Happy Samhain (sow-in)!  Samhain is the Celtic tradition from which our present day Halloween originates.  Over 2,000 years ago the Celts prepared for the hard winter ahead with a festival where they would gather around sacred bonfires dressed in costumes of various animals, offering sacrifices to ward off the danger of illness, invasion, and the scarcity of food that came with their cold and damp winters.

Now, with the comforts of modern advances like electricity, winters don’t pose the same threat that they once did.  Aside from the nuisance of more frequent colds and the travel hindrances, most of us get along just fine during this time.  Today’s kid friendly version is celebrated with creepy spiders and skeleton decorations, pumpkin carving, and of course every parent’s favourite part…trick or treating for pounds of candy.  Our present day tradition, although far less intense, still affords us the same opportunity as its originator.

We have surrounded ourselves with reminders of the dark side of life, and of our own mortality. Through costumes and candy we have found a playful way not only to face our darkest fears, but to celebrate them.  Most of our daily lives are spent avoiding this aspect of life.  So, does this holiday have more to offer us than what meets the eye?

All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) is said to be the day where the veil between the living and the dead is thinned and communication between the two is made easier.  In a more practical sense, one could see this as a time to give some attention to the dark side of our nature.  In Taoism, the root of much of Traditional Chinese Medicine, life is seen as a blending of yin (dark) and yang (light) nature.  You cannot have one without the other.  If we set our attention, our look upon, only one aspect, we will confine ourselves to an imbalanced psychological framework.  This contributes much to the social emotional dysfunction we see around us and within us.

Well known psychiatrist, Carl Jung developed the idea of the “shadow”, the aspect of ourselves forced to retreat into the dark recesses of our subconscious, kept away from our daily lives in order to maintain socially acceptable interactions with each other.  According to Jung, “the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational is prone to psychological projection, in which a perceived personal inferiority is recognized as a perceived moral deficiency in someone else.”[1]

Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one’s personality, the shadow is largely negative. There are, however, positive aspects that may also remain hidden in one’s shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem, anxieties, and false beliefs).[1]

In his words,  “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”[2]

For more insight, check out the youtube clip of Alan Watts’ commentary on Carl Jung’s theory below.

Attempts to face our shadow can be haunting (I had to do it).  However, if we approach our dark side with an attitude that is free of judgement and full of kindness, we may find an opening for the light to come in and play with the darkness.

As we walk in the darkness of neighbourhoods tonight, perhaps we will be reminded that it is possible to navigate the dark side within each of us.

Wishing you a Happy Halloween!

[1] Young-Eisendrath, P. and Dawson, T. (1997). The Cambridge Companion to Jung., Cambridge University Press, p. 319

[2] Jung, C.G. (1938). “Psychology and Religion.” In CW 11: Psychology and Religion: West and East. p. 131