Samhain, Personal Anniversaries, and Memories of Madrid in 1983
By Christopher Blackwell

Samhain takes on a personal meaning for me for a couple reasons. Not only was it the time of the first issue of ACTION, but it was also the anniversary of my first Wiccan ceremony in a small sandstone cave near the little town of Madrid, NM.

Madrid was a colorful place in 1983. It was a former coal-mining town, then a ghost town for 20 odd years and then a place where hippies and artist squatted among a town of some 350 people, property owners and renters, when I ended up there to sell during the summer season.

Quite mixed, the village had the pot farmers in the hills, the shopowners, the artists and crafts people, the very gay people, motorcycle gang members, the local drunkards, the visiting bluegrass festival people, the visiting jazz festival people, the visiting melodrama actors, many hundreds of tourists during the season and oh, just one bar where everyone came together, with a jukebox that played only 40’s and 50’s music.

I attended my first Pagan Beltane and Lammas festivals in 1983 there. After my first ceremony in the cave, I would, with permission of the owners, later use the local melodrama theater for my Wiccan ceremonies and first magic.

I promoted the local melodrama as I was parked in the parking lot of the theater, the coal mine museum and the 1940s roadhouse bar. I must have done good promoting as I was able to go free to every performance.

Not a bad place to become a publicly practicing Witch for the first time. It was a place of curious drama due to the interactions between all those varied people. I was just another curious and odd person in a town full of odd and curious people.

I liked my adopted town, and would became its self-proclaimed protector while there. I would take part in many of its events, even marching in its 4th of July parade done up as Uncle Sam.

The town was in the process of changing as retired people began moving in and property prices began to move up. I doubt today that I would be able to sell from a trailer and a VW bus covered in controversial posters. But it was magical place in its own way when I was starting out my magical practice. I owe a great deal of the Wiccan I became to starting out Madrid.

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Cartoon Announcement

Having finished Saturnalia, we are proud to announce the start, next ACTION at Yule, the new series of the Kennedy cartoon story, Selena’s Song, by Diana Sasse.

"John F. Kennedy watches a big shooting star. On the search for the meteoroid he meets a strange flying saucer... This Adventure is a tribute to the spirit of old Si-Fi stories such as those from H G Wells, where the moon is a place with strange creatures, plants and animals. Discover a beautiful cartoon series, drawn with love."