Written by: Andrew Cowie, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
YES, it's that time of year again, so dust off your broomstick, carve out a pumpkin and select a suitably ghoulish costume to celebrate all things dark, ghostly and macabre. From spooky decorations around the neighbourhood, to carved pumpkins adorning front porches and giant bags of sweets piled high in supermarket aisles, it’s impossible to ignore the seasonal festivities which culminate in Halloween this weekend.
The origins of this festival date back centuries to the customs of pagan and Celtic folk living in Britain and ancient Ireland prior to the spread of Christianity. In Celtic tradition, 31st October marks a holiday known as “Samhain.” Celebrating the end of the harvest season and the onset of the dark portion of the year, Samhain was ushered in with giant feasts and bonfires that burned late into the night. It also represented a time when the doors between the human world and the spirit world were thought to be the most open.
As Christianity became the dominant religion in the area, Samhain and its Celtic observers were increasingly pushed into the shadows. Since then, Halloween has evolved into the event we recognize today – a largely secular holiday that has become highly commercialised. Far from its spiritual roots, Halloween is now primarily a light-hearted affair full of fun costumes, tasty treats, and spooky decorations.
Few festivals in the calendar divide public opinion so much as this one. To some Halloween is a piece of harmless fun and a chance to indulge their innate love of horror. To others it's a serious pagan rite marking the end of summer and the transition into the months of darkness. Others dread the prospect of having masked strangers lurking on their doorsteps on a dark October night like something out of The Purge movie franchise, while many even view Halloween as something distinctly sinister with roots in occultism and devil-worship.
I'll happily put my hand up and declare that I adore Halloween. I have a lifelong affinity with dark autumn nights, bonfires, Gothic horror and dressing up. I love witches, wizards, vampires, magic and mysticism.
One of the joys of Halloween for me is that it provides a welcome opportunity for us to embrace those hidden aspects of our own nature which are usually suppressed by the restraints of society's expectations. Wearing a mask provides a layer of anonymity in which we are free to release our inhibitions without fear of judgment. Such a release can be a powerful therapeutic tool. We all have aspects of ourselves that we keep hidden due to peer group pressure or the risk of ridicule. Suppressing these traits is psychologically unhealthy. Our “dark” sides are yearning for acknowledgment and the more we try to deny and stifle them, the more strongly they will fight back. What we resist persists.
Obviously, I’m not condoning bad behaviour but simply suggesting that we occasionally allow those darker aspects of our nature free artistic expression through safe outlets such as role-playing and theatre so that they don't continue to bubble away beneath the surface of our conscious awareness like a volcano waiting to blow its lid. Life is about finding the perfect balance between light and shade and this concept is one of the cornerstones to the therapeutic approach we use at Phoenix Coaching & Therapy where we actively encourage clients to explore those aspects of their personalities which have previously been denied expression. It doesn't matter whether you choose to express it through song, artwork, acting or writing, so long as you let it out and give it a voice.
Halloween provides a perfect opportunity to do so. It's a day when you can dress up outlandishly, don make-up, role-play and walk brazenly down your local high street in fancy dress without anybody batting an eyelid. You can allow your inner child to sing freely.
As children, we dress up and play roles all the time, whether that be superheroes or doctors and nurses, but as adults, we tend to have this natural creativity knocked out of us by the pressure to conform. This is extremely limiting and denies us the chance to explore and indulge all the multifarious aspects of our glorious personalities. We lose that connection with our inner child and much of the joy of life along with it. Halloween is a night when the normal rules of society are temporarily suspended and we can become whoever or whatever we want to be – whether that be witch, wizard, vampire, superhero, or Jedi.
So, regardless of your personal views on Halloween, take a moment this weekend to consider whether there are any aspects of your personality that you’ve been keeping hidden away like a guilty secret. Take the opportunity to acknowledge those traits, to welcome them as authentic parts of your greater whole, and above all, seize the chance to unleash your inner child. In the words of the old pagan mantra "Do as thou wilt, as long as it harms no one". Happy Halloween!
Andrew Cowie, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Andrew Cowie is a transformational life coach, psychotherapist, and author dedicated to helping people overcome adversity and achieve their full potential. He came to the world of therapy after a 20-year career in newspaper journalism was brought to an abrupt end by severe burnout. In the course of his own recovery, he was introduced to meditation, mindfulness, hypnotherapy, yoga, martial arts, and NLP. He went on to retrain under some of the world's leading spiritual and personal development teachers to become an expert in these fields. Andrew has since dedicated his life to passing on this knowledge, synthesizing the various disciplines into one overarching system blending ancient spiritual practices with the latest cutting-edge techniques from the field of modern psychology. He is the owner of Phoenix Coaching & Therapy and the founder of its associated 'magical training school' The Ancient and Mystical Hermetic Order of the Phoenix (AMHOP). His debut book Rise Like a Phoenix was published in 2021 and is described as a manual for personal regeneration. Andrew works with clients worldwide and is passionate about mental health and exploring the latent potential of the human mind.
