Halloween — Samhain

Halloween was cloudy short after sunrise. One could still wonder about this afternoon's parade. There were dark clouds yesterday, and, very thin raindrops falling. It rained during the night, was still cloudy after dawn... and the sky cleared up later. The parade is not in risk of being one in the rain. With so many Irish descendants here, one may well believe that some of the Siddhe came along with them in the ships. For those who don't know it (if there are still any), Halloween is, actually, Samhain, a Celtic celebration. Some say it's the Celtic New Year, some say it's not. Whatever it be, it is certainly a Celtic celebration, that has a lot to do with the Siddhe, the people of the Otherworld.

Although many associate the Gentry or the wee folk with the Leprechauns, actually, the Siddhe are not only these shoemakers. Some of them look exactly like us, the ordinary humans. Anyone who remembers the words of the traditional Irish song The Star of the County Down, will notice that the lad takes the beautiful colleen (girl in Gaelige) for one of the fairies, the Siddhe. The Siddhe are not a mere superstition. Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, the great Irish Bard wrote a book compiling stories about them. He collected actual experiences of real people, who had close encounters with the gentry. And Dr. W.Y. Evans Wents' first book was, precisely, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. He did it, in part, out of respect for his ancestors, for his roots. Many have either forgotten, or worst, lost their roots. It is rather sad. Think what happens to a wonderful tree if it looses his roots (his, not its). The same happens to us. We may remain as a wonderful tree... but a dry one. We see many of them daily.

Hopefully we'll have a great day today. Here in Ashland Oregon there will be a parade in Main Street. Lot's of fun to all of us, trick and treating... we should have good music and dancing and eating too. After all, so many consider this the Celtic New Year, and, astronomically, it makes sense. For all of us who have Celtic roots, whether Irish, Scottish, Galician or otherwise... let us not forget our ancestors. This is the time of the year to celebrate with them. Eat and drink and dance and have fun with them. As the song goes, Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain / For we may and might never all meet here again. Happy Halloween... and enjoy my window!!!

Autumn emotions

Autumn colors are really impressive in Ashland Oregon. Deep greens, golden and bronze, yellow ochre, deep red, bright yellow. Add the background of blue skies and Grizzly Peak, and this makes the spirit and the heart expand as widely as the sky itself. Such a day was yesterday. And fairly warm for this time of the year also.

After doing a couple of things downtown, I decided to have a rest and some tea at a bookstore’s coffee house. I was enjoying my Toasted Rice Green in the patio, and a girl and a guy came in. Either nineteen or very early twenties both of them. She had an attractive face. Medium height, dark brown hair to her shoulders, wearing a mini-skirted gray dress and black tights. Walked right to a table, carrying her latte. Her companion was much taller, maybe more than six feet, blonde mane, carrying nothing. Somewhat later the chap of the coffee house brought him something that looked like a latte with a lot of whipped cream on top. Impressive and enticing. I kept enjoying my toasted rice green.

Finally relaxed from the previous rush, I started by contemplating and the plants around me. Then, my attention was taken to the young couple. They were happily having their concoctions, and talking. Talking more happily than they were enjoying their concoctions. There was something like a wave of bliss flowing from and into each other. I couldn’t —and didn’t wanted to— hear what they said. In fact, it did not matter at all. Not even body language mattered. What was happening was beyond words, beyond physical gestures. Something special radiated from their eyes, and from their hearts.

It then became more than clear to me in my own heart. Heart-mind. The real communication is beyond speech and silence. It is something that is transmitted from heart to heart in a very subtle way. That is what words or gestures really carry. The feeling and the motivation. He could have been saying your latte seems really good. And she may have replied yes, and have you seen that weird guy sitting there having tea? But the message that both of them sent and received was, beyond doubts, I like you so much! I’m so happy to be here with you!

What is really important, goes beyond our words and actions. It is emotion and motivation. The emotional stream is the energy, and the motivation the quality of that energy. The higher the pitch of the emotion, and the purest the motivation, is what makes the world around us. So, we rather let our heart and spirit expand, like when watching the wonderful colors of autumn.

Reflections

At the turn of a corner a tree with all his leaves bright dark red strike your sight, you have no more doubts. We are at the gates of winter. Our heart suddenly becomes warmer, as the fires that will burn in the hearth. How do you become aware of this? In the core of your heart/mind. It is the heart/mind that perceives this and everything. Just like a mirror. It reflects everything and retains nothing, ready for the next reflection. Our mind acts in a mirrorwise manner, and when we are aware of this, there are the mirrorwise reflections. This is what this blog is about. With both, words and images. Welcome.