Samhain approaches on silent cat paws. Pagans/witches celebrate the start of a New Year while others settle into the end of one. We can all equate the falling leaves, cooling temperatures and frost upon pumpkins with harvesting summer’s bounty, spicy smells from Mom/Grandma’s kitchen and gatherings for friends and family. It is Samhain – HALLOWEEN -- The Day of the Dead (Mexico) – time to dress in costumes, scare with tales of the paranormal sort and remember it is now when the veil between our world and that of our ancestors is thinnest. Our imagination turns to shadowy things and things going bump in the night.
Alas, I am thinking about the . . . Shadows I did NOT see today.
I speak of the shadows that haunted yesterday for, as I write this, the sun has not yet defeated thick clouds obscuring the sky. It is dreary day, the sort typical of late season rains battering the autumn landscape. Birds frantically gather and prepare for migration or those brave enough to remain for the winter, are pecking and teasing the shadows still on the ground at daybreak. The chilled, whipping wind yanks, shakes and tugs at the skeletal trees. Most are unwilling to release their rain-laden leaves any faster than they must. It makes me think about the dew in summer, scorched from the leaves too soon by the sun. Where does all that moisture really go? Back to its cloud parents or does it vanish into the soil, quenching the thirst of a parched earth? Either way, it does go, so flowers may yawn awake with quaint plant smiles in every hue nature can imagine.
Perhaps shadows spend their days blending into the shade of ancient oaks -- or do they simply vanish just like the dew. If unwary travelers stray too close to the hedges and forests, might they discover the shadows waiting there in ambush? Maybe the shadows do not exist at all, simply swallowed by the sun -- forever gone. If they exist only at night, designed by our perceptions, must we claim them as our own? Perhaps, shadows never truly retreat from the light, yet we know they belong here. We have the power to let go of the old, outdated things of our shadow side and that no longer serve us -- like trees that must release old leaves to make way for the green sprouts of spring. There are shadows that are cast and others that move as living things, fleeting wisps that disappear when we look directly at them. These are like a Will of the Wisp, tantalizing for us to follow them to dark follies if we allow fear to rule rather than wisdom.
Release them, but can it be that simple? Are the shadows we see real or are they more like cobwebs clinging to attic beams, which clutch faces if pushed too far into things best left to ancient dust? We like to think that only children fear the dark, seeing eyes glowing in closet depths or fearing monsters under their bed to grab at ankles leaping into bed. So easily, we delegate it as fantasy and tell our children there is nothing in the dark to fear. At what age do we cross that line when imagination is a wonderful, but only sometimes a fearful thing? When do we stop being susceptible to the tricks and treats of our shadows? Should maturity search instead for other monsters? Oh, I do not mean the shadowy settings or monsters that add character to the movies made for those who love being scared silly. I wonder at what age the mind stops creating its world from imagination and turns to creating it from fear. When or where do we cross that threshold and how many times must we do so?
The key word is release. Letting go of fear is difficult. It is so much easier to pretend the shadows are not there. They may actually refuse to go or leave us feeling empty if they do for only the sun can drive them away and we fear speaking the words of unbinding. How amazing when we realize shadows are actually gentle things -- useful as a convenience in which to hide our monsters. Of course, by now, you surely realize I am not talking about shadow people, ghosts or other etheric beings (in deference to Halloween), but what are best called shadows for the way they haunt us from the subconscious. We should accept their challenge and look directly and creatively into these shadows, shedding the fear tampering with a trust in the abundance granted us from the Creator.
Shadows are the keepers of the keys to the lessons of our soul in this lifetime whether it is those we can see as a pale version cast beneath the sun or the denser variety that startle us in the blackness of night. Shadows are gentle places to rest and contemplate our dreams. To the ancient Egyptians, they are the dark side of Ma’at (Goddess/Neter of Cosmic Balance) and not to be feared; the counter-balance the light. Some consider the darkness as nothingness and, therefore, the opposite would be something-ness. Thoth (Tehuti) teaches: As Above, So Below--As Within, So Without. Think on this concept – light may have no purpose alone if there was no darkness or the dark does not exist without light and visa-versa.
Alas, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound? Likewise, if shadows disappear in the daylight and no one sees them, do they still exist? It’s all perception, I would say, so as I conclude my first blog, the sun has chased off the clouds, making the saturated leaves sparkle in hues of red, golden yellow and orange. That lifts my mood and energy, accordingly. I do see many kindly shadows cast on the ground by everything under the sun. I think I shall speak less of the shadows that haunted yesterday and give less attention to the shadows that dash past or appear more intense than the night. By breaking the chains binding the shadows to me and I to them, I can be free of the non-physical entrapment by . . . the shadows I did NOT see today.
HAPPY SAMHAIN, HALLOWEEN AND A BLESSED DAY OF THE DEAD
TO ALL AND TO ALL . . .
A SHADOWY GOOD NIGHT
Alas, I am thinking about the . . . Shadows I did NOT see today.
I speak of the shadows that haunted yesterday for, as I write this, the sun has not yet defeated thick clouds obscuring the sky. It is dreary day, the sort typical of late season rains battering the autumn landscape. Birds frantically gather and prepare for migration or those brave enough to remain for the winter, are pecking and teasing the shadows still on the ground at daybreak. The chilled, whipping wind yanks, shakes and tugs at the skeletal trees. Most are unwilling to release their rain-laden leaves any faster than they must. It makes me think about the dew in summer, scorched from the leaves too soon by the sun. Where does all that moisture really go? Back to its cloud parents or does it vanish into the soil, quenching the thirst of a parched earth? Either way, it does go, so flowers may yawn awake with quaint plant smiles in every hue nature can imagine.
Perhaps shadows spend their days blending into the shade of ancient oaks -- or do they simply vanish just like the dew. If unwary travelers stray too close to the hedges and forests, might they discover the shadows waiting there in ambush? Maybe the shadows do not exist at all, simply swallowed by the sun -- forever gone. If they exist only at night, designed by our perceptions, must we claim them as our own? Perhaps, shadows never truly retreat from the light, yet we know they belong here. We have the power to let go of the old, outdated things of our shadow side and that no longer serve us -- like trees that must release old leaves to make way for the green sprouts of spring. There are shadows that are cast and others that move as living things, fleeting wisps that disappear when we look directly at them. These are like a Will of the Wisp, tantalizing for us to follow them to dark follies if we allow fear to rule rather than wisdom.
Release them, but can it be that simple? Are the shadows we see real or are they more like cobwebs clinging to attic beams, which clutch faces if pushed too far into things best left to ancient dust? We like to think that only children fear the dark, seeing eyes glowing in closet depths or fearing monsters under their bed to grab at ankles leaping into bed. So easily, we delegate it as fantasy and tell our children there is nothing in the dark to fear. At what age do we cross that line when imagination is a wonderful, but only sometimes a fearful thing? When do we stop being susceptible to the tricks and treats of our shadows? Should maturity search instead for other monsters? Oh, I do not mean the shadowy settings or monsters that add character to the movies made for those who love being scared silly. I wonder at what age the mind stops creating its world from imagination and turns to creating it from fear. When or where do we cross that threshold and how many times must we do so?
The key word is release. Letting go of fear is difficult. It is so much easier to pretend the shadows are not there. They may actually refuse to go or leave us feeling empty if they do for only the sun can drive them away and we fear speaking the words of unbinding. How amazing when we realize shadows are actually gentle things -- useful as a convenience in which to hide our monsters. Of course, by now, you surely realize I am not talking about shadow people, ghosts or other etheric beings (in deference to Halloween), but what are best called shadows for the way they haunt us from the subconscious. We should accept their challenge and look directly and creatively into these shadows, shedding the fear tampering with a trust in the abundance granted us from the Creator.
Shadows are the keepers of the keys to the lessons of our soul in this lifetime whether it is those we can see as a pale version cast beneath the sun or the denser variety that startle us in the blackness of night. Shadows are gentle places to rest and contemplate our dreams. To the ancient Egyptians, they are the dark side of Ma’at (Goddess/Neter of Cosmic Balance) and not to be feared; the counter-balance the light. Some consider the darkness as nothingness and, therefore, the opposite would be something-ness. Thoth (Tehuti) teaches: As Above, So Below--As Within, So Without. Think on this concept – light may have no purpose alone if there was no darkness or the dark does not exist without light and visa-versa.
Alas, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound? Likewise, if shadows disappear in the daylight and no one sees them, do they still exist? It’s all perception, I would say, so as I conclude my first blog, the sun has chased off the clouds, making the saturated leaves sparkle in hues of red, golden yellow and orange. That lifts my mood and energy, accordingly. I do see many kindly shadows cast on the ground by everything under the sun. I think I shall speak less of the shadows that haunted yesterday and give less attention to the shadows that dash past or appear more intense than the night. By breaking the chains binding the shadows to me and I to them, I can be free of the non-physical entrapment by . . . the shadows I did NOT see today.
HAPPY SAMHAIN, HALLOWEEN AND A BLESSED DAY OF THE DEAD
TO ALL AND TO ALL . . .
A SHADOWY GOOD NIGHT
