Samhain
Well, Samhain (pronounced sow en), or Halloween is tomorrow. After much debate over the matter, I’ve decided to publish here the article currently circulating in the Ave News, since it’s not available online. If you’ve read the printed version, you may notice a couple of slight changes, but those were for space and left the article essentially unchanged. Without further adieu, here is the article.
About seven and one half years ago, I was present as my wife transitioned from this world to the next. One year and four months after being diagnosed, she finally succumbed to cancer. I held her hand and watched as she opened her eyes and looked at me one last time, wanting me to be alright, and she took her last breath and moved from this world into the next. The grief was almost unbearable, but I was also relieved, for her pain and suffering were finally over. It was her time to go, she had finished the things she had come here to do, and learned the lessons she came to learn. I know she waits for me on the other side, in the Summerland, along with the animals who befriended me while they were here.
The other side is a mystery to me. I know it’s there, and I know there are a lot of spirits there. Religions have many ideas about what is to come, both reward and punishment, depending on the actions of this life, or in some cases, the karma of lives past. My late wife has spoken to me through psychics, coming unbidden when I sought their advice for other matters. I’ve known it was her; she was unusual enough that someone trying to blindly guess what she would say would fail miserably. She told me the other side is beautiful: wooded meadows with cool grass and flowers, where she and her dog play. Some of her relatives are already there, and her favorite dog, who transitioned just over a year before she did.
The season of Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, will soon be upon us, or Samhain (pronounced sow en), as some of us refer to it. In my religion, Samhain is the night when the veil between the worlds is thinnest, a time for honoring my ancestors and loved ones who have already passed to the other side. Samhain night, I will start by having a spirit supper, making some of their favorite dishes, and setting an extra place at the table in their honor. Afterwards, when I do my Samhain ritual, I will open a gateway to the other side and invite the spirits of my loved ones back to this world for a short time.
A beautiful thing many pagan religions believe is that death is just part of the natural sequence of life and not to be feared, because what waits on the other side is not to be feared either. In my religion, Summerland is a way station of sorts, a resting place we go to between lives. Our loved ones are there too, and we spend time with our true families until it is time for us to live another life in a different plane of reality. Death is not a cessation of life, just a shedding of form so we can return to our family. I like to think of it as a big family reunion where everyone has new stories of the adventures they experienced during their time here on Earth.
Many times, those who have gone to the other side have returned to talk to us, often through a medium or psychic. Most mention missing the little things they did that we take for granted, like a morning cup of coffee or a favorite food. Most also express that they no longer feel pain or experience symptoms often associated with what caused them to transition, bringing a sense of relief to those still in this world. Whatever awaits on the other side, most have found a peace or sense of knowing not easily achieved on this side of the veil.
Fall has begun, the days shorten and harvest time draws to a close. All Hallow’s Eve, like other cultures’ Day of the Dead, is not a time for mourning, but for honoring our ancestors and remembering those who came before us. Although Samhain can be a somber time, it is also a celebration of time spent with our departed loved ones and a celebration of their lives, a day when we mark the turning of the Wheel of the Year. Let us remember, and celebrate, and live to fullest.