From Sacred to Scared, Natural to Supernatural and Back!

With decorations, candy and parties, it’s easy to forget why we celebrate Halloween. While today it’s mostly about the fun of being scared, it began as a sacred recognition of the dead, and the acknowledgement that there is much beyond the familiar world that remains unknown.

The dictionary definition of the word “Hallow” includes “consecrate” and “greatly revered”. Synonyms really emphasize the sacred over the scary: sanctified, blessed, venerated, sacrosanct, worshiped, divine.

The “een” is a shortened version of “evening”. Just as Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas (Mass for Christ), All Hallow’s Eve is the night before All Hallow Mass, or “the Mass for revered and holy souls”, such as saints and the faithful departed.

How can we use today’s interpretations in movies and TV to connect us back to the original intent of the holiday, and help us recover our own nature and spirits from becoming the living dead? Let’s look for the sacred in the scares and the natural in the supernatural.

Sacred Saints, Scary Spirits

Watch:

TV Series like The Ghost Whisperer, Medium or Monica the Medium

Movies like Ghost, Ghostbusters, The Sixth Sense, Casper or ParaNorman.

When we honor the dead, we think of their life, and imagine their afterlife. And as we celebrate their life, we take a look at our own, acknowledging that ours will end someday too. Saints and the spirits of ancestors are our examples of how we can live a good life that reaps rewards in the afterlife.

But this time of year is also a time when many have believed that the veil between our world and the spirit world becomes thinner and more permeable, so spirits of the dead could cross over and commune with the living. But if the good could cross over, so could the scary. So while looking forward to entertaining the beloved departed, Jack O’Lanterns were strategically placed to scare away the lost and wandering souls who may have no affection for us.

Today, we can remember to bless them all, beloved or strange, that they find peace, and be grateful for the life we have now.

What Remains - Skeletons

Watch:

TV show: Bones

Movies like: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean

There’s a great quote floating around the internet: “You’re a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton made of stardust. What do you have to be afraid of?” What a great way to remember that we are both body and spirit, natural and supernatural all at once.

According to the American Museum of Natural History, “Every atom of oxygen in our lungs, of carbon in our muscles, of calcium in our bones, of iron in our blood - was created inside a star before Earth was born.” But when what’s underneath is exposed, when we see all that remains of us when our spirits have left, it is a bit disturbing. Skeletons are grinning reminders of what’s inside us, stripped of everything that makes us alive.

What we can remember is to let our inner stardust shine, and allow others to see what lies at our core.

Remains Reanimated

Watch:

TV shows like: The Walking Dead, iZombie

Movies like: Zombieland, I Am Legend, Warm Bodies, The Mummy

Mummies are preserved bodies, that have lasted longer than nature would normally allow, and zombies are unwrapped mummies, revealing the process of decay that occurs. It’s the decay that we find disturbing.

We identify so closely with our bodies, believing that they are us, when our true self is the spirit that inhabits the body. Our body image issues can by symbolized in these concepts. Being thought disgusting or smelly to others equates to being unloved or outcast.

Another scary thought is that zombies symbolize being without thought or feeling, but still moving through the world, devoid of higher purpose.

They can remind us to love the bodies we have for all they do for us, and know that they are just our vehicles to experience the miracle of life.

Supernatural Strength, Animal Instinct

Watch:

TV shows like Vampire Diaries, or True Blood

Movies like Twilight, or Dark Shadows.

Another theme that scares us is the idea of being human, and then transforming into something that’s a hybrid. Something with appetites that challenge our humanity. Creatures like vampires, similar to zombies mentioned before, live off of the life-force of others.

Vampires are parasites, essentially, which are found in nature. They are hybrids of bats and sometimes other animals, which is what makes them supernatural.

We can keep in mind that some parasites are symbiotic, and sometimes predators are useful in culling overpopulation to keep balance on the earth. That’s not so scary. It’s even kinda good. And so are some of our favorite vampires.

Uncontrolled Transformation

Watch:

TV shows like Teen Wolf, or Grimm or

Movies like Twilight: New Moon, What We Do in the Shadows, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Werewolves are scary because of the uncontrolled transformation into something more natural, operating less on thought and more from instinct. We find it frightening to lose control over our bodies, to change, and lose our sense of reason to be taken over by animal urges. It can be symbolic of puberty, when hair grows and hormones take over, or of addiction, when the need to sate a physical urge is stronger than our sense of right and wrong.

They’re also scary to others, because they look like us but are different, and they pose a threat. This can also be symbolic of a terrorist threat, or anyone who acts violently for reasons we don’t understand.

Nature and Science

Watch:

TV shows like Once Upon a Time, Sleepy Hollow or Charmed or

Movies like Harry Potter, Maleficent, Stardust or Practical Magic.

Magic is science that we don’t fully understand. Technology has become ordinary magic, but we need to call upon magicians to fix it when it breaks. Doctors too, give us seemingly magic potions to cure our ills. So witches were those who paid attention to the cycles of nature and the effects of herbs, and whose resourcefulness in finding ways to summon the power of nature and life, a power larger than themselves, to help themselves or others frightened those who didn’t understand. In today’s technological world, such interests can seem purposely backwards to some.

Magic can be found in synchronicity, creativity, and the wonder of nature – a sunset, a snowflake, a delicate spider web or fragile yet agile hummingbird. Rather than trying to control it, we can harmonize and flow with it.