Well it’s officially here, the start of my favorite Holiday season. For most the Halloween craze doesn’t set in until about mid-September, but for many Halloween enthusiasts like myself the Halloween excitement starts in July. Many retailers begin stocking their shelves with creepy and crawly merchandise in mid to late July. I began my search at the beginning of the month, but it looks like many of the retailers I usually hit early are off to a slow start this year.

Michael’s has again beat the competition by putting out their Halloween merchandise before anyone else. In fact a friend of mine who work’s for the company says that her store put out it’s Halloween merchandise on the 4th of July. That’s my kind of patriotism! Misty and I already grabbed up most of the merchandise we really liked. I am a bit torn as to whether or not I am that impressed with their stock this year. I was quite fond of the fact that many of their Halloween signs this year were witch related, but overall their selection was slim and really lacking anything that truly caught my interest. The only other purchases we may be making are a set of bobblehead Trick-or-Treaters and a few more signs. Here are some pictures of the items we did decide to purchase.

Of course we also did our annual purchase of Lemax SpookyTown products. The only problem is that over the years we have bought so many of their products we don’t remember which one’s we have, so we have been really cautious as to what we purchase until we can take a trip to our storage unit and break out the Halloween boxes.

We also started our search for this year’s Halloween Costumes. We are hosting our Second Annual Monsters Ball, festively named “The Dance Macabre”. We are going with a very dark and very gothic theme this year. Castles, Candelabra’s, and everything else dark and sexy you can think of. I started hammering out this years playlist and here’s what I have thus far. (Not in any particular order yet)

Bauhaus – Bela Lagosi’s Dead
Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection
The Dreamside – Spin Moon Magic (Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #1)
Ego Likeness – Water to the Dead (Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #1)
Skinny Puppy – Pro-Test (Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #1)
Neuroctifish – The Bomb (Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #1)
The Cruxshadows – Citadel (Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #1)
Paralysed Age – Bloodsucker (Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #1)
Orgy – Fiction (This Is NeoGoth)
L’Ame Immortelle – The Truth Behind (This is NeoGoth)
The Cruxshadows – Tears (This is NeoGoth)
Covenant – Dead Stars (This is NeoGoth)
Culture Kultur – Inside of Me (This is NeoGoth)
Razed In Black – Share the Poison (This is NeoGoth)
Hocico – Instincts of Perversion (This is NeoGoth)
Claire Voyant – Majesty (This is NeoGoth)
The Last Dance – Once Beautiful (Dancing in the Dark 2006)
The Cruxshadows – Dragonfly (Dancing in the Dark 2006)
The Wake – Sideshow (Gothik)
Big Electric Cat – Orchid Dreaming (Gothik)
Girls Under Glass – Halloween (Nightmares)
The Brithday Massacre – Horror Show
The Birthday Massacre – Play Dead
The Birthday Massacre – Video Kid
VNV Nation – Chrome (Matter+Form)
VNV Nation – Strata (Matter+Form)
VNV Nation – Interceptor (Matter+Form)
VNV Nation – Lightwave (Matter+Form)
VNV Nation – Perpetual (Matter+Form)
Blank & Jones feat Robert Smith – A Forest (Psycho Tina)
Apotygma Berzerk – Fade to Black (Psycho Tina)
Effcee – Perfect (Psycho Tina)
Fear Cult – Girls & Boys (Psycho Tina)

As you can see I stuck with the Electro, Goth, EBM, and Dark Wave theme for a very goth and dark mood. I plan to add more details and more images as they become available. Time is running out, there’s only 94 days until Halloween!

I recently picked up the most recent issue of newWitch Magazine and was pleased to see the piece written by Dagonet Dewr on the pagan influence that can be found in the C.S. Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. People have always been quick to point out the strong Christian undertones in this book and even more so with the recent release of the film, however Dewr clearly argues that there is in fact just as much pagan teaching in the book as there is Christian dogma. Many Christian churches have been pushing the book and film on children, probably in hopes to bring them closer to the Christian faith. However they don’t realize that with the book as well as the film these children will find many other things common to pagans. Things such as magic, mythical creatures, and of course witches. Things that will make them ask questions that many Christian parents may or may not be ready to answer. A full transcript of the article from newWitch.com can be found below…

I have been watching with some veiled amusement an absolute tornado buzzing and whirring around on some of the Pagan e-lists I’m on. Seems that some evangelical Christian churches have been putting together trips for public school kids to see the movie adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ book The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe. I suspect the organizers of this effort believe that exposure to Lion will help bring the poor, unchurched kids to Jesus. In response, some Pagans are hideously offended and are calling for efforts to try and stop kids from seeing the movie.

My response is a little different ­ I ask, “where do I send a check to help fund this noble effort?”

This whole brouhaha is, to me, a perfect example of the notorious Pagan inferiority complex run amuck. Here’s my question: If one didn’t know that the author was a fervent evangelical would you categorize Lion as a Christian story with Pagan overtones, or a Pagan story with Christian overtones?

It is true that the central plot device of Lion involves a sacrificial death, and the primary antagonist of the story is the White Witch. But although Lewis meant for the story to be an allegory for the Christian gospel, the motif of the sacrificial (and resurrected) god is far older than Christianity. Ask any worshipper of Baldur, Dionysos Dendritus, Tammuz, Osiris, or any one of a number of other gods; sacrifice is a an element of myths about the human virtue or condition, not a solely Christian one.

Is there Pagan content in Lion? You bet. A short list: Dryads. Fauns. Centaurs. Magick. A truly Pagan Father Christmas. Talking animals. A creator deity who is also an animal spirit. A villain who subverts the natural order of the seasons. Griffons. Unicorns. Healing that comes from a maiden figure (if Lucy isn’t the Maiden in disguise as a British pre-teen, I don’t know who is.) There’s a lot more Paganism in there than Christian dogma. We need to evaluate the real threats to our community and concentrate our efforts on campaigns that matter. C.S. Lewis was a good storyteller, and a passionate and orthodox (though not fundamentalist) Christian, but I wonder if the folks who want to make sure that every kid in the world sees Lion know what they are really doing. They are exposing kids to magic and just because it is supposed to be Christian magic doesn’t mean that it is any less magical. For every Pagan kid who is converted to Christianity by seeing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe there will surely be hundreds of Christian kids who will be exposed to magic, and perhaps, get to Paganism through wondering about dryads. I should know, I was one of them.