Saturday the 4th of March 2023
– Online Conference
In association with Treadwells

Four talks on the theme of Goddesses and Spirits!

Welcome & Attunement

Levannah as Mistress of Ceremony welcomed our attendees on behalf of the team to the Pagan Phoenix Southwest Spring Conference 2023 in association with Treadwells. She led us in the ‘Isis Prayer of Awakening’ by deTraci Regula, our traditional Prayer to the Goddess Isis.  She then guided people into our magical day with a short attunement meditation.

Speakers

Damh the Bard
– The Green Grimoire

There are a lot of Pagan books, but the best one has already been written – The Book of Nature. The challenge is learning how to read it. The crossover point between Druidry and Wilderness Awareness is where a lot of that wisdom exists, and in this talk, Damh led us into the woods with nothing but a flint and steel, and a knife, but the forest is the teacher. Carry less, by knowing more.

Bio. Damh is a Pagan musician, songwriter, and Bard. He is the current Pendragon of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids and has toured with his music at Pagan festivals all across the world. His passion lies in the old myths and poetry of the island, Animism, and nature-connection. Website Damh the Bard

Ethan Pennell
– The Magic & Folklore of Dartmoor

In this talk, Ethan shared some of the eldritch folklore of Dartmoor, including tales of shape-shifting witches, myriad hauntings, cursed fields, encounters with the fae and whisht places.  The talk was richly illustrated with his own visual interpretations of the stories.

Bio. Ethan is a Devon-based artist and writer whose practice draws upon environmental issues, folklore and the Occult. He is particularly inspired and frequently haunted by the eldritch tales of Dartmoor, his local stomping ground. Ethan also belongs to a collaborative art group, the Inner Space Exploration Unit (ISEU), which consists of occult-inspired artists from Devon, Dorset, and Cambridgeshire.
Instagram @crowmancrow www.iseu.space

Levannah Morgan
– Sea Witchcraft

This talk is based on Levannah’s recent book, A Sea Witch’s Companion (Robert Hale, 2022). She spoke about sea magic, the Goddess of the Moon and Tides, gods of the sea (and rituals to honour them), sea folklore and customs, the deeper occult concepts that lie behind sea magic, and how to use lunar and tidal rhythms to practise your own sea witchcraft.

Bio. Levannah has been practising witchcraft for over thirty years. She grew up in a coastal village on the island of Anglesey and the sea has been at the heart of her magical practice ever since she can remember. She works with like-minded witches in Devon and has taught workshops and classes in witchcraft for many years. She was one of the founders of the Pagan Phoenix conference. She is an artist, writer, and filmmaker.

Ronald Hutton – Queens of the Wild

In this talk, Ronald explored the history of deity-like figures in Europe, how hags, witches, the fairy queen, and the Green Man all came to be, and how they changed over the centuries. He looked closely at four main figures, Mother Earth, the Fairy Queen, the Mistress of the Night, and the Old Woman of Gaelic tradition, and challenges decades of debate around the female figures who have long been thought versions of pre-Christian goddesses.

Bio. Ronald is the senior Professor of History at Bristol University and a leading authority on the British Isles in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, on ancient and medieval paganism and magic, and on the global context of witchcraft beliefs. He is the author of seventeen books. In June 2022 Gresham College, London’s oldest Higher Education Institution announced his appointment of as Gresham Professor of Divinity.

Conclusion/Closing Blessing

About Pagan Phoenix Southwest CIC

Pagan Phoenix Southwest was set up in 2018 to deliver the Devon, Cornwall and Isles conference series. We are an independent, locally run, non-profit company set up to run an annual Spring Pagan Conference. We will bring you the very best Pagan and magical speakers, artists and musicians. The conference is run on a ‘not-for-profit’ basis and the team who organize it are unpaid volunteers.