Ideal Hallow's Eve

I'm in the suburbs this year. Stark constrast to last years Reclaiming spiral dance in golden gate park of san francisco with the wiccan community, where i cried and was reborn and rebirthed and integrated into the cycle of life, death and the seasons. The suburban halloween was filled with "gotta go to safeway and buy candy" and an invite to a block party where they serve cider and donuts... Which is nice and all, but missing the point, i'm sure. There were frankensteins hanging from trees, grave stones, and witches who'd flown their broomsticks into roofs. Nice decorations, but still, missing some point...

I talked with a catholic african woman today who was babysitting two blondies, and i really like this woman, despite her archaic language regarding the spirit world. She asked me if i celebrated halloween this year, and i said that my son was asleep from 5 to 7, so i did not, but i mentioned that i love this time of year. I dropped a hint that i was open to discussing this further by mentioning the reason that i love this time of year, being that the veils between the worlds are thin.

She said that halloween focuses on evil things, and so when her children were younger she would dress them as angels instead of skeletons and witches. We talked about darkness and light for a while, but this evening as i envisioned next year's halloween, i came up with further ideas on how to celebrate Better.

Leading up to our doorstep i would like to have a memorial shrine to all our ancestors where visitors can contribute if they would like to commemorate someone who died. I would also like to commemorate those who were born recently. I would commemorate my grandmother who died before my son was born, and i would also commemorate my friends baby who died a month after she was born last november.

I would offer the parents cider and mead, and the children would get oatmeal raisin cookies, or chocolate chip cookies, or cinammon+sugar cookies. Yummy. And i would dress in costume, of course. I'd probably be a witch. I love witch fashion. But i may decide to be a fairy. I like fairy fashion, too.

I hope that by infusing the suburbs with just a little bit of Thought regarding the sacred possibilities of this Time of Year, and commorating the cycles of life and the seasons, that we can move beyond the superficialities of consumer culture that permeats suburbia.