Halloween: Can we embrace our dark side?

I was at the grocery store today and encountered a man in a truly freakish zombie costume. His getup was so realistic that even I got a little uncomfortable. I’m sure you can imagine the reaction of my two-year-old. It will be a miracle if I get her back into that grocery store any time soon.

This incident made me think about what inspires some of us to dress up on Halloween as characters from horror movies, zombies, monsters, and other types of creatures that definitely represent darkness. Why is dressing up in scary costumes so appealing?

Even as beings of Light, we all have the potential to embrace darkness. Every one of us is capable of horrible acts. We all have within us anger, jealousy, guilt, hatred, and violence. As Lightworkers, we choose not to allow these negative energies to nurture us. But the potential is there, nevertheless.

Perhaps by bringing this “shadow side” to light on a day such as Halloween, we celebrate our freedom of choice. Right there in front of us, in the freakish costumes, the skulls and skeletons that decorate suburbia, those horrible candy dishes with the automatic grabbing hand that inspire nightmares in small children - is everything we could choose, but don’t. We can be reminded of all the darkness in the world, and celebrate the fact that we nonetheless have freely chosen to uphold Light. It might make us uncomfortable to see this shadow side flaunted. But by acknowledging its existence, we are uplifted in our conscious choice to bring our Light to this world.

Happy Halloween and blessings,
Andrea