{"id":403,"date":"2009-10-25T11:18:33","date_gmt":"2009-10-25T11:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/10\/samhain-thoughts.html"},"modified":"2009-10-25T11:18:33","modified_gmt":"2009-10-25T11:18:33","slug":"samhain-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/10\/samhain-thoughts.html","title":{"rendered":"Samhain Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Samhain we
\nconfront that mystery, and honor it. 
\n<\/span>In contrast to most earlier Pagan traditions, most NeoPagans do not
\nspend much time honoring their ancestors. 
\n<\/span>Samhain is our most fitting opportunity to do so.  <\/span>Usually we have pictures on our altars of
\nthose close to us who have died the previous year.  <\/span>Certainly that will be true for me.  <\/span>But as I grow older I appreciate ever
\nmore deeply that all of us are simply the growing tip of the adventure of
\nlife.  <\/span>We are individuals, but we
\nare also the sum total of everything previous that has gone into making us what
\nwe are.  <\/span>And that meditation opens
\nup a vast vista, one I think should also be explicitly honored.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I very much like
\nthe approach of those hunting and gathering peoples who treated eating as a
\nkind of give away, life gives of itself that life can continue, and asks
\nprimarily for respect and consideration from those who are the consumers for
\nthe moment. To me it is the lack of any respect whatsoever for the beings who
\nare raised and killed that marks the true horrors of industrial
\nagriculture.  <\/span>This extends to the
\nmeals, which rarely have any thanks given – especially to the spirit of what we
\nconsume.  <\/span>Including plants.<\/p>\n

I know many
\npeople think plants have no awareness. 
\n<\/span>I also know they are wrong. I will never forget the experience of what I
\nguess would be a dryad that  <\/span>I had
\nin New Mexico.  <\/span>It was quite
\nunexpected, and I have never looked at plants the same way since.<\/p>\n

\n

These are
\nsomewhat disjointed thoughts on the road as I take a breakfast break while returning from
\nwonderful hikes and explorations in southern Utah and the Anasazi ruins of
\nsouthwestern Colorado.   <\/span><\/p>\n

More
\nlater.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Samhain we confront that mystery, and honor it.  In contrast to most earlier Pagan traditions, most NeoPagans do not spend much time honoring their ancestors.  Samhain is our most fitting opportunity to do so.  Usually we have pictures on our altars of those close to us who have died the previous year.  Certainly that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pagan-holidays-and-sabbats","category-pagan-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nSamhain Thoughts - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/10\/samhain-thoughts.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samhain Thoughts - 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