A Druid's Web Log – November 2018 – Celtic New Year and a time to VOTE!

We are in the time of Samhain (Halloween) as I write this. Samhain is the ancient Celtic New Year, still celebrated by Wiccans, Druids and other Pagans. The ancient Celts had only two seasons; Summer, the light half of the year, and Winter, the dark half of the year. Samhain marks the all important portal between summer and winter, a time of chaos when the veils between the Worlds are thin and Fairies, Spirts and the departed return to their familiar haunts.

Samhain is also the time when the last harvest should be safely stowed away and any produce left in the fields after this date belongs to the Fairies, not to be touched. The cows should have been brought down from the hills by now and be snug in their byres. Candles are placed in windows and places are set at the table for departed ancestors, in remembrance. Everyone should put out a plate for the Fairies, in the garden or in a special nook of the house.

While costumes and trick or treating occur on October 31 in modern times, there is controversy about the actual date among those who try to honor traditional ways (see the Celtic News section below for details about Celtic Samhain observances). Some posit that the date would have been November 7 because that’s the mid-point between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice. The old Scottish observance was on November 11 and it is fitting that 11/11 is now “Remembrance Day” or “Veterans’ Day”, the date when we honor soldiers who have committed the ultimate self-sacrifice. I think whoever chose that date knew exactly what they were doing.

For me October 31 is the more secular and commercial Halloween and the night of November 11 is the time when the walls between the worlds are truly thinnest.

The flower of the common or field poppy Papaver rhoeas, on which the remembrance poppy is based.

The weather here on the mountain has been rainy and somewhat balmy. Wooly Bear caterpillars are everywhere, sporting long orange bands across their middles, predicting a warm winter. Yesterday I processed acorns with a friend which, after two weeks of leaching, I hope to bake into festive cakes this winter. Squirrels and birds are perching on the still empty bird feeder making me feel guilty. I don’t want to start laying out sunflower seeds until hard frosts set in, to discourage the bears.

This week is a critical one for the future of this nation. My friend Janet penned a poignant essay on Facebook that I just had to share. Please think about this as you make your way to your election site. And if you find you have been kicked off the voting rolls as so many are now discovering, please make sure to ASK FOR A PROVISIONAL BALLOT.

Why Trumpism Is Here To Stay

Do you know what were the worst kind of Nazis in the Third Reich?

I’m from Germany. Germany has a “special relationship” with the dangers of fascism and racism. I would like to explain to you how Trumpism works and why you won’t get rid of it, even if Trump goes to jail and dies and the whole GOP denounces him. Trump did not happen in a vacuum. Trump was merely the next logical step after the Tea Party. When Obama came to power, the GOP discovered the power of pure unadulterated hatred. Hatred against Obama was the tool that allowed them to polarize and rile up their voters. However, the Tea Party eventually went out of control. The GOP had whipped their base into such a frenzy that the Tea Party started turning against the GOP itself. All over the US new extremist Tea Party candidates defeated moderate Republican candidates in primaries. In their desire to sow hatred for Obama, the GOP had accidently unleashed hatred against the establishment.

Trump took this Republican anti-establishment sentiment and rode it to victory. How?

Here’s where the comparison between Trump and Hitler becomes necessary. Trump is not Hitler. But he uses the same psychological methods to manipulate voters. Germany in the 1920s. The country had just lost a war, was an international pariah and economy and politics were in perpetual crisis. And Hitler gave the people what they wanted: Somebody to blame.

Hitler blamed the Democrats for sabotaging the war-efforts, he blamed the Jews and the capitalists for the destroyed economy, and he blamed the Communists for the political chaos and the destruction of monarchy. Hitler wanted the simple, clear-cut imperial world back. Instead the new world was full of complications and new cultures and political parties and compromises and shifting societal values. Hitler gave the Germans the perfect excuse to be bad. It was okay to give in to your darkest desires, because suddenly the world was full of people it was okay to hate.

It was okay to hate democracy, it was okay to hate Jews, it was okay to hate Communists, it was okay to hate Capitalists… All the bad things you had always wanted to do, now it was okay to do them.

Do you know who were the worst kind of Nazis in the Third Reich?

No, not the fanatic, murdering extremists. It was the quiet ones, who marched along without thinking. Who had always been such nice people and now had no hesitations whatsoever about ratting their dear neighbors out to send them to concentration-camps. The worst Nazis were the unthinking sheep who simply accepted that it’s now okay to be evil because Hitler told them it’s okay to be evil. Trump has done the same. He gave Republican voters somebody to hate. It’s now okay to hate Democrats and liberals, it’s okay to hate Mexicans, it’s okay to hate Muslims, it’s okay to hate journalists, it’s okay to hate women, it’s okay to hate homosexuals…Trump has given them the excuse they always wanted. Trump has declared that now it’s okay to be evil.

Do you know who is the worst kind of Trump-follower?

The worst kind of Trump-followers are the unthinking sheep who simply accept that it’s now okay to be evil because Trump told them it’s okay to be evil. And this is the reason why Trumpism is here to stay. Trumpism is the extremist version of the Tea Party. The Republican voters have been brainwashed to think that being evil is okay. And they have a permission to do whatever they want, be it good or be evil. They have an excuse to do whatever they want, be it good or evil.

In order for Trumpism to disappear, the Trump-voters would have to give up the freedom to mistreat people that Trump gave them. And we all know how Republican voters LOVE their inherent and inalienable rights to mistreat other people. They think that they have a religious right to mistreat people. They think that outlawing racial discrimination is an attack on white people.

Trumpism is here to stay, because Republican voters have been told that being evil is their freedom and their right.

* WHATEVER ELSE YOU DO, ON NOVEMBER 6, PLEASE GET OUT AND VOTE!*

And for those who have been following the ongoing drama about clear cutting of forests here in New England just to put in solar panels, here are some updates;

UPCOMING SPEAKING EVENTS AND BOOK NEWS

Saturday, November 10th
6pm to 8 pm
An evening with Author, Druid and Herbalist, Ellen Evert Hopman
for a discussion and presentation of her newest book, The Real Witches of New England.
Deadwick’s Ethereal Emporium, 19 Sheafe Street, Portsmouth, NH – 603-619-6946
$20 pp – Space is very limited. Reservations required.
Facebook event page
A Winter Reading

January 26, 2019, 4-6 PM
Belchertown, Massachusetts
Facebook Event Page
*You can purchase a signed copy of this book and all my other books from this website www.elleneverthopman.com* Yule is coming! Signed books make a great gift
A recent interview about the new book The Real Witches of New England
And a second podcast – my bit starts about 54 minutes in
Halloween 2018 podcast
Another old podcast that recently resurfaced on Facebook – from Samhain (Halloween) 2011