I am not a big believer in coincidence, but I’m a firm convert to synchronicity. Synchronicity is a concept developed by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung about what he called “meaningful coincidences”—events that line up in a way that feels too connected to be random. Most of us have had an experience like thinking about a long-time friend and then unexpectedly getting a call or email from them “just to check in.” Jung believed these coincidences might reveal a deeper connection between our inner experiences and the outer world, or our spiritual world sending us messages through our material world. Not every coincidence is necessarily meaningful; as Sigmund Freud is attributed as saying, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” However, Jung believed that what he called “the collective unconscious”—a subconscious body of knowledge shared by every human being—communicates with us primarily through symbols, stories, images and…coincidences. So when I notice them, I try to check in with my higher self to see if there is some higher wisdom in those events for me.

Last Thursday, what I think is a HUGE synchronicity occurred to me.

One of the big pieces of this synchronicity is that my son is studying abroad in India for the rest of 2024. As we were messaging online, he mentioned that his facility was doing its deep cleaning in preparation for their celebration of Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, India’s most significant annual holiday. The place where he is studying is Buddhist, whereas Diwali is a Hindu holiday. However, they still do a simpler celebration, using it to connect with friends and family, much like many non-Christians in the US participate in some form of celebrating Christmas.

But the big point is that I realized Diwali began the day after our Halloween and the day before the Latin American holiday Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. And while I knew that because Diwali is set by a lunar calendar and thus changes on our solar calendar date from year to year, I didn’t think it overlapped like that most years. Hmmmm…..

So, coincidence or synchronicity? I decided to journal on that question.
(Note: I include more details about my journaling below if you want more information about the holidays. But meanwhile, I’ll skip ahead to the really good stuff.)

WAIT A MINUTE! As I was looking at the calendar, I realized something. So we had Halloween on Thursday, October 31, the start of Diwali as well as All Saints Day on Friday, November 2, and Día de los Muertos on Saturday, November 2. But Diwali is actually a 5-day festival, meaning its last day would be Tuesday, November 5—the same day as our national election!

And do you know what the focus is on the last day of Diwali? It celebrates the bond between siblings…that is, brotherhood and sisterhood.

So, BAM—I decided to maintain my focus on the positive by creating HALLOWALIMUERTOS! Rather than getting drawn into the fear and the divisiveness and the ugliness of claims and names and counterclaims, I would spend the final days before the election celebrating the values of each of the individual holidays—joy and abundance, wisdom from the ancestors (both personal and cultural), eternal love and connection, and community and the triumph of the light. I felt that way I could get to the election in the spirit of hope, love, and faith that whatever the results are, they will bring us closer to the light, the triumph of the right over the wrong…at least from a spiritual perspective. HALLOWALIMUERTOS is based on the belief that the Universe always has our back and delivers what we need at that particular moment, regardless of what our human mind may judge based on what we think we want or need.

And if you are interested, I would love for you to join me in the celebration.

Today, All Hallowalimuertos’s Eve, I am constructing one big altar, taking up my entire dining room table, in honor of Hallowalimuertos. It will combine elements of all of the seasonal holidays. Flowers, textiles, lights, photos, more flowers, and images and items related to all the different cultures that developed the separate holidays will be included.

Of course, an essential aspect of the altars will be prayers, affirmations, positive intentions, and questions for people who have moved on, both familial and famous. I will print those out and place them on the altar. And if you are interested, I would love to include yours as well. Those who know me can just email them to me. Otherwise, just leave them in the comments below, and I will print them out and put them on the altar. My greatest hope is that Hallowalimuertos will contribute to bringing our country together at a time when we seem so divided. So, I figure that creating a community altar, rather than just an individual altar for myself, is the best way of supporting that intention.

I hope you will join me in celebrating Hallowalimuertos, even if you don’t contribute to my particular altar. Of course, as with all holidays, I have some favorite foods and outfits in mind to mark the individual days. So stay tuned to my blog, where I will share updates along the way. For example, I will post a picture of the grand HALLOWALIMUERTOS Community Altar tomorrow morning!

Let Hallowalimuertos be a beautiful bridge to traverse these last few days before the election in the spirit of light and love.

DETAILS ON THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS OF HALLOWALIMUERTOS

I started by thinking about the nature of the holidays. Did they overlap? Our Western holidays, Halloween on October 31, All Saints Day on November 1, and Día de los Muertos on November 2, were all chosen for those dates because of a belief I believe originated with the Celts that the “veil” between the physical and the spiritual world was thinnest at that time. They thought that made it easier for spirits who had passed on to return to our world and that we were more open to receiving psychic messages from the other side.

Halloween kind of originated from the scarier aspect of that possibility; donning costumes was a way to hide from evil spirits or vengeful dead relatives or enemies who might return to do us harm. But I think that aspect has largely been abandoned by our secular Halloween. Mostly, it is just an excuse to dress up and eat and drink and for children to collect candy and other goodies. Even in the modern Wiccan tradition, it is known by its Celtic name of Samhain and celebrates the end of the harvest, along with getting ready for the coming darkness. So it is also kind of a celebration of abundance. I know children coming home with a bucket of treats usually experience it as a time when they feel rich.

While I don’t know this for sure—I wasn’t there, or if I was, it was a previous lifetime I don’t remember—part of Christianity’s success was based on adapting existing pagan practices into the framework of their religion. So it makes sense to me that they tapped this belief that one could give and receive messages from the dead into a way to request favors or guidance from people’s favorite saints or other Christian figures or heroes. I wasn’t raised in that tradition, so I don’t know exactly what happens, but that is my general understanding of it. However, to me, it is a holiday about seeking wisdom and comfort from those who have passed on and hopefully have a broader perspective on things.

Then Día de los Muertos is the most personal expression of this whole thin veil thing. It supports the idea that our dead friends and family are not gone; they are with us, but we just can’t see them. So, on this day, we remember them and celebrate them. In Mexico and some other Latin American cultures, the entire family goes and cleans the graves of those who have passed on, and then have a picnic, including the favorite foods of their ancestors, and sharing stories and memories so that those people live on in the minds of everyone…even the children who came to the planet after they had departed.

However, I’m not sure how prevalent those practices are in the US. Here, to the best of my knowledge, we usually create altars in our homes rather than going to gravesites. The altars are decorated with marigolds, which have a strong scent that is supposed to help the spirits to find their way “home.” (Increasingly, those are replaced by tissue paper flowers, since marigolds aren’t necessarily easy to come by in this locality at this time.) There are also photographs or special items related to the deceased, their favorite foods and drinks, and tissue paper cutouts for decorations. People leave messages that they want their ancestors to know, or written requests for answers or guidance from the departed spirits, believing this is the most likely time for such communications to go through.

One of my brothers lived in New Mexico for many years, where the Día de los Muertos is a big local tradition. When my father died in mid October of 2021, he announced he was creating a Día de los Muertos altar in his house focused primarily on my father, which inspired me and another brother to do so as well, although mine at least was a less impressive altar than his. But I found it a healing way to work through my grief of losing my father (and while my mother died in 2006, she still remains a loss) in a tradition that reminds us that love is forever and we remain connected to those we have loved, even when they are no longer in our physical world. I continued constructing an altar in 2022 and 2023. Sometimes I have gotten a power message from this tradition; other times, not really. However, I felt like this year, this celebration, deserved a blow-out altar!

And then, in between all those Western holiday comes Diwali. Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most important celebrations in Indian culture, marked by five days of festivities, lights, and togetherness. Celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhists, Diwali symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. Families clean and decorate their homes with oil lamps and colorful rangoli patterns, exchange gifts, enjoy special sweets, and light fireworks.

Hinduism is such a large, diverse, and decentralized religion that it is celebrated many different ways in different parts of India and other Hindu communities. But they all center on the triumph of the light and the good, gathering with friends and family, using fireworks and lanterns and oil lamps to brighten the space, dressing in colorful clothing, and sharing special foods and drinks. The gods and goddesses most commonly evoked in Diwali celebrations include:

Lakshmi – The goddess of wealth, prosperity, and fortune, Lakshmi is central to Diwali celebrations. Many believe she enters clean and welcoming homes, bringing blessings for the year ahead. Families perform Lakshmi Puja on Diwali night, a ritual to honor her and invite good fortune.

Ganesha – Known as the remover of obstacles, Ganesha is often worshiped alongside Lakshmi during Diwali. His presence symbolizes the removal of hardships and the opening of new paths to success and happiness.

Rama – In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Diwali marks the return of Prince Rama, his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshmana to the city of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile and the defeat of the demon king Ravana. This story represents the victory of good over evil, and people light lamps to celebrate Rama’s homecoming.

Kali – In some parts of India, particularly in Bengal, Diwali is associated with the worship of Kali, the goddess of destruction and transformation. Known as Kali Puja, this celebration occurs on the same night as Diwali, honoring Kali’s power to eliminate darkness and negativity.

Kubera – The god of wealth, Kubera is sometimes honored alongside Lakshmi to amplify blessings of prosperity and abundance, especially for business owners and merchants.

Saraswati – The goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and learning, Saraswati is especially revered by students, artists, and scholars. She is often worshiped alongside her husband, Brahma, the creator god in Hindu tradition, symbolizing the unity of creation and understanding. While not always central to Diwali, Saraswati is occasionally honored during the festival, particularly in celebrations emphasizing knowledge, learning, or creativity.

One commonality between Diwali and Día de los Muertos is that both include the making of altars. Hindu families often set up beautiful, dedicated altars at home to honor their preferred gods and goddesses. These altars, called pujas, are decorated as spaces for prayer and offerings.

A typical Diwali altar is adorned with fresh flowers, garlands, and vibrant rangoli designs made with colored powders or flower petals, symbolizing joy and inviting divine blessings. Small, oil-filled clay lamps called diyas are placed around the altar to light up the space (again, the light over darkness thing). Offerings of fruits, sweets, and incense are placed before the deities, along with small bowls of rice, grains, and even coins, as symbols of prosperity and abundance.
The altar, illuminated by the diyas, becomes a focal point of the family’s spiritual practices during Diwali. These include prayers, chanting mantras, and honoring the divine beings represented on their altars. Interestingly enough, marigolds are also a preferred flower for the Diwali altars.

Diwali has many variations based on where you are in India, what gods/goddesses your favorites are, etc. But almost all of them start with celebrating Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, abundance, and good fortune, and/or Ganesha, the elephant-headed god who is the removal of obstacles. Since Diwali is also the beginning of the new year in many places, honoring these gods sets the tone for success in the coming year. The second day often honors past victories, such as those by Rama and Kali, with a reminder that following one’s dharma, or path of duty, results in the triumph of good over evil. The third day is usually the most festive, focusing on family and favorite goods, visiting and celebrating, giving gifts and setting off fireworks, and so on. The fourth day honors the relationship between spouses, while the fifth and final day is focused on the relationship between siblings.

So you can see how the intentions behind all these wonderful holidays combine to create a beautiful symphony of positive qualities that could transform our experience of life just before an election—IF we can stay focused on those instead of the news.

Also, should there be any number nerds like I can be sometimes…I tried to check how unusual it is for these holidays to come together like this. I found a site that gave the dates for Diwali for the next 100 years, and Diwali begins on November 1 five times during that period. However, of those five times, only two coincide with our Presidential election years. So a Hallowalimuertos like this one should take place twice after this in the next century. So it’s not a phenomenally rare occasion, but something worth noticing and celebrating when it does happen.