On the Subject of C.U.P.S.

University societies have a great deal to do with that, and the Cardiff University Pagan Society is no exception. This is not to suggest that my involvement with the society has been a painful one: far from it! I write as an advocate, if you will, for the society and what it has meant to me, how it has supported me, infuriated me and consoled me through my university life.

Imagine, if you will: it is the early autumn of 2003, and a young, quiet and incredibly shy and nervous fresher (my, how he’s grown! – Ed.) arrived in Talybont North (yes the nasty old blocks for those of you who are there now – yay house B!). Once the strong upper lip and weeping parents had gone, I was left beset, befuddled, and bereft in a new place with people whom I had never met, worrying if my new ‘for university’ jeans and hoody would do enough to cover what I considered to be my ‘weird interests’ outside of law and performing arts.

And that is how things continued. My flat mates where ok - not great, but ok; my lectures had not started; and being something of a recluse, Freshers’ Week seemed to pass me by with barely a nod in the direction of stolen road cones and vomit spattered initiations. And so I was left feeling desperately lonely, none of the stalls that I had squeezed up to in the scrum of Freshers Fayre seemed to interest me. Then one Thursday there was an epiphany.

Ok, perhaps not quite that glorious. There was only the opportunity after all, not the all-conquering power of Christ. However after four hours of agonising, dripping in pentagrams, pewter jewellery and excitingly chunky rings, (so everyone in the pub would know exactly why I was there,) I made my way down to the Mackintosh public house in Cathays.

I was amazed. Here were a group of people who had interests and passions that previously I had thought confined to old school authors and creepy old men (Gerald Gardner fits both of those categories after all). I was confronted by a flame-haired President who engaged me in conversation and, to my amazement, seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. So began my connection with the Cardiff University Pagan Society.

Over the next three years I gradually become more and more involved in the society, eventually rising to committee roles and even to President for a short period. That experience as I have said was certainly varied, ranging from glorious to infuriating. Especially when you realise that organising Pagan people in any way is like herding blind, doped up sheep on roller skates [Okay, you even beat Terry Pratchett with that analogy! – Ed.]. However it allowed me to experiment, to laugh, and cry with people who by and large knew what they were going on about.

Which brings me to my point. I was not, and still am not, a fundamentalist pagan. The society has not turning me into a crushed-velvet wearing, elf ear toting nut job. I don’t start going on about my astral sword and being the secret and all-powerful king of Atlantis as soon as I have few drinks in me. But it did allow me to find a group of people who have developed into firm and hopefully life long friends. This is why I would encourage anyone who is interested to give it a go.

I won’t lie, some of the practices followed are weird, they are difficult to explain to friends and family; I don’t particularly want to expound why I occasionally shout at walls in ancient Hebrew. But I do want to tell people about the amazing friends and some of the wonderful characters I have met.

In my mind the Pagan society has two functions: firstly, it offers a group into which you can fall to discuss, debate, vehemently disagree, and slag off outright some of the ideas which are floating around in Pagan and occult thought. However, secondly it can become a place where the Paganism and occult interest becomes an undercurrent for simply meeting and spending time with great people.

I guess, really, my point is to get involved. This does not mean that you become an active ritual participant or give Tarot readings at a drop of a hat, but merely use the society for what it is there for. First and foremost it is a social haven for like-minded people. You never know: you may meet people who could become important to you.

Come along, have fun, make friends. Or don't. Its up to you, but I would advise that you try.