Halloween

At the essence of the festival we call Halloween is a truth which is largely lost to most of us, one that relates to the pagan foundation of ancient peoples of the northern hemisphere. Yet today it can be honoured and worked with by all around the globe.

Halloween actually connects us both to the Earth itself as well as the Stars and Heavens above and within. Founded in the Celtic tradition, this festival of acknowledging the darkness, is part of the eight-fold cycle relating to the seasonal unfolding of the Earth with the Sun.

We are generally familiar with the Summer and Winter Solstices, which mark the longest and shortest days of the year. And there are also the Equinoxes halfway between these which mark the peak of Spring and Autumn. Yet the ancient Celts celebrated another four markers within this cycle midway between the four foundational cardinal points of the year. It is here we find Halloween, midway between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, and it is here where the darkness is brought to our attention and where we celebrate our lives and the fire within that stays alight and alive as we enter into the darkest part of the yearly cycle. It is here where the world of light that is so prominent during the summer months becomes seemingly diminished, it is here where the challenges of the winter months are ahead and are embraced as a part of the cycle that clears and moves us to evolve through the letting go of that which is no longer needed and the celebration of the truth and love that are the essence of who and what we are.

For the Northern Hemisphere this is brought to all as the tenth month of October ends and the eleventh month of November begins. It is here where the ninety shortest days of the year begin, and it is here where the gradual movement into winter generally starts. Yet in the Southern Hemisphere this occurs at the opposite end of the calendar in the final days of April and early May. And so the exact day of Halloween is celebrated on the first of November in the North and the first of May in the South. These are the days when this is drawn to our attention specifically, yet in truth Halloween, along with the other Celtic festivals that mark the seasons of the year, is more a period or phase in our relationship with the seasonality of the Earth, with Nature and with our connection with the Sun in all its gloriousness, with the orbit of our Earth in its ongoing forever cyclic place within the Universe, within the body of God, within the vastness of Universal Life.

Moving into winter is an inward movement within that also asks of us to connect with each other in the oneness that is Us, all of us, as we circle the sun in our yearly orbit. Halloween, in all its modern and ancient symbolism, makes for an interesting study. So where do the pumpkin lanterns, trick or treat, ghosts and goblins, witches and broomsticks and horror stories in relation to this festival come from?

Autumn, for a people living from the abundance of the earth, is harvest time. Summer crops are collected, fruits and vegetables are picked and prepared for storage. In the cooler climates away from the tropics, this is an important part of living through the winter months where very little can be grown as the soils rest in the coldness of frosts, ice and snow. Without stored foods, the people of these latitudes would not survive. The pumpkin is a vegetable that can be stored through these months. As the first frosts arrive in Autumn, the vines die and the pumpkins cease to grow and the outer skin hardens. They can then be brought inside, into barns or cellars where stable temperature and dry conditions will keep them free from molds and rot for the winter months. Many other root vegetables can also be stored in this way. And so the pumpkin has become a symbol of sustenance through Winter, a gift of Autumn giving life through the darkest time of the year, and it is here where the symbol of the lighted candle within the pumpkin expresses this simple truth, emanating fire from within.

The myriad of fearful and ugly creatures associated with Halloween relate to the festival’s drawing out of the fears within. In preparation for the darkest and coldest period of the yearly cycle, we are asked to bring to the surface any fears or aspects that we judge as ugly or ‘dark’. In supporting ourselves and each other to acknowledge these aspects, we clear them from our bodies, bringing light to each other’s hidden ‘demons’. In truth, this can be seen as a release from the illusions that cloud our inner light, our connection to the divine nature of ourselves, thus freeing ourselves from hurts and fears that no longer have a hold on us.

Halloween can thus be appreciated as a festival that is deeply empowering, in that it connects us to the aspects of the yearly cycle that draw out that which no longer belongs to the cycle, in preparation for a new cycle that is symbolised by the emerging of Spring out of Winter. Hence, the association of death with Halloween, being the embracing of the deep repose offered at the end of the cycle in the winter season.

As with all of the ancient Celtic festivals associated with the annual cycle, the symbolism and essence of what Halloween encapsulates can be called upon at any time, within any context and by anyone. Each of these festivals brings to our focus a particular aspect of healing and celebration, not only relating to the cycles of the Earth in relation to the Sun, but also to ourselves as Souls incarnated within a Human Body. Halloween presents to us the truth that there are always ‘other’ aspects or darker aspects that we can find within ourselves and these can be released and cleared from us. The candle inside the pumpkin shows us that the inner fire is what truly sustains us, and that it is always present, despite the roaming around of the entities symbolised by the goblins and ghosts and other fearful things.

Is it not interesting to see how our modern society continues to mark these ancient festivals, yet continuely twists them in a way to distort and subdue their true messages? The tradition of ‘trick or treat’ encouraging children to roam the streets asking for sugary foods, while intimidating the neighbourhood with tricks of punishment if the begging does not supply, is a complete corruption of what Halloween epitomises.

And so in essence we are celebrating an ancient festival that connects us to a deep honouring of honesty and transparency, of sharing our imperfections, our fears, the parts of us that lie in the shadows, those largely hidden aspects that rule us from behind the scenes. Yet when exposed to others through ceremony and symbolic expression they can lose their strangle-hold on our lives, allowing our true light to shine brighter, clearer and truer than before.

Sometimes it is our imminent descent into the darkest of nights that brings out the brightest of lights from within our Soul, with a power and life-giving beauty that was there all along but was overshadowed by a presence that was never us in the first place.

It could be said that Halloween offers a grander truth to our every day that is not only as relevant today as it was in our past as peoples greatly connected with the Earth in her seasonal cycles, but is something that we can celebrate at any time of the year, in a myriad of ways that don’t involve even a hint of trick or treat, let alone a need to dress up as a witch, as Frankenstein or Dracula. These things are modern-day distortions of true mythology, and within them all there is a true essence, a light that is indeed a god.


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  • By Paul O'Hara, BSc (Zoology , Biology), DipSecTchg(Science)

    A man of ageless wisdom, where the movement of the stars and heavenly orbs and their cycles are God’s book to be read and lived for all.

  • Photography: Clayton Lloyd