Halloween: Can we celebrate our dark side?

Posted on October 31, 2007
Filed Under Embrace Your Highest Path and Purpose |

I was at the grocery store today and encountered a man in a truly freakish zombie costume. His getup was so realistic that even I got a little uncomfortable. I’m sure you can imagine the reaction of my two-year-old. It will be a miracle if I get her back into that grocery store any time soon.

This incident made me think about what inspires some of us to dress up on Halloween as characters from horror movies, zombies, monsters, and other types of creatures that definitely represent darkness. Why is dressing up in scary costumes so appealing?

Even as beings of Light, we all have the potential to embrace darkness. Every one of us is capable of horrible acts. We all have within us anger, jealousy, guilt, hatred, and violence. As Lightworkers, we choose not to allow these negative energies to nurture us. But the potential is there, nevertheless.

Perhaps by bringing this “shadow side” to light on a day such as Halloween, we celebrate our freedom of choice. Right there in front of us, in the freakish costumes, the skulls and skeletons that decorate suburbia, those horrible candy dishes with the automatic grabbing hand that inspire nightmares in small children - is everything we could choose, but don’t. We can be reminded of all the darkness in the world, and celebrate the fact that we nonetheless have freely chosen to uphold Light. It might make us uncomfortable to see this shadow side flaunted. But by acknowledging its existence, we are uplifted in our conscious choice to bring our Light to this world.

Happy Halloween and blessings,
Andrea

Comments

8 Responses to “Halloween: Can we celebrate our dark side?”

Dreamsenshi on October 31st, 2007 1:54 pm

I hadn’t thought of it that way! I think that’s a lot like how I think of role-playing games (such as Legend of the Five Rings, Cyberpunk 2020, etc.) - It’s a chance to be someone who you’re not to gain those experiences and understand them, even if you’re perfectly happy with who you are and how you’re growing in your own, “real” world.
Patricia - Spiritual Journey Of A Lightworker on October 31st, 2007 4:31 pm

I believe, even though, we are Lightworkers, that it is good to occasionally acknowledge our dark side. I didn’t say act on it. I said acknowledge it. It does exist in each of us, whether we like it or not. Accepting all parts of ourselves is how we heal those dark places that are sometimes filled with pain and anger. Great article.
Tuan on November 1st, 2007 8:58 am

Can we celebrate our Dark Side? Absolutely, only the righteous people can’t. When we think we are righteous, we often denied our true dark nature which resides deeply in our consciousness. The Chinese knows this that why they created the Yin Yang symbol. The existing of our Universe is a constant balancing act between the Yin and Yang. It is in nature and it is in all of us. Deny one part of ourselves creates an unbalance us. You know what happen when the scale is tipped, right? What this video you will see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCh2FXzD6R4

Embracing the darkness not necessary creates darkness in us. It is the opposite, we have the dark side that is why we embracing it. Acknowledge or embracing our dark side help us to tame it and or make peace with it instead of letting it taking over. Fighting with our darkness does not subsiding it but instead enhance it more.

Why all the scary stuff is so appealing? Fear is the foundation of our collective consciousness. In the beginning we fear of the danger in the wild that made us formed tribe for our security. Then we fear of the tribe leader, when tribe became kingdom then we fear king, so on and so on. Our society gets complex so does our collective consciousness. Very much of what we think or do is based on the influence of this collective consciousness. The truth is we are hopeless for it, go against the current can only make it harder, flow with it will make it becomes less abrasive.

So why do I say all this? As the Lightworker we uphold the light with us always, so no matter what we do, the light is always with us. Embracing the darkness help us to bring the light closer to it. Darkness isn’t dark, it is the absent of light.
Tuan on November 1st, 2007 9:08 am

About Halloween, does anyone know why the kids wear costume and say “trick or treat”? And why do we treat with sweet? I think there is a great philosophy behind that holiday but we forgot the meaning of it.
Christa on November 1st, 2007 11:22 am

Tuan:

The Origins of Trick-or-Treat.

Some trace the origins of present day “trick-or-treat” to Samhain (a Celtic feast marking the end of summer), which was the supreme night of demonic jubilation. Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. They began the tradition of placing plates of the finest food and bits of treats that the household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. If not placated, villagers feared that the spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property.

The problem was… if the souls of dead loved ones could return that night, so could anything else,human or not, nice or not-so-nice. The only thing the superstitious people knew to do to protect themselves on such an occasion was to masquerade as one of the demonic hoard, and hopefully blend in unnoticed among them. Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around. This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures.

Others trace “trick-or-treat” to a European custom called “souling”. Beggars would go from village to village begging for “soul cakes” made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers could guarantee a soul’s passage to heaven.

In many parts of Britain and Ireland this night used to be known as ‘Mischief Night’, which meant that people were free to go around the village playing pranks and getting up to any kind of mischief without fear of being punished. Many of the different customs were taken to the United States by Irish and Scottish immigrants in the nineteenth century, and they developed into ‘trick or treat’.

I can’t take credit for the above information. I gathered it from a MySpace post.

Love and light,
Christa
David on November 1st, 2007 11:37 am

For short history of Holloween copy and paste http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=713&display_order=1&mini_id=1076 to your browser. It’s a History Channel site so it’s safe.

It is good to remind ourselves that we contain the potential for darkness as well as light. For every Yin there is a Yang, and just like the symbol that represents it, one flows into the other. I believe growth comes from an equanimous state of mind about both and light. That way it can cease to be a duality, allowing us to be at peace.
Brandon on November 1st, 2007 12:59 pm

In my opinion, Halloween is what you make of it. I see the holiday as an excellent opportunity to explore the creative side of yourself. It’s not everyday you get to wear wigs and masks and express yourself in such a radical and fun way. My day was filled with happiness and love. I went to work and it was so fun to see all of my co-workers in their different costumes. We took pictures, laughed, complimented each other and had a great time. The happiness I witnessed all day is proof enough for me that Halloween is just another holiday that unites people. Which aspects of Halloween do you embrace?

Tuan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween seems to be a decent reference.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a pleasant day yesterday! Happy Halloween!
Andrea on November 2nd, 2007 12:01 pm

Oh, I’ve been bad at keeping up with the awesome comments here!!!

Dreamsenshi - so true, role-playing can give us a whole new perspective. We can learn so much about who and what we are by sometimes being what we are not.

Patricia, Tuan - I agree, not acknowledging or even fighting our “dark side” just gives it power. We give energy to what we dare not look at. Once we bring these aspects of ourselves forward into consciousness, they lose all influence.

Tuan, I do think that, while fear is so prevalent in collective consciousness, we are working very hard to get away from fear-based living - I think that’s possible. What do you think?

Christa, I for one learned a lot from your post!!! I had no idea of the origins of “trick or treat” - I’m a German girl, after all, so this was very interesting!

Brandon, it’s so nice to hear that you embrace the fun side of Halloween. I do think that it’s a great day to let loose and invite the unexpected!

Blessings to all - thank you so much for the wonderful and thought inspiring comments!
Andrea