PAGANISM, in its modern form, has been plugging away for a good few years now, attracting articles that always point out that it – or at least the witchy part of it – is nothing to do with black magic.
It has pretty much become a part of normal life. “So, does your coven meet in a sacred grove?” “No, Wetherspoons.”
It’s safe to say that, while arguably still growing after all the publicity of recent years, it’s never going to become totally mainstream or replace the declining big religions. It tends, I think, to attract solitary types with a deep affinity for nature.
The decline of the main churches has, obviously, left a gap for the spiritually inclined, and paganism fills this for some. It’s a broad church, that said, taking in druidry, heathenry, Celtic spirituality, shamanism, and goddess-worship.
Theologically, for many, there is Mother Earth and Sky Father, so it’s all gender-balanced, which fits in with the current politically correct culture, though there is often too a vaguely “British” feel to it all, with references to Old Albion and a veneration for standing stones.
So, pray be upstanding, as it were, for the Scottish Pagan Federation, which has its 2017 conference in the mystical city of Edinburgh at the end of this week.
It certainly has an interesting looking programme, with talks on the early “sexologists”, Aleister [CORR] Crowley and Dion Fortune; metalsmithing; astrology; and balancing the chakras, these being centres of energy that lie at particular points between your heid and your unpleasant regions. I guess sexology will also touch on the latter.
The evening’s musical entertainment is provided by Blackleaf 40, who admit to being no spring chickens (motto: “To infirmity and beyond”) but remain “united by a common love for great music, alcohol, food and shiny things.” Sound like my kind of guys (and gal) and, actually, they don’t look that old.
Paganism itself is as old as yonder hills and is built on an acknowledgement of the endless cycles of life and death, and a reverence for the life-force. Amen to that.
The Scottish Pagan Federation Conference 2017 takes place at Teviot Row House, Edinburgh, on Saturday, May 13, from 10am to 11pm.
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