Subj : Pagan Federation Conference 2000 To : All From : Rachel L. Akers Date : Wed Jan 24 2001 10:42 pm One from the Fortean Times. Sorry it's undated people, that's why I've tried to add all the links & addresses I could find in the source code. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Pagan Federation Conference 2000 DAVID BARRETT spends a day in Croydon spellbound by witches, warlocks, druids and vampires and finds them frighteningly "clean and well-behaved". A rainy November day in central Croydon: not perhaps the most obvious setting for nearly a thousand Pagans to gather together. But the Fairfield Halls, more familiar as a venue for symphony orchestras and top rock bands, has grown used to hosting the Pagan Federation annual national conference over the last few years. "Weÿre absolutely delighted at how we've been embraced as a community by people who know us," says Jan Scotford, national conference organiser, singling out the Fairfield Halls staff for particular praise. Pagans apparently cause them far less trouble than some of the other groups who use the place; "weÿre clean and well-behaved". The four-stream programme at the conference on 25 November 2000 contained many interesting speakers; but as at all conferences and conventions the main action is to be found at the exhibitorsÿstallsÿand in the bar, where amongst other luminaries King Arthur Pendragon seemed to be holding an informal court. Like several other druids and Wiccan priests, he was in full robes. Look around the bar, the whole building: lots of black clothes and silver jewellery, lots of long hair, lots of beards, lots of long flowing dresses, lots and lots and lots of Beautiful People. The Spirit of the Sixties, it seems, never died; it transformed into Paganism. But these conference members weren't just a bunch of middle-aged hippies; many were in their twenties, and there was a fair smattering who'll be drawing their pensions in a year or two. Linking them all together: both a sharing and an accepted diversity of beliefsÿand a huge sense of fun; the predominant sound all day was laughter. "The first Pagan Federation of the Aquarian Millennium was keen, vibrant and very friendly," says Rollo Maughlin, Archdruid of the Glastonbury and Stonehenge Order of Druids. "A good omen! Thereÿs lots of Aquarian magic around for all to soak up." One could have spent hoursÿand a small fortuneÿat the exhibitors stalls. Masks, oils, incense, beautifully patterned tee-shirts and dresses, jewellery of all kinds, including rings and pendants, beads, stones, crystals, Tarot cards and runes, music tapes and CDs for festivals, rituals or simply atmosphere, books, books, books, and some stunning sculptures in pewter. Kent-based GK Ceramics had delightfully weird pottery sculptures of laid-back dragons smoking joss sticks, and hooded witches exuding smoke from beneath their cowls. A Middlesex-based bladesmith and cutler offered athames (ritual knives) for œ40; their handles are made from 4,000-year-old bog oak from the fens. London-based Wool of Bat makes robes for Pagan rituals, all from natural materials. Hand-made, these are quality stuff and don't come cheap: a monk's robe in raw silk, looking like traditional hemp "but much less itchy", costs œ90, a waterproof cloak "ideal for outdoor work... you can go skyclad underneath" costs œ216, and a silk velvet cloak œ297; there's a portable outdoor altar cloth that converts into a bag; you can even buy a pointy witches' hat in silk velvet for œ37. The art exhibition, with some extraordinarily stunning work from the British Visionary Artists Group, offered prints typically from œ12.95 to œ30, and originals from a few hundred to œ2,000ÿagain, this was highly professional, quality stuff. One criticism, and a pointer for future years: paintings need to be viewed from more than two feet away in a very crowded room; there's plenty of far more suitable exhibition space in the Fairfield Halls. The events programme included some twenty talks or workshops ranging from the academic to the spiritual to the fun. Amongst others, maverick actor and director Ken Campbell spoke on monotheism in western religion, druid Steve Wilson offered new perspectives on Chaos Magic, Gordon the Toad looked at shamans in a western, urban society, and there were workshops on belly-dancing and making corn dollies. Ronald Hutton, professor of history at Bristol University, explored ritual nudity in religion through the ages. Although they werenÿt known for their approval of the human body, said Hutton, even the early Christians and the Jews of their time baptised people naked, suggesting that this was an important element in ancient initiation ceremonies. The baptism didn't only involve total immersion, but anointing with oil on several parts of the body. For this reason men usually baptised men, and women baptised women; but on one occasion the delightfully-named monk Conan the Polite had to baptise a woman. Fearing the likely consequences of such intimate contact on himself, Conan did a runnerÿonly to be stopped when John the Baptist shot down from heaven and zapped him in the nether regions, removing his embarrassment by rendering him impotent for the rest of his life. Pagans take their religion seriously, but they're not afraid to laugh at themselves. Despite serious illness, veteran musician Chris Gosselin gave an entrancing performance in styles ranging from music-hall to Flanders and Swann to Noel Coward. To the tune of Little Boxes Made of Ticky-Tacky he sang of Pagans who "jump over bonfires / which is apt to be painful / if you don't jump very high," and in a Pagan parody of Cowardÿs The Stately Homes of England gently mocked "middle-class toffs stripped to their buffs". His show was disappointingly poorly-attended, with only 50-60 people dotted around the main Concert Hall; a one-man musical event is better-suited to a smaller, more intimate room. The undoubted star of the day was the Honourable Olivia Robertson, sister of the late Rev Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Baron Strathlock, who co-founded the Fellowship of Isis with his sister and his wife Pamela in 1974. The Fellowship of Isis claims 18,000 members in 93 countries; when not presiding over it from Clonegal Castle in Ireland, the octogenarian Olivia Robertson travels the world speaking to Pagans of every hue. In 1993 she addressed the Centennial Session of the prestigious Parliament of the World's Religions, the first time Paganism and Goddess-worship had been acknowledged as a world faith. In one of the best-attended events she conducted an invocation and guided visualisation while wandering up and down the main Concert Hall with a hand microphone. Formidable and almost sprightly, she is clearly well-loved by Pagans, who told stories of recent events where she out-danced people a quarter her age. During her talk she explained visualisation and summed up magic all in one phrase: "I think, therefore I am. No! I already am. I imagine, therefore I create." Olivia Robertson also presided over a simple but quite moving Closing Ritual performed by members of the Fellowship of Isis. Criticisms of the conference? Of course, though very minor ones. A concert hall bar caters mainly for interval drinkers happy to stretch their legs for ten minutes; an all-day bar at a conference needs more than half-a-dozen stools to perch on. And more ashtrays; Pagansÿcertainly at this conferenceÿ don't seem to have been affected by the politically correct moral blackmail of the last couple of decades; a dozen smokers sitting on the floor, all aiming at the ringpull hole of an empty Coke can, create a completely avoidable mess. And there were a lot of people sitting on the floor, in constantly merging and mutating groups. "The Pagan Federation was set up amongst other things to help Pagans meet each other and help people not already involved in Paganism to find out about it," says Andy Norfolk, PF media manager. "The Pagan Federation conferences bring together under one roof the largest gatherings of Pagans in Europe, and have been very successful in meeting these aims." This was the twelfth national conference. Next year's conference, says Norfolk, will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the abolition of the Witchcraft Act in England. Paganism has come on a long way in just half a century. Several people commented on how they could now have a major public conference, which not so long ago would have caused an outcry. Paganism, it seems, is almost becoming mainstream. One leading Pagan ruefully described his teenage daughter's latest act of anti-parental rebellion: she'd become a Christian. David V Barrett is the author of The New Believers, out now from Cassell. Further info: Pagan Federation (http://www.paganfed.demon.co.uk) Fellowship of Isis (http://www.fellowshipofisis.com) If you attend an interesting talk or conference, or have first hand experience of fortean phenomena, why not write it up for inclusion on the site. Email us for more info. mailto:mark.pilkington@johnbrown.co.uk Back (http://www.forteantimes.com/artic/fullind.htm) Fortean Times '00 --- Msged/2 4.00 * Origin: Elfwhere - The POINTy eared POINT (3:640/531.2379) .