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Samhain and Hallow’s Eve: Stories of Shapeshifting and Encounter
October 31, 2021 at 11:00 am - 1:00 pm PDT
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Autumnal read-aloud salons return with Interintellect host Catherine Woodiwiss!
For millennia, as nights grow longer and the air gets colder, humans have gathered together to shelter and tell each other stories. The earliest stories were rooted in the natural world — finding lessons and meaning in the autumnal turn that brings us from light to dark, from active to still, from far away to home.
Spiritual observances that fall during this season celebrate a similar turning point: a “crossing over” of souls between the world and the Otherworld. Festivals like Samhain, Halloween, and All Saints invite us to tell stories through costumes and guises — honoring those who came before, playing at who we can be, and questioning whether others are as they appear.
Through songs and plays, epics and ghost stories, gossip and voicemails — oral stories weave a sense of shared experience and imagination. What do we hope for? What do we fear? How did we get here? How do we get back again? Who might be coming with us? Whether we’re listening from across a fire or around the world, telling stories shortens the distance between us and creates a hearth for the spirit and mind.
For this second annual(!) “Samhain & Hallow’s Eve” reading salon, we’re gathering our favorite liminal stories to read aloud: stories of visitation, shape-shifting, make believe; of autumnal change and winter chill; of ghosts in the past and the future.
Bring a passage from a favorite novel, poem, scene, essay, or spiritual text to read aloud to others. Or just bring a glass of wine, pull up “around the fire,” and listen along. 🍷🔥📚
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Reading list: All texts welcome, as long as they are on theme!
Some samples to get you started:
- Helena Bonham Carter reading Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”
- Cord Jefferson reading his own “Leave a Message”
- Christopher Lee reading Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”
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