I'm writing a few articles at the moment and thought I'd do one on 'first-time mooting', tips on going to your first moot. I wondered if people would be willing to share their experiences of going to their first moot - any good times or horror stories, any advice you'd pass on?

I'll ask before quoting.

Best wishes,

Marion.

I've had mixed feelings about the first couple of moots I attend. Heathenfest was just great. Most people were friendly and the re-enactments were well done (if a little unrealistic and not in keeping with the fighting styles of the period). Lots of mead and good food. The opening and closing ceremonies were a bit amateurish but that gave them a charm of their own.

The first one we went to (a general pagan moot) in Colchester was well done, but it didn't gel with me. I didn't take part in the closing ceremony because I felt no connection to what they were doing and it came across as a little too am-dram for me.

Being a heathen I guess I connected more to the heathenfest (obviously) because I could identify with most of the people there - even if we disagree on the finer points! But as I said with the Colchester one it just didn't work for me. On the other hand Mrs W enjoyed the Colchester moot so there you go.

I used to go to one on a regular basis - it was definitely more a social gathering Moot and very informal, so whether we discussed anything pagan depended on whether the conversation went in that direction. Most of the people at the moot were Wiccan (initiated).

I met some lovely, lovely people there, and though the moot in that incarnation stopped, there're a couple from the moot I still meet with.

The best advice I can give is to try and speak to the moot organiser or someone who goes first, it's less scary than walking into a moot alone.

My first moot was quite weird, and I think would have put many people off, but I'm a persistent person, and one person there made me think it would be worth perhaps trying a different moot.

At my second moot I met the man who would become my husband, so they're not all bad, though I wouldn't suggest moots as a hunting ground for future partners normally!

bb
Rhiannon

Ive not really been to many Moots!
The first one was years ago in Norfolk, it met in a Pub. I had joined OBOD shortly before that (I wasnt in it long though!), so had met a couple of other OBOD's. They introduced me to the Moot, it was a very friendly place and I met lots of good friends there!
Then I moved back to Cornwall and couldnt find any Moots! I found an Earth Mysterys Group and went to that, the Talks were very good and I spoke to the Organiser afterwards, but there wasnt much time to speak to anyone else!
So I started my own Moot, the Penwith Pagan Moot.
I was great fun, though hard work, I met many nice people and a few nutters!
It still runs over 12 years later, it is now on its 4th leader I think and has a Charitable Status, its own Bank Account and organises regular Open Rituals and Ancient Site Clearances (cutting back of Bracken & Bramble and piccking up litter etc) to keep the sites well managed and usable.
I am again back in Norfolk and attend the same Moot I originally went too, though it has moved locations and is on its 4th leader as well!
Though all the original friends I made have left the area!

First Moot was a bit of a nightmare, some local dodgy coven were on a recruitment drive, and they were most put out that we didn't fall over ourselves to play nudey prod games with them.

More recently, I've made contact with a lovely group and they're fabulous, very open, welcoming and not at all 'my way of the highway'

Though, bar far the best ['Mooty' experience was meeting UKP'ers!

Q

I've been to quite a few different moots, some good and some not so good - and have run some as well a few years back.

I tend to prefer those moots where it is more a social gathering rather than those where there is some sort of talk, simply because my reason for going is to meet people and you can't really chat when you are all having to listen to one person.

I guess my advice for people going to a moot for the first time would be to contact the organisers beforehand and get some idea of what kind of moot it is, don't feel pressured to take part in anything you don't feel comfortable doing (for example, some moots like to finish off with some sort of ritual, I never take part in these), and if the first moot you go to isn't to your taste, there are plenty of others out there so keep trying!

Some moots take place in someones house, in these cases bringing along a bottle of wine or some nibbles is always appreciated.

I prefer pub moots myself, purely because I'm not keen on crowds and 30 people in a front room can be a bit too much, lol! Pub moots are usually easier to get to, unless you know the area well.

I went along to the first two Scarborough weekends that were run by this site, and they were really good - relaxed, friendly, and plenty going on but for those of us who can't spare a whole weekend, there are plenty of moots out there that run at night or for an afternoon, it's just a question of finding them.

I have been to a good few 'moots' over the years after persuasion from friends; from 'coven' meetings in houses, to ceremonial magic meetings, pagan pub moots of various sorts and local 'gatherings' - without fail, they have all been unmagickal, decidedly weak in any purpose (even if one was stated) and boring. Self styled witches and so-called pagans in such groups are almost always sham, self-centered, ego-tripping fools.

One can meet the odd good or powerful magickal soul that is free of delusion there, but that is just as likely to happen at the chip shop.

I reckon the old Glastonbury festivals and rock festivals were the best places to meet real witches and the like - after a bit of acid or shroom you could see them shining, but then I am just a grumpy old sod who thinks half the modern witchy types would be improved with a stake up the arse and the other half would enjoy it.

It didn't happen to me, but one off my moot-friends.

The Maidenhead Moot had been a bit up-and-down, and she was exploring what other activities and groups there were in the area. She and a pagan friend who is NOT in the Maidenhead Moot decided to visit the High Wycombe Moot, or one of them. I think this was the one upstairs in the Hog's Head.

Unfortunately they got the time wrong and had a bit to drink by the time the Moot started. It was comparatively formal and had speakers and everything! Apparently the main speaker was one of the regular organisers of the HW moot.
My friend, we'll call her Jane, and her friend, we'll call him Jack, found they disagreed with what was being said. I *think* it was something about formal ritual working. Eventually Jack started heckling. Jack and Jane were thrown out after he called the speaker a "saggy-titted bitch". I think it was. They went downstairs and kept drinking. Later on the Moot broke up and the Speaker came downstairs and Jack and Jane made it up with her, or at least, to the extent of being on politely speaking terms.

There is someone from the HW Moot here, I think. They may be able to provide an alternative version of the same story. But Jack and Jane decided that the HW moot was not for them.

As a mostly solitery I have only had a limited experiance of moots

The one I went to whilst at university was very much an extention of the 'Pagan soc' and an excuse to invade a pub once a month. The membership was mostly wiccan (note the small 'w') and a few had northan tradition leanings. But all were fairly nieve and somewhat fluffy in thier belief systems... this was as much to do with our collective youth and (in most cases) recent 'discovery' of pagan paths as it was to do with the influx of Silver RW books in the groups 'libary'.
I did not find much to recommend it beyond the obvious socializing and after confirming to myself that there was a group of people who fell under the unbarella of 'pagan' and that I could justify calling my own beliefs that fairly well returned to my solo ways, keeping only passing contact with select members of the wider Pagan Soc / comunity.

More recently I wanggled to visit a moot in Reading. Logistically it was complex... going out on a Sunday to a pub I had never visited in a town which I generally avoid, whist placating a husband who has no use for religion of any strip and accomidating a Tadpole...
The gathering was large, noisy, pub / pub food oriantated with small folks popping up all around the tables. There were obvious core / clique groups, with nothing to say it was pagan beyond clues of clothing and jewlery. Could have been any old gathering of mates and thier families at the local. Cannot say I was inspired or encoraged.
I know that they do organise other events / rituals / meetings in addition to the pub moot. But again logistics and general discomfort with the way the 'leadership' presented themselves means that I have not attended any other meeting. And I am strongly debating leaving the assosiated web thing they run too.

So not really great experances...
I think this is in part because of my discomfort around humanity in general and my long term solitery path that has left me with quirks that really don't fit with any of the standard 'book' forms of paganisum - thus naturally leaving me out on a limb.

Be bright, be bold
Fillionous

Being a bit of a rather anti social, anti old I tend to keep away from the small rather intimate pub type moots. I go to the bigger events (moots if you can call them such) like the Bash and Halloween Festivas, some PF conferences and quite a few camping events as they tend to be a bit more of a eclectic mix of folks and there are usually a few others around with views similar to my own so conversations can easily start. Also there is space at the larger events to escape and be grumpy and anti social without effecting others.

Where do I start?!

The first moot that I went to was ok - quiet- but I met some people that became good friends and we remain that to this day.

I once went to a moot in Preston where this woman informed me that she was going to read my runes, that she was a hereditary norwegian witch or something (I thought she was from the wirral) and that her knowledge of runes was passed down through her family from way back when. She pulled out her runes and they were full of odd little rocks and stones and gemstones with no runes on them but that she started to arrange in this weird pattern. She called the stones and gemstones 'amplifiers' but then proceeded to put on these other amulets to 'tone down' the reading because the psychic impression she said she got was too strong otherwise

So I put up with her talking crap for a little while longer, half entertained and wanting to see what she would do next but then finally my patience snapped and I told her that it's interesting how she'd 'inherited' her knowledge of rune reading like this since pre-Christian times seeing how there's actually nothing in any lore or historical accounts of archeology to suggest that people actually marked staves with runes in the way that we do now and used them for divination (we know they used staves with markings on, we know that runes were used for magic and had meanings however we don't know that the runes were the markings on the divination staves).

She then started on this long round the houses reason which somehow relied on the decoration of illuminated bibles from Anglo-Saxon times as a key point. Hello, relevence? Are you there? And then my BS meter went into 'Danger Will Robinson' mode and informed her that I was going to talk to the other co-founder of the Chorley moot because I was moving to Korea in about a week but then again she should already know that.

Another time, we had the Chorley moot - some folks from another moot came and proceeded to pretty much hold their moot in the middle of the Chorley moot, not talking to anyone except to give out business cards so of course I had to be rude back.

You know what I think is a real moot horror story?? People dressing up like extras from lord of the rings to go to Pagan moots. How to make us all look like a bunch of t***s in one easy step. Not to mention just how dangerous it can be when you're caught behind someone in a cloak going downstairs when the moot is clearing out!!!

Got to agree with this. I don't do dressing up and never will. I really don't see the point of it. And it does make us look like a bunch of wally-brains to the ordinary person in the street. I honestly believe that if we want to be taken seriously then dressing up in 5th century gear isn't the way to go about it.

And anyway, our ancestors would have dressed in their everyday clothes, except perhaps for the shaman who may have had special ritually meaningful clothing, which is fair enough.

Yeah definitely, it's not Paganism it's just shit.

I've been to a couple of moots, and found them mainly too cliquey for my liking. One memorable night, a few of us had gone along to the Pontypridd moot, and we were being studiously ignored and generally treated with suspicion by the Queen Bee and the rest of the 'in crowd'. Anyway, the loos were outside, and one of our group went out, and on returning said to us, 'Come out and see the moon,' so we all trooped out and stood in awe. It was huge, nearly full, and just beautiful. It was one of those spontaneous almost-ritual moments, when we felt connected spiritually both as a group but also to the Old Ones. Several of the fluffies passed us on their way to the facilities, but despite following our gaze, couldn't understand what we were looking at, much less why, and scuttled back in. Mind you, this was the same lot who left the circle littered with pringles tubes and coke bottles after the only open circle I ever attended...

I've read a lot of replies here saying what is wrong with moots from the view point of attendees. cna I come back with the view of a moot organiser, please?

I'm chair of Liverpool Circle of Pagans and we run a monthly moot, with free time to chat and network, a raffle and a talk or workshop. We also run a conference (annual) and open rituals. Over the years we've been accused of been cliquey and unwelcoming when somebody simply hasn't got the time inbetween furniture-dragging, speaker-wrangling and general organisation stuff to stop and have an indepth discussion on whatever.

Although we must be doing something right as we have a membership on our site that runs into the hundreds and a regular attendance of between 30 - 50 people for our moots.

I find people are ready to criticise, but not many are willing to pitch in and help make an event what they would like. Backseat drivers, I tell you! We are lucky at the C.O.P - we have a committee of about a dozen people who work very hard to put on a whole calender of events for the local Pagan community.

I've attended moots that I've been bored stupid at, where I've been exhausted and sick, but I've still gone along. I must say I enjoy the majority of our moots - I've met most of my dear and trusted friends through the Pagan community. And if I didn't get a kick out of seeing our members enjoying themselves, making friends and chatting into the wee hours, I wouldn't be still doing it after what can sometimes feel like a billion years!

I've learnt that you can't please all of the people all of the time - there's been accusations of fluffiness (SHOCK! HORROR!) and non-fluffiness, of there being too many witchs, wiccan, heathens, druids (insert noun of choice). At the end of the day, we try to provide something to interest everyone, but it's bloody hard and can get very exhausting if you take everything 'they' say to heart.

Yes, personally I find fluffies, LARPers and people who've watched 1 episode of Charmed and think they're a witch very annoying, but I find a judgemental attitude worse. So, if you've attended a local moot and not liked it - why not start one of your own, or get involved and help out to fix things? Who knows, the organisers may just be very grateful for the support!

Blessings

Helen x