38c-Happy All Hallowstide

Wishing all who celebrate these Holy Days a blessed All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

All Hallows Eve is a night celebrated by Trick or Treating and telling ghost stories.  The deeper meaning is found in the approach of Winter, the season of cold, stark landscapes where nothing grows.  It is a time poised between the end of the season of growth and the season of rest.  It serve s as a reminder of the growth and decline that precedes the renewal of Spring.

Autumn is shading into Winter as the days continue to grow shorter.  The chill outside drives us indoors.  Flowers no longer bloom, trees become more bare as the days go by.  The bounty of summer has been harvested and preparations for sustenance during the winter months continue.  There is a lull that calls us to think about the cycle of growth that has passed in the current year.  During this time it is good to part company with laptops, cell phones, tablets and find company in the memories of loved ones who no longer live with us in this world.

I have found that this time dedicated to the beloved departed has a powerful effect upon renewing our memories of those who have taught us, loved us and inspired us.  Although they are physically gone, we revive their good examples within our hearts and minds.  In a way we are renewed.  The influence of our loved ones can once more be felt in the world as we do our best in memory of them.

–EmiyAnn Frances May
–October 30, 2016

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Resources

The illustrations used here come from My Book House, edited by Olive Beaupre Miller.