Spirituality

London's first Coven Fest drew vendors and witches together for Halloween

London's first Coven Fest brought community members, students and practising witches together on Dundas St. last Saturday to celebrate the occult just before Halloween, The Gazette reports. Thirty vendors from across Ontario sold tarot cards, ritual oils, crystals, books, handmade pillows and handcrafted broomstick decor during the event, which ran from 1 to 6 p.m.

Published

Families and mediums joined the vendor tables#

Business owners handed out candy to children dressed as superheroes and clowns, giving the event an early start to Halloween for families, according to The Gazette. Visitors could also stop for a latte from MetalHead Coffee Company or get a reading from a medium between browsing the stalls.

Meadow Alexander, a first-year science student at Western University, represented her mother's business, Mystic Meadows, which sells occult items including homemade broomsticks, The Gazette reports. She said the festival's appeal reaches beyond spiritual practice alone. "It's a really fun event to go to if you like Halloween," Alexander said.

Katey Sawyers, the Coven Fest organizer and owner of Hex Haus, an occult and alternative retail business in London, Ontario, said the event is about creating chances for people to connect, per The Gazette. "It's meeting somebody you would never expect to meet, and you form a connection," Sawyers said.

Other talks trace witchcraft's history elsewhere#

Alexander said the gathering was less about any single faith than about shared interests among attendees, The Gazette reports. "You'll find a bunch of different religions. There's Wicca, there's Pagan, there's witches, and then there's just people who like to just believe in the unnatural," Alexander said.

Elsewhere this autumn, a social historian examined how patriarchal structures shaped the image of the witch. Dr Debora Moretti, a researcher at the University of Hertfordshire, gave a talk exploring the lives and beliefs of men and women tried for witchcraft by the Roman Inquisition, THE LIST.co.uk reports.

In Barry, Wales, writer Mari Ellis Dunning, a creative writing lecturer at Aberystwyth University, spoke at the Barry Arts Festival about the folklore behind Wales's reputation for magic and sorcery, the Barry and District News reports. She noted that Wales saw far fewer executions on witchcraft charges than its neighbours, with just five deaths compared with around 500 in England and thousands in Scotland, according to the paper.

Suffolk's October literary calendar also touched on the subject, with a bestselling historical novelist exploring the story of England's only convicted royal witch among the month's events, the Sudbury Mercury reports.

Discover more