Good tidings on All Hallows Eve – a good day for goths and a time for raising spirits, however you interpret that phrase.
The word ‘spirit’ derives from the same root as breath – the stuff of life. We breathe, the planet breathes with the changing of the seasons – northern hemisphere folk now entering the darker phase of the year – longer nights, shorter days. Mists, damp earth, cold mornings, bright winter sun. I’m going to start lighting candles on my evening desk – a miniature hearth to gather around as the screen flickers across from me – two different sources of illumination.
Any rituals or habits for the day or the autumn and winter ahead? What’s good music for evoking an eerie atmosphere, rousing good will, getting raucous or just drinking liquor? What gets the spirits going?
Here’s an oddity (odd ditty) from me.
This should help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sxFyu_U2go
or you could try soul-caking
http://www.thesimplethings.com/blog/soulcakesrecipe
I think I prefer the album version (which I listened to earlier funnily enough) but this is still mighty fine, Dave Mattacks particularly (well, and Sandy, and Swarb, and RT).
This should do to get started. A very old song from the 1790s by Södermalm reprobate Carl Michael Bellman about attending the funeral of a friend’s wife.
At the end, all the mourners go off to the pub to get trousered.
Here’a ritual I used to indulge in at Halloween. And the rest of the time too, in fact…
Great call on FC’s ‘Tam Lin’, Twang. Here’s my local faves Wookalily with a story video for one of their several eerie numbers, ‘Ghost’. AWers may find it impressive that they have a ‘Halloween set’ that they roll out at this time of year, including bluegrassy covers of the likes of ‘Ghost Town’, ‘Ghostbusters’, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQMCvz0McAI
This is pretty spooky, in words and atmosphere, the Pentangle’s 1971 epic ‘Reflection’:
Last night the sky
Was filled with light
I saw the sun’s reflection
Saw the whole world take flight
Saw the whole world take flight
I heard the guns of heaven
Thundering in my ears
I opened wide my eyes
And watched the whole world disappear
And watched the world disappear
I reached out my hand
There was no one there
Just this empty room
So cold and bare
So cold and bare
I’m gonna climb my tower
And survey the earth
Gonna cross the ocean
Gonna ride the surf
Gonna ride the surf
People told your mother
What I’ve been through
She signed away your soul
Onto Satan’s crew
Onto Satan’s crew
And as you sail away
On that flaming tide
You see your own reflection
On the other side
On the other side
I’ve seen the devil’s face
I’ve looked in his eyes
I’ve searched for satisfaction
Disillusion is his guise
Disillusion is his guise
I’ve got a notion
And I’m sure I’m right
My sun will rise again
And put evil out of sight
Put evil out of sight
I must admit, though I knew the name, I’d never listened to any Pentangle before, but I recognized Danny Thompson’s unmistakable bass rumble immediately – the whole song is very good. I shall have to investigate further. Thanks, Colin!
Here’s a rather graphic ghoulish ditty by Procol Harum.
(The Dead Man’s Dream)
But what do you with those spirits once you’ve raised them and played around with them for a while?
(The Fugs – Exorcising The Evil Spirits From The Pentagon October 21, 1967)