The Witching Hour

“The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves.” – the B.F.G. by Roald Dahl.

I think I have my own little witching hour, sometime in the wee hours of the morning. But its not evil, deep, dark things that come out from hiding. Instead its deep, interesting thoughts that come out from inside of me. I wonder if these thoughts, these musings, exist in me all day but can only come out when it is incredible quiet and still. And the moon is peaking through my window shades, dancing with my dreams.

For some reason it seems to be my 2 o’clock madness. My body is so tired but my mind is so wired.

Does this happen to any of you?

Last night, for instance. I wrote this entire blog..and the next one I am about to write. I just wrote it in my mind. I should have got up…I really wanted to. But my body told me, “no, no. This is the time for sleep. The time to rest my old bones.”

So I just laid there stared at the moon, listened to the sounds of our house in the middle of the night, and wrote in my head.

I wrote out my friend Erin’s wedding day toast (I am the maid of honor). And it was fabulous (if only I will remember it word for word).

I wrote in my mind about this witching hour…what was it about inspiration at night?

I wrote in my mind about how if I wrote at this hour…if my office hours were suddenly changed to 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. how much more I would get done. And how much more creative it would be.

According to Wikipedia the Witching Hour is:

“the time when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful, and black magic at its most effective. This hour is typically midnight, and the term may now be used to refer to midnight, or any late hour, even without having the associated superstitious beliefs. The term “witching hour” can also refer to the period from midnight to 3am, while “devil’s hour” refers to the time around 3am.”

They said to see also: The Hour of the Wolf.

Hmm am I a werewolf now? A supernatural creature? Haha I sure hope not.

But one thing I do know is that folklore and mythology comes out of the unknown. Maybe these Europeans noticed some craziness going on after midnight and they just didn’t know how to explain it. Is it just creativity that gets magnified at this time of night? Or does something come over us? A supernatural power? A force?

Who knows. All I know is that sometimes…in the middle of the night, this witching hour takes over me.

And I just…MUST…WRITE.