Oak Leaf Gathering (or Carry On Pagan) By Rich Mills

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Oak Leaf gathering is an annual event, bringing together pagans from all over the country for a weekend. In the setting of Lime Tree farm, the whole thing had an air of mystery. Not just the wonderful stone circle, or the fantastic Iron-age round-house, not even the beauty of the Yorkshire countryside that surrounded us.

The mystery stemmed from who these people were, or seemed to be. What initially seemed like a load of middle Englanders on a camping weekend, soon changed into a load of earth mothers, naturists, costume clad wanders and troubadours, and a load of not so hippy - in fact quite normal looking pagan types, etc.. An eclectic mix of people coming together to celebrate their love of the Earth and its cycles.

Sam and myself went up, taking Eve with us, as Sam had helped to build the round-house. Another reason, and slightly more the truth, is that it was a dam good excuse to escape Hull for the weekend. Get back to nature, literally! Arriving on the Friday night, and after a long journey, we set-up camp. Eve crashed out almost immediately, and from what I remember we were not far behind. On the Saturday we awoke to a over-cast sky, which by the time we'd sorted ourselves out for the day had cleared.

The sun shone bright as we wandered through the various stalls, of tarot reading, incense, and apothecaries selling strange concoctions of herbs and cure-alls. The key place to the gathering as far as I was concerned was the Old Boiler, a tavern-cum-cafe in the middle of a field. Everything 50p, fantastic! From mead, mulled wine, and a number of lethal home-brews on offer, we had found our favourite hang-out for the weekend.

Sensible enough to know that if we started sampling the wears of the Old Boiler we would suffer later, we went into the next field in which there was a large children's arts & crafts and play area. Here we chilled in the sun while Eve ran riot, having fairy and princess costumes designed and fitted for her. The day floated along in that same languid tone for the rest of the day. Eve taking a great interest in the compost toilets, that Sam had helped to build as part of the idea of getting those who had gatherings here to take care of their environment.

Instead of using the chemical toilets on-site, to be environmentally sound and make compost while taking a dump. As the signs we wrote said, This planet is not a chemical dump. So why are you taking one? Food, a few drinks and we settled down in front of the bonfire. Eve ran and played with the rest of the children there until darkness fell. Finally she too sat down with Sam and myself to watch the chanting, singing, drumming and dancing around the fire. She sat mesmerised until eventually she drifted off.

Oak Leaf Gathering (or Carry On Pagan) continued

Photographs courtsey and Copyright © Rich Mills

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