Halloween October 31, 2009

Trick Or Treat!!!! Happy Happy Spooky Boo!

Favorite things from my own collection of vintage Halloween decorations and ephemera, to share with you! Check back often, I'll add more and the day and inspiration allow!

For a fun discussion of the History of Halloween, and its evolution into a favorite holiday for many the world over, see my Heart Sister's blog today:

http://www.gazehound.com/halloween-day-of-the-dead-or-just-a-day-of-fun/

The Spirit of the Place - Indiana October

Ancient and enduring .....


A mound construct, estimated to be as old as three to four thousand years. This one, like most of the earthworks in this area, is located on the south bank of a river. This mound is rectangular in shape and the
ramp leading to the central platform aligns with the spring and autumn equinoxes. The silence in this place is palpable, and I believe time would stand still there if only a person could remember the secret spell.

Alive with beauty and meaning .....

Just as the October of Medieval Europe brought the final flurry of work to carry in the last of the summer's harvest, even now in the new world of the American Mid-West, farmers push to get grain crops out of the fields at the optimum time of harvest, while all around them, the countryside says "Hurry, summer is leaving - the Wheel still turns!" The sun dips behind the horizon a bit sooner each day just as it has for centuries. Cows in newly acquired winter coats watch curiously as the world around them bustles by with a sense of purpose and direction, and always the message is "Hurry! Hurry! The days are slipping by, summer is leaving, summer is leaving!" The modern counterpart of the feudal shareholder raises clouds of dust visible for miles as he scurries to combine a bean crop, but the same voice whispers in his ear as well, "Hurry, hurry, the corn is ready too!" And from Sun to Sun, the message of late October is as ancient as the Wheel of the Year which turns toward the end of Harvest ... "Hurry, Hurry - Summer is over!"

End of Harvest, Last of Summer....



The waxing moon rides high in the October skies, escorting sparkling Jupiter for a brief time each night, as the Wheel of the Year turns and pushes the season of summer toward the time of the year the ancient Celts called "Samhain," or the "end of summer." The days of harvest are ending, and it is time now to gather all in and wait for the first cold winds of winter to drive away the last balmy days of Indian Summer. The hours of lengthening darkness are increasing each day and we're moving quickly toward the Winter Solstice and the longest night of the year. For many who followed the ancient religions, the time between Samhain, which was also the Celtic New Year, and Yule, or the Winter Solstice" was a time which did not pass according to the natural laws of the planet. The "time which is no time," or "the time between" was seen as a period of chaos during which rules, both physical and social were not followed or adhered to. It was a time of great opportunity for magic, mystery and mystical happenings - a time which could also be very dangerous for those who did not keep their wits about them. A time born in the festival of harvest, a time of respite from the unceasing toil and boredom of daily work in the fields, and a time when hearth fires would be lit from the embers of festival bonfires and kept burning to fend off the cold of the darkest time of year.

October, Month of Change and Symbols

Robert Graves, author of the sometimes controversial book, The White Goddess, held that poetry was a mystical, magical language which guided ritual to the realm of spiritual truth. In his search for the origins of the European Goddess religions, Graves compiled a kind of Celtic Zodiac, based on the lunar calendar of the Celts and their correspondences with the sacred trees of Celtic culture. The Celts claimed the magical powers of the groves hidden deep in the great forests and attributed special qualities and powers to each tree. Ivy is the symbol for the month of October, called Gort, which extends from September 30 to October 27. Ivy was the plant associated with the opening of the portal to the Otherworld and represented all that was mysterious and magical about the last days of summer, when the veil between the worlds is thinnest and time ceases to exist.


In the Northern Hemisphere, October is regarded as a month of marked and sudden changes in the tempo and look of the country side. Even in the cities, dwellers are aware of the quickening pace of changes in the world around them. The balance of Libra shifts and tips as light diminishes and the hours of darkness increase, and a sense of delicious mystery and magic begin to fill the air. Brisk winds and rustling leaves alert us to the revolving Wheel of the Year that is as ancient as the planet, so palpable and real it cannot be ignored The ancient Europeans marked the month of October as the month of the last Harvest and thus as the ending of the year - in other parts of the world, cultures even more ancient than the Celts explained the shift in the growing patterns and weather with mysteries and goddesses of their own. Hecate, the goddess of midnight crossroads and the cauldron and hunting hounds was believed to be abroad at night during the ending of the year and in an additional guise, was the protector of women, especially those in childbirth. She is a dark goddess, a deity fit for the shadowy mysteries of October.



In the early mists of time, the pomegranate was considered a symbol of good fortune and fertility. In the contemporary painting by Robert Lenz (below), the fruit is offered to the viewer by the most ancient goddess, "Eve Mother of All."


In later goddess mythology, the pomegranate becomes a symbol of the darkness of October, the end of the harvest season, and the onset of winter when Hades kidnaps Persephone, the daughter of Demeter (who is the goddess of agriculture and the "bringer of seasons"), and carries her off to the mysterious "underworld." Demeter became so grieved over the loss of her daughter, that her sadness caused the earth to die. The sun hid, and nothing grew, the earth became barren with the coldness of winter. Hades was finally convinced to release Persephone to return to her mother, but before leaving the kingdom of the ruler of the underworld, Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds (or four or three depending on the myth) which meant that she was bound to return to Hades for six months (or four or three) each year. Of course each time she returned to the kingdom of the underworld, her mother grieved and winter returned. Thus, we have a cycle of seasonal weather on the planet earth.

Persephone
Dante Gabriel Rossette

In the course of time, "pagan" goddesses were replaced by the Virgin Mary, and lo and behold, the pomegranate became a symbol of her love and purity. Renaissance painters often depicted the Virgin as Madonna with Baby Jesus holding a pomegranate in his hands ... Renaissance painters were often known for their ability to "paint between the lines" so to speak, and loved to include Pagan symbolism in their religious art work.

Botticelli - Madonna of the Pomegranate

Also, in the course of time, the idea of October as a month of mysteries and dark secrets lightened up just a bit - some artists contented themselves with the idea of fairy folk frolicking in the golden weather and brilliant hues of the dying harvest, but by some strange twist managed to include those "October" plants which have a certain reputation for sharp or prickly parts,

The Hawthorne Fairy

Or, just plain deadly and poison parts,

The Deadly Nightshade Berry Fairy

And sometimes fairies just want to have innocent fun and dance!

But, as it always must, the Wheel of the Year turns steadily toward the end of summer, the final harvest is nearly complete and at its appointed time, the sun slips across the cusp, from the tilting scales of Libra, into the sign of fall, mystery, magic and the last of summer; toward the time when the veil is at its thinnest, into the sign of the Scorpion

Sign of Scorpio
October 23 - November 21

Gort-Ivy Greeting Card Graphic Courtesty of:
Hedinghamfair, UK
http://www.hedinghamfair.co.uk/bc_special.htm

October Morn ......

At first light, on a drizzly, cold and damp October morning, the toadstools made their scheduled appearance in the long, rain-soaked grass of my yard. They materialize every year around the middle of October and march and dance along the root lines of an ancient Chinese Elm tree. For me and mine, they signal the true beginning of the Season of the Witch. These aren't the joyful "Fairy Circles" of a mid-summer's eve, but I'm sure they're inhabited by fairies and other magical beings all the same. The sturdy toad stools are just the right height to be a true throne for autumn fairies, a magical black squirrel or perhaps a dancing hare who is waiting for the moon to reappear.

October Skies - Thank You, Indiana University

From IU News Room - Indiana University

Three planets appear close in October sky


Oct. 2, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Jupiter will reach its highest point in the southern sky soon after darkness falls during October. Normally this would be the best time to view the great planet with a telescope, but in this case the images may be blurred by turbulence. Earth's atmosphere cools rapidly after sunset as it loses its daytime heat, and this tends to produce unsteady viewing. Use low magnification for better images.

Red-orange Mars will be climbing the eastern sky soon after midnight, and it will be high in the southeast by the start of morning twilight. Beginning the month south of the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini the Twins, Mars will cross into the constellation Cancer the Crab. By month's end the planet will approach the Beehive star cluster, a spectacular sight in binoculars or a low-power telescope.

Three planets will appear close together in the predawn sky in early October. Venus will be the first to rise, coming up two hours before the sun as a dazzling white "morning star" low in the east. Venus has probably provoked more UFO reports than any other object in the night sky, and it's easy to see why.

Mercury will follow Venus about 45 minutes later at the beginning of the month, much fainter but getting brighter each day. The small planet will be highest above the eastern horizon on Oct. 6, about a half hour before sunrise.

Last to appear will be Saturn, rising about 20 minutes after Mercury as the dawn sky brightens at the beginning of the month. The two planets will be closer each morning until Oct. 8, when brighter Mercury can serve as a marker for Saturn passing less than 1 degree above it. In the days following, Saturn will climb higher until it passes similarly close above brilliant Venus on Oct. 13. Saturn's rings were tilted edgewise to Earth in September, but their tilt to our line of sight will increase rapidly during October as Saturn continues to climb higher in our sky.

Meteor shower

The Orionid meteor shower will peak before the first light of dawn on Oct. 21. Moonlight will not interfere, so observers with a dark sky may see up to 30 meteors per hour. The Orionids appear to originate from the familiar constellation Orion the Hunter. Orion will rise before midnight in the east-southeast, and the number of meteors will increase as it gets higher above the horizon. The shower will be active for most of October, with the number of meteors gradually increasing from the start and declining after the peak. The Orionid meteors are dust particles from Halley's Comet, left behind in the comet's orbit.

Moon phases

The moon will be full on Oct. 4, at third quarter on Oct. 11, new on Oct. 18 and at first quarter on Oct. 25.



http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/12031.html

Chinese Full Moon Festival

China's Moon Festival is a harvest festival. Sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival, the celebration is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month when the moon is said to be at its brightest and fullest of the entire year. In the year 2009, the Full Moon Festival falls in October on the third day of the month. It is a traditional family gathering time, and moon cakes are a very special part of the festival dinner.

Lanterns are always a part of the Mid-Autumn Full Moon celebration. They are often lit and set afloat on a river and watching then until they've floated out of sight is thought to ensure good fortune for the coming year. Specially constructed Hung-Ming lanterns are a favorite of young children because they can "fly" due to the heat from the candles burning in them.

The Full Moon Festival is very ancient and many wonderful legends and activities are associated with it. It is second in importance of all Chinese Festivals. Read about the history and traditions here:

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa093097.htm

October is a month when many traditional festivals are held all over the world ... but mostly, everyone just enjoys contemplating that big, full, Hunters-Harvest Moon!