Halloween is coming...

I've had a hard time getting into the Halloween spirit this year.

It's not for lack of love for the holiday. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Personally, I think a lot of it is just that I've been distracted with school, work, buying a new home, baby on the way...but it's more than that, I think.

It's that Halloween is such an ambiguous holiday, and it is marketed mainly as a "fun" holiday, to both kids and adults. But to what end? Why all the candy and costumes? Why all the senseless gore? Now I have no problem with having fun...but, even as a child, Halloween has always meant so much more to me than costumes and candy. There was always something ethereal about it that was the real reason I loved Halloween, deep down. And that is the spiritual side of Halloween. A time to recognize the cycles of life, a time to respect the dead, a time to be made aware of the invisible forces that exist, both good and bad, and marvel in our imaginations at the bizarre and uncanny in our own world here and now as well as in the world beyond. Life, and death, and life after death , are truly part of a grand, mysterious and amazing plan.

Maybe it's just my inner-pagan talking, but I yearn for some kind of spiritual sacrament for the night of Halloween. But the only rituals out there are Wiccan, and while they are beautiful in their own way, I'm not Wiccan. And no Christian church is going to hold any kind of spiritually nourishing service  focused on the spiritual side of Halloween, unless you're a Catholic, but that focus is a narrow one.

To me, the Jack-O-Lantern, symbol of Halloween, sums the spirit of it all up. It's a ward against evil. It's a lantern to guide through the darkness. It's a strange face in the night, peering out at you, smiling or laughing, grimacing or frowning, with an unknown tale to tell. It's the totem of the Halloween spirit, and as long as it burns bright, the magic of the night can flow freely, and be absorbed into the hearts and minds of those who listen.

Halloween, originally a Celtic holiday, turned Catholic holiday, turned secular/meaningless fun holiday - has a meaning, and those meanings are many. It's up to you to find out what it will mean to you. I hope you make it count. Let your Jack-O-Lanterns burn brightly.