Hogwarts and Hugs on Halloween

Mid morning fall arrived. It didn’t blow in over night, or start to cool toward evening. Instead, around 10 or 11 it went from being unseasonably warm to suddenly taking on the exact mood of Halloween’s most stereotypical ambience: gusts strong enough to whirl leaves into a cauldron in circles of black concrete, whilst dramatic skyscapes passed overhead, constantly changing shape as the warmth of July hangovers suddenly became the sudden arrival of November.

The Archaeology of the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site, Interim Report 2018

I put on a wool dress and my horn to get ready to welcome the tricker treaters, but it was so cold and blustery, we wondered if any would come. Most of the kids in our immediate area have grown “too old” for tricker treating, and although I knew the little unicorns up the road would have wanted to come, it often happens that plans work out differently. I had already decided our tricker or treating hours would be 4-6, and it was nearly six when we got our first group: a wonderful ensemble of Hogwarts students with light-filled faces. They were delighted with the crystals (and the Unreal Candies.) Illusory reality can be delicious. It’s just good to keep in mind that it isn’t, well, real. I told the girls that the crystals were blessed with love because we only practice love based magick. They seemed delighted. They liked the candy, but the crystals had their eyes and hearts sparkling with a joy that is only too rare to see on children’s faces these days. I had been wearing a wooly dress to keep warm, but I got so warm I took it off and had a black shirt, a silver scarf and my new unicorn horn. So I kind of fit in with the Hogwarts crowd.

A few minutes later, Adrian our dog let us know that another group had come. It was our old neighbors! I wrote about them a long time ago, but the most recent saga is that they moved away for their dog to have more space, and there was this short span of time about a year ago where suddenly my husband and I ran into the wife/mom in a series of unexpected meetings that turned out to be quite impactful for her, in various combinations of me, my husband and us both together. She was in training to become a therapist (funny I seem to attract friends in that field even as much as I critique its history and foundations,) and I gave her some advice about how to empower her patients. This halloween, after giving crystal and a candy to her little boy, whom I didn’t recognize at first, she came up the steps and said, “I want to give you a hug. I wanted to tell you that I think about you a lot. What you said to me really helped me. You helped me see that I could guide my patients to realize that actually they can make some choices.”

I gave her a big long hug, and offered her a crystal. She joyfully accepted. Then her husband came up alongside the steps and we briefly chatted in a positive vibe and he and my son chatted too. I told them I hope they move back. They said they talk about it, they think about it…I told them PULLEASE! They are currently renting the house out, and while I wish everyone well, I am not particularly comfortable with the people that rent it - as in I am very uncomfortable with them. I told the family that still owns the house we would LOVE to have them as neighbors again. The great irony is that when these friends, formerly neighbors actually lived here, we had a falling out. Through the power of forgiveness and open heartedness over quite a number of years, we ended up coming to glowingly connect. I’m telling you, loving your enemies sometimes really does turn them into friends; other times people might seem nice as cream pie and your inner radar says, “Stay away.” Listen. With the people I would prefer not to be there, I found things out after I trusted my spidy radar that assured me through an inner knowing to keep a far distance is the wisest course of action.