I know, I've been pretty bad about making posts. I have had tons of ideas and thoughts I have wanted to commit to the blog (including a very wonderful trip to the Lake District over the summer which had lots of Pagan fun for me) but... ah, this term has been startlingly busy. Over the summer, my dance school's timetable more than doubled and I barely have time to sleep, let alone anything else! But the Christmas holidays are approaching (2 and a half weeks... not that I'm counting down or anything...) so I wholly look forward to buckling down and writing posts, articles, developing my Tarot card designs and maybe making some progress on my books.
Today, I'm here to talk about Witchfest International and its new home in Brighton.
Some of you may already know the saga. Witchfest International (and England, when that was still on) has always had its home in Fairfield Halls in Croydon. However, the council announced last year that the Halls were being closed for a two-year-long refurbishment (I have my doubts that the hall will ever reopen, but that's another rant for another time), which left Witchfest kind of high and dry, although Cath and Merlyn were determined to keep the event going. London was proving stupidly expensive, so in swoops the amazing John Belham-Payne to save the day and suggest The Brighton Centre.
Brighton seemed absolutely perfect, being already a haven for us hippies, being on the coast (sea magick, anyone?) and also home to the Mother of Modern Witchcraft, the late Doreen Valiente. With his help and connections, Witchfest at the Brighton Centre became a reality.
Sadly, John passed away in February this year so he never got to see the event itself. The weekend was dedicated to John and his legacy (more on that later).
I will start off by saying this was one of the best Witchfests ever! Although many of you will know that it would take something truly bad for me to say anything disparaging about CoA and Witchfest, this is not an empty compliment. Buckle up for a breakdown of the weekend (and I do mean weekend).
The reasons for us heading down on the Friday were two-fold. Firstly, getting to Brighton by train in the morning of Witchfest itself would be a very early morning indeed, which I was not intending to do. Also, I travelled down to Croydon on the day last year and I nearly missed the opening blessing due to train delays, plus I was knackered when I got home (having missed most of the music to catch my train). Secondly, there was a concert on the Friday to kick off the festivities, and I was not going to miss that!
So Mr Shanti and I booked an AirBnB flat with our good friend Jenny (you can see her blog here). First, we grabbed lunch at this amazing veggie restaurant called Iydea in The Lanes, who were very tolerant of the suitcases we hauled in. Then we headed over to the flat to drop off our stuff, although Jenny had to drag me away from shops as we passed them, with the promise that we will come back after we've checked in and changed for the evening gig. Which we did... boy, she was not prepared for my shopholic tendancies (to be fair, neither was Mr Shanti and we've known each other for nearly 12 years!). I may or may not have bought all the things and bookmarked more to buy on Sunday, provided my bank card hasn't exploded.
So, onto the evening gig (with a quick pitstop for chips). The first act on was Spriggan Mist. Whilst they are seasoned Witchfest performers, I've never really had a chance to see them perform (usually because I prioritise dinner) and I am so glad I saw them. Their music is positively enchanting and the addition of the dancers was a huge tick in my book.
Moving on from Spriggan Mist was the Crow Dancers who are, as I described to Mr Shanti, a "spin-off" of The Dolmen. I recently warmed up to The Dolmen at the Gathering this year (having been vaguely indifferent before) but the Crow Dancers won me over right away. Their music is more tribal and primal than The Dolmen and we were up and dancing in no time (which proved hard for me because it turns out my New Rocks aren't as worn in as I thought and I was in agony for a huge part of the weekend). They haven't released any albums yet, and I am now waiting not-so-patiently for their first.
The evening was headlined by a band with whom I have been obsessed since I was 17: Inkubus Sukkubus. This was also the launch of their latest album Wikka Woman, which I did obtain (plus an Inkies hoodie, since... you know, need it). They performed a mixture of their old stuff and a couple of their new tracks, as well as their cover of Paint It Black, which everyone went mad for. Even my husband, who firmly believes that no one can surpass the original by The Rolling Stones (which I do kind of agree with) adores this cover. Sadly, the set got cut short because we only had the venue until 11pm so Merlyn had to interrupt the set (after the song, of course) to let Tony McCormack know that we all had to go home. We were disappointed, but we all knew we had to get somewhat of an early night. Although Jenny, Mr Shanti and I did stop for food on the way home. Very thankful for pizza and kebab shops that are still open at midnight!
Saturday
The day begins! After stopping at Costa for some breakfast, we headed to the venue. Since we went to the gig the night before and already had our wristbands, we got in almost right away and got settled for the Welcome Introduction from Merlyn and Ashley Mortimer, then the Opening Blessing by Kate West (who always makes me happy, having read and adored her books since the age of 15).
We reserved the first hour for shopping because... shopping! I took great advantage of the fact that my super busy schedule means I actually have a decent amount of spending money this year (plus I saved up a bit extra too). I scored a beautiful Tibetan bowl, a gorgeous hat from The Henna And Hat Lady, some lovely candles and much more. We also got a chance to catch up with some good friends, including Elm, Kevin Groves, Cath, Cazi and Lyn from LifeRites.
Then it was off to the talks.
Rachel Patterson (Witchcraft Into The Wilds)- Rachel talked a lot about following your instincts when it comes to shaping your craft. I think this is a very important topic for a lot of witches, especially those new to the craft who will follow a table of correspondences to the letter (I know I was like that when I first started). She was very much of the school of thought that correspondences are only as powerful as your connection to them.
She also talked about connecting with your space, and not just the natural surroundings but the man-made ones as well. Very interesting food for thought.
Then there was my workshop: Movement Meditation: Finding Your Elemental. I will do a separate entry on this, including the research aspect of my talk, another time. I will say thank you very much to everyone who attended and participated. I was particularly honoured to learn that some of the Pentacle Drummers were actually at my workshop (I was using their album, Life in Tatters, as backing music for the freeform movement). Also special mention to Merlyn, who invested in a powerful docking station for my talk, and to Mr Shanti, for going to collect it for me because the speaker I brought ended up being tiny and useless.
Damh The Bard (The Gods of the Mabinogion)- We started off the talk with an Awen chant, which was absolutely stunning. As a former singer, I love the idea of using chants to centre the energies of the space and/or people, and this made a massive difference. Damh also told us the symbolism and use of the Awen chant, which I thought was beautiful and I intend to use in future. I know generally very little about Druid mythology, so this talk kept me captivated the entire time as I was eager to learn more.
Kate West (Make Magic Work)- I was extremely eager to attend this talk because, well, it's Kate West. Her talk focussed on tips on how to make sure your spells are effective and in the right way- to be prepared for unintended consequences and how you can rework your spells to try to avoid them. She also pointed out that some spells left undone could affect current situations and cited the importance of recording every spell and ritual you do for this reason. A lot of this was information I had heard from her before, but it's always worth reminding yourself. Her talk was fun and informative, as always (even if, by that point, the caffeine had worn off and Jenny and I were close to Snoozeville).
Ronald Hutton (Western Magical Traditions)- Hutton is always a joy. He explores Pagan history in such a captivating way that you're hanging on his every word. I was glad to bring a notebook with me so I could take notes! His subject was of particular interest to me, as I love learning about how similar belief systems pop up all over the world and how they may have informed and influenced each other. I was especially interested in hearing about some of the magical beliefs and traditions in Ancient Egypt. Also, I'm currently reading a book on modern European Paganism, so this talk was a fascinating companion to that.
After that was the Raffle. Mr Shanti was very kind and bought my tickets for me while I was enthralled by the Market Hall, and Jenny grabbed hers shortly before the draw. Little Miss I-Never-Win-Anything-In-The-Raffle (Jenny) won three things! I won nothing, so Jenny gave me one of her picks- a silver pendant of a witch (thank you, sweetie, I love it). Also partially in thanks to my buying her a bottle of water after Kate's talk, as we both realised we were exhausted because neither of us had bothered to drink any water yet. Water is important.
After the raffle and Kate's Closing Ritual (which involved more chanting- yay!), we did some more shopping. This would be where I was entranced by all shiny things and Jenny basically cleaned out Ember Vincent's stall. We only stopped the shopping because the market hall was closing, but we were due for some dinner. After some wandering, we found a lovely Italian restaurant and dined there before heading back for Damh the Bard (we sadly missed Daughters of Gaia bar the last two minutes).
Damh, of course, was phenominal and we did a lot of singing along and dancing. I was a little gutted that he didn't play Raggle Taggle Gypsies (my favourite to dance to) but he did play Sabbat- Jenny's favourite- which was pretty fantastic.
Next was The Dolmen, who I now adore. I especially flip out whenever Kayleigh or Taloch do the throat singing- just... wow! Their set was amazing, although we were far too tired to get up and dance (plus my shoes were quite vocal about hating me). I also felt their energy is much more suited to the Artemis Gathering as opposed to Witchfest. But their performance was still fantastic and I finally got my hands on a CD.
There is also a club that runs until 2am at Witchfest, but I'm not really a club person so we all headed back to the flat and poured ourselves into bed.
My thoughts on the venue: While it's hard to get used to a new venue after so many years at Fairfield, I do love the Brighton Centre. We had a little bit of trouble getting around- mostly finding that darn Syndicate wing- but we didn't miss any talks as a result and the attendance of the talks didn't seem to suffer. The venue was pretty big, which I think is a massive plus. It was great getting into a talk, seeing the room is packed and yet still managing to find somewhere to sit. I recall many-a-time at Fairfield either being turned away from a talk due to lack of space, finding the room too hot because of volume or not being able to sit down. Not a problem in Brighton at all.
Sunday
We had a lazy morning before checking out of the flat. Since the flat we rented was a short (but steep) walk from Doreen Valiente's flat, we decided to take a pilgrimage up there. Mr Shanti and I visited the flat to see the Blue Plaque back in 2013, but we were eager to see it again, and we weren't the only ones. We met several other witches there too- something I'm sure the other residents are used to by now!
After visiting Doreen's home, we hunted for a restaurant by the sea and had some brunch. After filling ourselves with food and caffeine, it was time to hunt for hagstones on Brighton beach. I had said several times that this would probably be a Needle in a Haystack scenario, but we did pretty well. Mine has another stone stuck in it, so I'll be spending some time trying to get that out. Jenny also took some water from the sea while I engaged in my Heartbeat of the Earth meditation to see what I felt on the beach. I have been experimenting with different places around the country since the Gathering- I'm hoping to do this for the whole year (up until next August) and write about my findings. So you'll have to wait until then to hear my observations!
After the beach... shopping! I bought more things. We walked past this Hare Krishna store a few times during the weekend, so I was determined to pop in, having found myself being attracted back to my Hindu roots in my practise. Also, there was a book in there about ritual chanting, so I needed to get my hands on it. Jenny and I also had a chat with the guy who runs it, which was lovely.
We got the train up to Preston Park for our visit to Preston Manor for the Where Witchcraft Lives exhibition. This is more of John Belham-Payne's legacy, which he had the pleasure of announcing at Witchfest International 2015 (a talk that I nearly missed but I was lured in by the promise of an important announcement. When John told us about the exhibition, the entire room erupted in applause. It was wonderful). He passed away before the exhibition officially opened (Ashley Mortimer has been overseeing it and the Doreen Valiente Foundation since), but he would have been so proud. It's a small exhibition, but brilliant and informative. As someone who has read Philip Heselton's biography of Valiente, it was really cool seeing some of the objects described in real life.
There was also a lovely section of the gift shop (more shopping, obviously!) dedicated to the exhibition, selling Doreen's books, witchy gifts and jewellery, plus gorgeous art prints of John.
We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was an amazing weekend that I hope to repeat next year.
So much love and thanks to Merlyn, Cath and the rest of the CoA team and the Dagda, not to mention everyone at the Doreen Valiente Foundation. Gutted we missed the play based on Doreen's life, but I have now ordered the DVD and look forward to watching it.
I hope you all enjoyed Witchfest as much as I did!
Blessings,
Shanti
xx