Get the Most Out of Halloween This Year

In honor of October 31st, let's take a look at our lives through the lens of this ancient holiday known to us now as Halloween.

Halloween is pretty much the bastard child of an old Celtic festival called Samhain. Before that region of the world was colonized by the Roman Empire, the Celts marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter on November 1st, their New Year. Samhain was celebrated on October 31st when it was believed the ghosts of dead would return to earth.

Predicting the Future

Having the spirits of the dead was thought to make it easier for the Druids (Celtic priests) to communicate with the spirit world and get messages about the future. 

I invite you now to look back on your year and your present day. Reviewing your practices, habits, relationships, beliefs and actions, what predictions can you make about your year-to-come should you continue in the same fashion? 

Don't let this next year haunt you. Set yourself up to align with who you want to be, living the life you want to live. 

Sacrifices

As part of the festivities, the Druids built sacred bonfires where the community gathered to offer sacrifices to honor their deities. I'm certainly not suggesting you chuck the family cat into the fireplace; however, it is a good time to examine your choices.

Every time we make a choice we are sacrificing something. Now, this isn't always a big deal. When I chose to wear my fleece instead of a sweatshirt this morning I sacrificed the option of a hood - so far nothing life-altering has come from this decision (and my ears aren't too cold either).

On the other hand, when I chose to stay in bed for an extra hour this morning (ok, it was two hours - who am I kidding?!), I sacrificed my healthy productive morning. This will definitely impact the rest of my day and the amount of work I'll need to catch up on this weekend. Probably not the best choice for achieving my desired outcome. In my defense, it was 33º this morning and the heat wasn't on in the house!

Cold morning and moderately warm ears aside, I'm certain we can all think of choices we've made where the sacrifice did not serve us well - and times when it was the perfect sacrifice to make. Today is a great day to examine your choices and set an intention to be conscious in decision making going forward!

Who/what are your choices honoring?

Costumes and Masks

Costumes and masks were originally worn in an attempt to ward off all these ghosties that were said to be wandering around on Samhain. Sure, the dead returning is great for fortune telling, but you don't exactly want them taking up residence in your home over the dark winter to come. 

It might be funny to think about the mentality here: that a costume and mask would scare off a ghost, but hey Americans spend $6 billion on Halloween and dress up like sexy hippos and Pedro for President, so yeah know...

We don't just don masks and costumes on this strange holiday though. Many people can be found wearing them all year-round. We wear certain clothes thought to give us status or value. We hide our true selves behind masks of societal acceptability. We ward off people from truly getting to know us usually because we're afraid that they won't accept what they find behind the mask.

So, a  mischievous challenge for you: Tonight when you get home from your Halloween festivities and remove your mask and costume, don't put them back on tomorrow. Instead show up as your authentic self.

If that is a bit too spooky for you at this stage, choose one or two people who you feel relatively comfortable with and give them a peak at what's under your mask. Remove your costume at a pace that feels right for you, but for the love of Belenus remove it.

It's not as scary as you may think!