Brighid's Cauldron: Pagan Arts and Crafts Evenings with the Pagan Society

Every other Monday night throughout the academic year, the Pagan Society will be hosting “Brighid’s Cauldron: Pagan Arts and Crafts”. Led by Kim Huggens, Chrissy Derbyshire, and whoever else who fancies lending their knowledge to the mix, these evenings are designed to teach people some fun and useful craft and art techniques in a Pagan and magical context. Supplies will be provided by the Pagan Society, though for the more expensive evenings participants will be asked to pay between £1-£2 for the cost of materials. At the end of every evening participants will be able to take home their own crafted item, as well as knowledge of the techniques.

Some of the Arts and Crafts evenings will be tailored to fit the season or upcoming Pagan festival, while others will be more general in application. Each participant is encouraged to add their own knowledge of techniques into the mix and pass it on to others in the group.

As well as learning the practical techniques of Pagan crafts, Brighid’s Cauldron will teach participants how to express their spiritual, religious, and magical selves in a creative manner; how to access their imagination. It will also teach participants about the Awen and how we walk with it every day.

Not all the arts and crafts will be messy, gluey, and sticky: some of the evenings will be more subdued, with topics such as inspirational poetry, magical short fiction, writing invocations, and crafting a spell. Some of the techniques that are planned for the year include:

• Elemental bracelets/necklaces/pendulums

• Magical masks (this will be part of the preparation for the Samhain ritual)

• Pentacles and other altar tiles

• Runes

• Pagan rosaries

• Priapic Wands (for Beltane!)

• Candles

• Brighid’s Crosses (for Imbolc)

• Goddess necklaces

• How to write a spell

• Writing Invocations

• Herbal crafts

• Poppets

• Chanting workshop

• Drumming workshop

• Bardic workshop

• Wands

• Creating your own Oracle

      It is hoped that these evenings will be informal, fun, useful, and down to earth. Anybody is welcome, regardless of prior experience of crafts. If you have a technique or craft that you would like to share with us, please email Kim and perhaps we can arrange for you to lead one of the evenings!