A Clash of Ideologies

It's been a disappointing weekend for our latest group of pilgrims, as they pack their weekend bags into their Shoguns and head off in the rain for Junction 13.

This was our fourth "Encountering the Silence of the Night" weekend.  Friday night they were to be standing in awe in the Orchard, feeling the quiet and the darkness and receiving them as balm to the soul.  This was ruined by the sound of wailing from the Gibbon Moon people as they mourned the possible death of their god in the landing of the NASA moonshot.  It's hard to feel that the universe is beneficent and friendly when all you can hear are cries of "It's so unfair!  He was only 4 billion years old!"

By 3am the Gibbon Moon people had finally gone off for some sleep.  Silence fell, I am told, for 5 minutes.  Then the place started to resound to the sounds of the Wiccan Drum Ensemble, trying to scare off evil spirits.  Not a good first night all round.  And not the best double-booking we could have made, in retrospect.

The following day, our pilgrims should have had the chance to get some sleep after their long night.  Instead they were kept awake by a worshop* that Hnaef had organised - "The Spirituality of Brass Bands for the Tone Deaf".

Last night, a group of sleep-deprived and generally grumpy pilgrims headed out to the Moot House for what they hoped would be a quiet yet challenging meditation on "listening to your inner owl".  And what did they get?  Drayton Parslow and Siousie doing a three-hour set with their Kirsty MacColl tribute concert, "Electric Landmine".

We are in favour of respect between religions, mutual discourse and learning from one another.  But maybe in future we'll keep everybody apart instead. 

* Worshop - a Worship Workshop.