It’s the Halloween season — time for weird-n-wacky decorations, sweet snacks and spooky stories. It’s that time of year when you reach into your basement, attic, closet or garage and begin pulling out all your holiday bobbles as you prepare to hunker down for the cold holiday season ahead. Since dressing up your home…and body… are highlighted this time of year, let’s turn your home into a tool for transformation by bringing in a little feng-shui-fun with the five Halloween R’s:
1. ROTATE
Why does decorating for the holidays bring us so much joy? Because it’s fresh, festive and fun! By rotating your decorations, or just your home’s usual decor, you can add fabulous new energy to an otherwise stagnant space. Stuck in a rut? Try moving 20 things in your home and just feel your internal Ch’i (energy) skyrocket! Moving old items into new locations can breath life back into an object or room. Keeping this simple tip in mind all through the year can make every day feel like a holiday!
2. REVERE
Just like your own wardrobe, consider changing your home’s “clothing” to reflect the beautiful transition from summer into fall. Switch out bedding, drapes and pillows for heavier fabrics, richer colors, and more luxurious textures. Wrapping our bodies in hearty blankets and filling our bellies with hearty foods shifts us energetically into a heavy, happy hybernation as the world energetically slows to a crawl. As we continue to live in more and more artificially-controlled environments, this warm wardrobe change helps us stay in touch with good ol’ Mother Nature and honor the complex rhythm of the world around us.
3. REVEL
Most of life’s troubles come from taking things far, far too seriously. So what better time to lighten up — inside and out? Halloween is a time to revel in laughter and roll in the fun. So if you find yourself taking life way too seriously, fill your house with cobwebs, juggle candy-corns, dress like a diva or suspend silly-string from the ceiling. Any way to bring humor into your home can help divert your attention to the goofier sides of life — and who couldn’t use a bit more of that?
4. RENEW
There’s no better way to refresh and renew our spirits than to bask in the beautifully-balanced wonder of nature itself. Tossing and tumbling in a pile of crisp leaves or walking barefoot on cool earth, natural elements can bring an instant and automatic calm to your mind, body and soul. Try bringing nature indoors this season as you decorate with pumpkins, branches, berries and gourds. Feel the richness and relaxation of their simple and abundant beauty, as well as the earthy anchoring they provide through their warm, rich colors. It’s the most inexpensive and intoxicating way to decorate!
5. REALIZE
Over the centuries, Halloween has taken on the meaning and characteristics of many different religions, cultures and belief systems. To different people at different times through history, this holiday has been celebrated in a vast and varied manner. Roman Catholics have seen it as a day to honor all the Saints. In Gaelic cultures, it reflects the end of the harvest season. In Incan and Japanese Buddhism, it’s their time to honor the dead. And modern-day American children see it as nothing more than a time for candy and costumes.
When we begin to realize our own unique path, we can start reflecting this in all aspects of our external world. So, what magical, mystical, marvelous part of you is yearning to break free? Try throwing decorating caution to the wind and let your inner child run free: perhaps it’s time to honor long-lost traditions, or it’s simply time to create new ones of your very own? Celebrate your ancestors, honor the change of seasons, or express humor and creativity. Have fun with whatever sparks an interest, and allow your own traditions to surface from within.
Every single day gives you another opportunity to express gratitude for the bounty that lies before you. So in this magical time of transition — from summer to fall; light to dark; warmth to winter — let your childlike creativity fill your home and your heart as you celebrate life to it’s fabulous festive fullness!
