The Feast of All Hallows and Summer's End

The clocks go back an hour, the evenings are darker and the nights are longer.

In some traditions, the end of October and the end of summer was celebrated as the beginning of the New Year.

It was a time when it's believed that the veil between the natural and the supernatural world is removed and the "dead walk among us".

Samhain (Summer's End) was a Celtic fire festival that was celebrated from 31 October to 2 November.

31 October was their eve of All Hallows (All Saints), Hallowed Evening, shortened to Hallow-e'en.

On 1 November, the Celtic gods and goddesses were honoured.

On 2 November, the spirits and wisdom of their ancestors were honoured.

In Christianity, these days are celebrated as All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

In the Mexican tradition, it is celebrated as the Day of the Dead.

Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness & Creativity by David Lynch

David Lynch has been a dedicated practitioner of Transcendental Meditation for over 30 years and has created the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace. This organisation provides scholarships and resources for teaching children and teenagers the art of Transcendental Meditation.

In his book, Catching the Big Fish, David Lynch talks about how meditation has influenced his creativity and helped him to come up with the unusual ideas, iconic images and concepts that have populated his work throughout his career.

However the book deals more with the connection between meditation and the creative processes than the techniques of meditation itself.

It is a personal look at how meditation has influenced one artist's life.

David Lynch: Kids and Meditation

David Lynch, the creator of Twin Peaks and the director of the Elephant Man, is launching a campaign in the UK to promote the practice of Transcendental Meditation in schools.

Lynch believes that Transcendental Meditation helps to develop creativity and academic ability as well as improving the emotional well-being, health and stress levels of children.

He has already launched a similar campaign in the United States with approximately 20,000 schoolkids practising the two 20 minute sessions every day.

Read more about Transcendental Meditation here.

Saved by the Bottle

A man was saved from drowning this week by a 2 litre plastic bottle when he fell of a tanker off the Kamaishi coast on Tuesday night.

He used the bottle to keep afloat for ten hours and was rescued the following morning by a passing fishing boat.