Parliament: Australian Pagans Speak

by Chris LaFond

On Monday morning, panel of five pagans from Eastern Australia spoke individually on their own practice of paganism and the progress that they have made in engaging in interfaith work in Australia in recent years. She’ D’Montford spoke on dispelling the myths surrounding the word ‘witch’, and on the meaning of the pentagram. Glenys Livingstone presented her own work on what happens when European paganism is transplanted to the southern hemisphere. Her term for what she does is ‘PaGaian’, that is, pagan and gaian, which stresses the whole earth connection of all life. Glenys also spoke of her work in re-imagining deity using feminine motifs.

Gede Parma, a twenty-one year old energetic man defined witchcraft as an “ecstasy-driven, earth-based mystery tradition.” He presented his work in the Sydney area in founding a coven that has already hived off and is starting to spread to other parts of the world. Fabienne Morgana talked of growing up on an Australian farm the size of Rhode Island, and how she came to paganism when her parents’ spiritual traditions simply didn’t speak to her in the wilds of Australia.

Finally, Linda Ward spoke to us of her work in the interfaith movement in Australia, and how just a few short years ago, we (pagans) were blatantly refused a seat at the interfaith table. In the last three or four years, they have made tremendous progress and are now an important part of the dialogue here in Australia. She argued that a pagan ethical system is by its nature already interfaith, since it has to take into account all beings of the earth and diversity in all its forms.

It was very exciting to see the strides being made in such a short time!