Today is Halloween, and in the Northern hemisphere it's Samhain - a day of celebration and honoring. It's a day, too, of connecting deeply with the souls of those passed and with ourselves.

Samhain is a time of revelation. There's much talk about the thinness of the veil between the physical and spirit realms on this day. (I've written before on that subject.) The purported thinness allow us to connect more easefully with ancestors, which is a sweet notion.

Samhain is also a time of surrender. It's a time to summon ourselves in such a way that we can willingly surrender to a better understanding of our longings and goals - both those from the past 12 months, and those just now burgeoning.

Revelation

When I stood on the deck taking pictures of the treeline, I was struck anew by the concept of revelation at Samhain. Here in the seacoast region of New Hampshire, we're about 65-70% complete with the Autumn foliage process.

Every day, as the steady Autumn winds bluster through, more and more leaves drop from the trees. And every day, more and more is revealed.

• I can now see tens of yards into the rolling forest behind the house, rather than ten feet (at most).

• I can now see the 150+-year-old stone walls that provide division between properties.

• I can now see a neighbor's house, hidden from view since late Spring, past the backyard.

That process of revelation has been particularly striking and nuanced for me, this year. It reminds me that just because it can't be seen with the physical eyes doesn't mean it isn't there. A timely reminder, indeed.

Surrender

The surrender necessary to allow those revelations has been particularly striking for me too, this year. Whether they're surrendering to gravity or to the aforementioned wind, the leaves let go because it's time to do so.

While leaves aren't sentient - at least, not as we view sentience - they're still ruled by an intelligence that dictates their appearance, their growth, and their passing. As far as we know, they don't complain about their process. They simply surrender to it.

We could learn a lot from those leaves, in terms of revelation and surrendering to a process. We could...

• permit ourselves to surrender those things that have served us and no longer are of service

• permit ourselves to reveal that which we hide, in order to let the light touch all our dark recesses

• permit ourselves to reveal that process of surrender as a way of inspiring renewal in those around us

The thinning of the veil of leaves this year - and every year - affords us great opportunity to look at what exists behind our self-created (or self-inflicted) veil, surrender what needs it, and prepare for what comes next.

Happy Halloween. Blessed Samhain. Blessed be.