Halloween. Ain't that just the way.

(Hurray October! Goodbye October.)

Finally! My favorite holiday arrives!

I don’t exactly have a story written for this Halloween night, but houses have been on my mind…like the haunted House of Seven Gables (which I’ve actually been to) and wonderful witches houses of films (fav? the Practical Magic house, of course) and real weird houses.

The Haunted House
The house did not ask to be built.
The trees sacrificed for walls and beams
grew in a forest, birds and beetles in their branches. 
The doorknobs and kitchen knives came special order
made by hardworking souls in other lands.
The house, given window panes,
first knew hammering and hauling and voices
saying things about wires and pipes and sofas. 
It's insides grew more complicated but complete.
The house hummed, waiting for the last piece, the occupants. 
Yet soon the house couldn't not hear the shouting, the scream, the tears. 
The house wouldn't hold back the fists
or the axe. 
The house that may have wondered about wallpaper and picture hooks 
did not like the clawing or the wet red stains.
The house did not like the bleach or the digging in the dark. 
It wanted nothing more than to disgorge what had been hidden in its foundations 
against its will, its sickening scent peeling paint
and corroding wires. 
It wished from its front steps to its hearth
to remain unoccupied and untrespassed. 
The house had asked for none of this. 

Haunted Places

In my own house, I’ve decorated. No surprise there, I’m sure. Sometimes, I wish I could spend a ridiculous amount of money on decorations, but then I remember we need to eat and we don’t have that much storage space. Anyway, every year I add a little bit more.

Haunted Home

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In other spooky stories, I watched a video about human combustion, ghosts of Japan, slasher genre tropes, and why women are evil. (For as much as I love Halloween, I do not enjoy horror, and many of the clips in these video essays were challenging for my squeamish self. I watched it anyway. YMMV.)

I’ve also been reading. Here’s an article discussing the enduring myth of poison candy. (Stop worrying, y’all. Eat the sweets.) Here’s an article to help you think about dying. No joke. And I don’t mean to be macabre (Ha! Yes, I do! It’s spooky season and I’m me!) but death happens to us all.

“The subject of death moved from those realms to that of science and medicine, and while the scientific worldview offers a great many facts about death, it provides us with little sense of meaning. From the perspective of science, not only has death meant simply an end, but it has also commonly been seen as a failure of medical intervention rather than a meaningful rite of passage.

Part of what it means to be human – part of the human condition, if you like – is to be aware that we will, one day, die. To be human is to be aware of, and concerned with, our mortality. The mystery of death has, for millennia, led us to ask the big, existential questions: why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Why do we die? What happens after we die? What is the point of existence?” ~ Joanna Ebenstein

Coincidentally (not really), the author of the article also appeared on the Witch Wave Podcast to promote her book, Mememto Mori (which I have ordered from a favorite local bookshop, Black Pearl).

From another local (and new!) bookshop, Livra Books, I bought a used copy of Beyond the Dark Veil. The subject matter isn’t for everyone, but I’ve been fascinated and moved by such death and mourning photography for a long time.

Also, this month I’ve read:

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke. This is a slip of a book. I’ll read anything Clarke writes. I find her stories charming, magical, sad, and inspiring.

(If you ever get a chance to learn what is written in spider webs, take it. Spiders have been writing since the world began and know many interesting things.) ~ Susanna Clarke

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. In August, I read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. I don’t know why, but I love stories a little shop of some kind. And a story about talking cats serving coffee and desserts at ever-changing locations? Oh, I’m gonna read that. This leans heavily into astrology, so that might not be your thing, and there’s a lot more telling than showing. A lot. But…talking cats.

“That’s why there’s no such thing as a quiet revolution,” said the Singapura. “They always feel like a blow to the head. Afterward, everyone just wants things to go back to the way they were. But’s there’s no going back. Once a war breaks out, you’re not getting your old life back.” ~ Mai Mochizuki.

The Book of Delights: essays by Ross Gay. I love a book that manages to be, well, delightful and serious at the same time.

“I suppose I could spend time theorizing how it is that people are not bad to each other, but that’s really not the point. The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with the heavy bags. Reaching what’s too high, or what’s been dropped. Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the struck dog. The alternating merge, also known as the zipper. This caretaking is our default mode and it’s always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.” ~ Ross Gay

To end, here’s some art I started but couldn’t finish in time for the holiday. I’m not sure I even like it, but I’m trying to “trust the process” even though I often don’t.

Thanks for reading! Thanks for sticking with me. And if you’re able to support my work (and want more stories and art for some reason), I’m on that Patreon site. I’m wishing you a magical Halloween with all the best witches.