Pausing in the Void

Another passage from the book Herbal Rituals by Judith Berger, this one taken from the shortest and final chapter, entitled The Thirteenth Month: Pausing...

Once upon a time, Halloween, All Soul's Day, and the Day of the Dead were considered a three-day month that stood apart from the rest of the year. Freeing the passage of three sunrises and sunsets from the written calendar added to the otherworldly feel of this triad of days. Indeed, unbound from a predictable, calendrical rhythm, these three days inspired devotion to the unknowable and invisible, the chaotic and surprising. 

In this time, where in many areas of dominant culture we see a scientific quest to unveil and conquer the mysteries of birth and death, where technology offers us instant access to information but has little to satisfy our hunger for human connectedness, using these three days to pause and immerse ourselves in timelessness and not-knowing can perhaps begin to expand our palette of responses to the unknown, replacing our fear with wonder as we bravely acquaint ourselves with the floating cycle of the void.

Have an enchanted November my friends!