Halloween... Hello Over There...

The veil between the worlds is thinnest today.

If I remember my shamanic training correctly, Samhain (pronounced Sow-when) is the Celtic New Year. And the veil between the worlds is thinnest. Today. Hence all the ghosties and ghoulies, and Dia de los Muertos altars, and things that go bump in the night.

It's our family, and friends, coming to say "Hello. How are you doing these days?"

So today I honor my loved ones on the other side - my brother Keith. I love you. I hope you're having a wonderful time. My friend Janine - I hope you're dancing all the time. Tommy, old friend and newest crossed - I smile when I think of you, without pain now and happy, I think. Ray. You too had an October death, like Keith. Janine. Tom. Aunts and uncles and cousins, we love you and we'll see you again, we trust. Phyllis. Mother-in-law. Your son has been talking about you lately. We hope you are living in love and ease.

And now I'd like to share with all of you, those reading alive ones and those who are reading over my shoulder and whispering around me, a little glimpse of the liveliest boy and his plans for Halloween... he had a fever last night, so we stayed home from his school halloween party... a bit sad, that, but we're going out for trick or treating this evening.

And he is going to be a giant pumpkin -

With:

2 boots going clomp clomp
1 pair of pants going wiggle wiggle
1 white shirt going shake shake
2 gloves going clap clap
1 tall black hat going nod nod
and
1 big scary pumpkin head going BOO! BOO!

He's had the big pumpkin part decided since late August (although said pumpkin is really like a big round shirt - I still have to figure out to deal with his desire to have it on his HEAD) - and then he learned this story in school last week and adapted his costume to the story...

We invite you all to walk a little ways with us tonight and today. Let us know how you are, and if there's anything you've learned over there that we should know. We are listening. We love you.

Wow, the wind is blowing the tree branches outside my office almost sideways. Everything is listing north. With sun glancing off all of them. It's gorgeous.




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Autumnal ramblings

Of a mental sort, at least.

It is the Autumnal Equinox. I got a voicemail this morning, from my dearest friend, wishing me a happy one. Wishing I could join her for a circle of women. I wish that, too.

Leaves will be getting wet, underfoot, soon, on Whidbey Island. I remember a Samhain with Tom Cowan, when Janine was still alive, a circle of wild power at the Marsh House. Is Joy still there, I wonder? Her cat died that night. Sassafras, I think. A cold, wet, windy night with a moon somehow peeking through, and the body of Sassafras quite, quite dead. And we buried her, together. Joy's white hair whipping around, her powerful old body digging into the earth.

I think that happened. Although I might have made it up.

I miss Janine. And Joy. Janine I know has passed on, and I know she's happy there, wherever she is, lighter than air, flying about on pale purple wings I imagine, tending the souls who are hurting, everywhere in the world.

It is the season of dying.

May not seem like it here, in the land of sun, but it is. What part of me will die this Autumn?

What part do I want to die? What part do I want to purge, shed, peel away?

There is so much weight on me. I feel heavier, in every way, than I have in a very, very, very long time. Psychically, painfully heavy. Oppressed, I would go so far to say. And I would like to shed THAT. I would like to shed the weight of regret, of dishonesty, of escapism, of addiction, of un-tended to pain. This is my call, my prayer, for this Autumn.

I intend to shed. I intend to jettison my flotsam. I intend to peel away, I intend to surrender, I intend to heal.

Finn sings behind me: "Down came the rain, and washed the spider out..."

Yes.

Yes.

Please.

Please,

Aho.







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