Hag Stone Journal

Halloween

Halloween

Issue 003
October 7 to October 13
In This Issue: Journal Prompt, Meditation, Craft, Cookery, Outdoors, Body, Home, Moon Phases, Magic, Poem, Community, Activism,Recommendations, Next Week

Halloween is approaching. We are in the height of Autumn. The weather is cool, the cocoa is hot, and the pumpkins are orange. Sights, smells, and sounds of the season are all around us. The vibe of Halloween is strong, but how do we tune into the magic and sacred in it?

Halloween, as we know it today, is both an offshoot of the Celtic pagan holy day Samhain, which celebrated the end of the harvest and transition between summer and winter, and the Christian holiday Allhallowtide, that honors the dead– both the saints and the faithful departed. These two concepts: the liminality of Samhain, a time the Gaelic people believed opened the gateways to the land of spirits, Gods, and faeries; and the Christian idea that souls of loved ones could return to the dinner table; combine to create Halloween. It is a night that celebrates and reckons with the realities and fears of death by embodying fantastical monsters, beautiful creatures, and meaningful archetypes.

There are so many ways to see the magic and create the sacred in Halloween, we just need to open ourselves to the opportunities.


By Heather Gray

Journal Prompt

For me, Halloween is a time to let my witch flag fly. It is a time when I connect to the crone in me: the powerful part of me that knows how to brew potions (of healing or poison), is at home in a cave, in the forest, or a hut in a swamp, who moves comfortably through the darkness, and who is friend to cats, frog, and spiders. The witch in me that wants to fly on Halloween has a sense of humor, a twinkle in her eye, She is powerfully grounded, but also crackling with the energy of the night.

 

This week, we will conjure our magic and meet our inner witch. Visit your altar, light your candles, and connect to it with your breath and your senses before answering these questions:

What makes you feel grounded?

You are contained within your own skin. Everything you need is in you.

 

When have you connected to your intuition?

Listen to your gut; you know things, and you know that you know them.

 

Where lies your fertility?

Like the universe, like nature herself, you create and grow. Fecundity is natural, you have a green thumb for your own projects and visions.

 

What mysteries draw you?

You are naturally curious, always learning, and initiating into new knowledges.

 

What parts of yourself are you uncomfortable with?

Acknowledge your shadows. There is wisdom, healing, and power in that dialogue.

 

Where do you feel your sensuousness?

Your body is gift. The strength in your arms, legs, and hands can be gentle and generative. All of your senses are blessings. Tune into your sense of touch.

Meditation

Monday is the new moon. The new moon is considered an auspicious time to start something new, or set a new intention.

Do your new moon ritual outside or at your altar. Gather any supplies– candles, lighter, objects that are meaningful to the project or intention you will focus on, and paper and a writing implement, if you are moved to write things down.

Quiet yourself and center down, through breathing exercises, meditation, or visualization.

Once feel your heart and head are in a spacious place, focus on the intention you would like to make. You can do this by writing your intention down, visualizing it, and then speaking it. Hold one of your sacred objects and let the energy flow: from you into the object, from the universe into you. Know you will be guided by your wisdom and supported by the energy that supports all good things.

Halloween is a time to face our fears with creativity, humor, and community. Imagine how you can bring these powerful forces to bear, in support of your intention. Feel your crone energy: the wisdom, knowledge, intuition, patience, and deep power. Feel the immensity of your power.

Close your ritual with three slow deep breaths and release control of outcomes, feeling open to a more expansive version of your future than you can even imagine.

Craft

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is carving a jack-o’-lantern. Jack-o’-lanterns were originally meant to mimic the will-o’-the-wisp: a ghostly light, like a lantern, that floats through swamps and bogs tricking travelers off the dry path and getting them lost in the marshes. Folks thought the lights were otherworldly, a lure used by a spirit, faerie, witch, or ghost that haunts the swamp. All over the world, from Ireland to Finland, Bangladesh, and Brazil, folks told tales that the ghostly lights were either a danger that would lure you to get lost or even drown in swamp areas, or that they marked where treasure was buried (since the lights move around, the latter idea still lead to the former outcome).

Jack-o’-lanterns are a great example of the spirit of Halloween, as they are both a depiction of the frightening spirits roaming the dark nights and meant to ward off those same spirits. Isn’t that what we are doing on Halloween? Embracing and embodying the scary things that go bump in the night, but also facing those fears with laughter, merriment, creativity, and communal celebration. The act of carving a pumpkin is not just deliciously messy and an excuse to make tasty salted pumpkin seeds. It is also an act, a physical gesture, that shows while you can’t know what the future holds, nor can you control it, you do have some say in how you respond to it. You are not powerless. You don’t have to just be afraid. You will get your hands dirty, you will be creative, and you will face whatever is coming.

 

This week procure yourself a pumpkin, get creative, and post a pic at #hagstonejournal #hsjhalloween

Cookery

What should you do with the innards of the pumpkin you carved? Bake pumpkin seeds, of course!

  • Ingredients:
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Oil
  • Salt
  • Sweet Spices
  • Cinnamon
  • Sugar

 

Preheat oven to 300

Separate the seeds from the pulp

Rinse seeds (let dry in colander, don’t blot them with a paper towel because they will stick)

Spread in single layer on baking sheet

Bake for 30 minutes

Remove from oven and toss with oil and salt (or oil and cinnamon and sugar for sweet seeds)

Return to oven and cook until crispy and golden – 20 more minutes

Enjoy!

Outdoors

What outdoor activities are on your Fall Bucket List? If you can, this is a great time to visit a pumpkin patch, go on a hayride, or just stroll through your neighborhood to admire the seasonal decorations. If it is cool out, make some hot chocolate and bring it with you in a travel mug. Enjoy the difference in temperature and count how many pumpkins you see on your walk. 

Body

This week, we are going to really get grounded in our bodies and our five senses by taking a candlelit bath. Gather your supplies: candles (so many candles!), something scented (candle or incense), a glass of wine or cool water or juice, some chill music (or just the sound of your own body sloshing in the water), and consider tossing in some bubble bath or a bath bomb.

Light the candles and turn off the lights. Carefully climb into the tub. Feel the heat on your skin. Get as much of your body as you can underwater (I have a comically shallow tub so I can’t get too far under).

In many cultures water is holy, a passageway to sacred spaces. Jewish people totally submerge themselves in a mikvah, a ritual bath. Some Christians consider a baptism in water to be a holy sacrament. Many faiths practice ritual washing. And in many parts of the world, natural springs have been considered holy places of healing and ritual significance.

Taking a hot bath with candles can be a luxury, but it is also a very effective way to slow down, connect to your body and five senses, and open yourself to the sacred permeating the moment.

You can do some energy work in the tub, directing healing energy to parts of your body that need it. Spend time on each of your five senses and become aware of your breath (you don’t have to change it, just tune into it). Consider your answers to the journal prompt and get in touch with your embodied crone energy. She is powerful and she loves baths. Candy isn’t the only treat for Halloween.

If you don’t have a bath, find some other way to immerse yourself: lying in the sun outside, under a blanket on your bed, or with your feet in a tub.

Home

I wasn’t sure what heading to put this under. I decided to put it under home because you will be using things you have at home to create a witch outfit. This is not a costume that you buy at a store but from your own wardrobe. Go through your closet and put together an outfit that makes you feel your power and embodies your inner witch. Maybe it is black leather, maybe it is much more comfortable, maybe it’s crone garb, or a Baba Yaga vibe, or maybe your inner witch dresses like a Swedish toddler.

Take a picture of your witch garb and post it to instagram and tag #hagstonejournal #hsjhalloween

Moon Phases

The New Moon is on Monday, Oct 8th

Magic

Before Trick or Treating was the go-to event for Halloween, the holiday was more popularly celebrated with games of divination. Most of the divination games were foretelling the outcomes of matters of the heart, by young people who are often motivated by such things. You can find many cute and historical Halloween divination games online, many of which involve apples (including the origin of bobbing for apples).

I don’t normally engage in divination. I do have a daily tarot practice, but that is for self-reflection, not future telling.

My current favorite tarot deck is The Wild Unknown Tarot created by Kim Krans. I found this deck when I was looking for LGBT-friendly decks whose imagery went beyond the gender binary. The Wild Unknown has beautiful, detailed line drawings with a minimalist aesthetic, rainbow colors, and animals.

I often do my tarot at my altar. I start by lighting a candle. I shuffle the cards three times, and try to hold myself open to whatever the cards show me. Sometimes my brain is really stuck on a specific situation and I can’t help but think about that issue while I am shuffling and also while I am reading, but usually I work to just stay open. I cut the deck and then turn up the top three cards.

I read the three cards in order and, while some of the symbolism and message may speak very clearly and immediately to an issue I am currently experiencing, I try to wait until I have interpreted all three cards and allow the three of them together to tell me a story. To interpret the cards I first use the guidebook that comes with the deck. Then I go to another source online: there are a few different people who have written interesting interpretations of The Wild Unknown deck that I find useful. I write the parts of the interpretations that jump out to me into my journal and then I tie it all together in a final summary/narration in my journal. I have found this practice extremely worthwhile in gaining insight into how I really feel, what I want to do, what I need, etc, as well as getting more in touch with my intuition.

Like I said, I don’t use tarot for divination. I apply the imagery, symbolism, historic meaning, and modern interpretations to explore myself. And it is always one of the most magic and sacred parts of my day.

Theme in Yellow – Carl Sandberg

I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o’-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.

Community

 

Why not get together with friends this month for a Ghost Stories Salon? Ask each person to come prepared with a ghost story and a dish, snack, or drink to share. It will be interesting to find what stories people choose and why.

Perhaps have a theme: Ghost Stories From Around The World (I recommend Lafcadio Hearn’s Kaidan stories from Japan), Ghost Stories from Summer Camp, or Ghost Stories in Song or Ballad (for the musically inclined).

Activism

October 11th is National Coming Out Day in the US, and October is LGBT History month. Your world is undoubtedly a more magical and sacred place because of LGBT people. I know, that as a bisexual person, it has been important to me to learn about the LGBT identities of many historical figures. We may never know for sure if Leonardo Di Vinci was gay or Shakespeare bisexual, but growing up in a time where I felt I had to be closeted, it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, meaningful to me to think that some of our most beloved historical figures were like me.

There are so many LGBT histories you could dive into this month: Audre Lorde, Frida Kahlo, James Baldwin, Pedro Almodóvar, Alan Turing, and Marsha P. Johnson.

How will you honor LGBT History month? Follow your intuition and your heart.

Recommendations

Here are some not very scary Halloween movies to help you get in a spooky mood:

  • Young Frankenstein
  • What We Do in the Shadows
  • Lost Boys
  • The Frighteners
  • Addams Family
  • Beetlejuice
  • Arachnophobia
  • ParaNorman
  • Frankenweenie

Next Week

 

Next week we will explore the magic and sacred themes of Samhain: offerings, sacrifices, and sacred sites.