“Unbelievable! Halloween’s barely over and holiday trees are up everywhere!”, I muttered to myself, shaking my head as I walked into the store.

“Why am I surprised?”, I think to myself. “They were probably on display two weeks ago, I just wasn’t out shopping.”

The last ten years or so the stores have rushed the holidays. They race our lives away in the search for the mighty consumer dollar to wrap up year end in a pretty bow of retail shopping success. I thought it would be different in a large home improvement store.

Making my way past the snow shovels and holiday trees, I hone in on my target, Aisle 14. I’m on a mission, in search of the most elusive item on my list. The phantom-like ceiling fan lightbulb.

That’s right! The compact fluorescent bulb in my ceiling fan blew out weeks ago, leaving my living room in darkness. Fast forward through several orders from an online shopping giant, a trip to the supermarket, a visit to local independent hardware store, hauling the ladder up and down the stairs three times, shutting off the circuit breakers and miraculously installing the adapter for a regular bulb blindly on the first shot, all to no avail, leaving me here for my final attempt at a solution, Aisle 14 – Lighting.

“Well, the one good thing to come out of this is that I know Grandpa’s around.”, I think aloud. Maybe it was due to Samhain/Halloween that I was more open to his assistance. Really, getting that bulb adapter in on the first shot without being able to see the socket was spirit assisted!

Power walking down the aisle, I locate the bulbs and I toss two different packages into my cart, muttering, “Why not? I’m already in this for $100, time, angst and risking my life on the ladder, what’s another $25.00?”

Making my way to the checkout counter, I notice a display of beautiful electric fireplaces. My lips turning upward in half a smile. I’ve always wanted one. Truthfully, I’d like a gas one but it would mean ripping down walls in the condo.

“Such a fanciful thing.”, I sigh. “Where would I put it, anyway?”

Why not put in the living room at the top of the stairs? At least the holiday tree won’t catch fire from an electric flame.

“Excuse me?”, I turn to see a beautiful lady standing next to me, her visage glowing with warm golden light. “Goddess, what are you doing here?”

Why shouldn’t I be here, Dear? It’s a public space after all. There was a time when I was revered in all spaces.

“Goddess, I’ve never seen you outside of my home and certainly not in the home improvement store!”

Oh, it’s alright dear. No one else can see me unless I permit it.

“That makes it worse! I can’t talk to you here!”

Of course, you can, Dear One. Don’t worry about the other shopping mortals, they’ll just think you’re talking on the phone using one of those viking rune headsets.

“Viking rune headset? You mean ‘Bluetooth’?”

Yes, Dear, and right about now, I’m thinking Freya would be a more timely messenger.

“Vesta, what’s going on? Is something wrong? What is it?”

“Oh, not necessarily… You need a fireplace, Sweetheart.

“I need a fireplace? I might like a fireplace but need one, I don’t think so. Why are you changing the subject? Why did you leave home? You never leave home. Something must be wrong.”

Now, Daughter, I know you have wanted a fireplace since you moved in to your home. What’s stopping you?

Well, fireplaces are communal spaces and I don’t have visitors.

Oh, you mean since you’re a Vestal you have noone to entertain.

“Vestal? Hmmm, not quite, Goddess, but I am a loner and a book reading hermit, that’s true.”

Well, you could liven the place up by having one of those tarot parties you’re always talking about or a Goddess Gathering.

“Vesta, not having a fireplace hasn’t stopped any of the Goddesses from visiting me so far.”

You’re afraid, aren’t you, Kathleen?

“Afraid? Afraid of a fireplace?”

No, Dear One. You are afraid. Not of the fireplace itself, but of what it represents. You put on a happy face but you don’t enjoy the holidays anymore and your condo, after eleven years, still looks more like a hotel than a home.

“I was never a Better Homes and Gardens type, Goddess. I’m not the one who inherited the decorating or cooking genes! I hate cooking! I imagine my Grandma Betty, in heaven, getting a lot of laughs out of me learning to cook because of my food allergies.”

She’s actually been having quite a bit of fun helping you along, Kathleen.

Look into the fireplace, Dear. Watch the flames dance and see.

“I can’t scry with a phony fire, Vesta!”

It’s 3-D Infra-Red, Dear. It’ll do. Now look.

“I don’t see anything. Wait! I smell tomato gravy and I hear the strumming of guitars. There’s a piano playing and a husky contralto voice coming from the kitchen. Grandma Betty’s house? It can’t be, she didn’t play the piano…unless… they’re all together, aren’t they?

Shhh, Dear, watch.

“Goddess, they are all together! It is Grandma Betty’s house. Grandma Nee is at the piano and Aunt Esther, Aunt Viola, Aunt Loleada, Aunt Ann Marie, Vanessa, Oliver and Aunt Aggie are all there!”

“Uncle Fred, Cousin Freddie, Richie, and my brother, James, are all playing guitars while Daddy sings Christmas carols and my aunts act as back up singers improvising three-part harmony.”

Look over there, across the room.

“It’s Grandpa reclining in his favorite chair chatting with Uncle Tony, and Uncle Mario is sitting next to them smoking his favorite cigar. Look! There’s Uncle Frankie teaching me soft shoe dance steps! Oh Goddess, it seems like yesterday.” I sigh.

“But where’s Mummy?”

Keeping everyone happy at the kid’s table!

“That would be Mummy. I miss those days, Vesta. I was very lucky to have such a family. It’s something I wish Deanna, Jimmy and Kaitlyn could have had.”

Then why don’t you do something about it?

“I can’t. Most of these people are spirits now. The best I can hope for at Thanksgiving is watching the Macy’s parade and March of The Wooden Soldiers on television. Singing carols and old hillbilly songs, ham for Christmas Eve dinner and lasagna on Christmas Day are long gone. Well, the lasagna is still around. I get teased about that a lot.”

Really? Who doesn’t like lasagna for Christmas?

“Forget I mentioned it, Goddess.”

So create something new out of the ancestral flame.

“Our lives are too different now, Goddess. We hardly see each other anymore.”

The spirits of the home always gather near the flame, Kathleen. Light it and call them back to the hearth.

The most important thing you can do is tell the people in your life that you love them while you’re still together. My Father, Saturn, God of Time, is speeding up the clock in 2020. The days are already shortening and the months will begin to fly by faster than you can imagine. Before you know it, others will enter my eternal flame and become spirit visions. It’s best to give thanks and show your love and appreciation for them now by sharing the blessing of your time.

“I know you’re right, Goddess. I’m feeling the passage of time more than ever now that I’ve entered the Crone phase of life and with all the public speaking and voice coaching I’ve done, by far the hardest thing for many of my clients is to tell others they are loved and valued, especially when there are hard feelings.”

That’s the lesson of tending the hearth, Kathleen. It’s not always easy, times get tough and people disagree, relationships change and some fracture permanently. Still, the hearth fire is constant. The voice of the hearth is the steady voice of love; the quiet presence that signals all are welcome at the table.

This Thanksgiving, put down the phone, Kathleen. Facebook can wait.

With that Vesta was gone and a store clerk stood in her place.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes.” I smiled. “I’d like to buy this fireplace.”

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