October Meditations

Chris and Tammy at Sloss Furnance Haunted House

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are we not to be? Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory that is within us. It is not just in some of us but in all of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fears, our presence automatically liberates others.” Nelson Mandela

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OCTOBER 01

October greets us with ghouls, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Many ancient European cultures regarded All Hallow’s Eve as one of the liminal times of the year when the red carpet is rolled out allowing the spiritual world to make contact with the physical world. The ancient Celts believed the bright half of the year ended with October 31 and celebrated it as the harvest festival of  Samhain or “Sah-win” which means the end of summer.  The Celts also believe the boundary separating the dead from the living became blurred as summer, the season of life, drew to a close and winter, often associated with death, began. 
The images of Halloween serve to remind us of our own scarey selves, our own personal hauntings and the emotions we attach to fear in general.  Musicians particularly can be haunted by past failures, stage fright and dreams deferred. Longer, cooler nights and crisp autumn days make October a perfect time of year to recognize and rebuff the fears that may hold us back as performers and perveyors of the particular talents with which Spirit has blessed us.
We all have ghost stories, horror tales, and frightening monsters that creep into our creative process,subjugating and paralyzing our most altruistic of intentions.

Our particular magic then, becomes to understand our deepest fears and  to work on them as surmountable adversaries.   And utimately,  to make them disappear.