SALUTING THE SUN WITH MY FIRST CUP OF COFFEE, I GO ON TO QUERY MY COMPUTER. Setting the background to pictures of sugar skulls, I then push the green “Go-Live” button and tap out a morning salutation to my audience.
Panacea: We are live on THE Panacea TV today! How is everyone this morning? Are you ready to celebrate Halloween tonight? How do you celebrate the Harvest season?
This feels so fawkward—fake and awkward. Haha, now that’s funny! I do amuse myself. But, hey, at least my audience of one appreciates my humor. Here I am, talking to myself as…Wait a minute! What’s this? Names? Comments? It’s showtime!
Panacea: Thank you for tuning in! Because many of you like to ask questions and make comments, I thought, why not chat in real-time? What do you have for me on this All Hallows Eve?
LilyB: I love your style! Where can I buy your outfit?
Panacea: That’s a great compliment, and you can’t. All of my clothes are custom made for me.
sparkyphd: Damn gurl you HOT!!! Let me holla at you a minute. My gurl needs a dress like that hotness 4 Halloween. You know what I am saying?
Panacea: What’s up, sparkyphd? Let me just say, I dig your name! I’m not sure I understand your point. You think my dress is THE hot look your girlfriend needs for Halloween? Hot? Who wears dresses to be hot? I wear a dress like this to be cool.
I scroll through more comments until one catches my attention. “Uh-oh. Here we go.”
Princessghoshi: How dare you appropriate someone else's culture...have you no shame!? You should be ashamed of yourself! People like you are what's wrong with society and you make me sick!!
Deep breath...
Panacea: Hey there, Princessghoshi! It’s rare to find a princess online. Nice to meet you. I admire your spirit. What do you mean that I’m appropriating someone else's culture? Most modern culture evolved from my kind. I can hardly appropriate something that I pre-date, can I?
Oh boy. She’s still typing. I will type faster!
Panacea: But how would you even know? We just met! I bet you’ve never met a thousand-year-old goddess before either.
Princessghoshi: Right! So you are just delusional as well. A thousand years? And a goddess? This is just you trying to get followers! Some stupid Halloween prank to up your numbers!
Oh great. Now, I’ve opened up Pandora’s box.
DoubleOh7: Goddess???? Wtf?
EanieMeanie: You don’t look a day over 999. LOL!
de_k: You poor lost soul. May the blessing of the most holy find and heal you. I will be praying for you, God bless!
Sarah K: This message is from the blessing angel who has visited you today. Send this to 100 followers and the Lord will grant your prayers! God bless!
Robort13: Girls! Girls! Girls! Click the link to see more Girls!
Tom: "Oh my beautiful one please to marry me. I know I good for you. I rich and make you rich too. Think about it oh my beautiful one!"
Nawty1: Beautiful? She looks like an aging hippie in that outfit.
Ugh. This is not going as planned.
Panacea: Look, mortals. I was summoned here to teach you. I’m here to help. The idea is to help others, not shame them. Let’s get back on track! I am going to a Halloween party and was thinking I would dress up with a sugar skull and celebrate Dia de los Muertos at the same time.
sparkyphd: No shame in this game. I asked about the outfit. This time of year the ghosts & zombies walk around scaring people, looking for brains, while we all celebrate Day of the Dead baby. But you got nothin' to worry about gurl...I am gonna protect ya!
Tommy2005: Don’t 4get the candy! Trix & treets!
sparkyphd: Ahh hell yeah!
I think I’ve lost them. Shaking my head in dismay, I have to wonder if they even know. Maybe now is the time to instruct and to teach them the lessons I have learned.
Panacea: Is that what you really think this time of year is about? Outfits and candy? You mortals and your love of sugar...
de_k: Halloween is the Devil’s day! Turn away from sin and the empty lies of Satan and follow Christ, the true Savior and Redeemer!
Princessghoshi: Day of the Dead, so more cultural theft! You are the worst sort of human being! Get your own culture to steal from!
Princessghoshi has exited the chat
I stop reading the comments and turn on the record feature, activating the red blinking microphone icon. I think it is time to record a history lesson. The mortals should like this. I settle into my chair, arrange my dress, and look directly into the camera.
Greetings, mortals! It appears that some of you misunderstand or are determined to twist the traditions of sacred holidays. Maybe you have just forgotten the old ways. The ways that had meaning, and regardless of the fickle nature of humans, have carried on through centuries.
I must admit that I was not sure about returning to the mortal realm after so many years away, but I think I now understand why we are back. I think you have forgotten much of your roots. I believe that mortals are in desperate need of healing, and I hope to remedy that.
I was summoned here to teach people how to raise their frequency and activate their ability to heal themselves and others. These beliefs and behaviors are a big part of what’s at the root of your diseases and disorders, and now you’re in jeopardy. So, let’s call this lesson a tonic for the mind, a remedy for the soul, a healing of the heart, and a reconnection to your roots.
In many ways, your ancestors were more connected to each other and to those that came before than you are today, even with the marvelous technology available at your fingertips. They came together as communities. They worked the land and were grateful when an abundant harvest fed their family. Gratitude, by the way, is a key to healing and happiness.
They recognized that they shared this realm with other kinds who had the same right to be here—animals, mystical creatures, other tribes, and even deities like myself. They felt the rhythms of the seasons in their bones and celebrated both life and afterlife. They honored their departed, and yes, some feared them as well. Whether they feared or embraced death was really a matter of perspective. It remains the same to this very day. Your poet, Anaïs Nin, said it best, “We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.”
Mortals struggle with forming their own perspectives and beliefs, even within this enlightened age. You claim you have them, but you are resistant to seeing anyone else’s. Sometimes, we have to work through the discomfort, not be controlled by the underlying emotions, and that’s all I see you mortals do. You use laughter as a mask, and you hide behind screens. Not unlike the masks that people wear for Halloween or Day of the Dead. Speaking of which, do you even know why you dress up and wear masks these days? Do you understand the origins of these traditions?
On the night of Samhain, it was believed that ghosts passed through to this earthly realm. People feared encountering these spirits and the other creatures that may venture beyond the thinned veil. To avoid being recognized, they would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that they would be mistaken for a fellow spirit. But there is more to it than that that I’ll discuss shortly.
Halloween is deeply rooted in the traditions of Samhain, a Celtic festival of the harvest. It ushered in the dark half of the year when brown replaces green, and dead leaves fall from the trees, all symbols of death and dying. So, it became partially a celebration of the harvest and partially fear-based rituals to deal with the notion of death that was all around. Nature’s transition from bounty to scarcity reminded humans of their own fragile mortality. This set the tone for how they viewed and reacted to the season. They adopted traditions to help them deal with the terror of the unknown.
That's not to say there weren’t other terrors during Samhain that caused the mortal to bar their doors and huddle close during the long cold dark nights. There was the belief that the fae or Sidhes would kidnap them, so food was left outside the fields or villages to appease the fairy folken. There were the shape-shifting trickster spirits known as Pukah. Yes, just like Harvey, the rabbit. Do you even know who that is? Nevermind, but you should look it up. The Pukah, like the fae, were left an offering of food outside the fields and villages.
Why, they even had Lady Gwyn, a headless maiden dressed all in white who chases the night accompanied by a black pig...I am rambling...
But that does remind me of another lady figure, the Grande Dame of Death, La Catrina. Often portrayed as a tall, elegantly attired female skeleton sporting an extravagantly plumed hat. She symbolizes the Mexican willingness to laugh at death itself, and we all know what powerful medicine laughter can be! Catrina was originally portrayed as a wealthy and well-dressed woman, reminding everyone that all are equal in the end. She is beloved within a culture that treats death with familiarity and hospitality. The grande dame and her marigold wreaths are tied to the Day of the Dead festivities celebrated in Mexico.
Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st, and for the same reason that Samhain is recognized. It is the time of the year when the veil between the living and the dead is blurred. The difference? This tradition is not rooted in fear. It is a time to honor and celebrate those that have traveled to the next life. The holiday involves family and friends gathering to pray for and remember their loved ones who have died. Those living helping to support the dead in their spiritual journey, much as they supported them in life. In Mexican culture, death is viewed as a natural part of the human cycle. It is not a day of sadness or fear, but a day of celebration because their loved ones awaken and celebrate with them.
Their joy of life in the face of its inevitable end is evident in their festivals. From altars, picnics, parades, and the irreverent writings of the Calaveras—a satirical poem that people write about one another, which includes the way the subject dies. That reminds me! I have copies of ones that my friend Gwen and I wrote last year at a Day of the Dead art opening! Let me find them...Ah! Here they are:
When la muerta came knocking on her door,
Gwen sought refuge under the floor.
While patiently waiting for death to move on,
She began scrolling Facebook, averting a yawn.
When minutes turned to hours and hours turned to sleep,
Gwen never noticed the weight of the mete.
That was the one that I wrote for Gwen. Here is the one that she wrote for me. Irreverent, indeed! But we did have a laugh.
Summoned to work here by Zeus,
Panacea consistently has an excuse.
Because she loves risas, and baila, and food,
She’s always looking for something else to do.
Today she chose to celebrate the Day of the Dead,
Pretending to be La Catrina, it all went to her head.
Drinking tequila and eating tamales,
Panacea was truly feeling her jollies.
Laying down for a tic, she shouts cheerio,
Not realizing she is about to be the sacrificio.
What a fun night that was! Both of us more than a little tipsy and wearing marigold crowns.
And here is where the lesson exists. This modern culture has adopted many of the traditions of those ancient Celts, huddling behind their masks. You hide behind words and computers in the ultimate disguise. Trying to fit in with the very things that terrify you, and in the process, you become what you fear. You become one of the monsters in the dark that others shy from.
Consider also the ways of other cultures. Learn the lessons they have to share. Embrace others, reach out, finding the joy and laughter in the moments that you do have. Mortal lives are so very short. Why not choose to be happy and grateful? So lovely mortals, what do you think about this season now?
LilyB: So cool. It’s so much more than what I thought, wish they would've taught that in school.
LilyB has exited the chat
sparkyphd: Ahhh that's a helluva story, but we cool. I can’t vibe with the whole death thing though it gives me the heebie jeebies… real talk, yo. Peace. Ama bounce.
de_k: God so loved the world he sent his only begotten son, go to the light of Christ...John 3:16…
sparkyphd has exited the chat
de_k has exited the chat
Welp. It looks like I have my work cut out for me. As your mortal singer says, “Shake it off.” Teaching these mortals is going to be tougher than I thought, but I’m up to the task…
Princessghoshi has entered the chat
Maybe I’ll start fresh tomorrow.
Panacea has exited the chat