Ask me to a Halloween party any day; but require me to dress up in costume and I probably won’t attend. I have this “thing” about having to figure out a costume and get all the right pieces together. What is it about our fascination with costumes and masks?
In my daughter’s bedroom, there is a picture of me and her Dad in full clown dress-up; we were volunteers at a parish family festival. I was surprised at how delightfully silly I could become hidden behind my big red nose, wide red mouth and bluely-defined eyes! I know I explored a rarely expressed part of myself.
About five years ago, I took a mask-making class at Heartwood in the Hills (see www.heartwoodinthehills.org.) The process was fascinating. First my face was covered with the kind of plaster bandages that are used to make casts for broken bones. When the “mask” popped off, it served as a mold to be filled with plaster. Using clay, we molded a new mask face over the plaster cast of our own features. This was then covered with tarlatan (gauzy strips) and starch. The end result is a mask that perfectly fits my face.
When I have the mask on, I’m Nepthys, the Egyptian goddess of transformation and rebirth. She’s beautiful....dark, mysterious, mystical, and powerful. When I put that mask on, something happens...my spine straightens, my shoulders square and I just feel so....GROUNDED!
My first husband always dressed up at Halloween. He loved putting on big clown noses, multi-colored hair and weird eye-glasses...or monster masks! They brought out the kid in him. And he loved to make people laugh.
So go ahead...be someone who you are not today...or maybe I should say, BE MORE OF WHO YOU REALLY ARE! Happy Halloween!!
Posted by Linda Sandel Pettit on 10/31 at 04:26 PM in |
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