October 31, 2021

 Happy Halloween Everyone!

October 30, 2021

Greetings!

This is my daughter Ligeia, all ready for Halloween night!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

JLS

October 23, 2021

Greetings Everyone!

Before ending my series of October postings, it is only fitting to cite Edgar Allan Poe, an autumn person to the roots of his heart & soul. 

In his greatest poem “Ulalume”, Poe describes the October dream-scape that his narrator is journeying through on his way to a mysterious destination.  It is clear that this nightmarish experience is taking place on Halloween night.

The skies they were ashen and sober;

The leaves they were crisped and sere-

The leaves they were withering and sere:

It was night, in the lonesome October

Of my most immemorial year:

          It was hard by the dim  lake of Auber,

In the misty mid region of Weir:-

It was down by the dark tarn of Auber,

In the ghoul-haunted woodland  of Weir.

The narrator encounters weird visions- including the “specter” of a planet- a ghost planet! – and ends up standing before the tomb of his beloved- the Lady Ulalume.

The narrator has been tricked by the woodland ghouls into a confrontation with Death.   And this is the ultimate Halloween trick or treat!

JLS

October 16, 2021

Greetings Everyone!

The third week of October!

Ray Bradbury describes October in his book The October Country  as: “that country where it is always turning late in the year.  “That country  where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay.  That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun.  That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts.  Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain....”

In another book, Bradbury warns us against the autumn people, who, he argues, are evil & seek to ensnare human souls.  In his gothic tales, Bradbury’s autumn people are indeed evil. 

But there are autumn people who have souls & are not evil; they love autumn & celebrate the death of the year & the renewal that always follows.

JLS

October 8, 2021

 

Greetings Everyone!

This is the second week of the month of October!  

H. P. Lovecraft, as much a patron-saint of autumn as Ray Bradbury, writes in his poem “October”:

Mellow-fac’d, with eyes of faery, wistful clad in tinted leaves,

See the brown October tarry by the golden rows of sheaves;

Oak and acorn in his garland, fruit and wineskin in his hands,

Mystic pilgrim from a far land down the road to farther lands.

 The “farther lands” referred to in the last line are what Halloween is all about- half-seen sights from the outer distance & half-heard sounds from the outer spheres.

 JLS

 

          

October 7, 2021

Let’s meditate on the meaning of Halloween during this second week of October.

Halloween began in the ninth & eleventh centuries in Europe as preludes to two church holidays: All Saints Day & All Souls Day.

On these days, the Catholics prayed that the souls of all those who died will pass from death to life.  This was symbolic-  it meant  simply the passage from the “death” of an unproductive, evil existence to the “life” of a productive, creative existence.

So, Dark Friends & Colleagues, do as our ancestors did before us- make a vow to yourselves on this most special All Hallows season to spend your existence on this earth creatively & productively.

And not only during the dark months, but throughout the coming year.

JLS

October 1, 2021

Greetings Everyone!

October 1st, the first day of my favourite month!  The air crisp, long shadows in the day with slanting beams of sunshine, the skies orange & ash gray at twilight and Halloween just around the corner!

Ray Bradbury, the patron-saint of autumn, writes about Halloween: "Night came out from under each tree and spread ...The wind  nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats....Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows Eve.  Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet.  Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades...."  JLS