New attempt with sources.
"The witching hour -the time when witches are said to appear, usually twelve o'clock at night"
cambridge.org/dictionary
"the witching hour - Midnight (with reference to the belief that witches are active and magic takes place at that time)."
en.oxforddictionaries.com
Devils hours
"The thinking behind the specific time of 3am is that it is a deliberate mocking of the death of Jesus Christ, who, according to ancient writing, died in the middle of the afternoon - at 3pm."
"Just like the turning of the cross upside down is a deliberate lack of humility or respect to Christ, the inversion of 3pm to 3am is thought to be demons using the opposite hour to torment humans.
The number three is also synonymous with Christianity - the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Many horror films have used the Devil’s Hour as a pivotal moment - in The Conjuring, the clocks stop at 3:07am and events take a seriously bad turn.
Names being called and walls banged three times in succession, as seen in the movie, are seen as a direct insult to Christianity.
Ronald ‘Butch’ DeFeo Jr - the man who inspired The Amityville Horror - murdered six members of his own family at three in the morning, while multiple strange occurrences take place at around the same time in The Exorcism Of Emily Rose - another film supposedly based on true events."
"Paranormal researcher Ben Eno explains: “The belief in such a time, the Devil’s Hour, could be fuelling its power.
“If you go on thinking something spooky is going to happen, something spooky will probably happen.”"
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/the-devils-ho ... 52317.html
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"The folklore is surprisingly scant. Much of it relates to the activities of witches, demons and ghosts. But I did find one incredibly interesting reference in American folklore. Candi K. Cann discusses La Mala Hora, translated as ‘The Evil Hour’. Naturally, that becomes ‘the witching hour’.
But here’s where it gets interesting. The Evil Hour is not a time of day, but rather an evil spirit. She wanders country roads and haunts lone travellers late at night.
La Mala Hora often appears at the crossroads, and seeing her is apparently an omen of death. She doesn’t actually kill anyone – she just reminds people that they will die at some point. La Mala Hora is essentially a warning to avoid lonely places late at night."
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kXn ... re&f=false
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MANILA, Philippines - There's something about waking up at 3 a.m. and I'm sure I’m not the only person wracking my brain why many of us experience this. This phenomenon is experienced by people all over the world and both scientific and paranormal explanations have been offered up by experts.
For the first one, it is believed that when we go to bed at night, our body undergoes different stages of sleep. Sometimes we wake up in-between these stages and it is possible that at about 3 a.m., we enter a lighter stage of sleep.
Another biological explanation according to
www.rejuvinstitute.com points out stress as a factor. Stress triggers the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. Also, 3 a.m. is approximately the time the liver regenerates and glycogen is essential in the regeneration process. But when we're stressed out, the additional adrenaline makes our cells use up more glycogen. If the liver doesn't have enough glycogen in the body to regenerate, the compensation mechanism is that more adrenaline is released causing the body to be pumped up and alert for action instead of being ready for bed.
I tend to wake up at 3 a.m. especially during summer, semestral break or moments when my mind isn't perturbed by work and my body isn't exhausted. But Dr. Arvin Sese has his own take on the phenomenon and that is instinctual self-preservation.
"It's probably a throwback to when our ancestors had to watch out for predators, so they wake up at 3 a.m. to see if everyone is still there," he says.
So what other possible explanations are there? Having my third eye opened wider than I wanted to two years ago, I've been awoken by two possibly entities at this hour; one of which was a tall monk standing by the side of my bed near my feet.
A common supernatural conclusion has been linked to the Christian faith. Rob Rubin, author of Defensive Occultism, and founder of Mysterium Philippines says that it is called “the proverbial 'Devil's hour'” or in some cases the "witching hour."
This was meant to be a mockery of the importance of 3 p.m. in Christianity when Christ gave his life for the world. Ergo, it came to be that 3 a.m. (or more specifically 3:15 am) is the hour that God is furthest away from our realm. Furthermore, 3 a.m. is also said to be the time within the day that the spirit realm is 'closest' to our own realm and thus more interaction and phenomena between us and the spirits likely occur. In my own experiences it is even during this hour that the soul is likely to “astrally project” and interacts with the unseen world.
There are people I know who've felt a presence in their bedrooms or have seen doors bang right before their eyes. There are those who've experienced odd noises in the house or have heard things fall inexplicably on its own.
Rubin reveals some of his most interesting 3 a.m. wake-up calls.
"Spirits have been known to be slightly violent during this time. When I was younger, I was sleeping peacefully until out of nowhere I started feeling as if the bed was shaking and was awoken with the feeling of something slapping me on the face. When I looked around, I was alone in the room and it was exactly 3:15 a.m. Another case was when I was a teen sleeping in the room with my father. I saw a white smoke or mist floating above me. It quickly rushed towards my father prompting him to start screaming in his sleep. When I looked at the clock, guess what time it was?"
Unlike Rob's fretful tales, Inner Dance meditation coach Arianne Olegario shares a different experience.
"I was high up in the Himalayas when I kept waking up at 3 a.m. for three consecutive days. On the first day, I checked my watch and true enough it was 3 a.m. On the third day, I did not even have to check my watch because I knew. So I went outside, looked at the mountains and expressed a short prayer of gratitude and then it stopped (happening)."
Olegario also interprets these 3 a.m. wake-up calls from another perspective.
"Inner dance, a form of dynamic meditation facilitates an individual's awakening process by letting go of the thinking mind (to) open the self up to the intuitive mind. (This) may be used to balance out individuals experiencing the 3 a.m. phenomena. The awakening process or the Kundalini rising besides the 3 a.m. phenomena also include other phenomena such as emotional distress, changes in sleeping patterns but when we experience these, it is best to examine ourselves through with greater love instead of fear. Fear will only heighten the "negative" impact of Kundalini or awakening process. From a personal experience, whenever I get regular periods of waking up at 3am, I meditate, accept the process that is happening instead of fighting it. Afterwards, I stop waking up at 3 a.m. I believe that it is our spirit trying to speak to us and that moment usually is at 3am. So just listen to it," she advises.
According to Kundalini Yoga instructor Marisa HarNadh, the 3 a.m. phenomenon has something to do with sadhana (daily spiritual practice that involves prayer, exercise and meditation or whatever you do to connect to your highest inner self).
Rephrasing Shakti Parwha Kaur's Kundalini Yoga: The Flow of Eternal Power, HarNadh elaborates, "During what are called the “ambrosial hours” (the two and a half hours just before sunrise at 3 to 6 a.m.), when the sun is at a sixty-degree angle to the Earth, the energy you put into your sadhana gets maximum results. Your world is quieter. It’s easier to meditate and concentrate before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. This is the reason most are up. Due to the "Shift" more and more people are 'woken-up' during these hours as a way of the Universe to remind them it's time to rise up for prayer and meditation."
These aren’t answers in any way but hopefully with these insights, it will give you time to reassess your personal health, physical or otherwise. Though it may not necessarily stop the occurrences from happening, it should at least give you peace of mind on your next 3 a.m. wake-up call.
http://www.philstar.com/health-and-fami ... phenomenon
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“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. The term “witching hour” can also refer to the period from midnight to 3am, while “devils hour” refers to the time around 3am.”
What is wrong with that definition? Where is the cited source? Any late hour is a witching hour? The 3am time reference is in there for what reason? Sorry, I just cannot accept this as creditable. I still find myself asking where this phrase came from.
In 1816, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.
“Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by before we retired to rest.”
This is believed to be the first time the exact phrase, “Witching Hour” was used in a published text. However, this not the first reference to the Witching time. Around 1601, William Shakespeare pinned, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In this play, Hamlet expresses:
“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.” –Hamlet, Scene II
Could this be the source of the Witching Time (Hour)? Hamlet was written over 400 years ago. In this play, Shakespeare cited the Hour- not explained. There must be an earlier reference.
In one of the best paranormal reference books available, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Rosemary Ellen Guiley gives one of the most complete definitions of the Witching hour:
“The hour of midnight on the night of the full moon. This is a time of transformation and change and the height of witches’ spell-casting powers. The roots of this notion go back to ancient times, to the worship of goddesses associated with the Moon, fertility and witchcraft. As the Moon waxes in its phases, so do the powers associated with it and its deities, until the culminate at the full moon”
Now I feel like we’re getting some place. But which goddess of the moon- there are several- and how far back in ‘ancient times’ do we need to go? Let’s narrow down on the goddess.
In my opinion, the goddess Selene seems to be the most likely candidate. She is one of three faces of the triple goddess who is seen in the waxing and waning moon. The powers of the moon goddess (Selene) are at their fullest during the full and dark of the moon, which were times of the monthly cycle sacred to her worship.
How ancient are the Greek gods? Our knowledge of the Greek gods was traced back to the writings of Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey (8th century BC). It is believed that the myths were heavily influenced by the Mycenaean culture that existed in Greece between 1700 and 1100 BC. This is a little more than 3,700 years ago. I think that qualifies as “ancient.”
Associating the Greek goddess Selene and the Witching Hour seem to make sense. The moon has been worshiped for centuries. It seems that the full moon would have the highest impact to the people on the Earth. Therefore, it makes sense that the Witching Hour would only be on nights with a full moon.
We now have the goddess, what about the midnight reference? Midnight, after all, is 12am. Well, no. “Midnight” means the mid time point between sunset and sunrise. How did the ancient people know when midnight was? We can track time keeping back to the Egyptians at around 3500 BC. However, it was not until around 600 BC that man discovered a method to tell the time in the dark- since all other time keeping methods used the sun as reference, i.e. Obelisk , sun dial, etc, this nighttime device used the stars.; it was called a Merkhet.
http://michigansotherside.com/the-meani ... hing-hour/
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