Hallowe’en: An Inner View
An Inner View of Hallowe’en
Today many of us celebrate Hallowe’en (Hallowed Evening). Whether a bright fairy queen or a dark monster, on this one day of the year, we allow our Shadows to rise from the ‘dead’ and come out to play trick or treat. Others of us may celebrate the Day of the Dead, honoring departed loved ones, visiting cemeteries, making intriguing skeleton figures. It’s quite a celebration, either way.
Yet, in the ancient ways, this is the death of the old year and the beginning of Winter. Nature seems to be dying: the trees losing their leaves; flowers and grasses withering; the Sun withdrawing behind clouds; the cold and dark growing. We may feel uneasy or depressed, as if something in ourselves or our lives is being lost or dying. It’s a good time to explore what that might be; a time to face the darkness, to see what is usually unseen, denied, ignored: our Shadows (buried parts of ourselves); unseen spirits; endings and death.
Questions to Contemplate:
What might be dying at this time? Is a phase of your life ending? Is there some old, self-limiting belief or behavior that needs to die? Is it time to prune the deadwood of relationships or situations that hold you back in old ‘coffins’ that don’t fit who you are anymore? Do you need to shed the mask of an out-of-date self-image?
Conversely, what seems to be arising from the ‘dead?’ Is the ghost of an old relationship haunting you? Do you need to face a Shadow aspect of yourself, such as an old harmful pattern, or an aspect of your Bright Shadow such as your intelligence or power?
Perhaps it is time to step through the Moon Gate into the unknown. Here’s a poem I wrote when facing the end of a phase of my life.
Through the Moon Gate go I, 
letting go of why,
into the Dark Realms
to meet what overwhelms
the mind.
Can words express
what seems chaos?
Depression, dread, horror and loss
await me. Nevertheless,
through the Moon Gate go I,
needing to shed my
chrysalis.
Beyond the dread Moon Gate,
the Dark Ones wait
to initiate me.
What must I surrender?
Will they dismember
me? Trembling, I yield
to the unknowable
metamorphosis.
Luna Moth
by Rahima Warren, 1981
Does this post give any depth of meaning to this time of year for you? I would love to hear your responses to this or any of the Contemplation Questions above.
I’ve been letting go of my natural inhibition. It’s a gradual process but has sped up over the last few months.
Love the poem. Happy metamorphosis!!
Be very careful what you “surrender” to. There are many kinds of “metamorphoes”.
Rahima … “I yield to the unknowable metamorphosis” … love this line … I can relate to it. Your “inner view” of halloween is fun and insightful … you ask “What might be dying at this time?” … I think we’re dying to beliefs and conditioning we were born into as human beings and more or less unconsciously accepted and are now, in this age of awakening, hopefully coming into a greater awareness of our spiritual nature …
Halloween is such a creative entertaining time and an opportunity to look at darkness, endings and death and maybe a good time to start questioning and pondering what is beyond the masks and costumes we wear every day as well as what’s beyond the grave. So now I’m off to the Moon Gate … shedding goes on … layers of conditioning must keep falling away … that Unconditioned Awareness may come to Light!
I saw somewhere, Rahima, that you were an “eclectic mystic” … that is magically fabulous … it so suits you …
Have a hallowed ween and I’ll see you at the Moon Gate … xoxo
Thanks, Anna! Love your line: “layers of conditioning must keep falling away … that Unconditioned Awareness may come to Light!” So True!
I’m with you at the Moon Gate.