For me, this is the time of year that I “cocoon”…or a better way to draw the understanding is that I turn towards a more inward focus. Its just a product of how I view Samhain. For many, its the symbolic moment where the year turns from one year into the next – the Pagan New Year, if you want to call it that.  I can see that – and I understand it, but if you turn that logic over and over in your head – you might come to the same conclusion that I have:  every day is the turn of the wheel from the old year into the new year.

Traditionally, folks believe this time of the year is when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. In many publications, I have seen it noted that this is the best time of the year for contacting those who have gone beyond. Except that I already have a healthy connection to the ancestors of my blood. It only takes a few moments of grounding, centering and placing myself into the right frame of mind to be able to re-establish that connection. Just concentration, not a time of year.

Then there are the folks that love the costumes, the partying, the gathering of their tribes – that one time a year when everyone sets things aside and draws closer together. I get that. But we can pick any point on the wheel of the year to establish that. Yeah, I am the spoil-sport when it comes to Samhain.  I’m the wet blanket when it comes to Halloween.  I’m the bad guy.  And to be honest, I’m ok with that stigma.

See, I’m just me. I make my way along my chosen Path every day. Each day brings new challenges, each day brings another moment to experience my connections in the world around me. Each day holds a chance to discover new connections as well. I like the idea of the Wheel of the Year, I like the setting of celebrations and moments of remembrance at particular moments in a calendar year. But if we erased the calendar year, and managed life without the man-made concept of time…I’m ok with that too. I already live my life structured in that way. I only keep time and dates because that is what is required of me for my job, and other aspects of being in polite society.

Have you ever stood outside in your yard when the morning sun slips above the horizon?  Stood in a cold, foggy, morning mist – and listened to the quiet around you? Walked through the fresh snow in the woods, and heard nothing louder than your own breath or the faint whistling of the wind in the bares tree limbs above? Sat and just listened to the world around you on a warm Spring afternoon?  Heard the song of the Robins, Blue Jays mixing with the angry cries of the Crows and Grackles? I honestly do not need a calendar or a specified point in time for that. Just sit, be quiet and listen. Its already there.