"Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name"

- Sympathy for the Devil, Rolling Stones

© Lord Coltrane, Halloween Selfie, Custom Underbust Corset

HAPPY HALLOWS EVE!  This is one of my favorite celebrations.  I love stepping into a different character to explore how it makes me feel.  It is an opportunity for all of us to investigate archetypes, animal totems, alter egos, and the erotic creatures that live within us, or that we have yet to discover (topics I cannot wait to dive into with you!). 

The process of excavating what lurks beneath the surface of our skin, can be both exciting and excruciating. We learn that we have a public persona, and a private persona; we possess both light and dark.  Often times, we hide the dark side, keep it pushed way deep down, or wrap it up in a beautiful Tiffany box and tie it up with a white satin bow.  Like a newly caged wild animal, our concealed pain, secrets, and desires will only scratch, growl, and rip things apart to get out.

In the book Free to Love, Free to Heal, David Simon, M.D. explains that "pent-up anger, long-held sadness, and lingering guilt are for many people more debilitating to their psychological and physical health than any problem with physical digestion."  One of the first steps to releasing any emotional and psychological toxicity is to "identify" - in other words, find the devil within.

Identifying our inner angels and devils also helps us to reveal our inner desires.  Many women have no idea what they desire.  They are content to please, to nurture, and to stay in their cage.  But we deserve not only to be content, we deserve to be wildly happy and fulfilled.  We deserve to be free.  Taking a look at why we choose our daily costumes, let alone the ones we choose for Halloween can be revealing.

When I stepped into the devil for this shoot, I found myself moving in a different way.  I listened to different music.  I like being the bad girl because I'm always following the rules in my "real life" - that is revealing to me.  I realized how much I worry about doing the "right" thing, and this costume gave me permission to make mistakes and much more freedom to explore my dark side.

Tonight, think about why you chose your costume, or why you chose not to dress up at all.  Journal about how it makes you feel and move.  The devil inside might be telling you something! 

© Lord Coltrane Devil Inside Selfie

Happy Halloween!