The other day I was part of a discussion online regarding the further marginalization of Halloween. The tone of the discussion was one of sadness that we are losing ground on preserving the one mainstream holiday that seems most in keeping with Pagan traditions. We have fought so hard to shed light on the true origins of Halloween and still we are faced with those who would whitewash it even further, stripping it of any meaning and making it no more that another excuse for mindless recreation.

It was this article that initiated the discussion, in the Rockford Spirituality section of the Examiner. (East Coast based).

The article cites examples such as Life Church in Roscoe, IL, which holds an annual Harvest Festival on Halloween Night, complete with Christian music, carnival rides, games, free candy, and guest lecturers inviting you to begin your spiritual journey with the church.

Other examples are date changes for Halloween, both proposed and already in effect, and trick or treating during daylight hours. The writer of the article fears this “blatantly demeans the already unstable recognition that the growing neopagan population struggles for.”

Do I share in the sadness expressed by my Pagan kin over this?

The short answer is no. While I can understand the sentiment that changing the dates of Halloween is demeaning to the recognition of Halloween as a sacred tradition, Halloween and Samhain have never really felt like the same thing to me. Admittedly, I have found it heartening that any remnants at all of a pagan custom have survived in the mainstream culture, but ultimately candy and costumes without any of the accompanying lore misses the mark.

For those seeking mindless entertainment, Halloween as celebrated by the masses will always be there for them, and it doesn’t really matter what day it’s on or what groups are trying to diminish its meaning further. Let them have the candy, crass commercialism, and general spectacle. These were never the folks that Samhain was meant for anyway.

I am not worried about losing our customs because there are still many people in this world seeking more meaning in their lives, not less. There comes a time when we realize the preciousness of life and no longer want to be distracted, but engaged. This is the sort of mindset that raised our Pagan traditions from the rubble of forgotten history and into a living tradition, and from what I see everywhere, this yearning for meaning is growing, not diminishing.

So take heart friends. This is nothing more than business as usual. Christians have been whitewashing our holidays for 2,000 years and still our traditions survive.

Lest I seem to be taking a situation lightly that is dear to some, let me say this – it is nice to feel that mainstream society is contributing to the overall flavor of a holiday that is sacred to us, if only in small things such as décor. It is fun to see our communities decked out with ghosts and goblins and various things that remind us that the veils are thinning. If we are saddened by these things diminishing, perhaps it is time to get involved. Host an “All Hallows Eve Festival” in your community. Why let the Christians have all the redefining fun? Have the proceeds benefit the community at large to gain visibility among non-Pagans. If Halloween is to be scheduled for the first Saturday of the month, celebrate all month, starting with Halloween and commencing with Samhain. If others are taking actions that diminish something dear to us, we must then take actions that emphasizes what is dear to us. We can’t change others’ behavior but we can put our own views out in to the world as well. As Scoop Nitzger used to say, “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own”.

• Let’s start off with the fact that CNN’s Belief Blog featured a story on Pagans, complete with quotes from Clare Slaney-Davis, Michael “Pagan Theology” York, Holli Emore of Cherry Hill Seminary, Jenny “Researching Paganisms” Blain, and yours truly. Quote: Another key pagan belief is the freedom for each person to determine his or her own way to and view of the divine. “Paganism doesn’t put restrictions on what you can and cannot believe,” says Jason Pitzl-Waters, co-founder of the Pagan Newswire Collective and the pagan blog The Wild Hunt. “It grows out of an ethos that there isn’t just one sacred way to understand the world.” This is one of the better “Pagans on Halloween” articles I’ve seen, and I’m not just saying that because I was interviewed (though that certainly helps).
• The Chicago Tribune examines green burials through the lens of the Wiccan religious organization Circle Sanctuary. Quote: “The Rev. Ana Blechschmidt, a resident of Sycamore, Ill., and an ordained minister at Circle Sanctuary, said natural burials are important in paganism and other nature-based religions because it’s difficult to fully honor a loved one who has passed on when that person is not buried in a way that preserves the land.“ The Chicago Tribune definitely gets points for coming up with a different angle, one that discusses a serious issue.  Video of a green burial for a cat can be seen, here.
• Huffington Post blogger Grove Harris, UN representative for the Temple of Understanding, weighs in on Samhain as a time to confront our mortality and honor our ancestors. Quote: “We are all going to die. Death is a transition into mystery, into spiritual realms, perhaps to feed ongoing life on earth, perhaps to journey further in spirit, perhaps both. Perhaps neither. It’s a mystery. The question is how can we most deeply listen this year, when the veils between the spirit and earthly realms are most thin, to receive guidance, courage and clarity for the days to come?”
• TNT Magazine goes two-for-one and interviews Witches and Vampires! “Think witches and vampires are just for Halloween? Prepare to meet the people who embrace occultism full-time.” Still, a surprisingly tame article after that lead-in.
• An Eastchester NY paper may have the best quote on Witchcraft: “I only know two kinds of witches, and I know many, many witches,” [Suzanne] Whittle said. “There are good witches and stupid witches.”
• The International Business Times declares that “Halloween comprises an unlikely (and unholy) mixture of Paganism, crass commercialism and Hollywood.” They also interview Baylor University religion professor Rosalie Beck, who says that “the real influence for the creation of Halloween comes from a broader-based agricultural cycle shared by all rural peoples in ancient Europe.”
• At The Guardian Liz Williams, who runs a Witchcraft shop in Glastonbury, tackles the issue of reburial within the UK Pagan community. Her view? “Any attempt to second-guess what ancient people would have wanted is just that: a guess at worst, a hypothesis at best. There is no secure cultural affinity between ancient pagans and modern ones, and the language game issue promoted by Wittgenstein holds: entering someone else’s world view, especially across such a span of time is next to impossible.”
• A Pagan group at Ball State University in Indiana gives their take on Samhain: “It’s a time to both take on everything you’ve been able to gain this past year, as well as reflecting on problems that have been bad and accepting them as a part of yourself and moving past it.”
• Irish Central: “It’s easy with hindsight, to see how that ethereal crossover between the pagan Gods and the Spirit world got woven into a Christian tradition, which the emigrant Irish carried with them when they left these shores during famine times for America. What’s harder to reconcile is the huge crass, commercial event it has morphed into all over the world, but then look what they did to Christmas?”
• The Indian Country Today Media Network has a special three-part series on Day of the Dead that’s worth checking out.
• The Stir presents: How Samhain is celebrated in a Pagan family. Quote: “I think that’s one of my favorite things about the holiday. Every single thing that’s commonly practicedalso has historical roots based in old beliefs. Whether or not we still believe there’s going to be evil spirits scared off by glowing carved faces is irrelevant — it’s just fun! But I do so love having an answer to explain why we do each thing (I don’t really like doing most things without reason), and it’s also a time to talk with my kids about their grandmother and great grandfather who passed before they were born, and pay special respect to them that night.”

That’s all I have for now, if there was a favorite Samhain/Halloween/Day of the Dead article you think I missed, please share it in the comments section. Tomorrow we unpack some non-Halloween related news!

An ancestor altar.

This time of year also sees the celebration of Velu Laiks (“the time of spirits”) by Baltic Pagans,Winter Nights by Asatru in mid-October, Foundation Night in Ekklesía Antínoou, Fete Gede by Vodou practitioners, Día de los Muertos for followers of Santeria and several indigenous religions in Mexico and Latin America, Diwali for Hindus (October 26th this year), and astrological “true” Samhain on November 7th for some Witches and Druids. In addition, Pagans in the Southern Hemisphere are currently celebrating Beltane.

It is a time when some communities acknowledge the Mighty Dead.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLfB3Pp_wG4

“The Mighty Dead are said to be those practitioners of our religion who are on the Other Side now, but who still take great interest in the activities of Witches on this side of the Veil. They have pledged to watch, to help and to teach. It is those Mighty Dead who stand behind us, or with us, in circle so frequently.”

Many who have been dear to our communities have crossed the veil this past year, joining the ranks of the Mighty Dead, including Jehanah Wedgwood, Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, Shakmah Winddrum, Janine Pommy Vega, Kenneth Grant, Bone Blossom, Merlin Stone, Lord Senthor, Bronwen Forbes, Silva Joseph, Brian Fairbrother, Arthur Evans, and Lord Merlin.

“I love that story about Susan Anthony that Zsuzsanna Budapest tells in her book. Some journalist asked Susan Anthony, because she didn’t believe in orthodox religion, I suppose, “Where do you think you’re to go when you die?” She said, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay around and help the women’s movement.” So even if I don’t live long enough to see these things, I’ll be around to make a nuisance of myself.” –Doreen Valiente, the Mother of Modern Witchcraft.

You can also find a list of departed pioneers, founders, and elders at the Green Egg Zine.

Below you’ll find an assortment of quotes from the media, and fellow Pagans, on the holiday.

“Folklore holds that liminal times and spaces (crossroads, thresholds, midnight, Samhain) bring us to a closer relationship with the Otherworlds, lands of enchantment and imagination. The Veil between our everyday world and the Otherworlds begins to thin. The inhabitants of the Otherworlds reach out to us and make themselves felt.. The nature of those inhabitants varies across stories and traditions – they may be the Good Folk, the puca and the bean-sidhe, the kelpie of the well and the hinkypunk of the marsh, and other kinds of creatures as well. Many of the secular traditions of Halloween are inspired by the tales of these creatures, playing on the possible relationships between humans and spirits.” - Literata and Morwen, The Slacktiverse

LGBT writers, such as poet Judy Grahn, have written of Halloween as a “great gay holiday.” Grahn wrote in her history of gay culture, Another Mother Tongue, that Halloween came to be observed by gay people as their special night because LGBT people had served as priests, witches, shamans, healers and intermediaries between living and spiritual worlds in many societies throughout history. [...] Jesse Monteagudo, a gay South Florida writer, wrote in Halloween: the Great Gay Holiday, that he believes LGBT people adopted Halloween as their special night because it had “a lot to do with our role as outsiders in society; our propensity for cross-dressing and gender-bending; our love for the unusual and the fantastic; our ability to find humor in the absurdities and misfortunes of life; our fascination with festive costumes and the world of make-believe; and our special capacity to have fun.” - David Webb, Dallas Voice

In his book The Pagan Mysteries of Halloween, Jean Markale describes Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”) as an important festival that served to unite the tribe. To commemorate the New Year, fires all over the Celtic world were extinguished the night of Samhain, then relit from ceremonial blazes kindled by Druids, the religious leaders of the pre-Christian Celts. Animals were slaughtered and sacrificed to Celtic deities. ”In marking the onset of winter, Samhain was closely associated with darkness and the supernatural,” adds Nicholas Rogers, a York University history professor, in Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. “The festival was closely related with prophecy and story-telling.” It was a time out of time, “charged with a peculiar preternatural energy.” - Chris McGowan, The Huffington Post

Miguel de la Torre, Professor of Social Ethics at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, relayed a story told to him by a Protestant pastor. This man was in Mexico doing missionary work and had, for many years, refused to participate in annual Day of the Dead celebrations. He complained about the money that the people spent on candles and lamented their engagement with what he saw as “evil.” However, the year his father died, he reluctantly went to the cemetery. As the night went on, the pastor “lit candles, told stories of his father, and saw that as a healing moment and began to develop relationships with the people.” - Mary Valle, Religion Dispatches

“Halloween or the Festival of Samhain for Wiccans is by far Salem’s biggest holiday of the year. There are all kinds of parties, celebrations like the “Temple of Nine Wells Samhain Magick Circle,” eerie séances, magic shows, concerts, readings and other “haunted happenings” to experience throughout October leading up to the big night. Ask around and you might get invited to some of the spookier, more exclusive events. Salem gets crowded during late October, but the spirit of the city is most alive during the sliver between our world and the next. This otherworldly revolving door is said to be the thinnest on All Hallows Eve.” - Bob Ecker, Napa Valley Register

“The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, honors departed souls of loved ones who are welcomed back for a few intimate hours. At burial sites or intricately built altars, photos of loved ones are centered on skeleton figurines, bright decorations, candles, candy and other offerings such as the favorite foods of the departed. Pre-Columbian in origin, many of the themes and rituals now are mixtures of indigenous practices and Roman Catholicism.” - Russell Contreras, The Associated Press

May you all have a blessed Samhain, blessings to you, and your beloved dead on this season. Let this new cycle be one of great blessings for all of you. Also, in recognition of the holiday, I’ve created a special edition of my podcast chock-full of Halloween and Samhain-themed music! Enjoy!

“…as much as we’d like it to be, Halloween isn’t secular. It is pagan. There’s nothing else to call a set of ceremonies in which people utter magical phrases, flirt with the night and evoke the dead. One of my family’s favorite Halloween props was a hand that moved, as though from the netherworld, when you reached to collect a few pieces of candy corn. Necromancy is a regular part of Halloween games. Zombie masks are one of this year’s top- sellers. As grouchy theologians used to point out, the origin of Halloween was most likely Samhain, an ancient Celtic holiday on which the dead, in some accounts, supposedly returned to visit.”

In her mind, this spooky “pagan” boom is caused by the retreat of monotheism.

“There’s a reason for the pull of the pagan. In the U.S., we’ve been vigorously scrubbing our schools and other public spaces of traces of monotheistic religion for many decades now. Such scrubbing leaves a vacuum. The great self-deception of modern life is that nothing will be pulled into that vacuum. Half a century ago, the psychologist Carl Jung noted the heightened interest in UFOs, and concluded that the paranormal was “modern myth,” a replacement for religion.

Children or adults who today relish every detail of zombie culture or know every bit of wizarding minutiae are seeking something to believe in. That church, mosque and synagogue are so controversial that everyone prefers the paranormal as neutral ground is disconcerting. There’s something unsettling about the education of a child who comfortably enumerates the rules for surviving zombie apocalypse but finds it uncomfortable to enumerate the rules of his grandparents’ faith, if he knows them.”

This exercise in pearls-clutching isn’t anything new to Shlaes, who seems to have a somewhat rosy view of Christianity’s cultural dominance, and a dismal one of its grudging retreat in the face of religious minorities, atheists, and the religiously unaffiliated daring to demand that our secular nation live up to its promise. As noted in my interview with historian Kevin M. Schultz, American pluralism has been a long, hard, struggle, and the largely nativist, protestant majority didn’t change quickly or without struggle. The rhetoric that pluralism and embracing a secular public square will do irreparable harm to our culture, and to Christian values, has been around since at least the early 20th century, perhaps earlier.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvdAJYvofI

What I think it striking is that this isn’t even a “war on Christmas” piece, or a “the reason we celebrate Easter” editorial, avenues where a Christian might have some rhetorically firm ground to stand on. Instead, Shlaes attacks Halloween simply because it’s a symptom in her mind for the bigger problem of rampant secularism. It’s a piece of “bah humbug” that insults pre-Christian religion in a sideways fashion.

Here’s the thing, I do think Halloween is a secular holiday. I also think it happens to coincide with several religious holidays and festivals that have to do with death, ancestors, sacrifice, and confronting our mortality (along with a big party). Fete Gede for Vodou practitioners, Día de los Muertos for followers of Santeria and several indigenous religions in Mexico and Latin America, Samhain for many modern Pagans and Celtic Reconstructionists, and Velu Laiks (“the time of spirits”) for Baltic Pagans, among many, many others. In Catholicism, this time is celebrated with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, keeping with many of the same themes as the “Pagan” holidays (though some may say “appropriating”). In short the preoccupation on Halloween to “flirt with the night and evoke the dead” isn’t so much as “pagan” thing as a “human” thing. There’s a deep cultural default, far deeper than the veneer of Christianity, that draws us towards celebrating Halloween the way we do (no cultural vacuum required).

I don’t think that the current popularity of Halloween makes it more, or less, “pagan”. I think it’s an excuse to participate in a communal festival, to don masks, indulge in sweets, and forget about fiscal troubles for one night. I think its people doing what they’ve always done when the nights got longer and the days got shorter, make merry to help us through the darker days. Yes, I also think we’re heading into a post-Christian society, and that will change the way we look at different holiday observances, but editorials like these do nothing but create controversy where there is little to be found. For all the hand-wringing over Christianity not being drilled into every young head, the faith is still politically, numerically, and yes, culturally, dominates the United States (and much of the West). I find it insulting that because Halloween isn’t overtly Christian that somehow makes it something to worry over.

Also, and this is a personal opinion, but I think people who don’t love Halloween might have something wrong with them.

“But this potted history of paganism is very heavily sanitised. There’s no mention at all of the overlap between paganism and various forms of Satanism – or the much broader overlap with the far Right. In northern Europe, some pagan movements have celebrated Aryan cultural and racial purity for the best part of a century. In the words of the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, author of a brilliant study of the Neo-Nazi movement entitled Black Sun, Nordic racial paganism or Odinism is a “spiritual rediscovery of the Aryan ancestral gods … intended to embed the white races in a sacred worldview that supports their tribal feeling”, and expressed in “imaginative forms of ritual magic and ceremonial forms of fraternal fellowship”.

Needless to say, the white witches of Weymouth celebrated by the BBC are deeply opposed to this variety of paganism. But over the years there have been ferocious ideological battles between Lefty, feminist pagans and their racially obsessed but equally Green Odinist rivals, and there has been more contact between the two camps than the official representatives of British paganism would care to acknowledge.“

Hours after Thompson, who is also director of the deeply conservative Catholic Herald, lets fly with his threadbare conspiracy theories involving Paganism and baffling BBC-bashing, the Telegraph runs an article seemingly constructed largely from press releases by The Christian Institute and the Christian Legal Centre.

But the decision to give so much air-time to a minority event has raised eyebrows at a time of a 16 per cent cut in the corporation’s budget. It also brought into question how the BBC reacted to more traditional religious events. Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “It’s not always healthy to represent such beliefs as paganism as mainstream, particularly when our national faith is so often pushed to the edges, “It’s vital that our national broadcaster remembers our great Christian heritage and all the precepts that come from it that are good for the nation. I would like to see this more clearly recognised.”

Before you can say “wag the dog” the “controversy” is getting noticed by Gawker, and the Daily Mail, never one to miss out on a good controversy involving Pagans, does a barely adequate re-write of the Telegraph piece.

Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘It’s not always healthy to represent such beliefs as paganism as mainstream, particularly when our national faith is so often pushed to the edges. ‘It’s vital that our national broadcaster remembers our great Christian heritage and all the precepts that come from it that are good for the nation. I would like to see this more clearly recognised.’ The decision to allow so much air-time to the minority event in Weymouth, Dorset, was questioned at a time of a 16 per cent cut in the corporation’s budget.

See what I mean? As for the controversy, and the supposed “marginalization” of Christians (you don’t see us complaining about being marginalized during Christmas or Easter), would there even be an uproar if it weren’t for the Telegraph’s own conservative Catholic blogger (who is never mentioned in the later article) and the instantly available pull-quotes from two conservative Christian organizations? It just seems desperately manufactured, an opinion that is only strengthened by the fact that the Telegraph and the Daily Mail (again following the Telegraph’s lead) are both currently (and luridly) covering the story of a diversity handbook given to police officers that includes Pagans.

“The PC’s guide to arresting a witch: It’s normal for people to be naked, bound and blindfolded and whatever you do, don’t touch their book of spells…”

You get the picture. As for the BBC, as spokesperson remarked that “we don’t have anything to say on this.” To which I say: I’m proud of the BBC.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q2iZuU5WM

ADDENDUM: BBC editor Kevin Bakhurst responds at greater length to accusations of “neglecting” Christianity.

“It was Halloween. A good chance, we thought, to explore the background to paganism. I would simply suggest that the decision to cover some aspects of paganism on one day indicates an interest in the fact there is in the UK a range of faiths - and among some a lack of faith. Our reporting should be seen in the context of BBC News’s wider coverage of religion and religious events where stories, as ever, are based on topicality and editorial merit. And Christianity - being the country’s main religion - still remains the faith with the most coverage.”

Bakhurst also notes that the BBC got flak for giving too much coverage to the Pope’s recent visit, maybe the Christian critics were too busy reading the Daily Mail to notice that distinct lack of marginalization?

An ancestor altar.

This time of year also sees the celebration of Velu Laiks (“the time of spirits”) by Baltic Pagans, Winter Nights by Asatru in mid-October, Foundation Night in Ekklesía Antínoou on October 30th, Fete Gede by Vodou practitioners, Día de los Muertos for followers of Santeria and several indigenous religions in Mexico and Latin America, Diwali for Hindus (November 5th this year), and astrological “true” Samhain on November 8th for some Witches and Druids. In addition, Pagans in the Southern Hemisphere are currently celebrating Beltane.

It is a time when some communities acknowledge the Mighty Dead.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLfB3Pp_wG4

“The Mighty Dead are said to be those practitioners of our religion who are on the Other Side now, but who still take great interest in the activities of Witches on this side of the Veil. They have pledged to watch, to help and to teach. It is those Mighty Dead who stand behind us, or with us, in circle so frequently.”

Many who have been dear to our communities have crossed the veil this past year, joining the ranks of the Mighty Dead, including Len Rosenberg (Black Lotus), Lady Sintana, Isaac Bonewits, Alexei Kondratiev, Lady Svetlana, and Barbara Stacy.

“I love that story about Susan Anthony that Zsuzsanna Budapest tells in her book. Some journalist asked Susan Anthony, because she didn’t believe in orthodox religion, I suppose, “Where do you think you’re to go when you die?” She said, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay around and help the women’s movement.” So even if I don’t live long enough to see these things, I’ll be around to make a nuisance of myself.” –Doreen Valiente, the Mother of Modern Witchcraft.

You can also find a list of departed pioneers, founders, and elders at the Green Egg Zine.

Below you’ll find an assortment of quotes from the media and fellow Pagans on the holiday.

“Death isn’t merely about human mortality. Samhain means “summer’s end” and the death of the fruitful season is also contemplated. We’ve each had dreams that died, feelings of love that died, prejudices that have died, and habits that have died. Let’s not forget that the passing of a pet or death of a beloved car is also cause to mourn. One of the four great fire festivals, Samhain is also about purification. The festival lies at the turning point of the Celtic year and you do not carry dead things into the new year. You prune your life, you pay respect to things past, and you move forward into the incubatory introspection of winter clean and new.” - Star Foster, Patheos.com

“While local celebrants of Samhain may draw inspiration from a variety of spiritual traditions — including Celtic, neo-pagan, shamanic, witchcraft, Wicca, Druid and Native American — their observances share common themes: honoring the dead, crossing from summer to winter, beginning the Wheel of the Year anew, acknowledging death as a part of the cycle of life, expressing thankfulness for the Earth’s harvest and lifting the “veil” between our world and the spirit world.” - Cathie Laurent Schau, Kalamazoo Gazette

“For the witches of Weymouth it is one of their most important religious festivals, a time when they believe the barriers between the physical and spiritual worlds are at their thinnest. They invite the spirits of north, south, east and west into the circle, and cut apples to share with the spirits of people who have died. The leader of the coven, Diane Narraway, bids farewell to the goddess of light, and kneels before the head of a horned ram, holding her hands out as if to a flame. ”I kneel before… the horned god, Lord of Witchdom, as we welcome him back to reign over the dark months,” she says.” - Robert Pigott, BBC

“Here in Sonoma County both our main altar and our ancestor altar will be decorated with marigolds, and the central candles will be atop a wonderful Mexican ceramic skull, for we are blessed with the near coincidence of Samhain and Day of the Dead.  These two celebrations are particularly harmonious for both honor those who have passed on. Both connect with that part of existence we usually most avoid.  And Day of the Dead is celebratory towards those who have passed, helping us connect with our ancestors, something far less prevalent in NeoPaganism than in indigenous traditions.” - Gus diZerega, Beliefnet

May you all have a blessed Samhain, blessings to you, and your beloved dead on this season. Let this new cycle be one of great blessings for all of you. Also, in recognition of the holiday,I’ve created a special edition of my podcast chock-full of Halloween and Samhain-themed music! Enjoy!

In her last published book of poetry, “Zebra”, she movingly expresses the feelings and uncertainties of her cancer diagnosis.

Nadine St. Louis

Heavy Metal and the Reciprocal Universe

Platinum and its analogues slip silent
precious poison through your veins,
and the taste of sour metal blooms.

Who can resist asking what gift
calls up this bane, resist thinking
the smiles of one god

will raise the wrath of another?
Take lone, emaciated Phineas:
Apollo endowed him with prophecy,

made him observer of worlds,
model builder, truth teller
who learned to hold life

at a new angle, disclose its secret
lights and shadows.

But Zeus, ever lord
of secrets, demanded tighter security,

sent harpies to foul the very bread
in the old man’s hands, stinking polluters
to remind him of a god’s might.

Is theirs the same vile breath swirling
at the back of your throat, cold echo
of the body’s rage smoldering deeper down?

It took the sons of Boreas, North Wind,
to drive away the harpies.
Phineas kept his voice. His rescue

bodes well; his endurance heartens.
Still, you can’t help wondering how long
it takes the wind to turn.

My wife and I, along with her youngest daughter, my step-daughter, will travel to her family’s ancestral farm in Oregon, sold years ago to loving caretakers, to drink, eat, observe, walk, and speak in her honor.

I hope that we will each take the time, in our own ways, to honor and acknowledge the loved ones who have passed over, to observe this liminal time and reach out, remember, and know that our ancestors celebrate this time with us.