Pocket Letter by Michele Storms

I had to share this beautiful "pocket letter" created by DT member Michele Storms for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October).  She used vintage portraits from my Lunagirl African-American Images collection to represent the struggles faced by these women long ago, with words from poet and survivor Maya Angelou. I love the dignity in this beautiful old photos, and Michele's work is always amazing.

Be sure to visit Michele's blog Art From the Well to read her post.. and see more of her work!

The sweetest little witch...

I love love love this little ATC created by Michele Storms! This little witch girl with her red hat and black cat is one of my favorite Victorian Halloween images, and Michele has added just the perfect wings and tiny black flower, against a red and black background and big friendly vintage harvest moon. 

This trio (witch, cat & moon!) are here to remind you that All Hallow's Eve is very near... and that means you have just a few more days to show us your Gothic/Halloween-themed cards and creations in my challenge ~ enter for your chance to win $15 credit at Lunagirl.com. You know you need some goodies for the upcoming Winter months. Cold days and long nights are the perfect time for crafting :-)

MICHELE STORMS: the cute little vintage witch is from the "witching hour" collage sheet and her wings are from the "gothic wings" collage sheet. the moon is from "harvest moon" and the background is from the "gothic backgrounds -red" collage sheet, all by Lunagirl.  i have a little bit black vine ribbon and a silvery flower (a brad) as accents on this ATC.

My Gothic Theme continues until Halloween!

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

The weather's getting colder, the nights are getting longer... and we are closer every day to All Hallow's Eve. It's the perfect time to join us in our Gothic theme...

The Design Team continues to inspire ... enjoy this digital collage by Corinne Marie, and amazing altered photo album by Patti Robinson!

Link up your Gothic/Halloween-inspired creations: cards, jewelry, altered art, digital, fabric, all media welcome for a chance to win the drawing and $15 credit at Lunagirl.com.

PATTI ROBINSON pattirobinsonart.com/blog
Vintage Mixed Media Photo Album

GOTH-TOBER continues!

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

There's plenty of time, because my Gothic challenge continues the whole month of October... all the way until Halloween! Here is more work by my talented Design Team, to get your creativity flowing.

MICHELE STORMS Art From the Well

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne
When you look at all of the DT inspiration for this challenge, notice how Corinne has used this same evocative face in several different works of art... I love that!

One More Bird to Remind You to Join the Challenge!

One more beautiful piece from the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team to remind you to "Put A Bird On It" and join the challenge!

Michele Storms created this second lovely goddess and owl card to inspire you. Very gothic and Celtic ... perfect for October. (The goddess is from the Lunagirl "goddess" collage sheet and the owl is from the "owls" collage sheet.)

The challenge continues until Sunday noon (CST) so you have plenty of time.

It's been rainy and grey where I am today ... perfect weather for creating! What is it like where you are? Cold and autumnal? A good day to create some art! Sunny and bright? Well, sunshine is inspiring too... and the birds like it!

The challenge winner will be chosen randomly on Sunday and will win some free shopping credit at Lunagirl.com, to find some new digital goodies.

Autumn Printable Prints

Can you believe it's October?  It is hard for me to fathom.  It seems like Summer was just here; where did she go?  Here are some beautiful illustrations appropriate for October, for you to use in your projects:
Lovely, detailed art of fall apples from a Victorian botanical print,
and this charming little barn owl, also from an antique nature print.

Ideas: Pumpkins "Uncarved"

FaveCrafts.com

I wanted to share this Squidoo page with great ideas for decorating pumpkins, none of which involve scooping pumpkin guts!

http://www.squidoo.com/the-uncarved-halloween-pumpkin

Visit the link for details on these easy ideas, and for links to the original websites with more great projects.

Pumpkins in black lace stockings! ShelterPop.com

Rick-rack and ribbons are easy, even for kids (marthamoments.blogspot.com)

Between the Worlds Part Two

The Celts experienced the natural and supernatural as existing in very close proximity to each other, and it can be said that on the eve of Samhain -- a potent juncture or break in normal time -- they existed within each other.  Indeed, it was long believed that a child born on this night will have "double sight"; that is, he or she will be able to perceive and communicate with the Otherworld.  It was believed that at each transitional festival the Otherworld was temporarily upset.  As the juncture between the old and new year, Halloween brought a complete upheaval, and all the inhabitants of the other world were free for the night to work weal or woe on any humans they encountered.

This was the night when the usual boundaries between the dead and the living, the dark and the light, the spiritual realm and the natural world, were transcended.  As Christianity moved into the British Isles and Ireland it continued its time-honored policy of incorporating pagan holidays into the Christian calendar, and Samhain, the "festival of the dead," was redesignated All Saint's Day, in memory of the blessed dead.  Although filtered through Christianity, the traditional customs and beliefs survived in the celebration of All Hallow's Eve, or Hallowe'en.  (The word "hallow" derives from the Middle English halve, meaning "saint.")

The celebration of Halloween was not widespread in the United States until the 1840s, when great waves of Irish immigrants arrived...    bringing the ancient Halloween traditions with them.

The beliefs and customs that surround Halloween today, and the images associated with it in our minds, have their roots in the old Irish/Scottish Celtic festival. 

Everyone knows that Halloween is the night when ghosts and skeletons and all sorts of mischievous spirits and terrifying creatures come out to roam freely for a night in the world of humans!   The ancient Celts, and probably some of our not-so-ancient Victorian ancestors, believed that on Halloween the spirits of the dead roamed the land of the living.  The prehistoric burial mounds, the sidhs in Ireland, opened up and their inhabitants tried to lure the living to join them.  According to some accounts, the spirits came out of the Cave of Cruachan in Connaught, called the gate of hell, accompanied by copper-colored birds who killed farm animals and stole babies and brides.

The Little Folk

This was also the night on which the faeries were most powerful.  In Irish folktales Halloween seems to be by far the most popular time for the abduction and bewitching of humans by these "little people."   Those who had been taken away to fairyland could be rescued on the next Halloween by reciting a special spell or prayer as the fairies made their procession.   Sir Walter Scott reported the belief that if a person circles a fairy hill nine times, counterclockwise, alone on Halloween, a door will open by which he can enter the fairy's abode. The Victorian vision of fairies was a bit darker than ours tends to be, and they were often associated with Halloween.  In addition to sweet flower fairies, the Victorian Faeries or Fae included mischievous, impish creatures as well.

Trick-or-Treating

The most popular way of celebrating Halloween in the United States seems to be playing the part of the supernatural beings supposed to walk the earth on this night -- by dressing as spooks who go from house to house demanding sacrificial treats, and by playing pranks!   There are numerous explanations as to how "trick-or-treating" originated.  The Druids (priests of the Celts) wore masks at their Samhain rituals to represent the spirits of the dead.   Masks and costumes today are sometimes interpreted as a means of avoiding recognition by the spirits rather than a means of imitating them.  In Scotland, some "guisers," as they were called, blackened their faces instead of wearing masks.  This recalls the customs of blackening one's face with the ashes of the All Hallow's fires for protection and good fortune.

Masks are part of sacred and magical rituals the world over.
Psychologically, masks and disguises can lessen inhibitions and give the wearer a sense of freedom and relaxation from usual social restrictions -- often a healthy and harmless break from our day-to-day lives.   

Perhaps wearing costumes serves the purpose of letting us defy temporarily the boundaries of our everyday lives and "be someone else," perhaps act out parts of ourselves that we normally keep hidden. And so normally mild-mannered moms dress as exotic gypsy girls and ethereal mermaids and sexy witches -- or scary ones -- and children for a night are princesses and superheroes. Why then do some of us dress as werewolves and vampires and big scary monsters?  One wonders what Freud would say.......... but it's probably all in fun!

Some say the original purpose of trick-or-treating was to gather food and money for the All Hallow's feast.  It has also been linked with "mumming," a custom practiced on other seasonal holidays as well, especially Yule (later Christmas), another ancient new year's celebration.

"Mumming" was a seasonal tradition in England and other parts of Europe, in which men donned masks and went from house to house demanding or begging for food.  Although often fun and humorous, it was surrounded by a mystical and magical air, and performed a seasonal holidays such as Yuletide.

Yule

Yule, the Winter Solstice and longest night of the year, is the new year festival of another seasonal calendar, based on the solar equinoxes and solstices.  The two calendars were eventually combined, and it is easy to see how some Yule customs could have become associated also with Halloween.

An interesting account from West Virginia reports that trick-or-treating began as "Belsnickling," a Christmas custom brought to the area by Pennsylvania Germans in the 1700s.  On Christmas Eve groups went about in disguise from house to house.  They knocked on the door, and when asked, "Who is it?" the leader replied, "Old Belsnickle."  After being invited in, anyone correctly identified behind their disguise had to do a "trick" -- sing a song, perform a dance, etc.  If no one was identified, the whole bunch was treated with food and drink.  (Of course, they were all treated anyway, no matter what happened!)  This custom is most probably a survival of mumming.  According to this account, Belsnickling was later adapted to Halloween and soon spread all over the country; the meaning of the world "trick," however, came to be a prank rather than some clever act.  (source: Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians, by Patrick W. Gainer, Seneca Books)

TO BE CONTINUED...

© 1983, 2005, all rights reserved. 
This article is an original work of authorship protected under copyright law, and it may not be copied in whole or in part without permission of the author and copyright holder. 

STAY TURNED FOR PART THREE -- all about jack-o-lanterns and bonfires and divination customs...

The Origins of Halloween Customs, Part One

October already? It's hard to believe, but the brisk morning air, bright blue sky, falling leaves, and squawking bluejays say that it's true.  With Halloween approaching, here is the first installment of our special article on the origins of Halloween customs...

Between the Worlds... Part One
(All text is copyrighted, please do not copy or use without permission.)

Halloween is a holiday familiar to all Americans.  Children disguised as ghosts and goblins (and superheroes and princesses) roam the streets trick-or-treating; teenagers play pranks and try to frighten themselves with trips to the graveyard and scary movies; young girls may attempt by various means of divination to learn of their future husbands; and generally everyone has a good time drinking cider (or something harder), bobbing for apples, wearing costumes, and waiting for "the witching hour."  But....

it seems few people know of the origins of Halloween and its wonderful mood of magic and fright.

Among the ancient Celtic peoples of Britain, the end of October was marked by the festival of Samhain.  Samhain (sometimes translated hesitantly as "summer's end") was one of four major yearly festivals of the Celtic calendar.  As the life of these people was embedded in and dependent upon the cycles of nature, their calendar was based on the movement of the seasons.  The festivals can be seen as recognizing and celebrating important transition point in the seasonal year.  

November1 February 2 May 1 August 1

Samhaim (All Hallow's) Celtic New Year Imbolc or Brigid (Candlemas) Beltane (May Day) Lughnasa (Lammas)

 

Ancient Holiday Festivals
The Celts measured time primarily by the moon, and these four festivals may be compared to the lunar stages.  Candlemas recognized the waxing (growth) of the year, Beltane the fullness, and Lammas the waning, while Samhain celebrated the new or dark moon, both the end and the beginning of the cycle.

In the Celtic calendar (as many other ancient calendars) a "day" began at sunset the day before, and holiday observations began on the "eve."  As a survival of this world view, we celebrate All Hallow's Eve and Christmas Eve!  Jewish holidays similarly begin at sunset.  Imbolc, later Christianized as Candlemas, celebrated the beginnings of the return of the light and warmth of the sun.  It was thought to be the best time for predicting the weather of the coming spring -- a belief that survives today in Groundhog Day.  Beltane or May Day signified the beginning of summer, a time of warmth, abundance, and fertility.  Lughnasa, later known as Lammas, was the harvest festival in these northern lands, a time of gathering in -- of enjoying the fruits of summer and beginning preparations for the long winter ahead.

Samhain (beginning at sundown on October 31) was the Celtic new year festival, and the most powerful transition of the year.   

It marked the end of one year and the beginning of another, and the entry of winter.  The waning light and warmth of the sun gives way to darkness and cold.  The harvest was completed and crops were put away for the winter.  As the time of the death of the old year, Samhain was the appropriate time to remember the dead; their spirits were believed to return to earth on this night. 
 

Samhain symbolized death -- death which is not final but rather a dark incubation necessary before rebirth in the spring.  Although it has come to us altered by time, by Christianity and eventually by modern commercialism,

the essential character and wisdom of the ancient festival is reflected in the imagery and celebrations of Halloween.




TO BE CONTINUED...

© 1983, 2005, all rights reserved. 
This article is an original work of authorship protected under copyright law, and it may not be copied in whole or in part without permission of the author and copyright holder.