Of course what’s cool about Halloween, Samhain, is that it’s dark outside. Candle lit pumpkins, ghosts floating in the bare branches of trees, and wee goblins emerging from the shadows just wouldn’t have the same impact in July. So for those of us living in the northern hemisphere the darkness is essential.

Yet beyond what might emerge from the shadows of a moonlit landscape, the real scare can come from what might emerge from the shadows of our own inner landscape.

As we move through the seasons of the year we always come again to this one. The season of darkness. Generally not a popular favorite but one that holds great gifts if we can accept the invitation to offer hospitality to the dark and receive the wisdom waiting for us there. There is the wisdom of turning inward to the light we hold – much as our ancestors gathered inside around their winter hearth fires. For them the darkness was a time of music and stories. For us it is within the dark that we see clearly the light of our own soul and attend the music and story of our spirit.

There is the wisdom of embracing our shadow self as much as we celebrate our light. For only in accepting our own dark shadows can we find true balance. Only by shining a light into those shadows can we disempower any monsters lurking there. Yes, it can be daunting. Yes, it can be scary, sometimes really scary. But it is, after all, the work of the light. Your light.