Saturday, May 05, 2002
Pagan church holds ritual Deep in the Oxford farmland
By Ray Burton,  Waterbury Republican-American  

OXFORD - Two white posterboards with "Beltaine Campground" handwritten in black marker was the only sign from the road that the Pagan Community Church was holding their fourth annual Beltaine festival on this 400-acre family farm.

A dirt road took the interested around a pond and into a cow pasture where some members of the Pagan Community Church had made camp. Beyond the parked cars, a trail led to a break in the brush along a small stream. Flanked by an American flag and a blue flag with a picture of the earth, three boards lay on the bank and formed planking to a hay wagon placed in the middle of the shallow water. Three more boards nailed together spanned the edge of the wagon to the other bank where a clearing opened between the brush trimming the creek and the forest along the side of a ridge rising from the field.

A small yellow and white sunshade to the right protected the staff at a table where visitors registered and signed releases. Behind them, staff tents were pitched along the edge of the clearing and two larger sunshades with chairs formed space for the weekend's events. To the left, a row of tents and sunshades covered vendors' wares: incense to ward off hexes, give strength of heart or help reunite old friends, palm readings and hairbraiding.

Ahead in the middle of the clearing, about 50 people stood in a circle. Some, dressed in Renaissance-style costuming with flower and vine crowns, others in jeans and T-shirts and one in camouflage pants and a Harley-Davidson jacket. In the center, a cloth-draped table served as an altar. A broomstick fitting the imagination's image of a witches' steed and a sword lay against the table that bore seven candles of seven colors, goblets and other instruments of worship.

Clad in a black blouse and skirt, Alicia Folberth, the president and high priestess of the church, stood barefoot at the altar, a thin silver band squeezed her long brown locks against her forehead.

She rang chimes three times to bring the crowd of 50 worshipers and a score of onlookers to silence.

The Beltaine ritual needs help from the circle — a sense of community," she told the assembly. "Feel the earth, the gentle breath of the wind, let all things go from the everyday life.

"They don't matter now," she said. "Let the quiet fill you, the sound of the water, the birds — they're part of the spirit."

As she spoke, a ritual leader walked the edge of the circle, sweeping the ground with the broom, proclaiming, "I banish evil from this place. Be gone or be torn asunder. Leave this sacred place."

After forming the circle and summoning the goddess of life and god the hunter, they worshipped, singing songs, dancing to the notes and praying for the guidance of love.

After an hour, the ritual was over. The fire had been jumped — singly by those wishing for luck, by a couple wishing love. And the circle had been broken, with the spirits being thanked for their presence.

It was the one of many rituals of the weekend — followed by the more familiar maypole dance. The festival ends this afternoon with a closing ceremony.