Mickie Mueller - Llewellyns Little Book of Halloween

About the Author

M ickie Mueller (Missouri) explores magic and spirituality through art and the written word. She includes magical herbal washes in her art that correspond with the subject, making every piece enchanted. She is the author/illustrator of The Voice of the Trees , the illustrator of Mystical Cats Tarot , the cocreator of Magical Dogs Tarot , and author of The Witchs Mirror . Her art has been seen as set dressing on SyFys The Magicians and Bravos Girlfriends Guide to Divorce . Visit her online at www.MickieMuellerArt.com.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Llewellyns Little Book of Halloween 2018 by Mickie Mueller.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2018

E-book ISBN: 9780738758305

Book design by Rebecca Zins

Cover cartouche by Freepik

Cover design by Lisa Novak and Shira Atakpu

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mueller, Mickie, author. | Llewellyn Publications, editor.

Title: Llewellyns little book of Halloween / Mickie Mueller.

Other titles: Little book of Halloween

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,

2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018020610 (print) | LCCN 2018021540 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738758305 (ebook) | ISBN 9780738758213 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Halloween.

Classification: LCC BF1572.H35 (ebook) | LCC BF1572.H35 M84 2018 (print) |

DDC 394.2646dc22

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020610

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

To Lisa, charter member and cofounder

of the Witchs Club, for being a great friend,
sharing in Halloween magic, and helping
me keep my childhood weird.

Also to Robin, who put up with a slightly
scary sister all those years. Sorry about
those triffids. I love you!

introduction

W hen I was a kid, my family always said, If Mickie could have anything she wanted for Christmas, it would be Halloween! Of course, that was true. As I sit here writing this its October 1, the leaves are changing, the pumpkin harvest is in, and every trip to the store ends with the phrase Do you want to check out the Halloween aisle? answered by grins and nods of approval. For meand probably for you since you have this book in your handsthis is truly the most magical time of the year!

The first Halloween I recall was the year I thought the profession of ballerina was a completely valid career path for me. Even though it later became apparent for so many reasons that this was not going to happen, I got to be an actual ballerina that night. I wore an embroidered coat over the top of my gorgeous tulle-and-satin flower ballerina costume that had been handcrafted by my mom, and we ventured into the streets of our neighborhood.

This was the early 1970s, when we all waited until sundown; then, gripping our plastic pumpkins and pillowcases, in droves we descended on the neighborhood to gather our bounty. Back then most of it was prepackaged candy, but we still got the occasional homemade treat such as popcorn balls or caramel apples. There were also those weird candies wrapped in black and orange waxed paper. (What the heck were those?) Such good times!

Houses back then were decorated with glowing jack-o-lanterns and hinged paper figures of witches and ghosts taped to the windows, and that was about it. Occasionally there would be someone who would really take it to the next level, though, like the couple who lived a few streets down. One of the guys would dress up like the Wicked Witch of the West and run around on the roof cackling and tossing candy down to the kids below while his partner kept his candy stocked with occasional trips up the ladder. Those guys made our Halloween!