The News page that you're now reading has been troublesome to maintain, hence the paucity of items in the past.

Well, good news is on the way, in more than one sense! We've been working behind the scenes to update the way that news is brought to you, so that we can provide more timely items in an easier to maintain format.

Consequently, starting at Beltane, this page and its associated RSS feed will no longer be available, but a new News page and RSS feed will come online. This new system will allow several members of the team to create the items and make changes, so more than one volunteer will be responsible for the upkeep of the site.

Please come back soon, and see the new pages!

The following announcement was released this evening:

It is my very sad duty to let the Druid and Bardic Community know that Our Dear Friend and Brother in Spirit, Tim Sebastian, Archdruid of Wiltshire and The Secular Order of Druids, passed from this World at 7.50pm this evening.

May he rest in Peace. /|\

Many members ask what the PF actually does. Of course, there are the local networking and open ritual aspects, the campaigning - much of which goes on unannounced in a 'softly softly' fashion, and the Community Services. But one aspect of the PF's work that is possibly not so well known among the membership is the Media Information Line. This phone line is manned by volunteers, and is well used by various media companies researching not only the Pagan Federation itself, but also many aspects of Paganism, folklore and related subjects.

As an example of recent activity, the Media team have been kept very busy over the Yule/Solstice period. Recent 'appearances' where quotes have been required, or other information has been provided include local radio across the country, Sky News, Three Counties Radio, various newspaper articles, BBC Wales - a Welsh speaking discussion programme about the Solstice and Druids, and the BBC World Service.

The Media Hotline number is 0121 476 0662. Please remember this line is staffed by volunteers, so may not always be manned. If this is the case, please leave a message and your call will be returned as soon as possible.

At the last Council meeting, held in November, the new Committee was ratified and confirmed by Council.

The make-up of the new Committee can be found on the 'About Us' page here

Following our earlier story in April, the following statement has been issued on behalf of PEBBLE (of which the PF is a member):

I am delighted to announce that from today onwards all Pagans can now swear with the new Pagan oath rather than having to affirm - which is a non-religious oath. This means that anyone appearing as a witness, defendant, accused (!) in any kind of court or tribunal (e.g. magistrates' courts, crown courts - basically anywhere you have to swear an oath to tell the truth in a formal setting) can now state that they wish to swear by the Pagan oath.

The oath is ' by all that I hold sacred' and should be added to the traditional words of 'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...by all that I hold sacred'.

The Home Office advisor has told me "there is no need for further discussion as the wording for the Pagan oath has been circulated. People can start using it from this moment.

The definitive document for all oaths to be used in the Department should be published on the Department's internal web site by early October 2006.

Thank you for all your assistance."

After all the recent publicity and explanation about the 2006 Committee election, six candidates registered their notification to stand for the election and were sent their election paperwork.

By the closing date of 1st July 2006, only one candidate (our current IT Officer, Alan) had filed completed election papers. Alan will now serve a three year term on Committee from November 2006 (subject to Council ratification).

One of the core values held dearly by the Pagan Federation is holding democratic elections and ensuring that the people making up the Committee are not “just” appointed internally into office, but also includes people elected by the membership. For the last two years no applications to stand for election have been received.

As a consequence of this, the vast majority of current Committee members have been co-opted to serve for twelve months and no current serving Committee member has actually been elected to represent and serve the membership!

It is imperative that an election is held this year so please consider applying. If you can identify with the following criteria as stipulated in our constitution then you may stand for election.

Candidates must be paid up Full Members of the Pagan Federation for one year at the time of their nomination, and must be proposed and seconded by paid up Full Members of the Pagan Federation who are eligible to vote.

The PF Committee meets at least four times a year. Please do be aware that it is an active role which does require commitment and enthusiasm, both for the organisation itself and the wider pagan community!

If you would like to stand for election then please send your ‘notification to stand’ to The General Secretary, BM Box 7097, London WC1N 3XX or e-mail secretary@paganfed.org A nomination form will then be forwarded to you. Remember that you will require a Proposer and a Seconder to enable you to take part. A Proposer or Seconder can only support one candidate standing for election. Your notification to stand must be received no later that the 17th June 2006. Your fully completed nomination form will be required by 1st July. The ballot forms will be posted out to Full Members on 18th August 2006. The closing date and count for the election is Saturday 7th October 2006.

A list of committee roles and the accompanying outline Job Descriptions are available for download.

A significant step forward for all Pagans was made recently when the Dept for Constitutional Affairs issued the following advisory note:

A significant step forward for all Pagans was made recently when the Dept for Constitutional Affairs issued the following advisory note:

The Pagan oath should be available to practitioners in tribunals and courts.

The oath should read: 'I swear by all that I hold sacred to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.'

Individuals would not need a holy book to swear by. However, if they did, they will supply their own personal holy book, which should not be touched by others without permission, other than for security purposes.

This follows representative work initiated and followed through by PF representatives and PEBBLE, and is another indicator of the hard work being done behind the scenes by the PF for the benefit of all Pagans.

Carol Nowlan, PF Interfaith Manager, has been elected to sit on the Interfaith mk Executive Committee.

With members of the Silver Star, Carol will lead an evening Interfaith meeting - Discovering Paganism - on the 5th of July. The meeting will commence with an opening talk on Paganism. Then somewhat different to the usual presentation, a total of 8 people will be participating in explaining 'The Wheel of the Year', followed by 3 Priestesses representing the 3 aspects of the Goddess. Similarly aspects of the God will be explained by 2 Priests and a dedicant.

If you're interested in becoming involved in Interfaith work, please contact Carol Nowlan or Robin Herne, c/o The Pagan Federation, BM box 7097, London, WC1N 3XX.

The Pagan Federation were recently asked to supply a large quantity of Information Packs covering Druidry, Northern Tradition, Witchcraft and general Paganism for a series of training courses to be held at ACAS. Following the courses, a letter was received from Steve Wilson, who had organised the training sessions:

I would like to thank the Pagan Federation for providing the booklets. Before we carried out the training we had no idea whether we would be left with all 260 booklets, because no-one was interested.

In the event each one went like hotcakes. Since, as I understand it, there were people from every ACAS office in England and Wales, I take this to mean that at least one copy of each of the four booklets is now at every one of those offices. This means that should ACAS be called in to a dispute - which will almost always be an employment dispute - in which paganism is involved, the officers concerned will have detailed information from our point of view before any actual meeting. This means that if someone claims they had to in some way discriminate against a pagan in spite of the December 2003 regulations because say, we are all Satanists or devil worshippers, ACAS will know that this is wrong beforehand.

The Pagan Federation deserves a huge pat on the back for facilitating this, while the PF weren't directly involved in the ACAS training, if these booklets hadn't been available any written material we provided would have been hasty and disposable, these will last.

And thank you Steve, for taking on the work. This is a good example of the work that the PF facilitate, largely behind the scenes. Without the support of the membership, such work would not be possible. So thank you, one and all!

Belinda Winder, PF Vice-President, today made the following announcement:

The PEBBLE web site is now fully up and running at http://www.pebble.uk.net and I am attending a PEBBLE meeting on 6th April in Oxford to discuss plans of action over the next 12 months. If people have any queries or suggestions for the meeting, please let me know.

See the PEBBLE website for further information and contact details.

Cassandra Latham, PF Community Services Officer today made the following announcement:

I am pleased to introduce our new PF Prison Ministry Manager, Anne Coleman.

The PO Box address will remain the same, but the prison ministry email address changes to: wiseowl@tcp.co.uk

I want to take this opportunity to thank Suzanne White for her energetic and sterling work for the PF Prison Ministry. She has worked diligently through immense challenges and difficulties during her term of office. Suzanne will continue as a Prison Chaplain and remain as a valuable member of our growing team of volunteers.

At the same time, Suzanne made the following assertions:

There seems to be some rumour mongering going on, so just to set the record straight:

I was not asked to resign as Prison Ministry Manager. I have not resigned as a Chaplain and will be continuing to work at the Prisons in the North East. Further, I have not resigned as District Manager for the North East. In view of the above, I remain a committed member of the PF Team.

2006 is the Pagan Federation's year of change with much happening to improve the organisation and the services it offers to meet the needs of an ever evolving community and spirituality.

The campaigning work of the organization is being stepped up with ongoing projects in conjunction with the Home Office, Prison Service and Charity Commission. It is also good to report that contact is being received from major employment organizations and Human Resource departments wanting to know about modern Paganism to assist people within the workplace.

All the organizational changes such as the revised membership criteria for England and Wales and the introduction of the updated aims and objectives, all agreed at the November 2005 Council meeting, have now been implemented.

The revised membership criteria for England and Wales is now in operation and updated ‘Membership Application’ forms for England and Wales have been created and are available upon request or may be downloaded from this website.

All our other available literature, such as our information leaflets and information packs have now been revised to reflect the agreed changes. The general ‘Paganism Information Pack’ and ‘Witchcraft’ information pack have been reviewed, revised and updated to show a broader picture of modern Paganism and its various paths.

In order to implement the changes and update all stationery and literature going forward, the Pagan Federation now has a dedicated stationery department based in Birmingham. Not only should this ensure the high quality and correctness of information being produced, we aim to ensure a faster and high quality service for people requesting information from us.

The website too is being completely overhauled and updated to reflect the changes within the organization and to also provide a good resource point for updates about the Pagan Federation, its work and Paganism. This will be an ongoing process, with the website being updated and checked regularly to ensure its content is correct and that it does remain helpful and user friendly.

PF Products have been reviewed, with more merchandise being added to the range of goodies on offer. Again, this will be an ongoing process with the range being reviewed regularly and added to. We aim to provide good quality products at cost effective prices.

We have today been advised that the printing company that we employ to produce Pagan Dawn magazine, have gone into liquidation. There would appear to be possibilities of a management buy-out, and on this basis given the time available, we have given the go-ahead for the new owners to publish the Imbolc issue. Consequently, there may be a slight delay in publication and distribution of this issue. We have been told all copies should be produced and distributed by 7th February. We apologise for the disruption this may cause, but would stress that this situation is not of the Pagan Federation's making.

As many of you will be aware, there has recently been a very welcome change in the law. This will allow gay and lesbian couples in Scotland to officially register their partnership, with the first civil partnership ceremonies taking place on December 21st 2005.

I feel in light of this change that it is our duty, as the largest Pagan organisation in Scotland involved in celebrancy, to keep the community informed of what these changes mean.

There are two distinct types of marriage in Scotland - religious and civil. PF Scotland’s approved celebrants can only perform religious marriages. We receive a license - the marriage schedule - from the local registrar for each marriage to allow us to do this.

All civil marriages, which may only be held in a registry office or certain other registered civil buildings, are performed by registrars who are employed by the local councils - no religious content is allowed in a civil ceremony, with even the music having to be very carefully chosen to avoid religious themes.

Civil partnership falls into a similar category to civil marriage. It is not legally a form of marriage, despite headlines to that effect in the press, but it does convey certain rights and responsibilities to couples that are similar to some of those conveyed by marriage.

Because the civil partnership ceremony is a civil ceremony, our celebrants are not allowed, by law, to carry these out, nor are celebrants from any other religious group. They must be performed by a council-employed registrar, and must not have any religious content. We are not discriminating against the lesbian and gay community in this - we simply have no choice. As a member of the LGBT Pagan community I intensely dislike this, but the fact is that we have to work within the law.

If we have a request from a couple who are planning on holding a civil partnership ceremony (and I hope we will have many), we can do exactly the same as we did before we could legally marry heterosexual couples - we can perform a handfasting or partnering ceremony for them either before or after their civil partnership ceremony. These must be strictly separate from the civil ceremony, but can take whatever form the couple choose.

I hope this clarifies the current situation for you all, and sincerely hope for future changes in the law to allow us to legally marry any couple who wish to do so. And to any of you planning to have your own civil partnership ceremony, we hope you’ll be in touch!

Louise Park
Celebrants Register Co-ordinator
The Pagan Federation (Scotland)
medionemeton@blueyonder.co.uk

For further information on registering a civil partnership, go to http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/regscot/registering-a-civil-partnership-in-scotland.html or write to your local registrar for details.

Cassandra Latham, Community Services Manager, and Suzanne White, Prison Ministry Manager have issued a further statement concerning recent media coverage about the Prison Ministry. This follows last month's statement on the same issue.

Read the latest statement here (Word .doc format).

A new information line has been implemented, to replace the 0906 premium rate number previously in use. The new number, for all enquiries is 07986 034387.

Agreement on all major points was reached at the recent Council meeting. Accordingly, changes (particularly to the Constitution and Membership procedures) will be implemented over the coming weeks.

The PF Council are due to meet next week, in what could be a historic meeting for the organisation. Several proposals are on the agenda, following sterling efforts from Working Parties set up earlier in the year.

Among the items on the agenda will be proposals for changes to:

In England & Wales:

• Voting Rights
• Aims and Objectives
• Changes to Membership
• Code of Conduct
• Revised Complaints Procedure

PF International:

• Change in status for PF International

Many of these proposals, if passed, will require changes to the Constitution.

Suzanne White, Prison Ministry Manager has issued a statement concerning recent press coverage following the recent release of a Prison Service Order concerning Practise of Paganism in Prisons.

Read the full statement here (Word .doc format).

Many will be sad to hear that Madge Worthington died on Sunday 6th November, three days short of her 92nd birthday. Madge was a founder member of the PF and the founder of the Whitecroft line of Gardnerian Wicca.

Follow this link to a reprint of an article that appeared in Pagan Dawn 151 in honour of her 90th birthday. (ACrobat .pdf format)