October is the magical month. The air acquires a crystalline quality rarely seen in the haze of summer and hidden behind the gray mantle of winter. October skies are bluer; all the colors, more vibrant. October invites us to sit upon the bare ground and bask in the warming rays of the sun, the same sun which only a few short weeks ago drove us panting into the shade or trapped us indoors with the ubiquitous buzz of the air conditioner.
Each passing year increases the distance between Technological Man and the Earth which sustains him. Being “one with nature” is a quaint cliché from a bygone era; inconceivable when the temperature and the humidity are both above 90 or when the ground is hard and the breath turns to ice crystals, but in October, nature is welcoming. The hordes of stinging, biting and sucking things are in retreat and it is easier to remember why a walk in the woods is a very good thing.
October hints of mysteries obscured for most of the year by the neverending pursuit of stimulation and gratification. Leaves change colors and fall to the ground. Flowers fade, go to seed, wither and die. Hints of the winter to come are carried down the mountains on the evening breeze.
October reminds us of change and season and the irresistible march of time. In the frantic but fading calls of crickets we can hear the primordial rhythms of life on earth, older than civilization, older than religion, visceral, untamed. We feel the irrational but perfectly natural urge to build a bonfire, beat a drum, carve a pumpkin or wear a scary mask, to unconsciously join the thousands of generations stretching back into the mists of prehistory who raged against the dying of the light. The ancients claimed that the veil between this world and the next is thin this time year. The grinning pumpkin sitting in the window would agree…
