Please join us for the 23rd Annual Witches' Ball on Sunday, October 30, at the Delancey, 168 Delancey Street, between Clinton and Attorney (http://www.thedelancey.com). A wonderful club with three floors, the Delancey will provide a free barbecue of both meat and vegetarian items from 6-8 pm on the beautiful rooftop garden, then the festivities begin at 8 and continue until the ghosts come home. We encourage everyone to come early to savor the food, and stay late to enjoy the variety of performers and share in the midnight ritual and costume competition. 21 and over only. Attendees will receive a special trick or treat bag from Rob Zombie's new film The Devil's Rejects. (http://www.thedevilsrejects.com/) Tickets are $13 in advance, and $15 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Halloween Adventure, which has two entrances, 104 Fourth Avenue and 808 Broadway, at 11th Street.(http://www.newyorkcostumes.com/), at Magickal Wonders Emporium, 579 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, and by Paypal on Charmed by Starr's site (http://www.charmedbystarr.com/).As an added bonus, those who purchase advance tickets to the Ball will also receive a 10% discount on Halloween Adventure's fabulous costumes. While we encourage costume and makeup creativity, please leave the athames, swords, and other blades at home. From 8:00 pm on, the rooftop will become a mystical realm of divination, with the opportunity to scry at Hekate's altar, and Joe "the Klingon" Zuchowski and the Spiritual Lightworks team reading tarot, runes, I-ching and numerology (they will be donating a portion of their proceeds to Katrina Relief). The rooftop will also provide a place for relaxation and quiet conversation. On the ground floor, DJ's Xtine and Joe Usher will spin a dynamic mix of dance music, plus Xtine's new Pagan VJ'ing. This year's Ball includes a bewitching group of performers: Chovexani, Somna M. Bulist, and Jezibell, and the headliners are the folk/rock/world group Blue Knight and the world/rock/tribal band Incus. The entertainment will be on the stage downstairs, as follows: 8:00 - Greetings by the Presenters 8:05 - Chovexani 8:20 - DJ 8:30 - Jezibell 8:45 - DJ 8:55 - Somna M.Bulist 9:25 - DJ 9:35 - Chovexani 9:50 - DJ 10:00 - Jezibell 10:15 - DJ 10:30 - Blue Knight 11:45 - DJ 12:00 - Ritual for the Departed 12:30 - Costume Competition 1:00 - Incus 2:30 - DJ 'til we drop! NOTE: This schedule is in real time, not PST, not club time, so if you want to see specific artists, please be there for their sets. ABOUT THE BALL Begun by Carol Bulzone (Lady Miw), original owner of Enchantments, the annual Witches' Ball has been both the social and spiritual highlight of the New York City Pagan Community for over two decades. The modern secular holiday of Halloween originated in the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain, the beginning of winter, and a time to revere the spirits of the departed. Samhain is a significant time for contemporary Wiccans and Pagans, a diverse group of people who follow non-dogmatic spiritual paths based on respect for the earth and individual freedom. The Witches' Ball provides a chance for the community to celebrate and socialize, and the Ball honors the season with a midnight ritual. Most importantly, the Ball has raised money for various charitable organizations, including Greenpeace, PETA and National Resources Defense Council, demonstrating the Wiccan commitment to improving the world. After her many years of service, Carol has turned the Ball over to Joe and Jezibell, teachers of the Pagan Way Grove and founders of the tradition of Thelemic Wicca. They are producing the Ball this year in partnership with Starr Ravenhawk, owner of Charmed by Starr, and formerly associated with the New York Pagan Community Center and Halloween Adventure.

This year's beneficiaries are Hurricane Katrina Relief and PS 184. We have all been deeply saddened by the recent tragedies in New Orleans and the Gulf, and want to contribute what we can. PS 184, Shuang Wen School, was established in September 1998 as the first dual language and dual culture public elementary school for Mandarin Chinese and English in the United States and has expanded into a "choice" school with its students traveling from every borough of New York City to attend the school. (http://www.http://schools.nycenet.edu/Region9/ps184)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

James Gilchrist founded Blue Knight in February 2002, but he has been performing his music for audiences since 1993, beginning solo in such New York City venues as the Red Lion and Kenny's Castaways. Blue Knight incorporates a wide range of influences into their music - Celtic and Spanish world styles, modern American and Irish pop/rock, and lyrics inspired by Pre-Raphaelite artists. Members contributing to the global mix include Celeste Ray playing melodies on the bowed psaltery and the harmonium, percussionist Andrew Potenza, and bassist Eric Mauriello. Blue Knight can currently be heard in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and at venues up and down the East Coast. (http://www.blueknight.info.)

Drawing on influences from Middle Eastern, Native American, African and Eastern European musical traditions, Incus is redefining the American Tribal music movement. The band/tribe, from the Boston area unless otherwise mentioned, is currently made up of composer Jason Cohen on vocals, keys, accordion and percussion, Darrell Brown on the Taos Native American cottonwood tree trunk pow wow drum known as "Big Wood", Erik "Sugar Man" Kazcynski on the kit, Nicole Edgecomb on vocals, trumpet, keys and percussion, Hannah Thiem of Minneapolis, MN, on violin and percussion, Helger Oomkes from the Netherlands on percussion, and Joe Ball on cello and percussion. In both their music and ideology, Incus embraces darkness and embodies light. (http://www.incus.net.)

Chovexani is New York City's original Gothic bellydance troupe and the culmination of the insane imagination of its leader Z. Asha, who combined past theater, dance, and radio experiences to form an experimental dance company of wise women and ethnic dancers who move to darker drummers and unconventional beats. Chovexani has now morphed into dance/theater and events production. This dynamic group presents non-traditional music (gothic/urban/electronica) and dance (gothic bellydance fusion/tribal, East Indian, Sufic) as standard repertoire. (http://www.chovexani.com/)

Harpist, vocalist and composer Somna M. Bulist first performed her original music at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and released her debut CD, Invocations FAERYE. She premiered A Cry for the Millennium at the 1999 New York Fringe Festival. In 2001, Somna performed her dark wave opera Valentine Stigmata, also released on CD. Other NYC performances include Zenwarp's Official Movie Release Party for The Lord of the Rings at Webster Hall, Alchemy at CB's 313, and the Court of Lazarus. (http://www.somna.net.)

Jezibell is a bellydancer in both traditional Middle Eastern and interpretive styles who performs at clubs, parties, restaurants, festivals, theatre productions, and special events throughout the New York metro area, including Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Knitting Factory, and the Renaissance Festival. She wrote, directed, choreographed and performed in Inanna, Journey of Darkness and Light, a Pagan musical theatre production, and recently appeared in Ankhst at the 2005 Fringe Festival.

DJ/VJ Xtine has been a solitary Wiccan practitioner her whole life. Attracted to subjects dealing with magic, fantastical and sci/fi fantasy themes, she has now added VJing to her magic bag of tricks. Xtine has DJed and produced many Fetish, Goth/Industrial and Pagan events starting in 1998. She is also a Musician, Fetish Model and is currently studying to recieve a degree in Recording Engineering. DJ Joe Usher has been spinning in New York City for the past 5 years. He continues to rock dance floors all over town, blending an eclectic mix of house, electro, new wave and rock.

A significant aspect of the Witches' Ball is the Midnight Ritual, presented by members of Kyklos ton Asterion Coven and Sirens' Sanctuary, with drumming by Vinny Vespole. Here we'll pause in our festivities to honor the Dark Mother and remember those who have gone before. After the ritual will be the costume competition for cash prizes. We are particularly honored this year that Lady Miw, Wiccan elder and founder of the Ball, will be emceeing the competition, and the Witchfinder General will be scouting the Ball for splendidly-attired contestants. (For those who've been wondering what Lady Miw's been up to, she now owns a new craft and antique store upstate called The Broomstick (http://www.thebroomstick.com/).

Please join us for a fabulous evening!