Happy Halloween, readers. On the day where the spiritual world is unusually close, it’s worth remembering that it’s a dangerous thing to invite further across the threshold. Today, Anastasia Shteinert writes that the last royals of Russia did so, to disastrous consequences: “The imperial family’s obsession with magic and spiritualism is key to understanding the last emperor’s downfall, as well as the spirit of the Russian Empire in its twilight.”

For further reading: The royal family’s involvement with the enigmatic spiritualist Rasputin has captivated imaginations for a century. For a deep dive into the man and the myth, read Gary Saul Morson’s “The Dark Russian” (April 2017).

From the December issue: In his upcoming column, Liel Leibovitz argues that the right needs to reign in the “kooky” agitators that include Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens: “Our coalition is being undermined by Carlson and his ilk, pundits who masquerade as conservative, yet are anything but.” 

For further reading: Leibovitz examined the surge in anti-Semitism on the right in his August/September column “No Chosen, No ‘Almost Chosen.’” He criticized Carlson, Owens, and historian Darryl Cooper for claiming that America is “fighting Iran at Israel’s behest,” and exposes how anti-Semitism molds Jews into the most convenient villain depending on the situation.

Tomorrow is the Feast of All Saints, and Fr. Jonah Teller, O.P., shares a poignant reflection on the company we hope to join: “What do the saints say to us? ‘Follow!’ Saints show us the true horizon of our lives. It is so easy to make failure, to make pain, to make death a horizon at which our sight terminates. But the saints punch through the atmosphere, the stars shine from heaven to show us our true horizon and say, ‘Come follow us! Come beyond. Come further up, come further in!’”

For further reading: Ancient Celtic custom marked the end of the harvest season of abundance and the beginning of the darkest stretch of the year on November 1, hence the conception of this time as liminal and “thin.” The good and bad of the world beyond both come closer. Timothy George wrote in his All Saints Day reflection “Thin Places” (2015) that “apocalypse” means to “unveil,” and as the veil between worlds flutters at this time each year, we get a peak at the masterpiece beyond.

Listen: I joined editor Rusty Reno on The Editor’s Desk podcast to discuss my pilgrimage to Chartres (a famously thin place) this summer. My good friend and former First Things staffer Elizabeth Bachmann joined us, since it was her idea for us to go. We talked about how one often attains spiritual goods not by rising above the physical, but by embracing it. 

For further reading: My essay on the pilgrimage, “The Road to Chartres,” appeared in the November issue of the magazine. 

Upcoming Events

• November 2, 2025: A Night of Poetry with Ben Myers | New York, NY. Register here.
• November 3, 2025: The 38th Annual Erasmus Lecture: In Praise of Translation with Bishop Erik Varden | New York, NY. Register here.
• November 11, 2025: The Future of Higher Education, a discussion with Mark Bauerlein and Mark Regnerus | Irving, TX. Register here.
• January 9, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL. Details coming soon.

Until next time.
 

VIRGINIA AABRAM

Newsletter Editor