Hello, Hallowed 'Eve!

I adore Halloween.  I absolutely adore it.  Those of you who know me, know me well, and know my witchcraft, may find this odd.  Mostly because in the modern era Halloween is a bit of a joke and one run by candy companies nonetheless. But my enthusiasm for the holiday cannot be stopped. 

Nope, it certainly cannot.

I adore witchiness in all of it's kitschy glory.  I gobble it up and imprint in my soul and on my skin.

Because we witches must have a sense of humor about things.  And if we cannot have a sense of humor about a holiday that is oddly, sadly, and sensibly ours, than what can we have humor about??  We must, and I do, embrace the hats, brooms, warts, and capes.  I embrace my body which wears the hat; the air which floats the broom; the humor which necessarily embraces the wart; and the shoulders that bear the cape.

Traditionally this moment in the season marks the true beginning of the winter because it also marks the end of the harvest season.  Collecting is over, digging in is on.  The festivities which accompany the holiday celebrate not candy, not magic nor shenanigans but darkness- both in the form of the coming winter and shorter days and in the form of death- those who have died, those who have come before.

This day, for what it is worth, is a day of celebration of darkness- of evening, of oncoming, of passing.  It is a celebration of the good which accompanies the difficult or bad.  It is a celebration of livelihood even when times are thin.

It is the perfect night.  The witching night.  The night when I feel most at home in myself because there is no reason not to.  I believe that I can embody this transition from light to dark; autumn to winter; life to death.  I can embody and love all of these transitions.  They are natural, they are beautiful, they are Halloween.

My darlings, my friends and readers- Much love on this most auspicious of days.  And until next time…

An it harm ye none- so mote it be.

The Psychology of Inevitability

As a nod to the impending Halloween Holiday, I'd like to discuss (and open for discussion) what makes good horror films really good (of course in my ever humble opinion).  And I'm talking about the GOOD ones.  This does not mean the gore ones; the ones that rely on special effects and blood and guts and a gusto of absurd fight scenes blah blah blah.  

What makes a good horror movie into something haunting and memorable is this psychology behind-the deep distress of- the inevitable. Consider the greatness that is Night of the Living Dead: these people are stuck in a house, in the middle of nowhere, with the deeply uncomfortable knowledge that something is coming for them.  

Consider also the original Haunting.  

I have never in my life been more piss scared by absolutely nothing.  There are no special effects.  No gruesome scenery.  There is the simple terror of being haunted by the UNSEEN.  Neither the characters nor the audience sees anything.  We all know that something is there, hunting and ranging through the massive Hill House, but we never truly see it- we can only acknowledge it's presence and it's effect. 

My current favorite is World War Z.  And I don't care what anyone else has to say about it (booyah).  The reason it is such a great horror flick is because it is not actually a horror flick.  It's a socio-political statement about the inevitability of descent into madness, mayhem, and badness if humanity continues along the exceptionally self-centered and ignorant path on which it has currently set itself.  Of course we are going to overdevelop ourselves into disease and disaster.  

It's INEVITABLE.  

And that is key with all of these brilliant films.  The fear that we know what's coming and cannot stop it no matter how hard we try or what we do.  Whatever 'it' is, it is a force beyond our comprehension and willpower to understand and avoid.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Do tell!

Blood Moon

What I love about the cycles of nature is that they make so much sense traditionally, socially and historically.

Tonight is the Blood Moon- the full moon normally associated with the month October.  For some reason (read because they don't do their homework and won't think outside the box) most people think this full moon is called Blood Moon because it is October's moon.  (October playing host to such a delightful holiday as Halloween- it makes 'pop' sense... I guess.)

But that is not exactly how it works.  At least not for us witchy-folk... Here is where the sensical traditional-ness comes in.  Blood Moon is called such because this is the time of year when (sorry to keep using the word) traditionally villages, towns, families, etc., began to slaughter their fattened animals for the winter meats; and to preserve meat you must first end the life of the creature.  And so blood flows.  And so this full moon becomes the Blood Moon.

It has so much to do with nature, with survival, with keeping life and light abounding during dark times.

It is a beautiful understanding.

To all, a Happy Blood Moon tonight.

The Switch- or- Self Control vs. Life

There is a switch in my brain- one that is equally as important as it is devastating.  And there is literally no way of predicting when it will happen- when the switch in my brain will flip and I will suddenly (while listening to my newly rescued shelter dog yip and sigh in his dreamy sleep) and with such relief think-

Wait.  I deserve to be here. I deserve to be loved- and to love myself.  

Last night was that moment, that heartbeat.  The bottom of my weird brain fell out and reality hit hard.  Self control, I thought at one o'clock in the morning, is a great thing.  Until you use it to kill yourself tortuously and slowly by starving yourself merrily.

And that is when the screaming in my head began...

WAKE UP KIDDO! DO YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO STARVE TO DEATH? DO YOU ACTUALLY WANT YOUR INTERNAL ORGANS TO DIE A LITTLE MORE EACH DAY WHILE YOUR SKIN GROWS FUZZ TO WARM ITSELF EVEN WHILE YOUR HAIR FALLS OUT?

Not really.... nope, can't say that I do anymore.

And so the still torturously slow march to reclaim myself as a person, one with wit and vim and vigor, one with humor and love, begins.

Until next time...