[Elspode]

Great kid pics, Clod! Halloween is so much fun when you've got little ones.

Ever since Selene and I married eleven years ago tonight, Halloween (Samhain, in our neck of the Pagan forest) has been kind of overwhelmingly hectic. The very first open public sabbat we held was on Samhain twelve years ago, a gathering of about a dozen or so people in a dark park. There was little in the way of props - not much of an altar, no corner tables or torches - just an opening of the Western Gate, communion with our departed loved ones, and when it was over, we went to Perkins and chatted as a group.

Now, on the occasion of our ninety-somethingth open sabbat ritual and our eleventh wedding anniversary, we find ourselves sitting in front of our computers after what has been effectively a fifteen hour workday, exhausted but satisfied - unwinding. We've never taken a honeymoon, never had a romantic anniversary weekend or day trip, never spent Halloween evening gazing into one another's eyes. But what we *have* had is an immense sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, and the enormous outpouring of love and mutual respect with our chosen community and friends.

I usually mention during our Samhain ritual which anniversary we are celebrating, but tonight, having run full tilt since getting out of bed this morning, I just relaxed and sailed along through the ceremony, riding the energy, soaking up the lighthearted seriousness. It couldn't have been a more beautiful night in our backyard. The firepit blazed away beside the altar as the attendees spiraled in and tossed their fears, written on flash paper, into the flames to vanish in a puff of light and smoke. As they returned to their places in circle, they took with them positive devotions written on little foam Fall leaves to replace in the coming year that which they had burned. For a short time, we looked inward and hence through the veil, remembering and honoring our ancestors, invoking the God as he begins his trip through the underworld to emerge at Yule reborn. We stood together at the cusp of the long darkness, and anticipated the coming light.

So, all in all, it doesn't really get to be any better than this. This is my favorite day of the year. Crazy busy though it is, much though it limits Selene and I from reinforcing our own love and devotion as normal couples might upon their anniversaries, we reinforce and experience so much more as Priestess and Priest than I ever would have imagined possible in my old life.

Blessed Samhain, my friends. Save some candy for me!