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Night falls...
The forest holds its breath.
Everything is still.
The blood-red Moon stares through the trees.
Suddenly, the wind blows-
The trees shiver.
A bat quivers in the night...
And flies away.
Far into the woods,
Witches wail,
Witches cackle,
And cast their spells.
A black cat cries at the moon.
It is Halloween...
~Ghostly Sounds (Kingsley & Waldron)
It's coming. You can feel it already, can't you? That subtle shift in the late afternoon light. A new chill in the air (latitude permitting) reminding you that Summer is past. It is Autumn, and Halloween is oozing up from the earth and drifting down with the falling leaves. Our Dead are closer than ever, and we have never felt more alive.
Halloween.
This is the fourth incarnation of what has become a minor tradition in the Temple: the Halloween Magic thread. Not Samhain, not Fete Ghede or Dia de los Muertos (important as they are), but Halloween - spooky, gaudy, sugary, black and orange H*A*L*L*O*W*E*E*N! It has a magic all its own, a two-fold candy-striped magic of Trickster orange and black Death, of Fun and Fear in equal measure, of the cheapest mall-bought trinkets and a creaking hint of something far older.
So, what do we do? We make Halloween Magic, that's what. If you've played before, welcome back. If you're just now joining the fun, then plain ol' welcome. And don't worry if you don't get into it right away - we'll leave the porch light on until November 1st.
Last year was a strange year for us Halloween folk - a lot of us who'd been working the Halloween "current" for a while commented (in-thread and off-board) that it was a quiet year, and that their seasonal devotions were of a more passive or contemplative sort than usual. This is a new year, though, so we'll just have to see how it goes. [For a peek at earlier Halloween threads, start here, then go here, and finally here - meet back here in an hour.]
On a personal note, this coming month is going to be very busy for me, so I'm not sure how elaborate or frequent my own Halloween ritual work is going to be (my mom is going in for major surgery mid-month, so my altar-time is heavily booked). I am hoping to revive the 13 Days of Halloween countdown calendar I did a couple years ago (a web project with spooky links and treats each day), and there's a new Threshold People album on the way, so I'm not turning my back on Skeleton Jack*, by any means. I also plan to be active in the thread, even if mainly as a cheerleader.
So: Halloween Team Report!
UKOMA PEFIGU NOSA LEHITU ROBA! Hail the Pumpkin King!
[A special treat, to get you in the mood: Vincent Price, To Become A Werewolf. While I don't recommend actually following the recipe, for reasons that should be obvious, this and Price's other tutorial recordings are wonderfully inspirational, and a joy to listen to.]
*a bad idea, anyway - he'd totally jump out and scare you. |
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