In the spring of 1997, I went to the Beltaine Festival at Minto. This was not actually on Beltaine as such, but on the nearest long weekend. In any case it was the second major pagan event that I attended that year.

This year's festival featured a handfasting, which is a pagan version of a Christian wedding. I had a new dress made up just for the occasion. I'm glad I did. I still wear this dress when attending formal pagan ceremonies. It was made by a friend's aunty who is a professional dressmaker. I wanted to make it, but didn't want do a sloppy job(1). It was the right choice however.

I drove down in the Rauni to Minto, located just east of Liverpool in the south-west of the Sydney metropolitan area. Minto has a certain something about it. Located in the bush and near a ravine, it has an atmosphere that inspires creativity and a pagan mindset.

And overall I enjoyed myself. No going skyclad at this festival however, it was a different style than Eostre had been earlier in the year. And some odd things happened there as well. I retired to my tend on the 2nd day for a rest, and was hit by an enormous wave of panic! It wasn't until a day later round a fire that I discovered that someone else had retired to their tent at the same time and "de-stressed" themselves. I'd picked up on the broadcast!

The handfasting was truly a wonderful and magic event. I formed part of the women's contingent at the event, and was very moved by the occasion. Also, I had a dream. This dream happened on the first night. Prior to going to bed, I participated in a round robin story telling, that featured unicorns of different colours

In the dream I'd attempted to submit a petition to a corporation that exists in a skyscraper in the middle of the forest, I look around. There are several Pegasi running and flying about. The nearest is a white male, which is grazing peacefully. Someone hands me a scroll and I read it out. The Pegasus retracts it's wings into it's back and rolls over, exposing it's stomach. I scratched this and then a voice says "Now he's yours' for life!".

I woke in my tent, hearing a noise outside. I unzipped the tent and there was a little white male fluffy dog outside. He was very friendly and came in and rolled over, waiting for me to scratch his stomach. He was owned by the caretaker of the place.

Now the dream in conjunction with the appearance of the dog, had meaning for me. I'd been living on my own for well over a year and was lonely. I didn't want a relationship though -- I knew that it would not go well for me if I did, and I was still hurting from my apparent rejection earlier in the year. So I wanted a pet. I wanted a chum who would be happy to see me, show affection, didn't back chat or deceive me. I wanted my pet. I had the feeling that the dream meant that I would get a white male dog.

A few weeks later I attended a local Beltaine ritual. This was a first attempt by members of "Pagans in the Pod" (a local pagan group of which I was a member and which is now disbanded) at a proper ritual on one of the festivals. It had mixed success. For some reason we held it on a beach(2), and someone invited lots of their hippy friends.

Some rituals started ahead of time, without some participants, and somehow later in the night listening to Beatles songs just didn't seem right. But I did participate as the Crone in the women's ritual and met several people I hadn't seen for a while. And I was the only one to jump the fire and make a wish. My wish was for my pet.

And a few weeks later I got my wish.

The same friends who'd help me find my car phoned to say that their dog Cleo had just had another litter. I asked for the all white male or which there was only one. Then I went and collected him. I called my new pet dog Pegasus after the dream, and I still have him today, a year after that event.

Peggy has been a worry, has been mischievous, has cost me a lot of money and a bit of anxiety, but he's also been the most loving and faithful and intelligent pet I could wish for. I got what I asked for and it was the right thing. A week later university ended and a week after that I moved with him into my new house at Barnsley.

FOOTNOTES

(1) My confidence in dressmaking has been in tatters ever since taking a dressmaking course in Newcastle. The teacher had a habit of calling me "Good Boy" all the time. I couldn't take it after six weeks and quit the course. Nowadays I think I'd demand an apology for her apparently deliberate spite.

(2) Beltaine is a festival about spring, about fertility, about greenness. A beach with no trees and little grass is a good spot -- No? No!!!