Mabon 1999 Newsletter Pagan Summer Gathering 1999 by Michael Reece (Morgan)

My first impression of the Pagan Summer Gathering at Cataract Scout Park was rain, lots and lots of rain, however everyone at the registration area seemed in good spirits and hopeful that the weather would change. They were right, on Saturday morning the weather started to clear and God and Goddess looked favourably upon us. The weather was fine with only an occasional shower over the next four days. I was a little apprehensive about attending the gathering as I had never been to one before and had received a number of adverse reports from people who said they had attended gatherings in the past, as being a waste of time and not worth it. Well, you get out of things only what you put into them. In my opinion and that of the other members of my Coven who attended the gathering, it was fantastic and we loved every minute of it. Pretty much everything was well organised and reasonably on time. People were helpful and friendly to us new comers, and we felt a strong and positive energy pervading the campsite and all five days. The organisers, the Church of All Worlds, were helpful and easy to talk to. Personally I don’t have any complaints at all and think that CAW should be congratulated on an event that went off very well.

On to the workshops and rites, the three of us attended a number of workshops during the gathering, they were informative and most of them were also lots of fun, many of which refined our skills on raising positive energy for various purposes such as rituals and healing. As for the evening rites, the Earth Healing rite on Saturday night was awe inspiring, with lightning flashing through the skies during the rite, drumming in the background from the Bardic Circle and over 70 Pagans sending energy to Mother Earth, Gaia. It was quite dramatic and more importantly I feel that it was a very successful rite, as was Sunday evenings "Return of the Wet", a northern Australian Lughnasadh. The weather had been fine all afternoon and the evening had been dry until just at the end of the rite, when it rained for about half an hour. A coincidence? I don’t think so.

One of the highlights of the gathering was the ‘Summer Rite’ on Monday evening when we all became a Pagan Tribe, most of us wearing face paint, jewellery etc., It was a fun rite involving the children also, and culminating in all of us being blessed by God and Goddess in human form, followed by everyone putting a rock from home in a cairn for the future.

There were many memorable times from the Gathering, too many to write about, but a number of these were the drumming in the background wherever you were each afternoon and evening; the friendliness of the attendees; the chants and rites; and the feeling of family and togetherness all through the gathering. It was also great not to see a single newspaper around, or hear a single radio or TV for all those days. Truthfully I was not looking forward to returning to the mundane world at the end of it all.

Finally I have no hesitation in recommending to everyone, no matter if you are new to the Pagan path or have been on it for years, attend a Pagan gathering soon, they are a wonderful experience. Also if anyone has doubts of the Gods and Goddesses energies being real they will soon become a believer after linking to the energies raised and used by around 150 Pagans together, it is a mind blowing experience.