LET'S face it, no matter how hard groups like the Connecticut Wiccan and Pagan Network try to get the word out, it's always going to be a bit tough being a Wiccan in the burbs. Take the case of Helen Fiano, Wiccan entrepreneur, doing her best to stay in business 365 days a year selling wares most of us pay attention to only on Oct. 31.

Given the autumn foliage, front-porch pumpkins and subliminal whiffs of ghastly menace in the air, it's hard to avoid the big fall frightfest just around the corner. That, of course, would be Election Day, which this year makes Halloween look like Easter Sunday. After all, who would you rather have ringing your doorbell Sunday night: your 8-year-old neighbor dressed up as Paris Hilton, or Dick Cheney saying that if you cast the wrong vote terrorists will explode nuclear bombs?

But, for less terrifying forms of fright and trickery, there still is Halloween, usually a big time of year at Realms of Enchantments, where Ms. Fiano sells brooms and incense, herbal potions and goddess figurines, scented candles and fairy T-shirts and the other accouterments of a healthy New Age or Wiccan lifestyle.

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