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ok i have heard of something called the witching hour, what is it, all i get is at 3 clock in the moring all evil is aloud to play?

can one say what it is and where it came from?

Its from the hours of 12.00am to 3.00 am its from a saying I heard long ago, But not sure where I heard it from something to do with the halloweeen theme I suppose .

In reference to the fae, it was supposedly the period when they could cross, as well as spirits of the dead. Thats why prime time for working magicks is when the days blend three hours on either side of midnight. Where one can begin anew in a new time. As most circles function in this matter this period of time makes it a good catalyst for it. Especially on days, such as esbats or sabbats when working on a specific type of energy.

The witching hour is the hour of midnight on a full moon. It can be traced to the ancient times of the worship of Goddesses associated with the moon and fertility. As the moon waxes in its phases so do the powers of those, until they culminate at the full moon.

isnt there like an hour of the wolf as well..? or am i stupid

The Hour of the Wolf" is the hour between night and dawn. It is the hour when most people die.

In European folklore, the witching hour is the time between 12am and 3am ans is when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful a marvel of energy and inventiveness.
3 AM is the witching hour because Christ was thought to have died at 3 PM... ..... Also

The witching hour is the hour before midnight on halloween and the saint's hour the hour after (All Hallowes Day) ... this was the view of the Pendle witches of the 17th century....

I have heard of it, just never actually looked in to it. The Witching Hour has been around for ages...but if I'm not mistaken, it is most powerful on All Hallows Eve.

I heard that its at midnight...

thanks...i prolly could have looked it up but eeh lazy..

This is a very intresting topic but I think that we will never know the true answer as it has many meaning to many different type of people some believe that the witching hour happens around hollowe'en and some believe that it happens durring the night of a full moon and some believe that it happens between midnight and 3am
not sure exactally where it began so not sure of the true meaning you have to come to our own answer

To add a little more to the confusion, it is also said to be the strongest on May's Eve (the night before May 1st)
Which is the balance of Hallowe'en

the reasion this time frame is give is becouse thes who use dark magic tend to use it when most people are asleep thus making the energy more usable to them when others are awake all are compeating for it at night it is easer to get ahold of a larger mount the during the day

The veil is thinnest on samhain and it's said sprits come to visit from the summerlands. That's why we put food on the porch on oct. 31st. To apease the traveling sprits. I 've always heard the witching hour is 3:00 am.

I heard what wykidmortisa said that the witching hour is opposite the time that Christ was said to die on the cross (12pm to 3pm) - so the witching hour is 12am to 3am.

I think a real witch would regard the witching hour when the moon is at it's fullest or darkest during the esbat or the precise moment of the cross quarter time of Samhain between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. It would rarely be midnight but like 8:33PM or something like that.

Interesting to hear all the interpretations though.

i've heard lots of variations of what the withching hour is, but the most common i've heard is that it refers to midnight on a full moon

From my knowledge is its right around 3am. But knowledge is just from personal experience mostly.

Helloween is the only time I was told but then I was also told the witching hour is every full moon....

heres what I heard it's t 3am and it is because it is said that jesus was born then.

witching hour
Midnight, as in They arrived just at the witching hour. This term alludes to older superstitions concerning a time appropriate to witchcraft and other supernatural occurrences. Shakespeare and others wrote of "the witching time of night." The precise phrase was first recorded in 1835.


http://www.answers.com/topic/witching-hour

Its from midnight - 3 am but the most powerful is that time on all hallows eve .

I always thought it was Midnight. I thought it was supposed to be the best time for Witchcraft because it's inbetween one day and the next, which is supposed to make things more powerful. I'm not sure though.

Witching hour is the hour at 12 midnight,
and the hour of the wolvs, On Halloween night is when all the evil comes out least thats what I was grew up with knowning

How about another variation:

During the Salem witch trails, they used to call out "Witching Hour" as a sign of when they knew the ladies would be casting their spells according to folklore.

The ladies always cast between the hours of Midnight and the Devils hour which is 3 O'clock. Thus the term witching hour became known during All Hollow's Eve.

Gotta love human history.

Ive heard it is 11:30 to 12:30 the first is Wht magic the other is dark.Just what I've heard.
KA

Witching hour is between 12 and 3, yet also have heard between 12 and 1. when the creatures of the night have the most power, supernatural have the ability to cross unto our realm.

That is the time all evil can enter the world ...

There is no optimum time for witchcraft... otherwise time differences would make a nonsense of it all...

The witching hour is midnight. The 3 am has to do with demonic powers.

The witching hour is midnight on a full moon (although some consider every midnight to be a witching hour, for some reason.)

However, there is ALSO a "witching" hour at 3:00am on a Monday, and it is supposed to signify a mockery of the death of Christ... I do not know much about that, but a friend of mine is a Christian and was telling me about it a few weeks back, so I will ask him and get back to this thread.

I personally do not believe this- however, I think that if you want to believe that one time of the day or night is different to any other, then it will change your behaviour- in theory, you would be posessing yourself, I suppose.

Anyone know why 12 o'clock midnight is so important to witches?

It's when the 9:00pm ritual starts. lol.
People who run on PT know what I mean.

Well, I always assumed that it was something in relation to the shifting between day and night, but unfortunately I don't actually know- anyone?

When the Salem witch trails were in force, they always executed the witches at midnight, since folklore declared midnight to be the hour darkness is at its peak. Funny, the darkest dark for the witchiest witch.

its very interesting i too have heard its from midnite to 3 am

I heard one version. The Witching Hour was a duplicate of 3pm. Which is the hour of "Good" or whatever the proper name is. But in the Witching Hour is indeed when evil is said to come out.

Some magic requires the spaces betwixt and between, the edges of things where one thing ends and the other begins. This is where the world stretches thin, one the shore between the sea and the land, the edges of shadow betwixt the light and the time when night is the deepest before heading toward day.

I also agree with the 3am theory. every night for a long period of time i was being woken up at 3am to the point that it was to obvious that there was something going on. I must say that this is as reals as it gets and if anyone is being woken up at 3am a cleansing of the house must be done and a retuning of your powers. Cleansing of body as well as sould.

3 am and all hallows eve...

I have heards lots of reasons behind the witching hour...Christians seem to think that 3 am is th hour when Christ died and all manner of hell and demons were loosed on the Earth for a while....not sure I believe that but it's one belief.....

I personally always thought that the witching hour was at 12:00 to 3:00 in the morning, when everything was mainly calm and witches could cast their spells...

No bloodraven it is believed that Christ died at 3pm,so maybe the 3am is the opposite so then that's why?

I think it's all a superstition because from 12am till 3am the night is darker so since the dark and night are associated with evil,then someome came up with the Witching hour superstition.

I would have to agree with bloodraven. It is what I was told years back before my grandmother passed. I have also heard that on all Hallows eve that it was between midnight and 3 AM. *shrugs*

3 am is the darkest part of the night...the saying goes..darkest before dawn.

I always heard it was midnight too....

I still believe that the witching hour is at 3:00 am because i heard that everything is basically calm and that is when witches cast their spells, i have also read this online and i heard it on a radio show, and it does make sence to cast spells at 3:00 am...

3AM is the most quiet time of the night, everything is the darkest, its too late for most people to stay up and too early for most people to get up.
In that quietness I think there's a sort of enigmatic feeling that's held, and people have a tendency to think that all enigmas have something evil behind them.

I thought the witching hour was 12 midnight....

its supposed to be the exact opposite of the hour that Jesus died which would be 3 in the afternoon. So naturally the witching hour would be at 3 in the morning. Creepy if you ask me.

i have heard many things about the witching hour but to my understanding it was 12midnight but i guess i was wrong

In folklore, the witching hour is the time when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful, and black magic at its most effective.
This is typically from midnight till 3 am,

In neopaganism, it is sometimes used to refer solely to midnights occurring during a full moon, when a witch's power is supposedly at its greatest......

One of the earliest known uses of the exact phrasing "the witching hour" is from 1835, in the last line of a short story by Washington Irving: "Two pairs of eyes are watching me now, from the couch and the ledge by the window. Faerieland shines in those eyes. And I must leave you, for it's the witching hour and a full moon is rising. . . ."

in Hamlet:
Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on.
[Act III, sc. ii]

I have always considered it to be around 3 am, but for me it's not a negative thing. It's the time when almost everything is sleeping and quiet and I can feel the energy of the earth better than having to try and sort it out of all the other energies moving around during the day.

MsBellemee, you are quite correct...
(I had to look it up again)
But the second part of it (neopaganism), sounded correct right off the bat....

I hear about midnight beingthe witching hour, supposedly because that is when the ebst magick is done. Or maybe it is something that has changed over time because that was meant to scare little children into going to bed on time so withches don't get them.

I come not with an answer but with wisdom. Witching hour has been described as many things in the past as well as present, choose carefully as to what you believe and what you do not. If you try something that involves that sacred time and you do it in the wrong manor, a harsh evil could befall you.

Action, and reaction, decisions and their consequences, I would advise not to play around with things that you do not know about, at least until more knowledge on the subject is gained of course. I do not know much, I have heard things about it, ceremonies and rituals also that it is indeed a time that contains much power although the reason escapes me.

In European folklore, the witching hour is the time when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful, and black magic at its most effective. This hour is typically midnight, and the term may now be used to refer to midnight, or any late hour, even without having the associated superstitious beliefs.

In neopaganism, it is sometimes used to refer solely to midnights occurring during a full moon, when a witch's power is supposedly at its greatest.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_hour

very kool and exsiteing topic to discuss.... well im sure its 12.00 or 300 am.

Witching hour is from 12 - 3 in the morning , Bewitching hour is after hours when the cats go nuts all night

I've always been told that the witching hour begins at midnight. That is was a time when powers were at their peak, hense why it was called the witching hour.

midnight is the hour that day and night meet...depends on what your trying to do which one you cast a spell during.

Has heard of this and from reading this thread alone it seems there are a variety of answers to this and perhaps we will never know the exact hour or how much fact is truely in it

the witching hour is 3 hours before midnight on oct 31

I searched it just to see what would come up. This is what I got so far...

WITCHING HOUR

The witching hour is the hour of midnight on a full moon. It is at this time that the witches spell casting powers are at their fullest. The witching hour is a time of change and transformation.

The history of the witching hour may be traced to the ancient times of the worship of Goddesses associated with the moon and fertility. As the moon waxes in its phases so do the powers of those, until they culminate at the full moon. The Real Witches Handbook

That info came from here : http://www.paralumun.com/witchhour.htm

I also got this :
What is the witching hour?

The witching hour is an hour at night in which supernatural creatures are said to be their most powerful. Witches, demons, ghosts, any evil entity is said to be its most destructive during the witching hour.

The witching hour is commonly believed to be at midnight, but it is also commonly accepted that any late hour is the witching hour. The idea would be that the middle of the night is the time in which supernatural creatures are at their most powerful.

Some pagan beliefs state that the witching hour only occurs during a full moon. These witches would not be the commonly known version, old ladies with a wart and a broomstick. Many neopagan religions believe in such things, but are as good intended as any non-pagan. For example Wicca witches commonly use spiritual beliefs, and rituals to create good will, or positive outcomes in certain situations; help with family matters, or financial matters in times of need, that sort of thing. The witching hour on the night of a full moon can increase the chances of success in these endeavours.

The only reference I've ever seen of the witching being at 3 o'clock am is in the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The theory in that movie was that the witching hour was at 3 o'clock as a mockery of the holy trinity. Perhaps that hour would be better suited to demons and the like as witches have really only been two things; fictional creatures, or women who feel connected to Mother Earth or women who have been wrongly persecuted for being women.

I would say that if there is a witching hour it would occur when current witches say it occurs and that seems to be at midnight on nights with full moons. If the 3 o'clock hour has any significance it would be inappropriately called the witching hour, perhaps the term demon hour would be more appropriate
From here : http://www.askipedia.com/askipedia-article-012-865.htm

Basically if you search it on Google there are lots of links...

I do believe that the Witching hours are from Midnight to 3am...best time to do something :)

thats what I was always told 12 to 3...

The witching hour is the time when the line between us and the spirits are thinnest, because not many people realize that the spirits give us so many of the magick that people take so much stock in

what I heard is it is from 3am to 4am because christ was said to be born between that time and died at the same time so its when the spirits are aloud to play shall we say.

And what time would that be if you don't have a watch? Care to describe the night for me? How many 12-3am posts do we need? Can you feel the diffence in the night hours?

I found this online :

In European folklore, the witching hour is the time when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful, and black magic at its most effective. This hour is typically midnight, and the term may now be used to refer to midnight, or any late hour, even without having the associated superstitious beliefs.

In neopaganism, it is sometimes used to refer solely to midnights occurring during a full moon, when a witch's power is supposedly at its greatest.

here is the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_hour

i asked a freiend as well and she was liek 3 am as well

it is supposedly the opposite of the hour in wich christ was born which is looked upon as the holiest of times

I personally believe that the witching hour is a 3:00 am, but who cares i mean if you want to do spells or magick then do it when you want to it is up to you...

I thought it happened at midnight. And something about it being when witches fly on brooms? LOL

The question has been asked and answered, so I am going to close it rather than hear its 3 am or 12-3 for the umpteenth time.