Conference 2010 Speakers

Current Schedule

09:00    Doors Open
10:00    Opening Welcome and Domestics by bish
10:45    Rob Wilson — Druidry and the Ancestors
11:30    Boar — Druidry in the R.E. Curriculum
12:15    Mark Townsend — The Adventures of a Hedge Priest

13:00    Break for Lunch — Mark Townsend’s Magic of Soul

14:15    Barry Wilkes, Iain Semple, Steve Davis— Justice, Philanthropy and Brotherly Love
15:00    Robin Herne — The Wasteland
15:45    Red Raven — The Early Brythonic Tradition
16:30    Neil Geddes-Ward —Visionary Art
17:15    Potia —Building Relationship with Deity

18:00    Break for Evening Meal

18:45    Brochfael —Paganism and Archaeology
19:30    Christine Cleere —Cor Gawr Gorsedd and Public Ritual
20:15    Joel Greenwell —Avebury, National Trust and Druidic Dawn joint works

21:00    Live Music with Jim Faupel and Marianne van der Es

23:00    Doors Close

Speaker Profiles

• Rob Wilson, speaking on Druidry and the Ancestors
  "For me the ancestors are one of the central focuses of my practice, not to emulate them or reconstruct the past, but as a source of wisdom and inspiration for today. Honouring their stories; Their living and dieing we find the ebb and flow of connection to land and indeed ourselves, sensing the that web of connection through like a stream from it source."
  For the last 20 years Rob Wilson has explored the Pagan heritage of Britain. Expressing his deep, raw, rich, vital Pagan spirituality through Druidry. Today he is an active member of the Druid Network, Order of the Yew and leads Roharns Grove in Kent. For Rob modern day Druidry is about building and deepening our sacred spirit/soul connections to nature; the nature within us and without us. Finding the freedom to allow our soul to sing its story without fear and inhibition. To know the spirit of tree, stone and bones of our ancestors it to take the responsibility of being a priest of nature. Rob shares this wisdom and helps others to express their spirituality creatively, wildly, deeply, all rooted in this sacred land. 
  
  
• Boar, speaking on Druidry and Education
  Boar is an RE and Philosophy teacher in a Cumbrian Secondary School, where his pupils know him as "Mr Boar".
  
  He sits on the Lancashire SACRE and has written the GCSE support materials for OBOD, who were recently included in a GCSE specification for OCR's new Religious Studies GCSE.
  
  He will be speaking on the subject of Druidry and mainstream education, trying to shed some light on how Paganism in general and Druidry in particular are accommodated by the state education sector. Current developments will be described, and possible areas for development will be discussed.
  
  And no talking at the back.
  
  
• Mark Townsend, describing the adventures of a Hedge-Priest: a priest of the borderland between two worlds. 
  Mark's talk will focus on his pain-filled journey of trying to live a fully authentic life within the context of official Christian priesthood - a goal he eventually found impossible, which is why he found his way to Druidry. Using both humourous and deeply unsettling personal anecdotes and stories he will talk, with passion, about his life as a priest, his quest for magic, his love of nature based spirituality and his constant dream to continue finding the most glorious golden nuggets in and through the very cracks and wounds of life. 
  Mark served as an Anglican Priest for 13 years before resigning his membership of the Church of England in order to express his ministry in a far more eclectic way. While still a Priest, he is also a member of The Druid Network, The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and The Magic Circle. He uses magical illusions and mythology to open up his audiences to their own deep inner magic and has taken his 'Soulful Magic' all over the world, performing to such diverse audiences as Roman Catholic nuns, Massai Warriors and Pendle Witches. BBC's 'Extreme Pilgrim,' Rev. Peter Owen Jones refers to Mark as a 'Priest at the Edge.'  
  
  
• Robin Herne, "The Wasteland"
  
  Robin Herne lives in Suffolk with a husky and a Jack Rascal. He is the author of 'Old Gods, New Druids' and the forthcoming 'Bard Song' (both published by Circle Books), and a regular contributor to BBC Radio Suffolk and Ipswich Community Radio. Robin writes for various pagan magazines, enjoys archery, baking, painting, and questing to find the perfect fudge recipe. He won Chief Bard of the Fens in 2008, and organises the Suffolk Eisteddfod and the annual polytheist performing arts festival, Pooka's Pageant.
  'The Wasteland' will examine the interaction between ecopsychology and a polytheist/animist world view, looking at the impact of environment on human psychology, and the impact of humanity on the psychic health of the genius loci and related spirits. How does animism impact on ritual structure from a Druid perspective; how does ecopsychology inform therapeutic practices; how do both approaches influence our home and working environments?
  
  
• Barry Wilkes, Iain Semple, Steve Davies : Justice, Philanthropy and Brotherly Love  -An Introduction to the history and practice of the fraternal druids. 
  The earliest fraternal druid orders started life in late 18th century.  Following the pattern of societies such as the Freemasons and the Oddfellows they eventually spread around the world with thousands of members partaking of their peculiar mix of celtic inspired ritual; conviviality and mutual support. One of the largest of these societies, the Ancient Order of Druids, is now the oldest existing druidical society in the world. This talk will not only examine the history and practice of these druids but will also attempt to answer questions like 'were they real druids?' and 'what relevance to they have to druidry today?' It will also discuss attempts to form a virtual fraternal druidical archive through the Druidic Dawn web resource.
  Barry Wilkes; Iain Semple and Steve Davies are all active members of the Ancient Order of Druids. They are also interested in all aspects of druidic and celtic spirituality. As well as speaking they will also be presenting a display on fraternal druid history and will be available for any questions and queries throughout the day. If you have any items belonging to fraternal societies that you would like to bring along they will do their best to identify them for you.
  
• Christine Cleere, speaking on public ritual and Gorseddau
  Shamanist, animist, Pagan Druid. Ageing less than gracefully, with a veneer of conventional respectability, but scratch the surface and who knows what you may discover. A wanderer, a traveller, a gypsy who never settles for long in one place. Of Irish roots mingling with the ancestral threads of old Berkshire (now modern Oxfordshire), brought up moving from place to place - the lush green of the once rural Thames Valley, the glorious wide open Hampshire chalk downlands, the magical heathlands and mystical coast of Dorset and holding in my heart a deep longing for return to a more simple existence based on shared values. An active celebrant and ritualist, I offer to the wider community my services to plan and facilitate handfastings, namings, rites of passing and the celebration of other significant life events. Lead Priest of the Gorsedd of Bards of Cor Gawr, Priest for Honouring the Ancient Dead, Regional Co-ordinator for South Central region of The Druid Network. Owner of various tarot decks, ogham staves, runes of yew, two crystal balls,an astrological ephemeris, some used tea leaves, as well as a druid's cloak and staff which she believes may make her an Ovatic seer.
  
  
• Red Raven, "The Early Brythonic Tradition"
  
  
  Red Raven has worked in the gas engineering business for 31 years, and his spiritual understanding "has to be built upon the principals of evidential data before being allowed to move into the experiential".
  
  The talk will be a presentation resulting from a personal interpretation of available data including climatic, geological, topographical and archeaological work with an individual interpretation of the evidence using a rigorous approach as favoured by Brython. This hypothesis, called "The Religion of the Soil" is an individual interpretation by Red Raven that deals with the era that gave rise to the conditions that later Brythonic spiritualities such as Druidry, may have evolved from, including how the individualization and interpretation of deity may have arisen directly from this early perspective. He will present his case using his hypothesis as the basis for an interpretation of the remaining artifacts and monuments in the modern landscape, relating them directly to his proposed framework
  
  
• Neil Geddes-Ward, Pagan Visonary Art
  Praised by the likes of Uri Geller, and Lady Olivier Robertson of The Fellowship of Isis, Neil Geddes-Ward draws inspiration from standing stones, dreams, witchcraft, Green Men and more, to paint beautiful images of what is now becoming known as Pagan and Visionary Art. Neil co-authored Faeriecraft and illustrated it with his then wife, Alicen Geddes-Ward in 2005, and is published by Hay House UK. His work has been featured on television, magazines, & book covers both in the UK and abroad. He is the only artist to have his artwork featured three times on issues of Pagan Dawn , the magazine of The Pagan Federation. He was also featured on Channel Four’s series "In Your Dreams", where along with his wife Alicen, he spoke about how dreams of Owls have influenced his artwork as well as prediciting the safe birth of Morgan, his daughter. Other TV appearances include Carlton Country, Kilroy, Neil has been commissioned by many organisations as well as individuals, including The Children of Artermis, a witchcraft coven service.


• William Rathouse "Brochfael"
  Will Rathouse, known to some as Brochfael has been an active member of TDN and before it the BDO for several years. As well as being a keen metalworker, singer and storyteller he is also a student of archaeology with a keen interest in Britain from the first stirrings of agriculture to end of the Roman occupation. He is now studying for a PhD in Social Archaeology, researching a thesis on Pagan engagements with heritage and archaeology.
  Brochfael willl be talking about his research into the relationship between archaeologists and Pagans, focussing particularly on challenges raised by HAD and CoBDO to curation and display of the bones of ancient British ancestors. He will be discussing the concept of ancestorhood and how these have evolved in Druidry. Calls for reburial will be analysed in the light of this as well as from perspectives of restitution, common values, historical precedent, benefits to the living and the dead and rationality.
  


• Potia (Pauline Kennedy Allan) "Building relationships with Deity."
  
• Living and working in Glasgow where she has lived for the past twenty years, Potia works full time as a University administrator and is the mother of two wonderful children.  She is also a celebrant able to perform legal handfastings in Scotland.  During her talk Potia will be sharing some of her experiences in developing relationships with deities and offering suggestions of ways others might deepen their own relationships with deities.
• Joel Greenwell: Leading a typically conventional lifestyle of modern life, with a career centred on the use of computers, it would be difficult to know from first appearances that Joel is also someone that believes in the ancient ways of our ancestors. Through personal experience, guided by colleagues within the physical realm, and also with the spiritual context, Joel has come to realise that what surrounds our own existence is beyond the horizon of our ordinary perception. Thus there is a careful balance between the use of technology to share and collaborate with others, whilst not losing site of the reasons why such technology is being used.  This is the same with Druidic Dawn, with the reason for its existence is to facilitate a common communication medium between all of those interested in Druidism and Pagan beliefs. 
  Joel will be talking how Druidic Dawn, in conjunction with the National Trust, is embarking on a project at Avebury that benefits everyone that visits the site, and respects the memory of the ancients which still resonate within the stones. Awen guides us along our Pathway, let us be fortunate enough to be able to understand the signs when presented to us, within the world that we live in today.