Hallowe'en is in the Air
Oct. 7th, 2003 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arisbeAnd the little world of LiveJournal is all aflutter. What must we do to keep the holiday aright, so that we don't wake up on All Hallows day with the aching disappointment that those Good Kids are prone to feel on December 26?
For one thing we can keep our decorations up, at least indoors, through the full moon of Scorpio on November 9 up to the new moon on the 23rd. (Yes, I know, the full moon is not in Scorpio, but opposite the sun, which is in Scorpio, or at least where Scorpio used to be a couple of thousand years ago. Gimme a break.)
But how do we handle the religious objectors, I mean the Pagans? You know, the ones who talk about "Samhain" and pronounce it sahween or even sahm. The ones the badass dudes call fuzzybunnies. The ones I identify with -- every other day of the year. Now give me a break from sweetness and light.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Dark Side. And now is the time to embrace it. Without losing the rest of us. If you can't see your shadow you're not walking in the light. If you do not put on for a time the mask of the shadow you will never know what you are -- or control what you do.
I saw two thousand lives destroyed by men blinded by the light, who could not acknowledge their shadow side, who projected it outward on to us. I walked home on September 11 resolved to keep November Eve.
And if you don't have a yard to turn into a haunt, or your mate doesn't like to dress up, well, after all, it's the spirit that counts. Read some M. R. James or J. S. LeFanu. Even Bram Stoker will do in a pinch. Walk around Halowe'en Adventure on Third Avenue and think of all the stuff that you would buy if you had a use for it. Buy it anyway. (Just kidding. Buy one thing, maybe a set of teeth to wear to the university. Especially if you are the Chancellor.)
What will I be doing at the end of the month? I have the annual occult night at Greater New York Mensa on Thursday, and a party at the home of an LJ friend on Saturday, and to the latter my spouse is committed as well. Friday is still free. Shall I do the parade for the first time since I moved into town in (can it really be) 1970?
What shall I wear? Straightening up the apartment I found one of those pumpkin suits with the big old grins. I thought that might do nicely with a revolting enough mask. (I also have the black sheet I bought from the sale bin at Century Twentyone.) And I saw a rather nice over the head gas mask which I ordered because every New Yorker needs one anyway. (Two years ago my doctor bought a gas mask on the street for two hundred dollars in cash, but sounded rather sheepish about it. I guess he doesn't do Hallowe'en. And it looked rather pedestrian.)
Stay spooky, people. And to all the professional and semiprofessional haunters on the list, be a little extra spooky for me!
For one thing we can keep our decorations up, at least indoors, through the full moon of Scorpio on November 9 up to the new moon on the 23rd. (Yes, I know, the full moon is not in Scorpio, but opposite the sun, which is in Scorpio, or at least where Scorpio used to be a couple of thousand years ago. Gimme a break.)
But how do we handle the religious objectors, I mean the Pagans? You know, the ones who talk about "Samhain" and pronounce it sahween or even sahm. The ones the badass dudes call fuzzybunnies. The ones I identify with -- every other day of the year. Now give me a break from sweetness and light.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Dark Side. And now is the time to embrace it. Without losing the rest of us. If you can't see your shadow you're not walking in the light. If you do not put on for a time the mask of the shadow you will never know what you are -- or control what you do.
I saw two thousand lives destroyed by men blinded by the light, who could not acknowledge their shadow side, who projected it outward on to us. I walked home on September 11 resolved to keep November Eve.
And if you don't have a yard to turn into a haunt, or your mate doesn't like to dress up, well, after all, it's the spirit that counts. Read some M. R. James or J. S. LeFanu. Even Bram Stoker will do in a pinch. Walk around Halowe'en Adventure on Third Avenue and think of all the stuff that you would buy if you had a use for it. Buy it anyway. (Just kidding. Buy one thing, maybe a set of teeth to wear to the university. Especially if you are the Chancellor.)
What will I be doing at the end of the month? I have the annual occult night at Greater New York Mensa on Thursday, and a party at the home of an LJ friend on Saturday, and to the latter my spouse is committed as well. Friday is still free. Shall I do the parade for the first time since I moved into town in (can it really be) 1970?
What shall I wear? Straightening up the apartment I found one of those pumpkin suits with the big old grins. I thought that might do nicely with a revolting enough mask. (I also have the black sheet I bought from the sale bin at Century Twentyone.) And I saw a rather nice over the head gas mask which I ordered because every New Yorker needs one anyway. (Two years ago my doctor bought a gas mask on the street for two hundred dollars in cash, but sounded rather sheepish about it. I guess he doesn't do Hallowe'en. And it looked rather pedestrian.)
Stay spooky, people. And to all the professional and semiprofessional haunters on the list, be a little extra spooky for me!
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Introibo ad altare Dei
Date: 2003-10-08 07:27 am (UTC)My little church owes a great deal of inspiration to Soloviev, who was devoted to Sophia as the female aspect of the Godhead, with whom he had three visionary encounters. But if you ever visit us on Mulberry Street, please don't refer to the Liturgy as the Mass!
Father Deacon likes to say that we bless the waters at the same time that the Eqyptian priests blessed the Nile. Of course the way the Egyptian calendar slipped around, that would be true any time, but it's the thought that counts!
Re: Introibo ad altare Dei
Date: 2003-10-08 07:49 am (UTC)please don't refer to the Liturgy as the Mass!
LOL! So sorry, my ignorance. So tell me more about this. I am unfamiliar with Byzantine Catholicism.
My little church owes a great deal of inspiration to Soloviev, who was devoted to Sophia as the female aspect of the Godhead, with whom he had three visionary encounters.
Ahhhhhhh.....I like to see the Goddess recognized. We need the balance of all aspects of God. Especially with all that's going on in the world today.
Actually
Date: 2003-10-08 09:52 am (UTC)My little community is here (http://stmichaelruscath.org/) on the Web.
There is also an LJ community,
Re: Actually
Date: 2003-10-08 10:12 am (UTC)You got me thinking
Date: 2003-10-08 11:10 am (UTC)Re: You got me thinking
Date: 2003-10-08 11:32 am (UTC)