Dear Witches, Druids, and Magicians:

  As Samhain approaches our thoughts turn to September 11, and what we can do to help. Many plan to ease the transition of the many souls struggling to find their way to the other side, and this is noble and honorable work. But there's another job to be done.

  How have things been since 9/11? Setting aside the grief, the rage, the fear, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?" How has that part of life not directly related to terrorism or war actually been? Here's what I've seen:

  Three plane accidents, unrelated to terrorism, in the 4 weeks since the attacks. One train wreck with fatalities, and one crazed killer on a bus, also unrelated. I can't think of any other one-month period that had so many tragedies. A single plane crash used to fill the news media for months on end, now they're coming too fast to follow.

  A wave of colds and flu. Not unusual as the weather changes, but notable in massive absenteeism, and my doctor tells me he's had many patients relapsing and coming back for another visit. My first thought was that immune suppression is normal when people are upset, and undoubtedly that's a big part of it. Pet owners tell me that many of their pets are sick, and my kitty, already ill but managing, turned suddenly worse and died, although the vet couldn't say why.

  Crime is down as people treat one another with an outpouring of human kindness, but accidents and injuries of all kind seem to be way up. (I live in the New York area, things may or may not be worse here.)

  What does any of this have to do with terrorism or with Samhain?

  One of the principals of magical ritual is that creating a particular kind of energy attracts a particular kind of being (or Being). Prayer and sacrifice brings the gods. Invocation brings the elementals. In my 20-plus years of magical practice, I've also noticed that non-corporeal beings can also be summoned accidentally. For example, a house fire can attract Fire Elementals, so that small fires erupt for weeks thereafter.

  On September 11, terrorists did more than attack New York and Washington. They made a blood sacrifice in the name of their deity, sacrificing their own lives and murdering thousands to achieve a "religious" goal of extreme evil. We know that physically, they achieved many of their goals -- the World Trade Center was destroyed. I believe that they succeeded magically as well.

  This immense blood sacrifice, this outpouring of evil and death, has opened a gate, and negative energies have poured through that gate. Forces that you might call "demonic"  have been drawn to us. They must be sent back!

  On Samhain, CLOSE THE GATES. Show the energies of negativity and destruction OUT. They have overstayed their welcome, we don't want them! On Samhain, when the gates are meant to be opened, it's the perfect opportunity to complete the Samhain ritual by closing the door afterwards, first making sure that "The Outsiders," the beings of pain, anguish, terror and blood are absolutely clear that they   MUST go through, back to the other side.

  Brightest blessings for the New Year,

  Deborah Lipp

This ties in with Harold's point that the attack on the Towers and the Pentagon was a magick attack.

See Kindling