 Though Halloween evolved from All Hallows Eve, a Christian holiday honoring the dead saints (hallows), its origins lie in the much older Celtic festival of Samhain. Celebrating the end of the harvest and the earth’s descent into winter’s womb, Samhain was a time of liminality (halfway between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice), when the veil between our world and the Otherworld was thinnest, when the dead were thought to move more easily among the living, when the revelers would set an empty place at the table for the ancestors and leave offerings of food outside as propitiations for the spirits.
Many of the villagers would go door to door in costume performing verse. This “guising” was perhaps a way of hiding (disguising) oneself from the ghosts and fairy folk who meant harm.
In psychology, the mask or guise we present to the world is called our persona. It's our public face, our way of imposing a certain image of ourselves onto others. I am a writer. I am confident. I am caring. Nations have personas too. America is a democracy. America stands for freedom and equality. The trap in all this, as famed psychoanalyst Carl Jung made clear, is that healthy egos require flexible personas, else we become repressed and our hidden, shadowy parts break free in destructive ways.
Election Day arrives a mere three days after Halloween/Samhain this year - a fateful reminder of that thin and pervious veil between the America we say we are and the America we keep hidden away. These are liminal days, to be sure, and the ghosts of America's past are haunting us at every turn. No matter what happens November 3rd, these spirits will require our steadfast propitiations.
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Full Moon G A T H E R I N G
October 31st, 6PM PST
Named the "Hunters Moon", this rare, 2nd full moon of the month rises on Halloween. This will be a special, intimate gathering to celebrate the sacred medicine of this night. We will work to remove the "masks" behind which we too easily hide so that we can face the ghosts that haunt us. Since this night has a rich history of divinatory practices, I'll be breaking out the tarot cards to see what messages they bring. We will also honor those who came before us whose legacy we still carry.
By humbling ourselves to death's certitude, we awaken to the precious wonder of life.
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- Here's what to expect at the Full Moon Gatherings.
- Note that the registration link above is the only way to get the Zoom invite and reserve your spot. There's no obligation and no fees. This is a donation-based gathering. No one will be turned away.
- Please forward this email if you'd like to invite your friends!
- Feel free to reach out with any questions/concerns.
- Save the Date - Next Gathering is 11/30/20.
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What's Good
- With the most important election of our lifetime 1 week away, have you done all you can to get out the vote?
- I've been textbanking with Field Team 6. They're organized and energized. Here's a list of upcoming events - an easy way to connect with folks in swing states. Your text could be the tiny push someone needs to show up. Don't sit this out.
- Need help voting yourself? IWillVote.com has all the info you need. (Or reply to this email and I'll help)
- Is there 1 person in your life you can reach out to who might not be voting? 1 person you can help right now?
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 These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry, baby, don't cry
Don't cry.
- Paul Simon
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