A Grand Pagan Day Out

Yesterday I was at Pagancon in Preston (I know the name doesn't sound too good). My day got off to a shaky start - Linda, who was very kindly giving me and her friend Chris a lift was running late as Chris wasn't terribly well that morning. The journey there was fairly uneventful, a chance to catch up with one another's news.

Pagancon has been at the same venue for a few years now, at Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club. It's run by Shared Earth - a group of Pagans in and around Preston (check out their Yahoo and Facebook groups). It's brilliant to arrive and see old friends that you don't really see for the rest of the year, greeting them as they arrive in dribs and drabs usually in time for the first talks and workshops and grockling at the stalls.

The stalls at Pagancon are usually really good, a great selection of goodies. This year was no different. I took my birthday money and a bit extra that I'd saved up and could have spent it all a couple of times over. There was Roo the Leathercarver with their excellent pouches, purses and belts. Auntie Joan from Wigan was there with her excellent ceramic statues. I nearly bought one of Pan for Seán that I'm sure he would have loved. Hedgewitch Handprints were back again with their brilliant Pagan T-shirts, bags and knickers (yes, you read that right!). There was beautiful jewellery from Lightray Silver and from Jools, goth and hippy clothes from The Coven, Linda's mate Chris with his hand-chosen and crafted wands and staves. There were bookstalls from New Aeon Books, plus second hand books from Little Wonder and Ken and Sandy Brock. Shared Earth also had a stall selling all manner of odd things, many of them made from bright coloured wool - neon dreamcatchers, pompom hairclips, and my favourite - hairfalls (I now have bright pink hairfalls for our next mad night out!). They also had little things like crystal trees, incense sticks and stuff as well.

There was a good range of talks and workshops too. Linda's was unfortunately short because other things had overrun and she needed to keep it brief so as not run over the main speaker's slot. The guest of honour was that Grande Dame of Witchcraft, Maxine Sanders. She and her husband Alex founded that branch of Wicca now known as Alexandrian Witchcraft.

Her talk was fascinating. She gave us an outline of her history, how she grew up and how she met Alex and began her magical career. Interestingly, she said she does not and never has considered herself to be a Pagan. She is an Occultist and pratitioner of the Craft. Most people today would consider Wicca to be a branch of Paganism as in the "all Wiccans are Pagans but not all Pagans are Wiccan" analogy to "All Catholics are Christian but not all Christians are Catholics".

I know a lot of people who have difficulty getting their heads round the idea that there are Wiccans who most emphatically do not consider themselves to be Pagan. Maxine Sanders position on this contrasts quite sharply with what Patricia Crowther (Grande Dame of Gardnerian Witchcraft) said at the PFNW conference a few years ago. I forget her exact words, but she seemed to consider that you were not Pagan at all unless you were an initiated Witch belonging to a coven that could trace it's initiatory lineage back to Gerald Gardner. If not, you're just someone who's heart is in the right place, trying to do the right thing. That got several people's backs up, mine included.

Maxine's talk was very clear, intelligently put and interesting. If you want to know more about her history in the Craft - she's just got a new book out. The talk was part of the publicity for this new book - clarifying, demystifying and debunking some of the mythology that continues to surround Alex Sanders and the beginnings of Alexandrian Witchcraft. It's called Firechild and should be available from any half-decent bookshop. New Aeon should definitely have it in stock!

Other talks were less good. I'm biased, but I found David Rietti's talk on Power to be dense and difficult to get. His assertion that power has to come from outside oneself, that as individual humans we have no intrinsic power to call upon is one I personally don't believe. He is of the opinion that all power we draw upon for magickal workings comes from outside; from angelic, demonic or elemental entities who have to be placated, cajoled, threatened and/or bribed. That the magician must "put on a show" in order to persuade said entities to allow us to use their power in our workings. And, moreover, that doing so reduces your own humanity over time.

Personally, I think if you're an arrogant, amoral, self-centred git to start with, then dealing with diabolical entities isn't really going to do you much more damage apart from giving you an excuse for being the way you are. "It's not my fault, the demons drained my humanity". Feck off.

Thorskegga's talk on Heathen Magic was interesting - she gave us an overview of the different forms of magic used by Heathens, the scandinavian, germanic and anglo-saxon tribes and those of us modern-day folks who are drawn to this branch of Paganism. She covered Seidr (what we now consider to be shamanic trance-workings and divination), Galdr (magical use of runes, rune-chanting and song-magic), the use of Fylgia (fetches, spirit animals) and curses. If I'm honest, although her stuff is interesting, it was overlong and could have done with better delivery. I imagine Thorskegga would do a fantastic workshop. I think her style would be better suited to a small group and tightly focused subject. I don't mean any disrespect to Thorskegga because I admire her deeply - she's lovely, a great woman and a good friend.

There were plenty of other talks and workshops, including one on Japanese samurai swords and armour from Mike Foster, a genuine enthusiast and collector who really knows his stuff. Kath Glover from New Aeon did a workshop on Haitian Voodoo, which I missed, so I'll have to find out from Linda how that went. David Rietti also did a workshop on Domestic Magick, which I also missed.

Jon Cole from New Aeon did a fab talk on the history of Love Spells - and it's not all sweetness and light and rose quartz at all. We'll have to get him to do that talk at our moot sometime! There was also a talk on alchemy by Shelly Rushton which I'm afraid I only half-heard as I was still busy meeting and greeting old friends and getting something to eat. You try going from seven o'clock till midday without anything to eat and see how easy you find it to concentrate on talks! Alchemy sounds quite complex and involving considerable commitment of time. Apparently, you've really got to keep an eye on your preparations in progress, as it can take days to go from "not-ready-yet" to "ready", but then from "ready" to "darn-you've-ruined-a-week's-work" in moments.

The day ended with the raffle draw and closing ritual. I didn't win anything, but Chris and Kath Glover both got prizes! All the stall holders had been asked to donate prizes for the raffle, so they really were good value for money if you won. The closing ritual was short, but meaningful - we each inscribed a rune on a small black stone and then gave it as a gift to the person next to us in the circle. I gave Fehu to Linda, and received Wynn from a lovely punky girl from Shared Earth who had fab multi-coloured hairfalls. It's a shame Linda and I couldn't stay for the Mental Lentil cookup back at Sandra's house, but we were too tired to stop out and Chris wanted chips.

I'm already looking forward to next year's - which is provisionally booked for the 4th July 2009.