I will start with the sad part. During this year's Witchfest, Merlyn came to us all with a very surprising and sad announcement: due to a multitude of reasons, Witchfest took quite a financial hit this year and they will not be running the event in 2018. In that moment, thousands of hearts broke.
I have been posted about it on my Facebook page a lot as I am really heartbroken by this. I've grown up with Witchfest, from the first time I wandered in as a shy 17 year old with blue highlights and some pocket money. Witchfest has always been a haven for me, a place that I can learn and be who I am. Over the years, organisers Merlyn and Cath have become good friends, as have many of the other speakers: Tylluan, Jenny, Kevin, Elmcloud, and many more. I haven't missed a Witchfest since I was 17.
We still have Witchfest Midlands next year, as well as the Gathering. But November will not feel the same. Hopefully they will be back in 2019, stronger than ever.
In that vein, I encourage everyone to pop onto the CoA Shop and purchase one (or more) of Cath's handmade items, which include jewellery, candles, candle melts, incense and even bottle openers. You can also contribute to the YouGiving Campaign.
Now, onto the event itself. It was slightly earlier this year, due to the Brighton Centre having already filled our usual date. This ended up being quite a lovely thing, as the weather on Friday and Sunday was absolutely beautiful. Half the time, I didn't even need my coat! Saturday was a different story, but we were inside most of the time, so it wasn't that big a deal.
Friday brought us the Pre-Witchfest Concert. Opening the event was Eleanore and the Lost, followed by the Crow Dancers and then headline act Inkubus Sukkubus.
We were a little late arriving, so we missed some of Eleanore and the Lost's set, but they sucked me in immediately. It's hard to describe their music... it's like Origin-era Evanescence mixed with Medaeval Baebes, and the lead singer- Eleanore- is the sweetest! As soon as their set was over, I zipped out to the foyer and bought their album Parlour Game. I'm listening to it right now and I am in love! I'll be preordering their second album come payday, for sure!
The Crow Dancers were amazing, as usual. I will say that, in order to get the full experience, you really do need to be up and dancing. This evening (and most of the weekend) both Jenny and myself were fighting off colds (Mr Shanti already had his, and he ended up leaving midway through Crow Dancers as he was asleep on his feet) so dancing was out of the question. But the good news is that their debut album is finally out, so a copy of that came home with me this weekend. It's a short album, but it's fantastic! I highly recommend it.
Then came Inkubus Sukkubus... with a difference! We were very surprised to see two new band members onstage. For the last 20 years, the Inkies have almost always been a trio: Candia on vocals, Tony on guitar, a bassist (currently Roland Link) and then additional mixed music as a backing track. This year, we also had a drummer and violinist, and the backing track was minimal.
The change in dynamic was huge. The entire set had this whoosh of fresh air and the music became even more haunting and capturing, especially my favourite song, Forest Hill. Also, the set began (and closed) with a dancer coming onstage, which is always a massive tick for me. She moved beautifully to the music and it fit so well with the new style of music that Inkubus Sukkubus has been working on from Barrow Wake and Belas Knap. Even though I was half asleep at this point, my eyes never left the stage. And I fought through a sore throat to sing the Isis, Astarte chant at the end of the song Wytches, which closed their set.
Now, onto the day itself...
The first hour we reserved for shopping, plus some facepainting from Cazi's Crafty Creations, as Cazi promised me a mermaid design. She certainly delivered- I got compliments all day and it lasted well into the evening.
Following that was... me. Due to popular request, I presented by talk on Hindu Goddesses once more, but I decided to focus more on the two Trios that fit within the Maiden-Mother-Crone paradigm. I would like to thank everyone who attended (and lasted the whole session- I know it was a bit mind-bendy at times). As promised, I will put all of the information I provided into a blog post. And I will include pictures so we're not just relying on my descriptions! Had I known that there was that massive television in the room, I would have brought my USB stick with some pictures on it.
I had to finish my talk early due to the drumming from the Pentacle Drummers in the foyer, which gave me time to speak to some attendees and then head over to the Syndicate Wing (which was much easier to find this time around!) for Kate West's talk on "Meditation and Pathworking in the Astral". Some of you might know that I am working on a book about Dance Ritual and Movement Meditation for the Wolfenhowle Press- this talk was very high on my list of which ones I had to go to, because it would be valuable research for my book (how? Well, you'll have to wait until publication!). Kate West obviously delivered, as she always does, and she also took us into two different meditations: one to meet someone with a message for us and one to set up an Astral temple. As they were very personal experiences, I'm afraid I will not be sharing them here.
I took the next slot as an opportunity to do some more shopping and to finish off our lunch- part of which we were cramming just before Kate West's talk (I do apologise for anyone who was subjected to the sight of me cramming vegetarian sushi rolls down my gullet. But I have zero regrets- if you find yourself in Brighton again, go visit Happy Maki. You will not regret it). We also ran into a few more friends, although poor Mr Shanti found himself extremely worn out again from his cold and had to retire to our AirBnB until dinner.
I headed up to the Auditorium for Ronald Hutton's talk on Halloween. This was another talk I was very excited about, as he did a talk on the Sabbats a while back and talked about how some of the theories we based our practices on are inaccurate. He hit us with some real whammies this time around- how Samhain isn't the Celtic New Year or a Fire Festival and it wasn't originally meant to honour the dead. It also wasn't as simple a story as "the Pagans did this and then the naughty Christians appropriated it to ease conversion". Most of these weren't necessarily made up, but mostly came about through misinterpretation. Of course, it raises a valid debate: do we alter what we celebrate because of this new information or have the traditions we've built up as a Neo-Pagan community over that last few decades now have their own validity?
We know my answer to that is "do whatever feels right to you", but that in itself has a multitude of answers!
One thing I did love was that the translation for Samhain is "Summer's End". I never knew that, and it makes the name even more beautiful to me.
The next slot brought the Raffle Draw. I decided to go tactically and buy a couple of each colour... and it worked. Much to the chagrin of the gentleman who bought his tickets just before I did, because I ended up winning three times- a book, one of Cath's gingerbread candles and a skirt from Wicked Dragon.
The closing ritual was very different this year. Kate West and Tam Campbell got us all up and divided us into our elements via our starsigns. We then contributed our own blessing per element based on what we gained from Witchfest (e.g. us Air signs talked about unity and sharing of information). Then it wrapped up with some chanting, which was led by Debbie Chapman- something that made me very happy, as Debbie and Kate's chanting workshop was the first one I attended at my first ever Witchfest.
The ritual ended up running over, so I sadly missed Laura Daligan's talk on Avalon (Jenny's talk was also on at the same time, which I missed as, like me, she used her Artemis talk at request). I used that time to do some more shopping and collecting any of my items that didn't sell. After this, Jenny and I met Mr Shanti in the foyer, as he brought us dinner. He had intended to join us for the Living Library, our next slot, and the music but he was still worn out and went back to the AirBnB, bless him (he did take a detour to sit by the sea, which he said helped him a lot).
The Living Library, run by Tatje, was a very interesting concept. Those of us who volunteered to be books created a title and wrote it on a piece of card. Tatje then took the cards out the room and people could choose their preferred title. They would then enter the Library and have ten minutes to ask the "book" any questions about the chosen subject. It was a really fascinating experience that I really hope becomes a regular occurrence at CoA events.
This then took us into the music. There were a lot of sets going on throughout the building for loads of different tastes. Jenny and I stuck to the main Auditiorium for Damh the Bard and, later, the Dolmen. Damh had a bit of a dodgy throat that cut out every now and again, but it didn't affect the brilliance of his set. We all joined in for singing and dancing, including the big group hug for Wild Mountain Thyme, which is basically a staple of his Witchfest performances now.
We didn't stay for the entirety of The Dolmen as Jenny and I were exhausted. I'd managed to shake any oncoming virus (no idea how- must be some sort of magical Teacher Power) but Jenny's was kicking her butt and trying to leave her in a ditch, so we made our way back to the AirBnB (not before grabbing a nice bottle of Moniack) and said goodbye to a wonderful event, hoping it will be back for good in 2019.
Sunday was also a fun day. We had a late breakfast and then spent a good amount of time frolicking on the beach and looking for hagstones. I managed to find a few this year, including a partial hagstone that would be perfect for holding incense sticks. They will probably feature prominently when our bathroom is painted and I can set up my water/mermaid altar in there. I also got to do some dancing at the beach too, which felt amazing.
Wanting to take some of the beach feeling back with me, since I live near the Midlands, I took a video of the waves and an audio recording of the water. I've yet to use either for meditation purposes, but I hope to do so soon.
Yet another amazing weekend, although it was tinged with sadness. I mourn for the lack of Witchfest International 2018, but we will still have Witchfest Midlands and the Artemis Gathering, plus two Wicca Introduceds (one in Rugeley, the other in Glastonbury). If you haven't bought tickets to these events yet, go to www.witchfest.net and get on it! Also renew your membership if you haven't done so already- every penny supports CoA events and keeps them going. You can also donate directly to CoA here (there's a button at the bottom of the page).
If we've learned anything this year, it's to not take these wonderful events for granted.
Blessings,
Shanti
xxxx