I have had one of those quietly amazing days –
not what one usually thinks of when you think of Halloween –
but when you think of it like Celtic New Year
it makes a bit more sense –
especially if you believe,
in metaphor…
and i do.
BELIEVE.
I have several meditation daily practices,
one is my sumi-e reflections which i blog on The Ministry of Animals
and one is some form of creation –
as we are made in the image of a creator, it keeps me mindful of that.
Today for my creation meditation i carved a pumpkin:
there was no plan, just to carve where i was led –
in the words of the Great Prayer:
Beauty before me…..
peace flooded me, the sun shone and the cats purred.
i thought i was finished, gave thanks and took the picture above.
I then I went in to the smallest room in the house –
To test out the pumpkin’s purposefulness –
you know the room – some wise thinking occurs there,
one with no windows – and many faucets – a porcelain chair – perhaps you have one too?
i put an electronic light inside the orange globe,
closed the door and….
was in almost complete darkness.
(did i mention i believe in metaphor?)
deep breath. deeper breath. and i stepped back out into the light.
all the delicate carvings, invisible in the darkened room, visible once again.
I went back to the patio,
cradling my pumpkin, knowing what i needed to do.
DIG DEEPER.
Beauty is more than skin deep – and we are never through discovery –
hearing Leonard Cohen in my head,
“theres a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”
it echoes and hits another truth –
it is also where the light gets out.
So i dig deeper – it may not be as pretty in the light as it was before But it worked –
This year we gave away small bottles of bubbles to the trick or treaters who stopped by.
we had a bubble machine set up as well – and as i tried to take a picture the bubbles kept catching the light and floating filled with sparkles and swirls –
turning into rainbow streaks in the camera – they told me – remember….
it is in the dark that we and others need to shine –
to share our light and reflect it back to others.
don’t hide it under a bushel.
DIG DEEP,
Crack open.
SHINE.
Happy Samhain, Joyous Sawin, Happy Halloween.
Reverend Lizzie 