Contact List for Pagans: Real Life and the Electronic Frontier Version: 1.2 Last-Modified: Mon Feb 8 19:01:40 GMT 1993 Here are some contact address's for various organisations I have come across in my travels upon the wyrd way. :-) The only one I can comment upon in any depth is the Pagan Federation, as that's the one I have seen the most of (and hopefully will soon join). DISCLAIMER: These are a pretty random selection, and there is no intended endorsment of any of these over any other, mentioned or not. Pagan Federation ---------------- Contact: The Pagan Federation BM 7097 London, WC1N 3XX Mainly a Wiccan orientated group, though they describe themselves thus: "The Pagan Federation is a National and International association of Pagans established in London in 1971. It is a worldwide forum of discussion between the various branches of the Europe's Old Religions. It offers a focus of contact for those who might find rapport with the Old Ways, and servers to promote the unified face of Paganism against its enemies and detractors". An additional point I'd like to make to those concerned with the statement "the unified face of Paganism" is that there has been a recent discussion about 'accreditation' of Pagan priestesses/priests, and the outcome that struck me was that most were against it, on the grounds that (a) who set the standards, and more importantly, (b) this would be a move towards homogenisation. Produce: The Wiccan: The Journal of the Pagan Federation Regular sections include an Anti-Defamation section, Wally's Guide to Wicca (hilarious, IMHO), letters, articles on various pagan paths and general news of interest to all pagans. Generally UK/Europe-centered, although there is an international membership, and the Samhain edition carried an article on Wicca in Japan, written by a Japanese Witch. Published: 4 times a year, for the fire festivals (Beltane etc). Price: 6 pounds sterling for UK 8 pounds sterling for European Community countries 10 pounds (or local currency) for the rest of the world. From: Wiccan Publications at the above address. The Witchcraft Information Pack: Intended as guidance for schools etc and as a PR pack for the media, as a follow on from their Halloween campaign to combat and inform against scaremongering about Paganism. Price: 2.50 sterling for members, 5.00 sterling for non-members. Something Out of Nothing: Expoding the myth of ritual abuse, especially concerning the Orkneys child abuse case (last I heard the parents were going to the European Court on Human rights for justice on this one). It was written for social workers and the police, and explains in simple terms what Wicca and Paganism really are. Price: 2.50 from the Pagan Federation at the above address. Paganlink --------- Contact: Write with SAE to: John Male 25, East Hill, Dartford, Kent, UK. Intended to provide a network for pagan contacts, seems quite organised and has posted articles to the alt.pagan USENET newsgroup. I have a copy of one of their postings to alt.pagan if people want to contact me for it (mail address in signature at bottom). Produce an Information pack, price 1 pound sterling, from the National Clearing House which is at the address above. They also have a list of organisations which I will aquire as soon as possible, and probably nick some of the address to add to this list. Send them a SAE (or IRC coupons from outside the UK) along with a few pennies to cover admin costs for this. E-MAIL: You can contact K.M.Hetherington@bradford.ac.uk if you want more details about the network. Pagan Hospice and Funeral Trust ------------------------------- Contact: PHFT, BM BOX 3337, London, UK WC1N 3XX The PHFT produce a newsletter which costs 5 pounds sterling a year (2.50 sterling to the unwaged) and will also provide advice on Pagans rights under the new Patients Charter now operating in UK hospitals. The Cauldron : Pagan Journal of the Old Religion ------------ This is a journal, and not an organisation, but I included it as an example of what is advertised in the UK, and because it's from Wales, I must admit. :-) Price: 4 pounds sterling a year. Contact: Mike Howard Caemorgan Cottage, Cardigan, Dyfed, WALES SA43 1QU The Group for the Preservation of Ancient Heritage -------------------------------------------------- [This is culled from Paganlink's posting to alt.pagan mentioned above] A meeting of the Group for the Preservation of Ancient Heritage was held in August. Present were representatives from Paganlink, the Dragon Project, the Ley Hunter, Robin's Greenwood Gang, the Council of British Druid Orders and the Pagan Federation. It is hoped more organisations will become involved as the Group becomes known. The aims of the group are: * to raise funds for the purchase of the the Rollright Stone Circle, together with such associated sites as may become available. * subsequently, or in the event of this site not becoming available, or of there being insufficient funds for its purchase, to use the funds for the purchase of other pre- and protohistoric ceremonial monuments and sites. * to arrange management of the Rollright Circle, to ensure its continuing guardianship and preservation, and to ensure access to the public and specialist interest groups. * to seek the views of all interested parties with a view to incorporating these into the sites management where possible. * to promote interest in, and disseminate information on this and other ancient ceremonial sites. * to set up a Trust and/or Limited Company to enable these aims to be achieved. ---------------- Electronic Discussion Forums USENET news groups: Here is a quick list of various USENET news groups that may be of interest, be arned though that sites reserve the right not to carry certain groups, or even entire heirarchies, so many of these may not be available. For those of you who believe there may be a place in the alt.* hierarchy for a group about your path, then please read my posting to alt.config, news.groups, alt.answers and news.answers called 'Creating a new "alt" group -- guidelines'. This is also available from pit-manager.mit.edu [18.172.1.27] in /pub/usenet/news.answers. alt.pagan -- discussions about paganism and religion soc.culture.celtic -- group about celts (*not* basketball!) alt.magick -- discussion of magick and related arts and sciences talk.religion.newage -- esoteric and minority religions and philosophies alt.native -- news and issues re native peoples (esp. in the Americas) alt.paranormal -- phenomena which are not scientifically explainable alt.slack -- posting relating to the Church of the Subgenius alt.mythology -- the understanding of human nature thro' discussion of Mythology alt.religion.all-worlds -- grokking the Church of All Worlds from Heinlein's book (v.pagan, publish "Green Egg" in US) alt.divination -- divination techniques (eg I Ching, tarot, runes) alt.satanism -- not such a bad dude once you get to know him alt.religion.sabaean -- discussions about the Sabaean religious order sci.philosophy.meta -- discussions within the scope of "MetaPhilosophy" sci.skeptic -- skeptics discussing pseudo-science talk.religion.misc -- religious, ethical and moral implications alt.astrology -- twinkle, twinkle little planet alt.folklore.ghost-stories -- ghost story folklore, personal experiences etc alt.oobe -- out of body experiences alt.out-of-body -- ditto alt.horror.cthulhu -- Cthulhu, Cthulu, Ctulhu, Ctulu, and the rest alt.necronomicon -- ? alt.hypnosis -- discussion of hypnosis, hypnotism, trance states etc On top of this little lot, there are groups for anarchists, alternative medicine etc. FTP sites: There are three occult archives that I know of, one run by the same person who runs the 'bot on IRC mentioned below, which is at seismo.soar.cs.cmu.edu, and another at slopoke.mlb.semi.harris.com. The alt.astrology FAQ is archived at hilbert.maths.utas.edu.au in the directory /pub/astrology, along with other material. Don't forget that you can use the archie servers and gopher clients to augment your searches as well, if you know what you are after. Internet Relay Chat: There is a #Wicca channel, which normally has a few people on it, as well as a bot (Occultsrv) which can provide information and some messaging services. Also, I am told there is a Wicca teaching session on the IRC channel #Wicca101 on Tuesdays at 10pm EST. Unfortunately that makes it Wednesdays at 3am GMT, so I've never been able to look in and see what goes on. MUD: There is a Pagan-orientated MUD at seismo.soar.cs.cmu.edu 9393, called "Divination Web" which is (again) run by OccultSrv's creator, and is open to the public. ---------------- That is all for the moment, if anyone else has any address's of organisations that they know off, and can recommend, then I would be interested to hear from you. I would especially like to get hold of the address and details of the Pan-Pacific Pagan Alliance, if anyone could help. Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again! Chris ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christopher Samuel RFC: ccs@aber.ac.uk UUCP: *!mcsun!uknet!aber!ccs JNT: ccs@uk.ac.aber