Connections: Samhain

Samhain is the Final Harvest, the time when we gather the last viable crops of the growing season, plant the slow crops of the Winter season, discard the detritus of dying vegetation, and clean up our yards.  Samhain--pronounced, "sow'en" and also known as Halloween--is the time to give out candy, bob for apples, and fire up our stoves for the making of comfort foods.  

Samhain, on the Wheel of Life, is akin to The Age of Simplicity

This is the time when we begin the process of, quite literally, simplifying our lives.  We discard needless clutter--people, ideas, things--simplify the landscape of our thinking (voluntarily, or not) and, pare the day-to-day down to, quite simply, only the things that really matter to us as individuals.  There is something sweetly sad about Samhain/The Age of Simplicity.  

Speaking from my own experience, I can say that I always look forward to and enjoy the falling of the leaves, the crisp scent of dying summer in the air, saying goodbye to the hummingbirds, and a jolly good Fall house cleaning!  And yet… so much crying I do!  Just witnessing this mammoth transition is breathtaking and heartbreaking all at once.  I suppose it’s because I know, as sure as I know anything at all, that this is the last hoorah of obvious growth and abundance.  Soon, the Earth will be dormant, life, barely detectable, and the time of darkness will be upon us.  

Often, people talk about the elder years as the Golden Years.  I would agree with this--gold is one of the vibrant colors of Fall and exemplifies much of what this season can show us:  Tremendous value, beauty, and strength.  But, the time of aging can also be sad and painful, for it is the natural order of things to whither and die and it is vitally necessary for all life to do this, if we are to cycle as we are meant to.  This means, watching our leaves fall!  It means, witnessing and accepting change.  It means walking, if we are to live in our Truth, with our eyes open and our senses keen--right into the breaches of brittle, sometimes welcomed, but often painful, goodbyes.  

Those in the Age of Simplicity, often give us wisdom like Halloween candy.  They hold it out in a bowl--it’s free, mixed, and full of promise--but the trick is, to take it while the door is open, or it may not be available again for many a season to come.  You can try figuring out what they know by asking questions and listening carefully--but, that’s like bobbing for apples, sometimes you get one, mostly you just get wet.  (This is because there is no short-cut to wisdom, it’s an experience thing!)  So, most of us turn to the elders we love for the comfort we often so sorely need…  and they give it.  Like falling leaves, they give it copiously.  In their Final Harvest, they usually give generously, unselfishly, and without want of reward.  

So, let us celebrate the sweet-sad goodbyes of Samhain, the gentle wisdom of The Age of Simplicity, and this, the time when so much is evident, so little seen.

Happy Halloween Everyone!