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“Dying is a wild night and a new road” - Emily Dickinson

A moment to rest, a moment of darkness….

On the tailwind of the autumnal equinox, October brings us a blue moon month, beginning and ending with a full moon. October 31 is a cross-quarter day in the astrological calendar, marking halfway between the equinox and the solstice. The days between October 31 and November 2 are revered in many cultures as the time when the veil between the mortal and spirit worlds is at it’s thinnest; when it is possible for spirits of the dead to visit the living. On these days we celebrate All Hallow's Eve (aka Halloween), El Dia de los Muertos, All Saints’ & All Souls’ Day, and Samhain— the Wiccan precursor to them all. In Celtic tradition, it also marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the winter. We offer up these resources for warmth and sustenance in the coming days ahead…

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Dia de los Muertos// In traditional Mexican culture, El Dia de Los Muertos is a yearly celebration honoring the dead, with family celebrations, music, poetry, dance and art.
Some rituals practiced on El Dia de los Muertos have roots stemming from indigenous and Aztec culture. Some build altars, some celebrate nature, some explore the supernatural, some reconnect with their ancient past. All practices are in service of reuniting those living, with those who have departed, through the never-ending bond of love.

Listen and celebrate here with music selections for El Dia de los Muertos….

Seamus Heaney// Seamus Heaney won the Nobel prize in Literature in 1995 for "works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." Although he wrote of growing up in Derry, and living through the Troubles, his poetry also reflects the universal experiences of being human. We've excerpted one of his better known passages from a verse translation of Sophocles below.

The Cure at Troy

History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

Read the complete poem here, and you can listen to the poet himself narrate the acclaimed collection "Stepping Stones" here.

Meet the Monster // Here at ESfD we are great fans of Emergence Magazine and their work. This article highlighting our interconnectivity through the lenses of racism, sexism and epigenetics does not disappoint.

Rinpoche // The current Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, (also known as Kongtrul Jigme Namgyel), is the third embodiment of the Tibetan Buddhist lama in the tulku lineage, and the founder of Mangala Shri Bhuti. He is known for his insistence that all beings can awaken to their own enlightened nature. His most famous western student is Pema Chodron, who took him as her primary teacher in 1994, years after the death of her root guru. He is also a world-renowned abstract expressionist painter, who views creativity as “something very large - the essence of everything”. In an essay from his second catalogue of paintings, Natural Vitality, the venerable Dizgar Kongtrul Rinpoche meditates on the union of art and wisdom. “When we speak of natural creativity and its expression we are not talking about something separate from our own mind and experience”.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is the author of 8 books, some of which can be found here, and watch him work on a painting here.

The Dead - James Joyce and John Huston// The Dead is the last story, almost a novella itself, in James Joyce's famous book "The Dubliners". John Huston, the legendary movie director, chose it as his last project before he died. His son, Tony Huston, wrote the brilliant adaptation and his daughter, Angelica Huston, played the character of Gretta, the soul of the film. It is a movie, like the book, more or less about nothing - just an unremarkable annual holiday party - and then, in a heartbeat at the very end, about everything.

You can read Vincent Canby's review here, and, amazingly, watch the movie itself here

Helping Children Understand Death // Here are four books compiled by Marisha Pessl in the New York Times to help children approach the subject of death. Although children may be able to digest and comprehend more than their parents believe, these books can help to begin “the conversation” bridging the gap of fear and the unknown for the adults as well as the kids.

This American Life segment // This American Life is, of course, the award winning public radio program and podcast that has been telling us stories about ourselves since 1995. This series of episodes is a reminder about the importance of staying in touch with delight even (especially) when things seem so dark. Listen to the series here.

Books to Read

John Troyer // On Death, Dying, and Writing: In Conversation With John Troyer. The author of “Technologies of the Human Corpse” explores how technology is blurring the distinctions between life and death, and how personal loss has shaped his research. Read the full article here, listen to the podcast version here, and find the book here.

Entangled Life // In Entangled Life, the brilliant young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world from a fungal point of view, providing an exhilarating change of perspective. Sheldrake's vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the "Wood Wide Web", to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision. Get the book here.

Soul Dust // How is consciousness possible? What biological purpose does it serve? And why do we value it so highly? In Soul Dust, the psychologist Nicholas Humphrey, a leading figure in consciousness research, proposes a startling new theory. Consciousness, he argues, is nothing less than a magical-mystery show that we stage for ourselves inside our own heads. This self-made show lights up the world for us and makes us feel special and transcendent. Thus consciousness paves the way for spirituality, and allows us, as human beings, to reap the rewards, and anxieties, of living in what Humphrey calls the "soul niche.” Get the book here.

“A life well used brings a happy death” - Leonardo Da Vinci

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