Transcription of
DruidCast episode 05 by the
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.
[transcription made with permission by Katherine Gandolpho (Koo)]
Philip Carr-Gomm Interviews Stefan Allen Head of the Albion Concave of Druids.
Venue: DruidCon 2007, Saturday 8th September 2007ce
- ‘So Stefan tell me first what do you do, what is your role in the druid community?’
‘I'm the head of the
Albion Conclave of Druids; we have been going from the early 1990's about fifteen years and like your selves we were a distance learning course. I suppose teaching is the bedrock of what the Albion Conclave is about, but there are various other projects that take place I guess things like the Mistletoe Foundation’.
- ‘Tell us about the Mistletoe Foundation’
‘Yes, it really becomes something quite profound in a way, because we are starting to be able to work with the community in
Tenbury Wells which holds the only mistletoe auction and the only mistletoe harvest.’
- ‘Which county is that in’?
‘I think it’s on the borders of Shropshire and Warwickshire; it’s in the West Country, a very beautiful part of the world. One of the things that our conclave is very keen on is moving druidry away from the fringe. I think its time for druidry to stop being seen as wacky and weird and be able to have relevance to the wider mainstream society. That’s what happening at Tenbury Wells. The people of Tenbury Wells have welcomed the druids in and have been able to work out for themselves the connection between the druids and the mistletoe, so it is a haven to bless the mistletoe harvest before it goes out to auction and the four quarters of the realm. Most British mistletoe in people’s homes has been blessed by druids’
- ‘Isn't that fantastic’
- ‘That’s happening with us as well, starting over the last two years, on the winter solstice there is a farmer who harvests lots of mistletoe and two members of the order have been blessing the harvest. They bring a whole mass of mistletoe to the Town Hall in Glastonbury when we have the winter solstice assembly. The middle of the hall is filled with a mountain of mistletoe and then at the end of the day everybody takes some home.’
- ‘So how do you bless it? do you put robes on? do you get the sickles out?’
‘Well everybody is robed up, so we have got that imagery if you like, so the general public who are attending can see exactly who we are, sort of standing proud if you like. As the auction area is just by the river, we go down and use the water to bless the mistletoe, and then we go in between all the different aisles. Its not only mistletoe, its holly as well, so you have just got this whole mass. If you can imagine a big car park just full of aisles of mistletoe and holly, it’s remarkable. When there is that much mistletoe in one place it’s almost as if the air is fizzing with energy’
- ‘Are these aisles of mistletoe and holly sold to the general public or are they auctioned to wholesalers and shops?’
‘Its to the wholesalers and the shops, its not a case of the general public just going to buy little sprigs of it, its sold in bulk’.
- 'Is mistletoe under threat in the UK'?
‘Well, another great thing about the Mistletoe Foundation is that we have been able to find out so much information about it. From its habitat, from what state it is in, to how to propagate it, which is notoriously difficult. It always seems as though mistletoe has its stronghold in the Welsh borders, so in the Gloustershire, Forest of Dean area and south of that is where you have this huge stronghold of mistletoe. It’s difficult to know what outside of that area has been propagated by man and what has gone through a natural process. A lot of the mistletoe that you have got elsewhere in the country hasn't got there through natural means; it’s got there, usually through being planted in orchards. Although in huge parts of the Island mistletoe is rare or you can't find it full stop, that doesn’t mean it’s in any state of decline from what it was’.
- ‘So you have a lot more information on your website, and I know there are articles that are on the Druid Network pages as well as on our website’.
‘The mistletoe expert, Jonathan Briggs, is the most knowledgeable man in the country on mistletoe he has propagated it for Prince Charles in his gardens, for the Queen in Buckingham Palace all sorts of things. He is fully on board and very supportive and he’s got a
fantastic website full of information and we have got links to that as well’.
