even to do divination, which also appears to be very common in the tradition. Even for young women to try and tell what the initial name of their future husband would be. And also there were a lot of divinations connected to marriages and your future, of course, I would imagine that in the past such things were quite pivotal to understanding how your life was going to unfold.

So it was most likely a festival to welcome the dead, the spirits of the dead, for a short time at the edge of the dark season. So the old Irish people used to, you know, the days for them were not really measured by the days but by the nights and that is why the festival starts when the sun sets, which here it has set already. But I guess that for most of you, perhaps, you’re in a different time zone, so perhaps where you are is morning. But yeah Samhain would start at the end of the 31st of October quite likely. Something that is very interesting to point out and actually, my friend and fellow scholar, Dr Jenny Butler has talked about, in an interview that we did, but she also mentioned that in other interviews about Samhain, when she was interviewed about this specific topic. She’s actually much more knowledgeable than I am on everything Irish folklore. And also, if you’re interested in learning more about what I am saying I would also recommend you read “The Stations of the Sun” by Ronald Hutton. I will be putting all the references in the infobox once the live stream ends.

So something quite interesting, that Jenny pointed out, is that Fairies were, in ancient times, associated with the dead and they were also associated with the festival of Samhain and it is more modern the idea of the Fairies that we have portrayed in media. Whereas, in the past, the Faeries used to be quite linked to the spirits of the dead which equally, just as the spirits of the dead would be more present at this time of the year and in this liminal space.

Also, something that is often pointed out by scholars is that it is quite difficult to track the historical traditions of Samhain and lots of things with regards to the ancient Celtic folklore and traditions, and that is for two main reasons. The one is that we have many more myths and mythology than we have historical records. And the second is that the actual historical sources come from the post-Christian era and so they are not as accurate, especially because when the historical registers were made those festivals were still dying out. At least they were dying out the way they had been practised for a long, long time and so it’s very difficult to trace back what actually happened. So you will find that scholars will say, most likely that is what was going to happen. Like, most likely Samhain was wasn’t as sad or it was, I wouldn’t say happy celebration but it was a way you’re welcoming for a very short time the spirits of the dead back on this plane and you could, in a way, interact with them. It was also very common to host a dumb, I think, it was a dumb supper or a dumb dinner, meaning a silent dinner which is also common across other traditions. And it would be a silent dinner or a dinner or a meal offered to the dead people and it could be people who had passed away in your family but also people in the neighbourhood, for instance, that was also something that used to occur in ancient times.

And then at the end of the 19th century, we have these two scholars, from Oxford and Cambridge, that actually contributed massively to shaping the idea that we have now of Samhain and even how Samhain was reinterpreted and reclaimed by contemporary pagans. For instance, one of the things that Sir John Rice said was that this was the Celtic new year. Ronald Hutton says, that there’s not enough evidence that it is actually correct, historically correct and it is because the way Samhain used to be celebrated was quite similar to the way the new year was celebrated.

And also, it was perceived as the end of a cycle and the beginning of another cycle and so for these two reasons that brought Sir John Rhys to believe that it could have been the Celtic new year. And then Sir James Fraser, in his famous “The Golden Bough,” also backed this view and provided more information on the types of rituals that were performed for Samhain. Like, for instance, one of the things that Sir James Fraser wrote in his book and claimed was that there was the use of fire for protection and also that this was a fire festival, which is interesting. There are many of the things that have been associated by Pagans when reclaiming this pre-Christian festival to celebrate this time of the year, actually do come from these two scholars and the kind of reconstruction that they did of the ancient, the older sources but not always they were actually historically accurate.

Then the tradition was brought to the USA by Irish and Highland immigrants, during the 19th century and so you here have the tradition of dressing up and later it developed into the trick-or-treat that you know today. And then, as you know, the pre-Christian tradition was reclaimed by Wiccans and later by other Pagans and Magic practitioners. And it’s interesting because here, well obviously, Wiccans and Pagans now prefer to call it Samhain because they want to emphasize the fact that they are connecting and celebrating something that is not connected to Christianity but that it dates way back before Christianity. And also for Pagans, it is not just about… it is also about, of course, celebrating the spirits of the dead and having this element incorporated but it is also and this is true for the other festivals, the eight festivals of the Wheel of the Year, it is also a way of connecting to the season.

In Paganism there is a lot of this sense of seasonality because especially quite often Pagans would say in the past we were in direct contact with nature. But now when, you know, we live in apartments or in flats or in houses and quite often we don’t have a direct contact with nature unless we purposefully decide to. So when you grab an apple from a supermarket or a grocery store you don’t see the branch of the tree, so you lose that connection, you lose that connection that that apple was actually connected to a tree and the tree will have roots that go into the earth. And this is something that Pagans tend to emphasize and say, since even though now we live in, to different degrees, more disconnected from nature, there are many ways whereby we can connect with nature again. And being in tune with the seasons and reflecting also on how the seasons outside mirror the seasons inside is also important to have to, you know, to fuel this sense and to prompt this sense of connection. And so you have the idea that when the time, we are now in the dark time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, of course and so this means that when everything is dark at outside there is a need, Pagans would say, to focus on the light inside. And also by connecting to this time of darkness, it is also a time to focus on everything that is within yourself, rather than to be extroverts and be more open to the outside and be more connected to what is occurring in the outside world. So the dark time of the year is a time of reflection and being within yourself and cultivating the light within you until you see it reappearing outside of you and then the lighter part of the year is more about connections and interactions more outwardly rather than inwardly.

So I think that it’s quite interesting how Pagans tend to have this metaphorical and in a way, allegorical interpretation of the seasons and what happens outside and how to allow yourself to connect to what happens and by doing so be more being more attuned with nature. And by the end of the Middle Ages the Christian feasts, the Christian feast of the death known as Hallowtide, Holontide or Allantide, I’m not sure whether these pronunciations are correct, had developed into a spectacular affair for which there are ample records in England. So we do have lots of historical records of this according to Ronald Hutton.

Now I’d like to end this short talk by talking about what these are called in Italy.

Oh, thank you so much Jeanette for your donation.

So there is something that this is a cemetery in Naples Italy and it is called in Italian Cimitero delle Fontanelle and I guess you can translate it as ‘the cemetery of the little fountains.’ But it doesn’t make much sense in English and it’s quite interesting because here you find anonymous or abandoned human skulls and it is like thousands and thousands of skulls and there is a very interesting vibe in this place in Naples. I have been there quite a few times and it is also called, in English, the Cult of Pezzentelle souls. And Pezzentelle, in Neapolitan, means poor, so it’s like the Cult of the Poor Souls or perhaps they were considered to be poor because they were abandoned. They are also called, in Neapolitan, Capuzzelle which means like a ‘little head’ in Neapolitan. And also souls of the Purgatory. And as you can see here you have these little boxes or like little houses, because there were people that used to, now I think it’s forbidden by law, but there used to be this tradition that people would take these skulls and bring them home and adopt them. So they would adopt a skull, give them a name and ask for their interception to obtain something in their lives, like healing or love or you know different magical outcomes and then when they would get what they asked the skull to do they would bring it back to the cemetery.

Oh hi, thank you for the donation Hellbound Heathen. He says happy Samhain-Halloween Angela. I really respect your work thank you for your videos. Oh, thank you so much that means a lot.

And so I think it’s quite interesting because you have and you still have since now people cannot bring them home anymore, you will have that people will bring little coins or flowers and give them to the skulls and in some cases they still give them names. Yeah, I always found it to be quite fascinating as a tradition and it’s not necessarily connected to this time of the year, it’s not necessarily connected to Halloween or the day of the dead but I thought it was the right time to bring that up.

So now I’d like to hear from you guys. Let me know how you’re celebrating and what do you think of Samhain. Whether you celebrate the festivity as a Christian, as a Pagan, what kind of traditions do you have? Do you think that Samhain has a particular significance for those who practice magic? Because I know that you guys are from all over the world and you have different belief systems but I’m pretty sure that most of you are interested in magic if you’re here. So perhaps if not focusing on… I mean we could also talk about how you celebrate according to your belief system but also what kind of significance do you think that Samhain or you know this specific festival has for you in terms of your Magick practice that would be quite interesting for us to discuss I think. So let me see if there are any questions.

OZSD says, I am wearing an eight-carat gold-on-silver necklace that belonged to my maternal grandmother. Oh, that’s nice.

And Liesl says, the sun is just setting in the UK. Yeah, we are exactly at that liminal time.

Oh, thank you so much James for your donation. You’re always so generous.

I wish I had, you know, like that I wish that we just had a chicken because now, from last live stream there was the joke about donations being like chickens. Well no, it started saying that teachers are paid chickens, I think. It was from Thomas. I’m not sure if he’s in the chat. Let me see if there are…

Leisl says, I’m honouring all ancestors tonight. May I honour all of your ancestors and everyone. I think that that’s nice of you.

So, I’m not seeing questions so far.

Oh, Marcus says I’m celebrating with a wheel of the year ceremony to invoke Zaphkiel, Archangel of the dark feminine. Oh, is it because you connect this time of the year to the dark feminine or is it something that you are working on at the moment?

Yeah, yesterday with my Patrons I was saying that since I have to propose a paper for the next Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, it’s very long but if I say EASR you wouldn’t understand what I talk about because it’s, you know, the acronyms are always hard to understand. And so I have to propose a paper to the panel on contemporary Paganism and since the theme is Deities in Contemporary Paganism, I was thinking of doing research on a deity that you guys might like me to cover on the channel and so I think that I might choose Hekate. And there was also a Cult of Hekate in Naples in Italy, where I come from and lots of Pagans over there are connected to Hekate.

João says he was wearing a Ghostbuster’s suit. I think this is a conversation with the others in the chat.

Oh, Marcus says, it’s part of work with Archangels of the Kabbalah. Okay.

[B.Violet F. Cohen] How do you relate this day to Luciferianism? I’m not sure there is a direct connection to Luciferianism but to be fair, apart from Pagans, lots of Magick Practitioners who follow various kinds of traditions now incorporate, in one way or another, this festival, this festivity. But yeah, I’m not aware of specific connections with Luciferianism.

Hellbound Heathen says, what do you think of the development of trick-or-treating? How do you think it developed? Might be US specific.

Yeah, I’m not very familiar with that specific development but I think that Ronald Hutton mentions that briefly in his book “The Decisions of the Sun” but even in that case I’m not sure whether there are lots of historical records of that. Although at the time there should have been. But yeah honestly I don’t know. I’m sorry.

Celestara asks, was Samhain celebrated only in Great Britain or was it across what is now Europe like in France? I think that Samhain, the way we know it, comes from Ireland and Britain. But yeah, in this time I think that what you can find in different countries is some kind of tradition related to celebrating the dead but not exactly as Samhain. It would be it would be different.

Oh, hi Thomas. I just mentioned you earlier about the one who started the chicken joke. Question is Hekate a precursor to the Blessed Virgin Mary. No, I’m sorry but these are very… I don’t know if you saw the interview with Manon, Manon Hedenborg-White on the females in Thelema and one of the things that she mentions, because one of the questions that she got was on the possible connection between Babyalon and other female deities, is that this is something that practitioners tend to do. They want to draw connections between different deities and even different traditions but it’s not what historical evidence often suggests. But that doesn’t mean that you are not allowed to do that. I mean when it comes to personal religious beliefs, I think that it’s not something that has to be dictated by historical records. But if the question is in terms of history then I would say no.

Neha says, just sharing. Here, In India we have a different tradition of honouring the dead. It is called Pitru Paksha…was in last month. Oh, that’s interesting.

Oh, Marcus says it’s Hekate’s birthday. Everyone can try the Hekate Global Rite that Jason Miller created. It’s a perfect beginner ritual. Yeah, I am familiar with his work. Yeah, he’s a contemporary practitioner as we would say among scholars but I know that he defines himself as a sorcerer.

[Liesl] I think Norse Pagans have a similar celebration to Samhain but by a different name.

[OZSD Content Creator] You’re on about Samhain and Halloween not being one and the same thing when they are. Okay, I think that I’m a bit lost.

Jeanette Waverly says, when I was a kid I loved Halloween even more than Christmas. I always wondered where it came from. Yeah in Italy we have the All Saints Day on the 1st of November and the Day of the Dead would be the second of November and the tradition would usually be to go to the cemetery and bring flowers to the deceased people in your family. But now we have also imported the Halloween tradition from the US and this happens quite often. Italy seems to be quite influenced by the US culturally and so now there are, you know, you start to see the trick-or-treating in Italy as well but it’s still not common there are always Catholics that rebel to that practice saying that it is Satanic and that Catholics should not do that.

So have I missed any question?

Why not? just subscribed That’s a funny nickname.

Donna Emerald says, Samhain is older. All Hallows Eve is fifth century onwards, I think Samhain is Pagan Irish. Yeah, yeah definitely Samhain was older and scholars now agree that Halloween comes from Samhain although of course, it’s a bit different. But something that sometimes is brought up even by… now we mentioned that with Jennifer Uzzell (https://youtu.be/khv4QQJ3r1M) in the interview “Paganism versus Christianity,” I think it was called something like that. We mentioned that although it is true that most Christian festivals come from Paganism, in one way or another and to different extents. In some cases, you also see that the way Pagans conceptualize their practices and their festivals are also influenced by Christianity and Samhain could be one of those because there have been elements of the Christian Hallowmass that have been that have penetrated and got reshaped by Pagans when they reclaimed Samhain in its pre-Christian version.

Jeanette Waverly says, the ‘death’ of the warm half of the year but then I’ve always been a lumper.

TheRichmaldon1 says, happy Halloween everybody. Happy Halloween to you too.

Oh, hi Craig, thank you for your donation. Is there a connection between Sabbath and Jewish beliefs? Do you mean the Pagan use of the term Sabbat? And then you like my work. Thank you. So no, I don’t think that the idea of the pagan Sabbat is particularly connected to Jewish beliefs. It’s interesting because I once asked a professor of mine, he specialized in Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy and he had a series of seminars on magic, this was back in Italy, and I asked him where does the term Sabbat come from, you know, in association with witchcraft I mean. And he said that the first occurrence of it was in the, what’s the term that I’m looking for, you know, during the Witch Trials. The records of the Witch Trials that was the first occurrence of the term in relation to Witchcraft. And then it was reclaimed or used, you know, reclaimed again by Wiccans and Pagans because it got, over time, strictly connected to Witchcraft and to the practice of magic. But it’s not really clear, I mean why, you know, why they associated the term Sabbat with Witchcraft. It could have some link with Judaism but it’s very unclear. There are actually so many things in history that are very unclear and I know that sometimes we would like to have straightforward answers on things but yeah, sometimes history is more frustrating than one would like to admit.

[holiex] Oh, hi from Ireland. Hi.

[Raziel Firebat] What’s the best way to honour the Giant Floating Spaghetti God today? Yeah, that’s a good question. I think that eating and perhaps offering some of it to this priest of the dead might be the best way to honour the Spaghetti Monster. Yeah, you know that I don’t have that video on my YouTube channel anymore. So only those who have stayed here long enough know what the reference to the Spaghetti Monster is about.

So Clumsy Creations says, adore the music is there a place I can go to re-listen to it later on. I think just this live stream. No, there it isn’t anywhere at the moment but I can ask the artist whether he wants to put it on YouTube or something. I’ve been telling him that he should have, you know, like a YouTube channel, even just for the music.

James says, history is messy. Yes, it definitely is.

[lavalampazzz] Does Hekate have any connection to Samhain? I wouldn’t say to Samhain but to definitely to that because you know to the communication with the spirits because she’s a Psychopomp so she has this, she, what’s the term that I’m looking for tonight? I’m not working properly, my brain is not working properly, I mean. But yeah, she is a deity she was considered and is still conceived by contemporary Pagans as a deity associated with spirit communication and allowing spirits to move. So yeah, I would say that they’re not a connection to Samhain but a connection to spirits and spirits of the dead and the function of being a Psychopomp.

Cipriano says my mother sometimes told me about her father, my grandfather, who used to carve pumpkins on October 31^st. He didn’t know why but he said I’d always seen her father do it as traditions for the dead. Oh, this is interesting because we are talking about 50 years ago and beyond. The influence of the media and globalization was not as it is today. Yeah, I want to know I want to know more about that. Are you the Cipriano that I know? Because like I can see whether… oh yeah, it is in Naples so you are the Cipriano that you think you are. I know about other popular traditions of Napoli, Naples, really similar to what today is considered to be Halloween. Yeah, there are definitely lots of parallelisms across different cultures and different traditions and yeah, I think that perhaps both aspects are important to address both a unitarian aspect where you try and see the, you do a sort of comparative study of the different traditions. The problem is that when you come from a place of being a religious or a magic practitioner there’s a tendency of overdoing it, oversimplifying the different traditions too and in a way merge everything together and that sort of risks to flatten the complexity that is really present in every single tradition and every culture deserves to be study studied and understood in its own right. So that’s the risk that one might incur. But I’m not against finding parallelisms, absolutely.

Sam sam is asking, what’s the background music? As I said in the beginning, it was made by a close friend of mine. He goes by Mr Cup on the internet. But yeah, if you like it I can ask whether he’s willing to upload on YouTube.

João says, in some places in Portugal there’s an old tradition to carve turnips instead of pumpkins during harvest season. Oh!

Oh, bye James, ciao

[Azamutu] So it’s a good time to sacrifice barley to Mokosh and mead to Veles. I wish you would talk about Rodnovery in a future video. Yeah, we will see. Definitely, I will keep working on the YouTube channel so in the future, we will have different topics to cover, lots of topics to cover.

Oh thank you Nyahoy for, I hope I’m pronouncing it right, for your donation. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Oh, thank you so much. I think that when it comes to the topic of Samhain and Halloween I don’t feel extremely knowledgeable just because there are so many traditions all over the world that it’s impossible to be an expert of all of them, especially as a scholar. I feel that perhaps from a practitioner’s perspective is a bit different but scholars tend to be hyper-specialized on one area. So it’s extremely difficult to be an expert of a hundred different traditions and a hundred different festivals but I’m glad that you appreciate spending some time with me. I think it was more about, you know, spending some time together and celebrating together.

Oh, thank you Marcus for your donation. Question what’s your favourite horror movie? What’s my favourite horror movie? I guess “The Craft” comes to mind because it’s kind of a tradition of mine to re-watch “The Craft” on Samhain-Halloween. But yeah, I really like “The Craft.” I guess the story is not exceptional but it’s one of those movies that really, you know when you have those movies that you associate to a time in your life and so that’s why I really like it. And also it’s kind of a status symbol for Goth people especially Nancy. What is your favourite horror movie, Marcus? Now I want to know.

Neha is asking, which platform are you using for streaming? I’m using Streamlabs but perhaps you are if you are referring to the overlay here. It was created by Academic Police. But yeah the software is Streamlabs.

Neha is asking, which platform are you using for streaming? I’m using Streamlabs but perhaps you are if you are referring to the overlay here. It was created by Academic Police. But yeah the software is Streamlabs.

Edward Iglesias asks, does anyone else do sugar skulls or is that just Mexico? I think that there used to be a tradition of sugar skulls or something sugary in Ireland. I’m not completely sure. We don’t do that in Italy and so, yeah, I’m not sure. But I think the Mexican Día de los Muertos must be you know so nice and speaking of movies that reminds me of “Coco.” I don’t know if any of you guys or you Edward watched it. It’s quite moving and connected to the Día de los Muertos.

So holilex says “The Lost Boys” is the best. Yeah, that’s another nice one too and then “Interview with a Vampire.”

Donna Emerald says it was Irish immigrants to the US during the Irish famine of 1841 that brought the tradition of carving pumpkins there. We didn’t have pumpkins in Ireland but turnips. So it’s similar to what João is saying about Portugal.

Oh yeah, Thomas reminds me of “Nightmare Before Christmas.” I don’t know why I forgot about it. Yeah, that’s really a great movie, another one that I’m attached to.

And Donna says, now Irish people use pumpkins as we can buy them here now. No sugar skulls in Ireland says, Donna. Yeah, thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, as you can see I think that it’s quite common not only between different religious traditions like, as I was mentioning earlier, you know, Samhain-Halloween comes from samain but the reclamation, the way Pagans have started to conceptualize Samhain and practice it and celebrate it, still had some influences from Christianity that doesn’t only how this two-way influence doesn’t only happen in religions but even in cultures.

So Marcus says, my favourite horror movie is “Hellraiser One” and “Two” can’t choose between them. Oh, I’ve never watched them what are they about? Do they have anything about magic or is it just pure horror? I guess I’m not a big fan of horror movies, at least not the ones that are, you know, too horror. They need to have a very good story.

Oh, Neha says to Academic Police that he has some dope skills. Yeah, he does.

Donna Emerald, thank you. I did often wonder.

Okay, I think it’s nice that there are so many of you from different places around the world because we can have an exchange of the different traditions.

Oh, Animo Bellum says, Buona festa di Halloween! In Italian.

Marcus says the first Hellraiser series is about using an occult cube to summon, it portrays beings. Oh, I want to watch it now.

João says I’m torn between “Suspiria” and “The Hunger.” Okay, you’re making me feel very ignorant about horror movies now.

Liesl says I like the old Hammer Horror films.

Oh, hi Ryan.

[B.Violet F. Cohen] Do you know about Jacobo Grinberg and his work on Shamanism in Mexico? It is incredible. No, I’m not familiar with it. Is he a scholar? I mean an academic. I guess you can be a scholar even without being affiliated to a university.

Oh, Raziel Firebat says, what is the Indigenous tradition in Italia? So that was basically part of my PhD research, you know, one of the things that I did in my PhD research is to systematize the different folk magic traditions, the vernacular healing traditions across the different regions in the country. I systematized them with the name ‘the tradition of Segnature’ and I argued it to be the indigenous Italian shamanism. And of course, that needs lots of clarifications, like on how I use the term indigenous and how term Shamanism. Like, for instance, I argue, along with other scholars, that the term indigenous people should be disentangled by indigenous religions. Because that is unhelpful both to understanding the religion of indigenous people and the indigenous religions. So yeah, that because, of course, we don’t have indigenous people in Italy in the way you have indigenous people in the US, for instance. But that’s a political category and that’s why that’s one of the reasons why I think it should be not attached to indigenous religions.

Carlos says, my favourite movie is “Magical Practice.” That’s another one that I don’t know. Is it a horror movie?

Andrew says, horror movie – Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. It is a joke or does it really exist?

Oh hi, Equinox moonchild. Nice nickname.

Neha asks, how can I connect, how can I connect you. I think we can have some chat about a lot of things and also a potential opportunity to share your research on our platform if you’re interested? I’m not sure what your platform is Neha but you might want to consider joining my patron community because apart from interacting more with me you will also join a community of like-minded individuals, people. Individual sounds a bit strange. But yeah my Inner Symposium is quite fun and full of bright people and so we have a private Discord server and there’s Andrew that is running a book club and there’s also another group focused on magic practices. Yeah, it’s a fun place. So you can consider joining there and you can also send me an email if there’s something specific that you want to ask me but if it is you’re seeking to have a more regular interaction perhaps Patreon could be the best way to do it.

So holilex says, the best movie with esoteric undertones by far is a “Dark Song.” I highly recommend it. Yeah, have it on my watch list so I think that I’m gonna watch it shortly. Not shortly like today but in the immediate future.

So Liesl says, I’m a solitary eclectic pagan too we can go and celebrate with other communities in my opinion.

Simon says, Hail Hekate. Yeah, Simon, I don’t know if you missed the part where I talk about Hekate but it’s likely that I might do research on her as a deity in contemporary practices. So that might be interesting to you and to many others I imagine.

Oh, Andrew says that it was a real movie. Zombified chickens attempt to kill the fast-food workers that cook them in a restaurant built on an ancient burial ground. I’m sorry, I hope that I’m not being disrespectful but it sounds like a joke.

Marcus says Angela’s Patron community is awesome. I’ve had a great time talking to and learning from other practitioners. Oh that’s very nice of you Marcus. You’re a very valued member of the Inner Symposium so you’re awesome too.

Ryan says, ever seen the movie “The Craft?” Yeah, it’s the one that I mentioned earlier saying that I usually watch it on Samhain, Halloween.

[Marcus] “A Dark Song” actually does a great job portraying angels and demons.

[Donna Emerald] A bonfire is another popular tradition in Ireland, on Samhain, Yeah.

[Ryan Sampaulesi] Are you going to see the new Halloween movie? I guess it’s, is it a new one were of the ones that we have mentioned earlier?

AerialGl0ries, Solitary Pagan as well. I celebrate Samhain but I’m also trying to learn more about indigenous practices from Colombia so I can honour that part of myself by incorporating them into my own system.

I’m smiling to Marcus for the emoji

So Carlos says, Magical Practice though I think the right name is “Practical Magic.” Oh yeah, I know “Practical Magic” the one with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. Not a horror movie per se but it’s a good one like “The Craft.” Yeah, I think that it’s similar to “The Craft.” I prefer “The Craft” but “Practical Magic” is also nice.
Simon asks, what is your opinion of “Idiot Savant” in magical practice? What do you mean? I’m not sure I get what you ask.

Donna says, so Samhain actually starts tomorrow and [Hellbound Heathen] end of summer I believe. Yeah.

Oh hi, Donovan. It’s nice to see in the Live lots of people that usually comment on my videos as well as my Patrons, of course. But yeah, because when you comment over and over then I start to remember your names. Those that only comment once or twice on a video it’s more difficult for me to remember the name.

Ryan says, still don’t know the favourite Halloween movie.

holilex is asking, who’s yeah what are people doing tonight in terms of practice?

And Ryan says, beer. Is that a magical practice Ryan?

Oh, thank you Donovan for your donation. Here’s to the most awesome channel. Oh, thank you, Donovan, that means a lot.

And yeah thank you Donna for mentioning the Irish terminology. Are you familiar with Dr Jenny Butler’s work? I imagine you might but just in case I’m mentioning her.

Oh, Ryan says that drinking beer is a magical practice, of course. Yeah, I will interview on my YouTube channel, Dr Christian Greer. I already filmed them a short on my channel, a short video on my channel, when I was in Pisa for the conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions and yeah, we will be talking about psychedelic drugs and different ways of altering your state of consciousness in a way that is conducive to magic.

Oh, Donna says that she is not familiar with Jenny Butler. Well, I recommend you look her up because she is the expert on Irish folklore, especially when connected to Magic and Paganism.

Simon, definitely a most awesome channel. Is Jenny Butler coming on again soon? I hope so. If I can catch her in Ireland it would be fun to do an in-person interview. I am going to be in Ireland next year for two conferences. So I hope I get to spend some time with her.

Astrogypsy says I’m doing an involved bit of work to exorcise tobacco, involves a bonfire among other things. By exorcising tobacco do you mean that you want to get rid of the habit of smoking or is that you are exorcising the herb of tobacco?

Donovan says that he’s done some psychedelics. it’s interesting how like in transcultural shamanism you have almost a rejection of the use of psychedelics. It is more focused on the technique and they believe that you can achieve the same, a similar altered state of consciousness just by using and listening to the monotonous sound of drums and rattles. You don’t necessarily need to intake psychotropic drugs. I think that it’s fascinating the use of psychotropic drugs because it’s not just about intaking the plant it’s about establishing a relationship with the herb that you’re taking.

Donna says you will be made most welcome, I’m sure, we love Italian people. Very warm. Thank you, Donna. I think that in most countries Italians are liked. I don’t know why. Maybe because we are, yeah, I guess the Italian people tend to be warm and sociable perhaps. I am like that at least, but yeah, a lot of Italians are.

Andrew says Jenny Butler’s YouTube can be found in Angela’s list of channels on her YouTube homepage. Yeah, that’s true and there are also two interviews, Donna, there are two interviews with her on my Youtube channel. One on the Fairies and the Sídhe and the other one on Irish paganism.

Oh, Donovan is doing it for medical use. Yeah.

Thiago says, have you ever managed to cross the abyss. I can tell that you watched my latest short video. As you know, I don’t really share my personal beliefs and practices but I think that it’s a very interesting thing to reach that point of crossing the abyss. And I find it to be quite akin to Buddhism, to what you find in Buddhist Philosophy.

Simon says, do you have any experience with using Shaligrams? No, but also I don’t share my personal experiences here. I tend to share the experiences of my informants that I gather through research or what other researchers have found in their own study.

Marcus says I’m excited for the chat with Jenny Butler. I’ve had a success charging… or maybe you mean the one with Christian Greer on psychedelics Marcus… I’ve had success charging psychedelics with magic to structure the experience but most Magicians I know never touched them. Yeah, I think that it is still a controversial topic, perhaps, that of psychedelics.

[Prometheus Eleuthrios] the festival of Samhain is about the opening of the gate to the dark side of the year. That as well.

Astrogypsy says Dr Jenny Butler wears a lot of hats. Oh okay, I thought you were mentioning, you know, you were being literal because I thought, I don’t think I ever saw her wearing a hat. But now I get it is metaphorical, it’s not literal. But yeah, she’s great. She’s also very nice as a person.

Thomas says Italians are so friendly. They will talk to you when you speak Italian or not. Yeah, we are used to using gestures so just be theatrical and you will be okay.

I’m really interested in Enochian Magic, Donovan says. I guess you have already watched my videos on the Enochian Magic.

Astrogypsy says, she defended a PhD; that’s gotta count for something where crossing the abyss is concerned. Yeah, that would have been the much better answer than the one I gave Astrogypsy. I should have said crossing the abyss was my PhD defence. That’s when I crossed the abyss for sure. A disintegration of my ego.

Thiago says I love your channel. Hope you keep up the academic fun. Oh, thank you. Honestly, I can keep up doing the work on the channel thanks to the support that I get from you on different levels. Of course, my Patrons and my supporters help me keep the project going financially and also all of you who like and share and comment on my videos you’re also helping the project grow, so that helps as well. So obviously if you can, if you have the means and want to support me that is always welcome and it really helps me. But if you don’t have the means you have other ways of supporting my work. As I mentioned so every kind of contribution is really welcome and I highly appreciate it.

Andrew says there are two videos on the Symposium on Enochian Magic. Yeah.

[Simon] Italians are friendly and outgoing but have hot tempers. Yes, you only see the polite version of me here.

It’s somebody’s birthday. Oh happy birthday Gagan Rrr.

Prometheus says I wish you a wonderful time of magic and mystery. Oh, that’s very nice.

So I guess that we can end the live stream here. It was really fun to hang out with you guys. I hope that the short talk, which was basically a way of introducing the, you know, Samhain and the festivity. Hope it was appreciated and I most definitely appreciate you. Thank you so much for all of those who send donations, it really helps me keep this project going. So thank you very, very much and so I’m gonna leave you to your celebrations, whether it’s beer or whether it’s going to the cemetery or doing a Pagan or a Wiccan ritual. However, you celebrate I just hope you have a lovely day and yeah, I will see you again in the next video.

But also, don’t forget, if you did like this live stream or if you are watching it on demand, if you liked it please don’t forget to SMASH the like button, subscribe to the channel and share the video with your friends, this one or other ones which perhaps are more informative and stay tuned for all the Academic fun.

So bye guys and thank you so much for coming. It’s always nice to interact with you.

Bye.

First streamed 31 Oct 2021