Halloween Sabbat

Happy Halloween, everyone! This is also called Samhain, and on the Pagan calendar, it is the end of the year. This is the third harvest, at which time,our ancestors' tradition held that all agricultural harvesting should be complete. Some Pagan traditions celebrate this day on October 31; others celebrate it on the first full moon of Scorpio. This day is set aside as a day to honor deceased Ancestors. It is a bit like Memorial Day, and gifts of flowers, whiskey, chocolate, food, and tobacco were often left at graves, as gifts for the Dead.  Gourds and turnips were carved into scary candle holders called "jack-o-lanterns" to scare away any malevolent spirits, and the custom of dressing up in costumes, as fairies or spirits, was seen as a means of protection, as well.

Halloween is also reminiscent of the Greek legend of Hades and his capture of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, Goddess of agriculture, plants, and harvest. When Persephone disappeared, Demeter let the earth become barren. When Zeus intervened, and determined that Persephone should be in the Underworld with her new consort for six months, then with Demeter for six months, the seasons as we know them began, so the story goes. This is how Persephone became Queen of the Dead, and when she rushes out of the Underworld in the Spring, life begins anew.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Noah Terry Thomas: Sad News

Noah Terry Thomas, of this post, was found earlier today, on his family's property. According to friends and neighbors, he was discovered in a sewer drain. This is not the outcome hoped for by so many. There will be a memorial service for Noah on Friday, March 27 at 8:00 PM at the Pearisburg Community Center, on the front lawn. The address is 1410 Wenonah Ave., Pearisburg, Virginia.

Writing That Transcends Time And Space

"Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them. 'There was a real railway accident,' said Aslan, softly. 'Your father and mother and all of you are---as you used to call it in the Shadow Lands---dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.'

And as he spoke, he no longer looked to them like a lion; but things began to happen after that that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has ever read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better then the one before."

C. S. Lewis, from The Last Battle

Tales From The Crypt; The Baby Is Still Alive

Last week, in Argentina, a baby was born prematurely. The mother was told that the baby showed no signs of life, and the doctor duly pronounced the little girl dead. Then, she was unceremoniously sent to the city morgue.

 Twelve hours later, the mother was discharged from the hospital, and wanted to see her baby one more time. So she and her husband went to the morgue, and when they opened their daughter's casket, she cried! No joke; doctors apparently make mistakes. Hopefully, they thought to take a carseat with them when they went to visit their daughter at the morgue! The baby's name is Luz Milegros; "miracles of light", loosely translated. Hopefully, there will not be much red tape involved in trading in the death certificate for a birth certificate!