Celebrating Samhain/Halloween

While most people of the world call tomorrow's holiday Halloween, the Wiccans and Pagans refer to it as Samhain, a day when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Okay, that sounds a little too spooky and ghost and goblins-ish, huh? Let's say then that it's the day when the veil between the world of the physical and the spiritual is as its thinnest. This can be celebrated in many different ways.
Last night, after an extensive discussion with my mother on how we never seen anything on Oprah! that pertains to us, I found myself, naturally, riveted to an episode of Oprah! that dealt with addiction. (Love that Carnie Wilson! I think that bitch takes on addictions just so she can appear once a year on that show.) The show was something I could definitely relate to as an extremist. Though I'm not in need of a 12 step program or gastric bypass surgery like some of their guests, I understand that I have an addict's personality, like my mother before me and her mother before her.
This morning, a package arrived at my door from my mother. It was a journal she had found where my deceased grandmother had chronicled her problems with alcohol. I find this in my lap now, just hours before the veil is at its thinnest. What is she trying to tell me?
The Oprah! episode talked about how addictions are symbolic of the real root of the problem. For instance, a large percentage of gastric bypass patients become alcoholics, drug abusers, etc. because they transfer their addiction to something else. They haven't dealt with the problem, they've just dealt with the physical. They've tried to "bypass" the problem, if you will. Which, of course, never works.
Drinking too much is symbolic of wanting to escape from something. Eating too much is trying to fill a void within you. Having too many one night stands is a cry for attention and low self-esteem. Idol worship is reaching out to those qualities that you need to apply to yourself. Obsession in general is just plain distraction.
But all of these things have one thing in common: They all stem from lack of believing in yourself.
We all say, "When I'm famous..," "When I'm thin...," "When I have money...," I will feel better about myself! Everything will be perfect! All problems will be solved! What an illusion. Only we can solve our own problems and we can only solve them by facing them and dealing with them. Why do we think we need those things to feel better about ourselves? Instead of doing the work to feel better about ourselves now?
These are the things I'm contemplating today as my grandmother visits me on All Hallow's Eve, a holiday, which, come to think of it, I celebrated with her at her house every year. How appropriate.
Invite the spirits of your loved ones in this Samhain/Halloween and see if they speak to you. Listen for their wisdom. This is a time when the spirits are most easily heard so take advantage of it by asking questions, looking for signs, pulling tarot cards, reading runes, etc.
They're a talkative bunch this year! ;-)
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