October 31 – Festival of spirits, spooks, weirdness, a day for putting on masks, dressing as someone else, unsettling personas, getting into conversation with pumpkin heads (I did that at a Halloween party.)

And a day to honor the dead. Mom, I love you; Dad, you too; ancestors, I thank you; Coco, stay close in your spirit; John, I feel you; Kim, you are loved. This is the day that in some countries people sit on the graves of their ancestors and have a picnic. The earth is the grave of the ancestors, so I sit today in the spirit of communing.

And this is a time for seeing into the shadowy realms and acknowledging what is there – some of it ugly, scary and dangerous if not recognized. The Jungian concept of shadow, the disowned and denied aspects of self and life, the Mr. Hyde to our Dr. Jekyl, comes to mind as something to honor this day as well. If shadow is too split off it wreaks evil havoc in our lives. Shadow is best related to, accepted and owned rather than disassociated, or we have unconscious moments of Mr. Hyde craziness. You can’t split off the dark side of the moon and just keep the bright side. It doesn’t work that way. Same with our personal and collective shadows.

I’ve been seeing into those shadowy realms this past week rather acutely, not because of a conscious effort but rather it is happening organically. Today I realize this must be part of the power in this time. Unacknowledged aspects of human interaction suddenly seem to be in bas relief,  both inside me and outside me. They really shouldn’t be ignored.

What to do about them? See. Just see. Quantum physics is proving that we change a thing just by seeing it. It is often dangerous to come at shadow directly, there is a backlash of unintended consequences. Awareness in the heart, holding, waiting, witnessing is best. Be careful about projections.

I was having a quiet moment in a friend’s kitchen at a Halloween party Saturday evening and suddenly, as if a veil was rent internally, raw pieces of my own shadow just stood out to me. Without being activated at that moment, they just appeared, like ghosts. Hello! Ouch. Ooooohhh. Ok. So glad to see you. Would so very much rather see you than be in denial of you.

Integration is needed – a weaving of energy of the dead and the living, of conscious and unconscious, light and dark, intended and unintended consequences. This is a very powerful time.