Are you ready for Saturnalia? The Winter Solstice? Christmas?
In brief:
Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honor of the god Saturn, held December 17th in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to December 23rd. By the fourth century A.D., Western Christian churches settled on celebrating Christmas on December 25th, which allowed them to incorporate the holiday with Saturnalia and other pagan midwinter traditions.
Fun Fact:
There is not a single passage in Bible where God tells people to celebrate Christmas.
It is my opinion that, Christmas is purely a Pagan holiday, but anyone can celebrate it. It doesn’t matter if you are religious or not. It seems that marketing has well taken over the holiday anyhow. From my perspective, a holiday becomes truly Christian if you subscribe to that religion and honor its deity, attend church, etc., as part of your celebration. A holiday celebrated in this present day will take on a Pagan or modern Pagan tone when one subscribes to anything falling under that umbrella and celebrates the holiday in their way in accord with their beliefs, in their heart. If you don’t subscribe to any religious or spiritual views, you still can celebrate in whatever way you see fit. What matters is that you are happy and that you enjoy yourself. This holiday season holds the spirit of joy. It is joy, happiness, celebration, and giving; that feeds the egregore of this season in general.
On the flip side of this holiday season, compared to the rest of the year, I feel a darker force present. Nothing negative but darker, something sinister, maybe? There is definitely, a darker magical current. The darkness I speak of is not that of black/baneful magick or ill intention, but rather the dark energy that rules this dark half of the year, It certainly is at its core power; as we come to the year’s end. For me, this certainly is the Devil’s holiday. Maybe even more so than Halloween. Halloween feeds our desire for dark fun, paranormal activity, and something spooky. Halloween awakens our inner curiosity about what lies beyond the veil. It is a common belief that Halloween is the time to commune with the dead and for some to honor their ancestors. But it is; the ancient current of Saturnalia, the astrological power of the Winter Solstice, and the pure magic of Christmas where those sensitive to natural energies; can really, feel the Devil’s current. His presence can be felt dominantly now.
And. speaking of paranormal activity, this might be a fascination throughout October and what Halloween is marketed, however, now is the high time for action in this department, especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Did you know that most paranormal activity is recorded and reported during this time?
*The attached art image: “Winder Solstice or the Holly King” by Michael Ker.
By Kindra Ravenmoon
Kindra Ravenmoon 
Hello, it’s interesting that most paranormal activity is reported and recorded this time of the year. Maybe since there is a lot of darkness and depression this time of the year, negative ghosts and demons get energized since they feed on negativity, and this leads to paranormal manifestations.
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Hi Albert, thanks for reading and sharing. You make a good point! Considering that so many fall into depression and feelings of sadness during this time, the negative energy just from that alone is enough for such spirits to feed from. Even more, the reason why everyone needs to find joy, through the festivities related to the holiday or through simple things like all the decorations up and about almost everywhere.
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Very well said Kindra. As a satanist myself I have been celebrating this holiday but not the old typical get together family type of christmas though, because as for me I honor and reward myself with gifts with my own money on this holiday and I also consider my dogs as my true families since I honor my dogs with gifts too. After all real satanism is all about the self unlike those theistic satanists that shy away from this holiday only because its christian when really its not even a christian holiday at all.
Krampus is awesome to. But yea not only I honor and reward myself but I also thank satan for the happiness and positivities hes brought to my life.
I love this blog Kindra. Thank you so much🖤😈
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I think people who claim Christmas is not a Christian holiday at all overstate their claim. After all, the name “Christ” is the first half of the word “Christmas,” and historically Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ. While there are pagan overtones, there are definitely Christian overtones as well. This cannot be denied. See the Nativity scenes all over the place this time of year.
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I agree the origin of the name Christmas is Christian and that it does mean Christ’s mass, But, sadly, due to commercialism and ignorance, nowadays for most, the true meaning had been lost. It is just seen as the name of a holiday based on giving, gathering, and feasting. I’m not saying this is right and I hate when linguistics changes due to such factors. The title Christmas though is not what the holiday or any of the holidays falling during this season was titled in origin, Not until December 25th was assigned to be the day of honor was the day then titled Christmas. This happened way after the birth of Jesus in a much more modern period in history.
Yes, there are some pagan overtones which mostly leaked over from the ancient Romans and their Saturnalia revelries, however as I had stated in previous replies to other readers here, much of what we think is pagan in relation to this holiday today, is actually influenced or stemming directly from Christian and Catholic roots.
Here are a couple of videos by a young scholar whom I admire, he goes directly to the points of the researched history of this holiday and holiday season. I think you will find these clips to be interesting
Holiday Blessings to You!
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Even the person Santa Claus is rooted in St. Nicholas, a real, historical Christian bishop. From what I understand, the Church chose December 25 to celebrate the birth of Christ in order to influence pagans to join them. Thanks for your insights.
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Hails ArcaneShadowWolf!
Thanks for reading and for sharing. Yes, we mustn’t leave out our animal companions, it is their holiday as much as it is ours. I will repeat what I had just replied to Titus below: On the whole, the Christians didn’t appropriate much, it was the other way around with a lot of it, not only referring to this holiday. Placing Saturnalia aside, most everything we celebrate today and tend to relate to this holiday (including the Krampus) is actually influenced by or stems directly from Christian and Catholic customs. Despite what some sources claim, actual pagan roots for much of this, cannot be proven. There is much that we tend to label as being pagan that is actually rooted in Christianity, you’d be surprised lol! The title Satan and the view of Satan and how Satan is revered by theistic Satanists, all are rooted in Christianity, biblical myth, also Christian and politically based fiction such as Paradise Lost and the Divine Comedy. As LaVey had stated that Satan is the Church’s best friend and has kept them in business well same for how the Christian Bible has been the best friend and influence for Satanism but mostly theistic Satanism. LaVey’s Satanism only took the title and image of the Christian Satan to represent them but they nor he, ever subscribed to the biblical stories or any religious myths. The cult of theistic Satanism is another story though, they take it to heart and also find a way to keep their Satanism Christian Lol!
I’m glad that you find peace and joy in celebrating alone but know that there is nothing wrong in celebrating with family and friends, if you desire to that is Lol! Do it for you, not for others, which I know you abide by (:
Know though, that despite the fact that true Satanism is individualistic, this doesn’t mean that you need to seclude yourself from celebrating holidays with others. You don’t need to be alone or make any celebrations you hold with others about anyone’s spirituality or religion. Nothing wrong with feasting and sharing happily some time together for the sake of happiness and joy in honor of a holiday and yourself. But I do totally understand what a toxic family and friend situation is and I do agree that for your best interest to protect your energy and if that means celebrating happily alone, so be it!
Darkest Holiday Blessings!
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Interesting about the labels o fidnt even know lol. Thank you kindra.
Yea as for me kindra I never really liked being around with some people in certain major holidays cuz again I really like having that space and freedom for myself. In rare occassions I’ll spend time with the person but only he/she is worth it. Overall I like that celebration for myself along with my dogs. I’ve always been like this too. It was crappy back then when I was a kid. I had to be with family and just didnt like the vibe until finally I got old enough to make my decisions and back in 2003 with my dad I dont wanna get started with that lol I never spent christmas with him ever again cuz of it. But yea that freedom for yourself is satisfying. Its like what some people say, “I dont have to worry about anyone but myself.” Lol.
Darkest holiday blessings to you too😈🖤
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I LOVE your fun fact – I had no idea! Lol I like what you wrote about Christmas having its roots in a much older, Pagan tradition. We tend to forget that. Christians simply appropriated themselves of this period of festivities and made it into Christmas. I would love to delve more into the Saturnalia, and understand more how the Roman celebrated it, including their rituals and the statues they must have used. I fear though that much of this kind of source is no longer extant. Nice pic you chose for this blog! 😊 AVE SATANAS!
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Ave Titus! Thanks for reading and for sharing.
Actually, on a whole, the Christians didn’t really appropriate much, it was the other way around with a lot of it, not referring to only this holiday. Placing Saturnalia aside, most everything we celebrate today and tend to relate to this holiday (including the Krampus) is actually influenced by or stems directly from Christian and Catholic customs. There is much that we tend to label as being Pagan that is actually rooted in Christianity. You’d be surprised Lol! My opinion is based upon Saturnalia and what influence we have taken from it, such as celebrating festively, gift exchanging, feasting, coming together for parties, etc.
I agree that it would be fascinating to learn more about the inner practices of Saturnalia. Here are a couple of videos on Saturnalia and Sol Invictus from a scholar I admire
When you learn from scholarly sources, a lot is brought to the surface.
Glad you like the art piece I’ve chosen to rep this post (:
Many Hails and Dark Holiday Blessings!
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I’m honestly really glad that the phrase Happy Holidays is being used more these days. There are different groups of people celebrating around this time of year and it’s only fair to acknowledge that the Christian holiday is only one among many.
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Leonora, thanks for reading and for sharing. I totally agree. Some people don’t take this into consideration and it could become insulting and uncomfortable for those who are honoring another holiday falling at this time.
Many Blessings!
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I’m no expert on this topic, but I know that historically the Church used the Julian calendar and celebrated the Nativity of Christ on January 7. But in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII modified the calendar. There is a thirteen days difference between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar. From what I understand, Pope Gregory wanted to adjust the calendar to make it more astronomically correct.
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I thought it was January 6th but you’re right Albert, that Pope adjust the calendar for that purpose.
It’s interesting how calendars changed and how things shifted and changed bit by bit over the years. And, the reasoning for it.
Holiday Blessings!
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