Our consumer culture here in North America encourages us to celebrate occasions such as Halloween by, well, consuming. More decorations, more elaborate costumes, more treats for kids already eating too much junk.
Is there a way to go back and connect with what Halloween was originally intended, and still have our fun?Maybe this COVID time could be an opportunity to adopt a new aspect to Halloween which could enrich our lives, and we still get to eat our treats.
To help us connect with the wisdom available in this transition into a quieter time of darkness, sleep and cold, here’s a simple ritual to do around Hallowe’en from Spirituality and Health Magazine contributor Julie Peters.
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Halloween—it’s a time of kids, candy, and costumes. Whether or not you like to dress up in costume and eat mini-Snickers on October 31st, it’s worth considering the spiritual and emotional aspects of Halloween and what it means on a deeper level.
Halloween lands right between the fall equinox and the winter solstice, which means it heralds the beginning of the end: the symbolic death throes of the sun.
In the Celtic traditions, this time of year is called Samhain, a celebration of the dead that welcomes the dark half of the year. In Christian traditions, Nov. 1st is All Saint’s Day or Dia De Los Muertos, the day of the dead. Some believe that these are the days when the veil between our world and the other world—the world of spirits, ghosts, and all that we do not understand—is thinnest.
Here is a ritual you can do on Oct. 31st or Nov. 1st to call in the wisdom of this darker season.
You’ll need:
• A candle
• A dimly lit, quiet place
• An item related to a person or pet you want to remember. This can simply be their name on a piece of paper
• A journal
Call up an image of your future self, a much older self. Imagine this future self with as much detail as you can. What does your much older self regret doing or not doing? What would they like you to remember now, while you still have a future? You may like to write your reflections down in your journal.
When this ritual feels complete for you, thank your future self for talking to you and let them go. When you are ready, blow out the candle to signify the end of the ritual.
By Julie Peters
