Please feel free to grab a handful of that Halloween candy you bought for the neighborhood kids, and munch down! Wait--it's only August, isn't it? Never mind--my macabre imagination generally kicks in about this time of year. Once it's dark by 9 PM, I dust off my broom. Mother Nature (aka, the Goddess) knew what she was about--we long for summer, yet we anticipate the cooling weather and moody skies of Autumn with a frisson of pleasure, as the heat of August drags on. And Halloween! Who could not love this shadow-laden celebration? As with Mexico's Day of the Dead, here is a holiday where we flush away that fear of death and dread of evil, and embrace them instead. For how could we celebrate life, without occasionally taking off our hats (or putting them on) to death? Dark is only the other side of light. Would light matter if we never experienced the dark? So here's to the Dark--keeper of secrets, nest of conjugal coupling, bridge to our land of dreams. Or nightmares.
