#Inktober Day 10 - Flowing / Pumpkin

There are places across the realms where the barriers between realities are weakened, these often align with locations of folklore and superstition such as crossroads, edges of forests, and graveyards. There are similarly times when the barriers fluctuate in their power.

There is a general chicken and egg debate regarding whether the beliefs of mortals influence the barrier strength, or if the fluctuating barriers are sensed by the mortals and thus lead to their beliefs.

If graveyards have a weakened barrier between worlds (perhaps due to the increased spectral activity of the restless dead, continually puncturing the barrier with their attempts to complete unfinished business), and if halloween is one of those times when the barriers are weakened, then when the two coincide (halloween on a graveyard), the barrier is doubly weakened and may be eliminated altogether... especially if some other phenomenon such as a full moon further influences the situation.

For this reason, wards and barriers need to be erected. This may be done through simple carving of pumpkins... but as the collective belief in the pumpkin's power is eliminated by consumerism and the banality of the modern world, these carved talismans are losing their power. On the posotive side, that also means that the barriers are getting less weak at these times.

Of course, the unhinged religious fundamentalists have a strong belief in demons and a rabid fear of the unknown, so while they remain a force in the world, the demons will always have an easier time influencing our reality. Some fear witchcraft, giving it power... some disbelieve it, thus weakening it... some believe the only power resides in saints, or angels, depending on the sect of their fundamentalism.

Regardless of intentions or beliefs, pumpkins are still carved in the places where Halloween is observed. To avoid this part of the festivities is to open the world to the darkness, without providing adequate barriers to prevent it's foothold in the physical world.