The spring equinox, also known as Ostara, is a time of celebration in pagan traditions. It marks the halfway point between the winter and summer solstices, when day and night are of equal length. This is seen as a symbol of balance and the return of light after the darkness of winter. In pagan traditions, the significance of the spring equinox is connected to the cycles of nature and the changing seasons. It is a time to celebrate the rebirth and renewal of life, as well as the fertility of the Earth. During the spring equinox celebration, pagans often gather outdoors to perform rituals and ceremonies.

The Worst Witch

Mildred is one of the young girls at a prestigious witch academy. She can't seem to do anything right and is picked on by classmates and teachers. The headmistress of the school, Miss Cackle, has an evil twin sister who plans to destroy the school. Can Mildred foil the plan before the Grand Wizard comes to the Academy for a Halloween celebration you'll never forget.

Cast

Director Director

Producer Producer

Writer Writer

Original Writer Original Writer

Casting Casting

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Production Design Production Design

Art Direction Art Direction

Songs Songs

Sound Sound

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup Makeup

Hairstyling Hairstyling

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Alternative Titles

המכשפה הכי גרועה, A boszorkányiskola szégyene

Genres

Releases by Date

TV

31 Oct 1986

01 Nov 1986

Releases by Country

UK

01 Nov 1986

USA

31 Oct 1986

During the spring equinox celebration, pagans often gather outdoors to perform rituals and ceremonies. These may include lighting bonfires, dancing, singing, and making offerings to the gods and goddesses associated with the spring season. One popular custom during Ostara is the decorating of eggs.

Popular reviews

where is the official soundtrack cause i like need tim curry's random ass song about halloween on repeat rn

I am against institutionalization of Magick and the regulation of Witchcraft and am dirty and smelly if not altogether evil. This may have something to do with my own less-than-successful efforts at accreditation but also any learning environment which tells Fairuza Balk that she is a terrible witch is obviously setting her up for later difficulties in Public School! Poor Fairuza! I think U R great at being a witch! U R not the Worst Witch as I am pretty sure that is me! :( Also the primary mean girl in this movie is so mean that she bullies a kitten! We can all see that this is unacceptable, no? But what of the rampant culture of bullying that Schools…

I genuinely enjoyed this film more than any Harry Potter film. The music was so absurd and over the top, and Tim Curry is doing a Bowie impersonation in this. The plot is sweet and silly and childish, which is fine by me. The effects and the acting are miserable, but who really cares. There were so many kittens in this. So many. On broomsticks. And a completely tacked on plot that barely intersected with the character stuff. Happy Halloween, everyone. October count: 45/31
Kathleen's VHS Collection 2017: 69/100

"It's not that I want to be the best, I'm just so tired of being the worst" -
Mildred, I feel that Mildred. I feel that every day. The "Anything Can Happen on Halloween" performance by Tim Curry is either something you have seen, meaning you get what true happiness is, or is something you haven't seen, in which case you are a not really a full human being yet and I feel bad for you. And don't just look at only that part on YouTube or something, that's cheating, because you need to see it in context. It's like all of a sudden you are in the middle of a movie and God stops the movie, says "I love…

Girl-school Harry Potter meets redneck Hocus Pocus in a Halloween tale where an entire school bullies one girl for no reason, and Tim Curry wears the most fabulous suit of all time. His acid-trip musical number alone would be enough to make this a 4.5 star movie.

"Has anybody seen my tambourine?" - The Grand Wizard, Harry Potter stole all of this. Witches are adorable. I'm very attached to this because I watched it A LOT as a child but even with that in mind I still think this holds up beautifully. The songs are fun, the characters are fun, and the part with Tim Curry is one of the absolute best in the history of cinema. not an exaggeration. Need a 4K of this like now. P.S. Support SAG-AFTRA

"You must be the worst witch in the entire school" - Headmistress, Tim Curry is the only man in this and that's the only man I'll ever need. BTW I'm doing my part I've made two people watch this in October. spread the word! P.S. Support SAG-AFTRA

Stuffy, prestigious witch academy to radicalized witch in the public school system pipeline. Fairuza Balk against institutionalized or forbidden magic! Tear it all down! Legalize it all! Sure, the musical numbers are atrocious (besides Tim Curry's number which is great only because it's him), the production is high school theater worthy, the acting can be bad even by tv movie standards, and the special effects are non-existent. However, Fairuza Balk is in a witch academy, kittens and broomsticks abound, and Tim Curry is the grand wizard. This is Halloween magic.

The Worst Witch (1986, dir. Robert Young)

Pretty sure everybody who grew up in the 90s and 00s remembers watching Worst Witch/forgetting to turn the channel over whilst an episode was on. Heck, I even ended up at uni with one of the girls from the reboot (sadly not Rogue One star Felicity Jones though- shame). What you may not be so familiar with is the 80s feature length film about the hapless hex-caster.

Except you DO know this film because it gave us THIS:

This masterpiece has everything you could want:

• The best special effects the 80s had to offer
• Shout-out to the VHS for being a piece of modern technology
• The prop heart they shoved at Tim Curry
• That fancy cape work
• Tim Curry’s face appearing in a cat’s eye
• The line “has anyone seen my tambourine”
• Everything about the video bloody hell I love it

The question that follows is of course: is the rest of the film at all worth watching after this beauty has come and gone?

I think in our hearts we know it peaks here

In short, not really. I mean, it’s completely baffling that they’ve roped in both Tim Curry (who to be fair is treated with the utmost reverence as a Halloween king) *and* Diana Rigg? Not to mention Mildred’s cat, whose human mewing dub make him a standout performer.

It’s all fairly run of the mill high school adaptation until we stumble across the sideplot: Miss Cackle’s sister (who’s American for some reason) wants to take over the school with her coven. If you like the incredibly niche movie subgenre of “Colonel Sanders and an overenthusiastic teaching assistant bob around on a hill” then it’s one for you. For me, it could not be more cringeworthy. And then she started singing.

We’re also treated to an atrocious belter of a Matilda rip-off about how school is tricky. It includes the infuriatingly non-sequitur of a line, “20 seems so far away”. Is that what 12 year olds aspire to, being 20? You’re a witch, Mildred, way to dream big.

Spoopy Rating: 2/3 but 4/3 for Tim Curry because ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ON HALLOWEEN, YOUR TONGUE COULD TURN RED AND YOUR HAIR TURN GREEN YOUR TEACHER COULD BECOME A SARDINE YOUR DENTIST COULD BECOME A QUEEN

Worst witch 1986

I gotta be real – for the most part in this Halloween TV Party, I intended on covering primarily animated specials. These are the stuff I grew up watching and what I most dearly connect with the holiday all the way into adulthood. I do plan on mixing it up a bit by throwing in a couple of live-action TV specials here and there (as I’m doing right now), but I just want to make this fact a bit more concrete moving forward. Okay, now that we’ve got that settled, here’s what I watched recently!

The Worst Witch is a British made-for-TV film that is based off a successful series of children’s books by Jill Murphy. It aired first on HBO and then on the Disney Channel during the Halloween season, up until around 1996 – which explains how I never saw it as a kid, since I was too young to have discovered TV! As the title alludes, this film is about a young witch-in-training named Mildred (played by Fairuza Balk in only her second role since Return to Oz) who has been deemed the “worst witch” by both her peers and instructors, in a sort of proto-Harry Potter institution. The bulk of the narrative in the first half shows a number of instances wherein she struggles to keep up with other witches – mixing potions, casting spells, flying on her broomstick. To add insult to injury, even her assigned cat is a gray and white tabby instead of a black cat like the rest of her classmates, since her headmaster claims to have run out of black kittens.

Immediately, the cheapness of this film’s aesthetic is clear. While the costumes are just the right amount of garish to be more endearing than anything else, the set design is a tad more painful to look at. The flying scenes are accomplished by a tremendously gaudy green screen effect; in many of the shots, the clipping is so distractingly poor. Even more ridiculous is the decision to add voice-acting for the cats, with numerous scenes given this annoying, “meow, meow, meow” backing noise that doesn’t really work. Still, there is something pretty charming about the cheapness of this production. This is pretty much sealed sometime in the first act of the program where we see a troupe of witches cackling and plotting the downfall of the school, while singing a fun musical number dancing around a bubbling cauldron. It’s this kind of campy goodness that makes the Halloween season so great.

But let’s clear the air by mentioning what has got to be the very best thing about this special – Tim Curry as the Grand Wizard (don’t read too much into that title, please). His character is introduced as a special guest for the school’s annual Halloween fest. He isn’t in the movie for very long, but he does bring the second of the movie’s two musical numbers through what I could only describe as a 70s psychedelia music video. It’s an ungodly amount of green screen and just as cheap-looking as the previous instances of green screen – but even better. Really, this scene just has to be seen to be believed. I’m sure that if I had watched this movie at all as a youngster, I would have eaten up these visuals and the accompanying song as well!

As for the non-campy parts of this special… well, there aren’t too many. But it’s comforting to see that Fairuza Balk demonstrates an impressive amount of vulnerability and range at such a young age. It soon becomes clear that much of Mildred’s failures are actually a result of senseless bullying by fellow classmate Ethel, and the special becomes more of a tale of how Mildred can rise above this while also finding her place in the world. It’s quite a pleasant, wholesome adolescent tale, while having enough of the spooky Halloween aesthetic to keep things interesting. It’s one I’d surely recommend to any young witch who hasn’t yet uncovered this magical treat. Bonus points as well for Charlotte Rae playing two entirely different (twin) witches with unique looks and personalities – and playing them both super convincingly!

And now for the second special of the day, 1979’s The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t. I see this one often on lists of the greatest classic Halloween specials, though I never watched this one myself until last year. Like The Worst Witch, this aired seasonly on the Disney Channel until 1996; on the year of its first airing, it even won an Emmy! It concerns the infamous Count Dracula being jarred by rumors of Halloween potentially coming to an end, after which he bands together a group of the world’s most famous monsters and spooky figures to settle the matter. It soon becomes clear that the Witch had initially sparked the rumor, sick of how demeaned she feels each year, and writes up a list of demands Dracula must follow in order for her to comply and Halloween to continue to exist.

I gotta be honest: although I know this special is beloved by many, it’s really hard for me to get into. First of all, these costumes and sets are hilariously cheap – yes, even cheaper than The Worst Witch! Although seeing that this is a comedy and there are few things funnier than grown adults acting completely earnestly in garish Halloween costumes… I guess it succeeds there. Secondly, though, the humor of this special relies primarily on flimsy one-liners and slapstick gags – including the ol’ Scooby-Doo doors effect. I think there’s something to be made of the fact that these monsters feel that the new generation no longer fears them and the ridiculous humor sort of plays upon this… but I just don’t find much of it very funny. And I’m sure that this itself is the way time has aged such humor, but on its own it tends to move at a snail’s pace.

Overall, not a whole lot happens in this special. Just a bunch of shenanigans, with a final, heartwarming resolution that conveniently ties everything up. I will admit that I enjoyed this special more with this second viewing than I did with the first last year, so maybe that means I’ll come around to it with subsequent viewings? Bah, who knows. Oh, by the way, this particular Halloween special ends with a totally random disco party over the end credits, which is the most 1979 thing about it! That alone makes it well worth your time, I think.

Eggs are seen as symbols of new life and fertility, and are often painted or decorated with intricate designs. This tradition has carried over into modern celebrations of Easter, which often includes egg hunts and the exchange of chocolate eggs. In addition to eggs, other symbols and traditions associated with the spring equinox include flowers, especially daffodils and tulips, as well as baby animals, such as lambs and rabbits. These symbols represent the arrival of spring and the rejuvenation of the natural world. Overall, the spring equinox celebration in pagan traditions is a time of joy, hope, and new beginnings. It is a time to honor the cycles of nature and to rejoice in the return of light and life after the long winter months..

Reviews for "The Magic of Spring Equinox: Spells and Spellcraft in Paganism"

1. John Smith - 1/5 stars - I found the "Spring equinox celebration in pagan traditions" to be a complete waste of time. The event felt disorganized and lacked any clear structure or purpose. The organizers seemed more focused on their own enjoyment rather than providing a meaningful experience for attendees. The activities were dull and unengaging, and I left feeling unsatisfied and disappointed. I would not recommend attending this event to anyone looking for an enriching and enjoyable experience.

2. Emily Johnson - 2/5 stars - While I appreciate the effort put into organizing the "Spring equinox celebration in pagan traditions," I was left underwhelmed by the experience. The event lacked clear communication about the schedule and activities, causing confusion among attendees. The overall atmosphere was unimpressive, and the lack of engaging and interactive elements made it feel like an ordinary gathering rather than a celebratory event. I was hoping for a more immersive and educational experience, but unfortunately, this event fell short of my expectations.

3. Samantha Davis - 1/5 stars - I was extremely disappointed with the "Spring equinox celebration in pagan traditions." The event seemed to lack genuine knowledge and understanding of pagan traditions, and instead relied on shallow and cliched stereotypes. The talks and workshops were poorly organized and lacked any in-depth exploration of the topic. Additionally, there was a lack of inclusivity and diversity within the event, making it feel exclusive and unwelcoming. Overall, I would not recommend attending this celebration if you are looking for an authentic and respectful experience of pagan traditions.

4. Michael Thompson - 2/5 stars - The "Spring equinox celebration in pagan traditions" was a letdown for me. The event felt overly commercialized and lacked a genuine connection to nature and spirituality. The vendors were primarily selling mass-produced products, and the whole experience felt more like a flea market than a celebration of the equinox. The lack of educational workshops or interactive activities made it difficult to engage with the event on a deeper level. Overall, I left feeling unsatisfied and longing for a more authentic experience.

The Intersection of Science and Spirituality: Spring Equinox in Pagan Traditions