Celebrating Halloween in Australia

It’s that time of year again… 

When those attuned to the seasons become wrife with the confusion of the world flooding with symbols of the harvest, the fall of the leaves, that Autumny hue… Halloween is coming!

But our bones are awakening from the dead of our winters retreat… we are preparing for our bloom.

Here it is SPRING!

As a family who follow Earth rhythms and celebrate by the wheel of the year… I know the inner turmoil some face when the Northern Hemisphere traditions that seep into our westernised culture clash with our Southern Hemisphere landscape.

I feel it when we walk past snowflakes to decorate Christmas when the sun is melting the bitumen of the roads. I feel it when I’m in the throes of letting go, shedding my skins in preparation for the honouring of death in Samhain Autumn feasts while surrounded by those wanting to decorate with bunnies that symbolise the rebirth of the Earth… 

When I first began to reclaim my path, this deviation really tore me up inside. It was a propellant that moved me closer to my value aligned life. But it was triggered by resentment that pulled on the strings of not belonging or fitting quite right.

First a resentment for being here in this land where the seasons didn’t match… of course It felt more comfortable to find a way for the discomfort to lie outside of me, but then as my reconnection to the natural source around me returned I found my resentment was redirected towards those that could be so silly as to celebrate the wrong season. I mean, couldn’t they see!

It wasn’t until I found comfort in sitting in the discomfort of my issues surrounding my own belonging and claiming my needs, values and desires as aspects of my truth that I could shift out of resentment. In claiming back my ability to be different and yet still belong I found the key to peace. 

As I realigned my values and the way I want to live alongside my children it became clear our path forwards was of course through open conversation. 

This incongruence was the perfect way to educate my children on the different hemispheres and turns of seasonal tides and we could talk about ancient stories that birthed these traditions and trace back their origins to their home lands. Asking questions and delving deeper to see how Australian culture has borrowed so much from it’s multicultural background.When Halloween is commercialized by the overwhelming onslaught of plastic junk decorations and the accumulation of the sugar that we know our bodies do not not thrive with, it seems like a massive slap to the tradition of honouring our ancestors as they pass to the Summerlands. The way our celebrations look these days are saving the sacred rituals and intentions for our seasonal holidays with our family doing something special to mark the turn of the wheel and holding time for stories from the goddess tradition… The quality of time and attention we afford these rites show our children that these are what count, this is where our value resides.

The novelty of the event can still be accepted and enjoyed with a halloween party with friends, a dress up event that tightens our community spirit or collecting special homewares and candles that we can store until our seasonal celebrations come around… but still we don’t need to drop our values when it comes to the plastic junk decorations and the candy… we can leave that out and still have fun.

We can honor our traditions, our values even when they are different from the society we live and yet still feel connected and belong.

If you want to uncover your own path to a value led life I’d love to guide you on your journey, send me a message, you don’t have to walk this path alone.

So Blessed Beltane and Happy Halloween

Love Dania xx