Women Of Esoterica

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year, and always has been. I love the smell of dead leaves and the pattern of branches against a grey sky, and the chilly breezes that make it possible to wear all my favorite sweaters again. The colors are amazing -- vivid blue skies, bright white clouds, glowing orange pumpkins and intense purple asters.

I especially love Halloween itself. It's so much fun dressing up in costume, decorating, carving Jack-O-Lanterns and eating baked pumpkin seeds. I also love spending the weeks leading up to Halloween wallowing in ghost stories, ideally on a cold, rainy day with a candle next to me, a cup of fragrant hot tea in my hand, and a warm, snoring cat on my lap.

There's a deeper layer to common Halloween images. When we dress up as ghosts, we should look at ourselves and make sure we aren't really the same, just existing after the life has left us. Are we doing the work we love? Are we surrounded by people we love? Do we spend our time doing things that matter to us, with passion?

How about zombies? They're pretty hip these days, and not only in the movies. Look around -- we're all the walking dead in some ways, not even seeing the world around us, only plugged in to our cell phones and laptops. Take a moment sometime to turn off your phone and go for a walk, really experience the beauty around you. Feel the spirit on the wind, let it rush through you and enervate you.

Don't be a Frankenstein monster, either. As we grow, we all look around at other people, see what we like and what we admire, and try to incorporate those qualities into ourselves. That's normal. But be careful not to overdo it -- you don't want to end up as a hodgepodge of pieces taken from others, animated with some sort of artificial life that allows you to shamble through your day, but lacking the grace that comes from your own inner light.

Letting your inner light shine will also keep you from becoming a vampire. It's great fun to put on white makeup (with or without sparkles!) and red lipstick and fake fangs. But while you're spending time with others, learning from them what you want to create in your own life, use your own energy to do it -- don't draw it off from others. When you're in touch with your own bliss, energy overflows and you have more than enough to do all you want and to share. That's how you know you're on the right track. If you're not feeling that, try different things until you do feel it. You owe it to the world -- others are counting on you to show them how to find their own inner joy as well!

This Halloween, take a moment to breathe, to feel the energies of the earth and the cosmos, to get in tune with it. Take advantage of the waning moon and the shortening days to listen to your own intuition and to learn who you really are behind the mask. In the spring, when the tides turn again, you'll be able to sprout your new self, to come to fruition in the new year. That's what all good witches know -- and it's perfectly okay to be one of them.  :)

Happy Halloween!