On Wednesday 17th September seven Pagan Soc members manned the stall at the Freshers Fayre; Linda, Adam, Elena, Lavender, Jo, Amy and myself. Our table looked really colourful this year. We had leaflets introducing Pagan Soc and Paganism, books representing various paths and a mix of pagan items such as a goddess statue, runes, wands, crystals, tarot cards, a mead horn and a dream catcher. I was particularly impressed by Lavender's yummy rune cakes.
On Saturday the 20th of September we held our first meeting, which was an Autumn Equinox ritual led by our chair, Linda Sever. As we had lots of new members we began with a round of introductions; of ourselves and our interests and paths within Paganism. These included nature, healing, faeries, crystals, Heathenry and Shamanism.
The ritual began with everybody reading a piece of poetry or prose which related to the Autumn Equinox, harvest, the earth and included an enumeration of the Autumn constellations. After this we sang 'We Will Learn to Walk in Balance.' This was followed by two rounds of toasting; to the gods and the ancestors followed by a boast of what we would strive to achieve this semester.
The next part involved tying well wishes onto a tree branch, which was found by Mick McLaren. The packs were made Pam Mitchell. We tied on a leaf to send a wish to the woodland, a golden card to send well wishes to members of Pagan Soc and a butterfly to send a message to the otherside.
Blog Post by Lorna Smithers