Beltane Pagan Events in London and Other UK Sites

There are loads of wonderful events taking place all over the UK to celebrate May Day, or Beltane, in traditional and pagan ways. Here are some of the things going on over the next week or so – mostly in London, because that’s where I am based, but some in other parts of the UK including the famous Edinburgh Beltane Fire Festival, Glastonbury Beltane Celebration and the Hastings Jack-in-the-Green Festival.

Now to 30 September; Folklore, Magic and Mysteries: Modern Witchcraft and Folk Culture in Britain – exhibition of artefacts, manuscripts and documents from the Doreen Valiente Foundation. Venue: Preston Manor, Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD. Time: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 2-5pm. Free entry to exhibition with Preston Manor admission (adult £5.85, child (5-15) £3.15). Details: http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/prestonmanor/

Now – 12 September; Austin Osman Spare – A Major Retrospective. Venue: The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Natural History, 11 Mare Street, London E8 4RP. http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/

Now – 29 July 2016; Scholar, Courtier, Magician: the lost library of John Dee. London exhibition. Venue: Royal College of Physicians, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4LE. Entry free. Opening times vary but normally only Monday-Friday until 5pm, visit the website for details: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/events

Tuesday 26 April; Between the Worlds (lesson 1 of 2) – Shamanic training, basic level, no experience needed, organised by Behind The Veil Shamanism. Venue shown only to members of the meet-up group. Cost: £25. Tickets and details: http://www.meetup.com/Behind-The-Veil-Shamanism/

Tuesday 26 April; Rebels and Outlaws – storytelling and music with London Dreamtime. Venue: Teddington Library. Time 7pm. Cost tbc, For more detials email [email protected] or visit http://londondreamtime.com/calendar/

Tuesday 26 April; Chertsey Moot. A social moot held on the last Tuesday of the month at the Golden Grove pub, Ruxbury Road, St Annes Hill, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 9EN. All welcome. From 8pm to 11pm. For more details, email: [email protected]

Wednesday 27 April; Natural Born Shamans.follow-on class. (You must have attended the first class or watch the video before doing this class). A 30-minute online class by Imelda Almqvist on shamanic work with children and teenagers. Time: 7pm BST. Free. Register here: https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8833/NATURAL-BORN-SHAMANS-THE-FOLLOW-ON-CLASS

Wednesday 27 April; Hertford Pagan Moot. Topic of the evening is Healing. Venue: White Horse Pub, 33 Castle Street, Hertford, Herts SG14 1HH (45 mins from central London). The pub does not have disabled access. This moot meets on the last Wednesday of each month at 8pm. contact via Facebook page Hertford Pagan Moot

Thursday 28 April; PF-London Beltane Open Ritual run by the Temple of Aphrodite. Venue: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn London. Time: 7.30pm for 8pm start. Ritual ends around 9pm followed by feasting until 10pm. Entrance: £6/£5 PF members. Please bring seasonal food and drinks to share at feast after ritual. For more details, visit http://london.paganfed.org/

Thursday 28 April; Overpowered! The Science and Showbiz of Hynopsis. Talk organised by the London Fortean Society. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Tickets: £4/£2, advance booked required. Time: 7.45pm. Details: http://forteanlondon.blogspot.co.uk/

Thursday 28 April; Beltane Blessings in the Field of Love with Emily Love and the London College of Spirituality. Venue: Columbia Hotel (Lancaster Suite), 95 – 99 Lancaster Gate, London W2 3NS. Time:7pm. Tickets: £15. Details and booking: http://www.meetup.com/londonspirituality

Friday 29 April – Sunday 2 May; Mind Body Spirit London Wellbeing Festival. Venue: London Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX. One-day tickets booked online cost £9/£11. For more details and to book tickets, visit: http://www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk/london or https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mind-body-spirit-london-wellbeing-festival-2016-tickets-16612171452

Friday 29 April 29 – Sunday 2 May; Hastings Jack-in-the-Green Festival – traditional annual event to celebrate May with music, a procession, Morris Dancing, a May Queen and Jack-in-the-Green. Full four-day festival programme culminating on Bank Holiday Monday with the Jack in the Green parade itself, starting at 9.45am in Old Town. For full details visit the festival website: http://www.hastingsjitg.co.uk/

Friday April 29 – Sunday May 1; Spirit of the Marsh Beltane Camp and Gathering 2016. Three day family-friendly pagan camp with talks, workshops, music, meditations, plenty of pagan and spiritual ceremonies, children’s entertainment and Beltane fire. Venue: Trusthorpe, bear Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire LN12 2PS. Tickets: £40 adults, under-12s go free. Details and booking: http://www.spiritofthemarsh.com/

Friday April 29; Poussin’s Search for the Golden Age.Lecture by Guy Patton at Rilko (Research Into Lost Knowledge). Public lecture. Venue: Rudolf Steiner House, 35, Park Road, London, NW1 6XT. Time: 6.45pm, lecture starts 7.15pm. Entrance: £7/£5. http://www.rilko.net/EZ/rilko/rilko/home.php

Saturday 30 April; Living from the Heart – What does this mean? And how do we do this? Venue: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London. Time: 10am-noon. Tickets £3. Details: http://www.meetup.com/londonspiritualcommunity

Saturday 30 April; Society of Psychical Research (SPR) study day: The History and Philosophy of Psychical Research. Venue: Society for Psychical Research HQ, 1 Vernon Mews, London W14 0RL. Time: 10am to 5.15pm. Tickets: £42/£38. Details: http://www.spr.ac.uk/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=80

Saturday 30 April; Society of Ley Hunters Moot and AGM with talks by Marion Briggs, Adrian Hyde, Rob Stephenson and Simon Pelling. Venue: Dissenters’ Chapel, Kensal Green, London,
NW10 5JX. Time: 11.30am start. Tickets £10. Advance booking necessary. Details and tickets: http://www.leyhunters.co.uk/page179.html

Saturday 30 April; Love and Lust in Greek Myth. Venue: Room 13, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Time: 1.15pm. Free event. For more details visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar.aspx

Saturday 30 April; Free and Open Gorsedd of Caer Abiri Beltain Celebraton. Druidic ceremony to celebrate Beltaine at Avebury stone circle in Wiltshire. Meet at the Red Lion pub from Noon for ceremony around 1.30pm. The ritual should end at 3pm, then back to the pub. Offerings of bread, mead and song or poetry welcome. Overnight camping is allowed in the overflow car park.

Saturday 30 April; Beltaine Wickerman Festival 2016 at Butser Ancient Farm. Afternoon/evening of entertainment and refreshments culminating with the burning of the giant wickerman at dusk. Venue: Butser Ancient Farm, Chalton Lane, Chalton, Waterlooville, Hants, PO8 0BG. Time: 4.30pm-10pm. Tickets: £15 per adult and £10 per child http://www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/

Saturday 30 April; Beltane Fire Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Venue: Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland (entrance by Waterloo place). Gates open at 8pm. Performance starts at sunset. Event ends at 1.30am. Tickets £10. Details and bookings: https://beltane.org/beltane-fire-festival-2016/

Sunday 1 – Sunday 8 May; Online Beltane Festival with the Pagan Federation England and Wales. Online talks, discussions, videos, pictures and blog posts all week. Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1834295640131014/

Sunday 1 May; Glastonbury Beltane Celebration and Road Run, including Wheel of the Year Festival – Flowering Meditation at Chalice Well World Peace Garden, in Glastonbury. The gardens open at 6am and the town is full of events taking place all day long. You can find out more here: http://www.chalicewell.org.uk/ and here: http://www.centralsomersetgazette.co.uk/Day-Beltane-celebrations-Glastonbury-bigger/story-29131538-detail/story.html

Sunday 1 May; Meditation at Russell Brands Trew Era Cafe, 30 Whitmore Road, London N1 5QA. Starts 10.15am. Free event. Details: http://www.meetup.com/londonspiritualcommunity

Sunday 1 May; Fowlers Troop and the Deptford Jack in the Green will be in Deptford and Greenwich to celebrate May Day. The procession starts at the Dog and Bell, 116 Prince Street, London, SE8 3JD at 11.30am. Free event, join in when and where you like. If you want to help dress Jack, you can do so at the Dog and Bell on Saturday 30 April. For full details, visit: http://www.deptford-jack.org.uk/mayday2016.htm

Sunday 1 May; Society of Ley Hunters Field Trip. Walk starting at St Pauls Cathedral. Time: 11.15am start, meet in the cafe in St Paul’s crypt. Tickets £2. Advance booking necessary. Details and tickets: http://www.leyhunters.co.uk/page179.html

Sunday 1 May; May on the Docks – family event of traditional May Day activities including Green Man mask making. Location: Museum of London Docklands, West India Quay, Canary Wharf, London E14 4AL. Starts at noon. Free. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands/

Sunday 1 May; Silver Chalice will be holding a Beltane ritual 12 noon in the Sun circle Avebury henge, in Wiltshire. All are welcome.

Sunday 1 May; Woodland Beltane Ceremony and Maypole Dancing 2016 run by Mani Navasothy and London Woodland Witches EcoMagicians and Outdoor Pagans. Location: Queen’s Woods, Near Highgate Station. Meet at the Woodman pub at 1.30pm to walk to the woods. Details: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/

Sunday 1 May; Anderida Gorsedd Beltane open ritual at the Long Man of Wilmington, Sussex. Meet near the car park between 1.30pm and 2pm for a walk up to the chalk hill figure at 2pm. Afterwards back to the Giants Rest pub in Wilmington for a social drink together.

Sunday 1 May; Woodland Beltane Ceremony and Maypole Dancing 2016 in Queen’s Wood, Highgate. Meet at the Woodmans’ pub garden at 1.30pm. At 2pm everyone will walk to the woods for setup and ceremony. Details: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/

Tuesday 3 May; Spirit Guides and Guardian Angels. Lecture by Mas Sajady; Venue: The College of Psychic Studies, 16 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2EB. Time: 7pm-9.15pm. Cost: £25/£30. Advance booking advised. For details call: 020 7589 3292 or visit https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/

Tuesday 3 May; Cobwebs and Cauldrons Moot. Venue: Romford White Horse Pub, 118 High Road, RM6 6NU. Moot takes place on the first Tuesday of every month. 7.30pm start.

Tuesday 3 May; Witches’ Inn Gathering Beltane Gathering and Crystal Workshop. Venue: The Feathers Hotel in Merstham, Surrey RH1 3EA. Starts at 8pm. Moots are the first Tuesday of each month. For more details and to reserve a place visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Witches-Inn/1568424150049437

Tuesday 3 May; Traditional Craft: Dimensions of the Witch’s Compass. Lecture by Stuart Inman. Venue: Treadwells, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 7pm to 9pm. Ticket price £8. Tel: 020 7240 8906 or email: [email protected] http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Wednesday 4 May; London Aleister Crowley Appreciation Society meeting. Venue: Souk Media, 1a Short’s Gardens, London, WC2H 9AT. Time: 6.30pm for 7pm start. For more details and to reserve a place visit: http://www.meetup.com/LondonMagicians/

Thursday 5 May; Meetup with Amoda Maa and learn about Radical Awakening.Talk and book signing by Barbara Scott at Watkins Books, 19-21 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ. Time: 6.30pm. Free event. For more details Tel 020 7836 2182 or visit http://www.watkinsbooks.com/ or http://www.meetup.com/WatkinsBooks/

Thursday 5 May; Here be Dragons Lecture – Dr Joanne Anderson. Venue: Treadwells, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 7.30pm to 9pm. Ticket price £8 in advance. Tel: 020 7240 8906 or email: [email protected] http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Saturday 7 May; Mythic London Conference. Venue: Treadwells, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 10.30am to 5.30pm. Ticket price £40 in advance. Tel: 020 7240 8906 or email: [email protected] http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Saturday 7 May; Robert Kingham of Minimum Labyrinth will be leading a walk through the ‘Grey Soul’ of Arthur Machen’s London from 2pm – 7pm. Tickets: £12 (£8 concessions). Details and booking: http://www.minimumlabyrinth.org/the-grey-soul-of-london.html

Saturday 7 May; Hendon Heathens Moot, Venue: Greyhound Pub, Church End, Hendon, London, NW4 4JT. Time: 6pm. Hendon Heathens meets at this pub the first Saturday of every month.

Saturday 7 May; Morrigans Path ~ Chapel Gig to raise funds for the roof of a Saxon/Celtic chapel. Venue: The Chapel of St Peter on the Wall, Bradwell on Sea, Essex. Time: 7pm. Tickets: £7 from Bradwell village shop, Sheena (07906 269359) or Paypal: [email protected]

Sunday 8 May; Workshop on the Path of Earth run by Shamanic Spirit at a venue in Croydon, South London. Starts 10am. For more details and to book places call 07952 041477. For more information, visit http://shamanicspirit.co.uk

Sunday 8 May; Public Beltane May Queen Ritual with the London Wicca Meet-up Group. Time: 3pm-6.30pm. Meet at the Woodman pub, 414 Archway Road, Highgate, London at 3pm to walk to the ritual site. For details and to book a place visit: http://www.meetup.com/The-London-Wicca-Meetup-Group/

I do not organise any of the events listed on this page. I try to make sure that the information given is accurate, but do check with event organisers as times, ticket availability and other details can change. If you know of an event that you want listed, please email the details to me at [email protected].

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