Over the years I have explored many different religions. Not nearly as many as I could because the ones I researched first drew me to the religions of the East. Which are, more or less, life philosophies, allowing me the freedom to hang onto my original Christan beliefs. Especially since they align well with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
However, I finally shed the narratives of my past that no longer rang true to me and embraced Taoism. It is a work in progress but still it is where I have landed and feel mire whole and at peace for it. I continue to celebrate the traditions of Paganism. One of which is Samhein, All Hallow’s Eve, the New Year.
The wheel of the seasons is set up in a way that makes more sense and aligns with nature better (surprise, surprise) than the arbitrary Gregorian Calendar. All time is a human construct but at least we could move in concert with the way the rest of the natural world tends to move. So the Wheel as created by Paganism starts in the dark days of Autumn, the close of the previous year’s harvest, as everything goes to sleep in hopes of waking in the Spring.
I choose to follow this calendar. This belief in the thinning of the veil. The ending of a season and the beginning of a new one. I actually have three “New Year’s.” Samhain, Gregorian (as a product of living in a Western Society) and the Chinese New Year.
So Happy Halloween! Blessed Samhain! Enjoy the New Year!