Hallowe’en is just a few days away and for days now the stores have been filled with hideous masks and replicas and complete outfits for children, and others to wear, not to mention equally hideous things designed to turn the average lawn into a graveyard. I thought it might be of interest to readers who didn’t know about it to see where these commercially made monsters originated, and how they connect directly with today.

Hallowe’en is just a week or so away and the for days now the stores have been filled with hideous masks and replicas and complete outfits for children, and others to wear, not to mention equally hideous things designed to turn the average lawn into a graveyard. I thought it might be of interest to readers who didn’t know about it to see where these commercially made monsters originated, and how they connect with today.

I recently had the good fortune to go to a local high school to have a Q/A about Wicca. The group was about a dozen lads and lasses, but they all had that “We are able to think outside the teen box” blue energy. Such a pleasure to see people who are more ready to evolve than to live by the reflex knee jerks of everyone else’s programs. What follows is a summary of some of the stuff the questions brought forth with a couple of additions to emphasise Beltane. A sort of Wiccan history 101 with Beltane as a theme, and my own part in it to make it personal.