In Praise of Halloween

                                              In Praise of Halloween-for JoJo

 

           

                

"I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.”  

                                                          Carolyn McCullough, Once A Witch

This is by far my favorite time of the year, and it precedes by far my least favorite. This is an ode to Halloween, not necessarily for its historicity, but more for its psychosocial aspects as well as the passage of summer into Fall.

This time of the year is a time of moving into the dormancy of Fall and Winter, it is a time of moving inward, being more reflective, conserving, and preparation. Historically, this is when people get “their wood put up” for winter, do some canning, and settle in for a hibernation of body and soul. At the same time the spirit of Halloween is in the air. A spirit that is wild and creepy, unpredictable, spontaneous and mischievous.

The coming of Fall is just that; a fall, leaves turn many colors and shades as they are dying and falling to leave behind barren limbs, the air becomes chilled and loses all remnants of the summer heat. These changes in Nature bring about changes in our nature, we are wanting to sleep more, eat more, slow down, and sit by a fire. We may be more prone to contemplate our own immanent death as well as the dying, falling leaves. There is a sense of harvest, not just of the summer’s garden but the harvest of our own life and what fruits or lack thereof we have produced.

In all religious traditions there is space, time, and ritual allotted for a “breaking of all conventional/traditional rules” in some kind of ritualized manner. Such festivals and carnivals as Mardi Gras are times in which there is a suspension of the usual restraints of “civilized” social norms, in ancient Greece this was the time and festivals of Dionysus, which was also the birth of theatre, in Rome there was the god and festivals of  Bacchus who was the god of wine and fertility, he was known as "the liberator" because his spirit loosened the usual grips that social and institutional norms have on people. The word carnival, in Latin, actually means “farewell to the flesh,” for it is a period leading up to Lent in which Christians practice sacrifice and heightened spiritual disciplines. Ironically, the carnival leading up to Lent is one in which the flesh is fully embraced.

From an anthropological point of view, carnival is a reversal ritual, in which social roles are reversed and norms about desired behavior are suspended. Winter was thought of as the reign of the winter spirits that were to be driven out for the summer to return. Carnival can thus be regarded as a rite of passage from darkness to light, from winter to summer: a fertility celebration, the first spring festival of the new year.

New Year’s Eve is another type of carnival celebration, and there is a wildness that is embraced right before we go into our resolutions to lose weight and be nicer to our girlfriends and dogs. 

In between Halloween and New Year’s Eve are the dreaded Thanksgiving and Christmas. These are the “feel good” celebrations that most people abhor (even if they won’t admit it). As a mental health worker, these are the two holidays that precipitate the most individual and collective neurosis.

I believe this is due to the pure white light expectations around these holidays. There is not supposed to be any darkness, and so everyone suppresses, pretends, and has unbelievably unrealistic expectations that are almost never fulfilled. We have the Norman Rockwell perfect family turkey dinner, baby Jesus, and the perfect Christmas gift that is on sale if only you can find it. This creates a lot of undue pressure and stress.

So I am advocating that we enjoy our dark time of Halloween while we can. Dress or undress in your favorite fantasy costume, be unruly and inappropriate, celebrate yours and others flesh fully, acknowledge and celebrate the mischievous shadow, and befriend the Grimm Reaper and request some leeway with your mortality mortgage!

 

                                      

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Floating

                                                        Floating

Our natural state for the first 9 months of our life is one of floating. We are composed of mostly water, so the state of floating is something that effects our mind/body organism. Dolphins, whales, otters, seals, etc. are mammals that have maintained a lifestyle and environment that is mostly composed of floating. As bipedal creatures, we are very far from coming to terms with the effects of gravity, and there is some kind of innate yearning for us to return to an environment that is free from the constraints and damage that gravity does to our mind and body. Even in our language we use "floating on a cloud" to denote ecstatic states verses "weighed down" to denote feeling heavy and burdened. One way to get a feel for the effects of zero gravity is the experience of floating in a highly salinated tank that distributes gravity equally throughout the body, so there is as close to zero gravity as you can have on earth. This article recounts one of my many experiences of floating on mind and body.

 

Coming out of a float I sit in front of a fish tank. It is a perfect bridge from floating, because I have been a fish floating in my own psyche.The rhythmic undulations of tropical neon are exactly what my mind/body wants and needs to see. This fish tank visual movie is what I have just experienced viscerally, so there’s not much distance or separation between me watching and being in the tank with the fish. Remember, the observer effects, and is effected by the observed.

I feel what the fish feel, wavering and weaving in their watery environment. It reminds me of swimming with dolphins and my awe at how one they are with being a mammal and living in water.

The sea anemones and psychedelic plants extend their tentacles; sensing, touching, in perfect harmony with their environment.

Natural State-Flowing/Floating

Our natural state is a flowing/floating wave like dynamic. Flowing and Floating are close cousins. We can translate flowing and floating in many ways such as a resilient, open, honest and willing attitude. Physically, we can stretch, get massage, practice Flow Yoga, Tai Chi, swimming, and of course floating.

Socially, to practice flowing and floating we can give and receive feedback. This is a hallmark of any healthy balanced system. We can practice ways to process emotion, to minimize resentments, reach out for help, spend time in contemplative practices such as meditation and prayer, and get lots of support so we don’t get bogged down.

Psychologically, “Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields (see his groundbreaking book “Flow”).”

After floating, sitting in front of a beautiful aquarium is a physical and sensory reflection of what I’ve just experienced for an hour or more. Like astronauts that need decompression support from being in 0 gravity, a floater needs to decompress and slowly come back into gravitational, upright orientation.

The left hemisphere of the brain begins to come back on line because the right hemisphere concerned with spatial, creative flow has been dominant while floating.

Falling Vs. Floating

Floating is very different from falling. This may seem an obvious fact, but the two states are often confused. All the orbiting planets, moons, stars, and satellites are falling, but it seems like our moon is gently floating in the night sky, and that the sun actually rises up from the ocean. So it is counter-intuitive to realize the moon is actually falling, as is the earth.

Walking is another example of falling vs. floating. One of the reasons it’s quite a feat for toddlers to learn to walk is that in order to take a step, they must fall into it. it takes a lot of trust, confidence and coordination to take a step, and then another. We have the phrase “falling down drunk” for a good reason. When one is intoxicated, one losses their ability to ‘fall’’ gracefully.

On the floating side of things, running moves us, biomechanically, towards a floating type of experience. Also dance can be seen as a movement toward experientially practicing floating. Just watch a video of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or Martha Graham to see floating in action. Or Michael “Air” Jordan floating from the tip of the key, suspended as if from cables until he stuffs the basket ball. Or the Russian ballerina Baryshnikov, taking flight in one of his magnificent leaps.

We wouldn’t necessarily expect ourselves to stuff a basketball like M.J., after being in a float tank, but we can expect to embody a level of floating that, if we intentionally practice, will transfer and translate into parts of our life. It could be the way we drive, the tone of our voice, and our level of fluidity and flexibility in all of our transactions.