Halloween is a time for rebirth and renewal. Take a leaf from the book of the Phoenix, pictured here in the Aberdeen Bestiary.
Halloween isn’t just for dressing up and bobbing for apples. It’s also an ideal time to reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re going, and to renew your job motivation. Here’s why.
The cusp of 31st October and 1st November marks Samhain – “summer’s end”, from sam meaning “summer” and fuin meaning “end” – believed by some scholars to mark the ending and beginning of the year in the Celtic calendar.
Halloween has always been a favourite time of year for me. I have many happy memories of childhood Halloweens spent “guising” around the local neighbourhood in fancy dress (I always loved anything to do with witches, goblins, and magic). Perhaps those memories have been enhanced by the strong regenerative associations this festival has in my own Celtic (Scottish) background.
Nowadays, I see it and the days that follow as a perfect time to take stock of what’s been, to consider what lies ahead, and to give thought to where I want to focus my intentions in the year ahead.
Samhain celebrations have survived – or independently evolved – in varying forms throughout the world. Halloween itself is strongly associated with a Christian perspective, being a contraction of “All Hallows’ Evening”, a yearly holiday observed on eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows.
Despite cultural differences, the various festivals, including Hop-tu-Naa, Calan Gaeaf, Kalan Gwav, Day of the Dead, and All Saints’ Day have several common characteristics, particularly in terms of the way in which they give thanks for the final harvest of the year, and celebrate and venerate the dead who have gone before. It is still the custom in some parts of the word to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night.
EXERCISE: Consider how your own ancestors – known and unknown – have contributed to the unique individual you have become. What qualities of those who came before you would you like to draw on and invoke now and in the future, particularly in relation to your life’s purpose and job motivation? Consider reaching beyond your immediate family for inspiration, to draw strength from the ancient archetypes which are at play in all of us.
As the sun sets on the old year, what are you prepared to let go of in order to make room for something new?
The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin at Samhain, and the custom of wearing costumes and masks – in reverence of the unseen forces of the otherworld – continues to this day. In Scotland in the 16th century, the dead were impersonated by “guisers” – young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Candle lanterns, carved from turnips, were a significant part of the festivities. Guising – dressing up and offering entertainment of various sorts in return for gifts – has continued for children in Scotland right up to the present day. At the time of substantial Irish and Scottish immigration to North America, Halloween had a strong tradition of guising and pranks, leading to the current associations with “trick or treating”.
EXERCISE: What job roles – guises – are you ready to cast off at the end of the old year? Which will you pick up and wear as the new year begins? Give some thought to the roles you need to play in order to get to where you want to be in your career, and also to those roles which no longer serve you. How will you gently and respectfully let them go? What are the new roles that will most benefit you and those you care about? Where can you find support to help you exist comfortably within these new roles? How can these changes boost your job motivation?
Traditionally at Samhain, divination was practised, and this is a common tradition that has survived in many rural areas. The most common practices were to determine the identity of a person’s future spouse, the location of their future home, and how many children they might have. Seasonal foods such as apples and nuts were often employed in these rituals – for example, an apple was peeled, the peel tossed over the shoulder, and its shape examined to see if it formed the first letter of the future spouse’s name.
You can read more about the important connections between Halloween and good food at my Real Food Revival Plan blog.
EXERCISE: You don’t have to be able to predict your future in order to build a happy one. Use this time of year to consider deeply what would make you most happy: what were you born to do? What better time than Halloween to start finding out what you’re really made of, and to start acting on it?
What seeds will you plant now to ensure a bountiful harvest in the year ahead?
Has the regenerative power of this dark time of year become hidden from us? It may be obscured by commercialism and forgotten history, with fear and superstition replacing its positive attributes in our minds, but there’s no reason we have to continue to see it that way.
This could be the year you break free from the old, tired assumptions about Halloween, autumn, and the shortening days, choosing instead to see them as opportunities to reach within yourself for all the rejuvenation, motivation and inspiration you’ll ever need to make your own magic and find your own vital vocation.
Good luck – and Happy Celtic New Year!
Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Wikipedia.org
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Very good article Brian! Thank you!
Thank you Myra Lynn, and thanks for stopping by!
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