Fright Night
By: Cyndi Wilkins
(5 min read)
Halloween is traditionally celebrated by children dressing up in costume and going door to door, trick-or-treating for candy and/or playing ‘tricks’ on the neighbors if you are one of a mischievous sort. Or if you are a middle-schooler looking to have the crap scared out of you when you try to make off with my entire candy bowl.
That was the best Halloween ever! A whole group of them crept up onto my porch, thinking they would quietly make their move on the candy under the cover of darkness and then make a quick getaway. No such luck, as I had my porch rigged with a life-sized, motion-detected, knife-wielding character from the Scream movie…complete with jumping spiders that actually do scream!
You should have heard those boys scream! LOL! The candy bowl went flying, and so did those little rascals! I don’t think their feet hit the ground until they were several blocks away. Ah, the memories! So good.
But Halloween, or ‘All-hallows’ Eve has its origins deeply rooted in ancient Celtic Tradition. It originated from the Celtic festival Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced SAH-win), a pagan religious festival taking place near the midpoint of the fall equinox and the winter solstice.
The Celts believed that the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
You can read more here: https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-origins-and-practices-of-holidays-samhain-dia-de-los-muertos-and-all-saints-day/
This time in autumn is also a time to release anything that no longer serves us in our process of moving forward. In spiritual terms, this energy of the fall equinox encourages us to leave behind the baggage, like the dead leaves falling from the trees; the emotions we have outgrown are too heavy to carry with us.
This is a time of transformation and change, sometimes requiring us to go to those ‘dark places’ where our fears and tensions are lurking in the deepest corners of our minds. That does not mean we need to relive any trauma we may have tucked away there for safekeeping. It simply means the time has come to move that mental baggage out of our heads. It has lived there rent-free long enough.
So, whether we realize it or not, what we are celebrating is the inevitable cycle of death and rebirth. The energy of the fall equinox seeks to turn inward… to rest and renew our energy…and allow the worn-out manifestations of our outer world to ‘fall’ away in preparation for the new life to begin. Thus, clearing our inner closets for new dreams and adventures to enter our outer world come spring.
I have been feeling this energy most profoundly over the last couple of days as I have been decorating my front yard in anticipation of my favorite ‘spook-fest’ holiday! This year, however, I had been dragging my heels on getting it done. I guess it is because my daughter is away at college, and my heart didn’t seem to be into it this year.
My wife kept gently nudging me…No, it was nagging, but I will be nice and call it nudging, and I eventually caved in. I tend to get a bit depressed at this time of the year, as the days become shorter, and darkness falls much earlier due to daylight savings time. I wish they would do away with that nonsense altogether. I always resisted the idea of ‘falling back.’
But I must admit, the decorating did get me excited again. And the crows have been going crazy all day! I have always had a deep spiritual connection to raven and crow energy, and they have been circling overhead the entire time I have been in the yard. They were also extremely vocal I might add, screaming, “Where the hell have you been!”
Their presence is very meaningful to me as raven energy works in conjunction with healers as an invitation to bring into alignment that which may be out of balance to clear healing channels. Interesting, I had felt something was ‘out-of-whack’ in the last few days.
Getting back on the horse with my Halloween decorating was just what the doctor ordered to get me moving and inspired again. I also knew I had this blog to write, but felt ‘stuck’ with writer’s block and a bit of the impending ‘winter blues.’ I should listen to my wife more often…SHHHH. Don’t tell her I said that.
Our good friend hosted a dinner party the other night and did Tarot readings for all the guests after dinner. It was such a special night, as we all received ‘common themes’ in our messaging.
It was a recognition of this time of year and the presence of Yin’ energy, which is the female side of all of us energetically. It is a gentle, nurturing, intuitive, and receptive energy. And its message is a call to self-care.
It is a time of knowing you have done the hard work of birthing a new dream and giving it due time to manifest. And when it does, be open to receiving whatever comes into this new space you have created on this fresh canvas of your life.
If you have been burning the candle at both ends, and I know at least ONE of you out there will relate… (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), now is the time to honor yourself for a job well done. Be gentle with yourself over the next few months to give your system an opportunity to regenerate. Think ‘mama-bear’… It is okay to hibernate when you need to!
And when you awaken from your much-needed rest, do not just jump on the gas from zero to sixty! This is a marathon, not a sprint. The key is to learn the ‘slow burn.’ Nobody wants to be just a flash in the pan. Allow your mind to slowly expand, like a gentle stretch of the body after a good night’s sleep.
Cultivate mastery and sustainability by taking yourself ‘slowly’ through the motions and cycling in tune with nature. Just like the seasons, you must allow each its due process.
If we give our minds an opportunity to rest after the hard work of sweeping our internal closets of all the clutter, we will awaken refreshed and renewed with the clarity to tend to the garden of new possibilities and lean into the ideas we have been cultivating during our period of rest. All while tidying up in our minds and getting ready for a new life to begin.
