Meeting Minutes: June 2018

Thanks again to our secretary Mark for putting these minutes together!

20180602 minutes

 

Meeting Minutes: February 18, 2018

Many thanks to our secretary Mark for putting these minutes together. 🙂

Pagan Collective of Victoria

Meeting Minutes 18/02/2018

Present: Josie, Nickole, Dorian, Elkie, Alex, Sarah, Mark, Ryan

Apologies: Seamus, Ang, Shaz, Dean

Meeting Location: The Last Jar, Melbourne

Meeting Open: 12.38 

1. President’s Report –

We are now back into things again after the Christmas break. The committee dinner was a great opportunity to get to know each other better and we will try and do these a few times a year to help strengthen our bond as a team. Patreon is up and posting more to come later in the meeting.

2. Secretary’s Report –

There isn’t a lot of new news on this front at present, we are overhauling the membership sign-up process and database to make things more efficient.

3. Treasurer’s Report –

We currently have about $17 in the account, the first of the Patreon payments won’t come through until the start of the next month.

4. Meet-up Reports
   Hills

The Hills ritual went really well and they are hoping to be able to do something like this again in the future. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

CBD
The numbers continue to go well for the city meetup, with a good regular attendance, there is going to be a slight change to the discussion format as it moves forward this year. They are contemplating doing a Facebook live at a future event.
Ballarat
Ballarat meet-ups are still in discussion with the possibility of running four a year on the table at present.
Frankston
These meet-ups are still continuing on and are going well with some regular faces as well as new faces turning up each meeting.

 

Swinburn

The first Swinburn pagan event will be coming up soon, it is very exciting.

5. Morris Report
The side is still continuing on in 2018, working on getting the skills up ready to be performance ready. They are attending English Ale in May. They have begun learning a second dance (Dilwyn) and are practicing processionals.

6. Patreon

Patreon is now live and posting. Thank-you to everyone that has supported, contributed to and worked on getting it live. Also a big thank-you to everyone that has become a backer, or been helping share it around.

7. Website
The overhaul is well underway and now blog posts immediately post to the Facebook as well. The site is getting anywhere from 50 – 200 hits a day. That is frankly amazing.

 

8. Facebook
   The stats are up really well, so please continue to share and interact with it to help keep this up.
9. Membership
   We are updating the form so that when a member signs up it sends it straight to our database (which is being overhauled) We will be contacting members to confirm their details and to ensure they know their membership number.
10. Community Safety Month

Have a lot of articles lined up ready to go throughout March so that our social media will be posting something every day designed to provide the community with access to information that will educate and inform in a variety of aspects of safe community.

 

11. Spiral Dance
    Yes they are still coming to Melbourne, no we don’t have the date yet but will be posting more about it when we do. This will be branded as a PCV presents event.

    12. Pagan Pride Day
    The date has been selected as April 7^th.
    Sarah will be drawing up a list of speakers and presenters for the various traditions and paths in Victoria as well as the various groups currently running events open to the public.

It has been proposed that we have a Druids v Witches Kubb game on the day, it will be a light-hearted thing, designed to be entertaining.

13. Seasonal Celebrations
Yule – this was to be organised by Dean? We will need to clarify

Autumn Equinox – we currently don’t have someone running the equinox now that Pagan Pride Day is in April.

14. Instagram
    We now have an Instagram that is being run by Dorian at present. It can be found by looking for pagancollectivevic.
15. Workshops
    It would be great if we can start announcing some of the dates for workshops, so could the committee members who have volunteered to run workshops please start trying to work out the dates for their workshop. These will probably be 1 – 2 hours in length and $10 – $15 for non-Patreon backers.

    16. Chat Bots
    Ryan is investigating chat bots with involves direct engagement content with users. He is currently learning about how to use them and will run it when this gets off the ground.

 

17. Inclusive Language

It was raised that we should consider changing some of the language on our website and social media to make it more inclusive. It can sometimes come across as slightly Wicca or eclectic witchcraft centric and it would be a shame if that made people from other paths feel left out.

Meeting End: 1.50 PM

 

Meeting Minutes – January 2018

Pagan Collective of Victoria

 

Meeting Minutes 14/01/2018

 

Present: Josie, Ryan, Elkie, Alex, Mark, Sarah, Elkie, Shaz, Ang, Fran, Seumas

 

Apologies: Nickole, Dean, Dorian

 

Meeting Location: Earthly Pleasures, Belgrave

Meeting Open: 11.07 AM

 

 

1. President’s Report –

It was a really great year. The PCV ran 57 events last year which is unbelievably good, especially considering we have come from a small hard to locate community to a well networked community where it is very easy for people to find other like minded pagans, whether it is at a PCV event or one of the other events run by other individuals and groups who advertise on our community calendar.

 

2. Secretary’s Report –

The memberships have been slow recently, not surprising given the time of year it is, however the social media has continued to have a lot of interaction and messages which means that people are still engaging with us. The database overhaul is a slow process due to lack of time but will continue to be worked on in 2018.

 

3. Presentation of Accounts (Treasurer) –

We’ve not spent or earned any money in the time since we last met, largely this is because we don’t charge for events and we try to keep the overheads low. We’ll be linking the Patreon to our bank account soon so will have more to report from now on.

 

4. Meet-up Reports
   Hills

The Hills are amazing and vibrant, the meetup for today had 54 people RSVP’d and the events are frequently larger than can be contained by the venue. The event will evolve to suit this as we progress. The Hills weeknight dinners will resume again soon too, they’ve been popular in their own way and a great event. The writers are still meeting too ostensibly under the Hills banner and seem to be having a good time, how this event will evolve we don’t know but it will continue on into 2018.

CBD
The CBD meet-ups continue to be one of our larger regular meet-ups and are going to continue on into 2018 under the custodianship of Ryan. The first one for 2018 will be Sat 20^th of Jan.
Ballarat
The Central Vic meet-ups have continued to have fresh faces turn up (two to three new people most meets), they’ve been small and enjoyable. Ballarat meet-ups will continue on in 2018, possibly under a new direction.

Frankston
Unfortunately Dorian isn’t here to discuss the Frankston meet-ups but from what people have heard they seem to be doing well.

Swinburne

Swinburne now have a Pagan group thanks to the efforts of Alex and are having their first meet-ups this year.

 

Druid Coffee

Druid coffee is looking to improve its attendance this year and are getting some advice on running social media to help to this end. We will continue to advertise for them of course and help in any other way that we can.

 

On the topic of meet-ups this year can we please make sure that the name of every PCV run event has PCV in the name and preferably the month too. This will do two important things, first it will help people tell the difference between the events we run and those we advertise for people. Second it will make it a lot easier for the event wrap-up writer to find all the events each month and make sure that they are covered in the wrap-up.

5. Morris Report
Oak, Smash & Thorn are continuing into 2018 as a side and are planning to travel to South Australia again, in May this time. They’ve been learning to do dark Morris and are going to be learning new dances and sticking this year too.

6. Patreon

Patreon will be launching in a few weeks, the campaign having been previously outlined before. It will be linked to the PCV bank account and the campaign clearly outlines what the money can/will be used for. We are currently looking at how to effectively capture audio of workshops for Patreon.

7. Workshops
The PCV is going to be running six workshops in 2018, they will cost little ($5 – $10) for the public and will be free to patreon backers. To stop there being pagan burnout for organizers they will be tacked onto meet-up days, running before the meet-up and so that people can leave when it is over or stay for a meal and socialize with others as they choose.

 

The dates for the workshops will be worked out in the committee group.

 

The volunteers to run a workshop are      – The Hills (topic to be decided)

– Silver Birch Grove (Ogham)

– Linda (Charms)

– Ryan (Divination/Incense)

– Josie (topic to be decided)

It was thought Dorian was interested in running a workshop but we will need to confirm with him before proceeding down that line any further.

 

8. Social Media/Blog
   Moving forward into 2018 we are adding the following people to our FB admin team: Alex. We are also adding the following to our Blog/Webpage admin team: Alex and Sarah.

For the monthly meet-up wrap-ups we are looking at moving to a photo based wrap-up with minimal text for ease of publication.

Committee reads may be going to a bi-monthly format with a change to being committee reviews and using themes. Sarah is going to let us know what direction she wants to go when she has had a chance to look at it.

 

We are adding a new piece to the blog probably titled ‘Walking the Walk.’ which will be focusing on what people are doing to connect more with nature, their path, etc. Mark and Josie will be contributing their Gold Fields Walks to this and when the Hills get their 2018 sorted will be contributing some articles too.

9. WWC
We are still waiting on some WWC checks for some people. We will be discussing some other WWC stuff when we get to community safety.

10. Samhain

Need to check in with Seline to see if she is still happy to run Samhain 2018 or whether her other contributions are going to make this too hard.

 

11. Social Media/Blog
    The blog is continuing to be a great asset to the PCV along with the calendar and as mentioned the duties have been divvied up so that it can continue to run smoothly and not over-whelm anyone.12. Midsumma
    We will be looking at whether or not we can/will run a stall at 2019 Midsumma with the Queer Pagan Men Australia group and what will be needed etc. for that.
12. WoZ Movie Night
    It was decided that with everything already on the table that this might not be something we continue to pursue at this point.
13. Spiral Dance
    
    Coming again in 2018 sponsored by the PCV, no dates have been set in stone yet but it will probably be April-ish at this stage. It won’t be run the same day as Pagan Pride Day this year because it was deemed overall too much for people.
14. Redbubble
    Still planning to get this running in 2018 now that the crazy December January period is coming to an end and the annual PCV hiatus for the committee is over.16. OBOD Summer Solstice 2018
    The Melbourne Grove are excited and nervous to run this ritual, it is going to be a first for them. The date for it will be Sunday the 23^rd of December and they will let us know if they need any kind of assistance from us.

 

The Sunday Druid Coffee clashes with this date so Silver Birch are going to cancel so that there is no conflict with them.

 

17. Pagan Pride Day 2018

The date previously discussed was not working out well clashing with other events. The date therefore is being moved to April the 7^th. Due to how far from the equinox that puts it we won’t be hosting an equinox ritual as part of the day but instead will be hosting a welcoming ritual designed to appeal to people of all paths.

 

18. Pagan Census/Survey

It has been a few years since we last did a survey to try and get a clear picture of the Victorian community and their needs so we will be conducting another one in 2018, with people’s identities being anonymous again, so we can hopefully get an honest response. Once again we will publish final results for people to view. We ended up with some great data last time. This will also provide people a chance to provide feedback.

 

The questions will be vetted in the committee group before it goes up. Josie, Ryan and Mark will be conducting this.

 

19. Mental Health Support Group Advertisement

We’ve been contacted by a person wanting to advertise a pagan mental health support group that they have set up. We are going to discuss what questions we have in the private committee group and send them to them as soon as possible. They will cover topics like ‘emergency response plans’, format etc.

 

If we are happy to go ahead and advertise this we are going to need a well written disclaimer since they are a third party that we don’t have representation on there to make sure it is all running ok.

 

Fran is also going to get us the details for a legally/professionally sanctioned peer support group to let people know about as well.

 

While we are on the topic of this it is probably worth considering putting together some resources in a easy to digest format such as lifeline etc, for people to access if they are in distress.

 

It is also worth considering having a list of pagan friendly professionals available too, lawyers, psychologists, etc.

 

Community Safety

In 2018 we will be requiring all events we advertise that claim a family friendly status to prove that they have Working with Children checks (current) for all people running the event, workshop, etc. If they refuse to provide this proof or can’t then their events will not be shared by the PCV and will be deleted from any groups we moderate because there is no way to make sure that they are ok otherwise.

 

We are going to start sharing and reminding people of our community safety policies (and others) since it is a new year, we will be doing this a little at a time so people aren’t getting overwhelmed.

 

In March we are planning to share a resource a day around community safety and be gearing our discussion topics to focus on this as well.

 

We would like to have a chance for the community to have their say too as part of this initiative and will be working on that in the near future.

 

Changes to Committee

As we move forward into 2018 we are saying goodbye to one of our committee members Carrie. We would like to thank her for her time and effort on the committee and hope to continue to see her at pagan events.

 

Committee Intro/Bios

It has been suggested that currently the PCV could be perceived as being a shadowy organisation due to our emphasis on community and events and not highlighting who the committee are and where they are from (so to speak).

 

We will be updating the webpage with bio’s, something short is fine, just so that people have an idea of who we are.

 

It was suggested everyone check out the Tasmanian Pagan Alliance website for their committee bios and personal bios for inspiration because they are apparently well done.

 

Other Business

Young People – Safe Spaces

It was raised that we really need to find better ways to communicate with younger pagans to ensure that they are finding their ways into safe places in the community and aren’t being groomed by shady or dodgy people.

 

Ballarat Meet-ups

Ryan is going to be running four Ballarat meet-ups in 2018, dates to be discussed in the private committee group.

 

Pagan Alliance of South Australia

By now everyone has probably seen the announcements by the Pagan Alliance of South Australia.

What can we do to help? Financially if everyone signed up for their newsletter (It is $10 a year) that would help and we can encourage other Victorians to do so too.

Contact has also been made asking them if anything else can be done by PCV to help them, so far nothing has been suggested in this regard but we will help them however we can because it would be a shame to see our South Australian friends lose such an important resource.

 

Meeting End: 12.07 PM

 

PCV Frankston Meetup

See the Facebook Event Page for more information – Free

PCV Frankston Meetup

See the Facebook Event Page for more information – Free

Throughout and About: The PCV in July 2017

July was chilly, but with plenty of cozy catch-ups with good Pagan folk made it much warmer.

CBD Pub Moot

By Dean

In July, Pagans from all walks of life and various paths braved the cold to gather at The Last Jar Irish Pub. In warm and welcoming surrounds with hot food and cold drinks we chatted away. After an introduction circle we discussed what spiritual or religious background, if any, had people come from before they began practicing Paganism. A variety of heartfelt and sometimes humorous stories ensued, and it was striking both how diverse and yet how similar many of our experiences had been. A sense of “coming home”, of discovering a new yet familiar home in Paganism turned out to be a common theme.

At the July 2017 CBD Pub Moot. Photo by Ryan.

At the July 2017 CBD Pub Moot. Photo by Ryan.

 

Frankston/Cranbourne Meet

By Dorian

Another pleasant but windy afternoon at the Coffee Club with some new faces and old friends. Serenaded by that irrepressible spirit of Frankston, the seagull.

 

Central Vic Meetup

By Mark

In the warm inviting indoors of a cafe in Creswick, the Central Vic Heathens and Pagans gathered for a relaxed discussion, drinks, and food. Two new local faces joined us this meeting, after scoping out the cafe to figure out who the pagans were (we blended too well). It was a nice afternoon of company away from the blustery winter weather outside discussing nature, spirits, books and Morris Dancing.

 

What’s Next for the PCV?

Dates for your diary…

Saturday, 5th August: PCV Public Imbolc Ritual hosted by the Melbourne Reclaiming Community
Sunday, 20th August: PCV Annual General Meeting
Sunday, 20th August: CBD Pagan Pub Moot

 

Featured photo by Kylie Moroney Photography.

PCV Frankston Meetup

See the Facebook Event Page for more information – Free

Throughout and About: The PCV in May 2017

The last month of Autumn was full of shortening but sunny days and chilly nights

CBD Pagan Pub Moots

By Dorian

Safely nestled inside The Last Jar, protected from stormy Melbourne weather outside, the May CBD moot was a huge success with several new faces and many regulars in attendance.

Next moot: 18th June 2017

Monthly Hills Coffee Meetups

By Sarah

So we broke a personal record at the last meet – 27 people came along, we ended up co-opting three more tables in addition to our regular long table, there was a lot of fun had, and more good conversation than I could keep up with. Effusive thanks to everyone who helped make the day so utterly marvellous – we’re already excited for the next one! Come along!

 

At the June 2017 Hills Meet. Photo by Sarah.

At the June 2017 Hills Meet. Photo by Sarah.

At the June 2017 Hills Meet. Photo by Sarah.

Next moot: 2nd July 2017

 

Bi-Monthly Frankston-Cranbourne Coffee Meets

By Dorian

Safe and warm inside the Coffee Club sheltered from the stormy weather, the Frankston/Cranbourne meet enjoyed its biggest turn out yet.

Next moot: 30th July 2017

 

What’s Next for the PCV?

Dates for your diary…

Sunday, 18th June: PCV Public Yule Ritual hosted by Silver Birch Grove ADF
Sunday, 18th June: CBD Pagan Pub Moot
Sunday, 2nd July: Monthly Hills Pagan Coffee Meet
Saturday, 15th July: Central Victorian Pagans and Heathens Social Meetup
Sunday, 16th July: CBD Pagan Pub Moot
Sunday, 30th July: Bi-Monthly Frankston/Cranbourne Pagan Meet
Saturday, 5th August: PCV Public Imbolc Ritual hosted by the Melbourne Reclaiming Community
Sunday, 20th August: PCV Annual General Meeting
Sunday, 20th August: CBD Pagan Pub Moot

 

Featured photo by Kylie Moroney.

PCV Frankston Meetup

See the Facebook Event Page for more information – Free

Throughout and About: The PCV in March 2017

The PCV in March 2017

By Josie, Sarah, Dorian and Ryan

We said at the beginning of the year that this March would be Mad March, and we weren’t wrong: Community Safety Month, Pagan Pride Day, the Spiral Dance Concert, Guest Speakers and more on top of our usual meetups made for a very busy month with the very best company.

Community Safety Month

March has become Community Safety Month for the PCV. Creating and maintaining safe and inclusive spaces to gather and worship was the key topic of all our meetups in March, and some excellent and insightful conversations sprang from this. The product of these conversations was our newly-formed Values, which have been added to our Mission Statement page after being collated by our most eloquent committee member, Sarah:

The PCV holds regular gatherings by area all over the state. These meets, moots, and gatherings are hosted by various members of the PCV but all are united in upholding the following standards:

• We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional caretakers of the land we meet on. The gatherings we enjoy so much are held on land they lived on for thousands of years before white settlement. We pay our respects to their elders – past, present and emerging – and acknowledge the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within the community.
• We stand with the LGBTQI+ community; PCV meets are queer and trans-friendly spaces. We are intersectional, inclusive, and we will use whichever pronouns you prefer. Our community is diverse, supportive, and nurturing, and we love it that way.
• We welcome people of all paths and levels of experience, people of all genders and sexualities, of all races, skin colours, cultural identities, and of all abilities.
• Accessibility information will be provided for all venues. If you have any questions about venue accessibility or will need assistance, please contact the meet host. *PCV meets do not tolerate sexual, racial, religious, cultural, abled, or gendered discrimination, bigotry, harassment, bullying, or non-consensual sexual behaviour. We reserve the right to ask attendees to leave if they do not behave in a manner conducive to the wellbeing of the group or in contravention of any of the above standards.
• We are committed to creating safe, welcoming spaces where pagans of all paths can meet and enjoy their community. If you have an issue at the meets, our hosts will listen to you and take your feedback seriously.

Other happenings during Community Safety Month include more undersigned joining our Statement to the Public about notorious paedophile Robin Fletcher (which as of April 2017 has more than eighty undersigned Pagan groups and individuals),  and the snap community information meeting we held when he was released.

 

Pagan Pride Day

On Saturday, the 18th of March the Victorian Pagan community came together to celebrate our first annual Pagan Pride Day and Equinox ritual. The day was a huge success, with Pagans of all walks of life attending, and most of the state’s active traditions represented.
You can read more about Pagan Pride Day in Alex’s article.

LLuca discusses the Wildwood Tradition at our first Pagan Pride Day, in 2017. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At our first Pagan Pride Day, in 2017. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

Dean gives a talk on Heathenry at our first Pagan Pride Day, in 2017. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At our first Pagan Pride Day, in 2017. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert

On the night of Pagan Pride Day, we were treated to an amazing, uplifting and highly danceable concert by Spiral Dance and KC Guy. This was a perfect way to round off an excellent day of Pagan goodness, and really brought everyone together.
More details and photos in Josie’s article.

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

At the 2017 Spiral Dance and KC Guy Concert. Photo: Mark Hayes Photography

Frankston Meets

The Frankston/Cranbourne pagan meet convened at Groove Train once more, enjoying the gorgeous Autumn sun out on the promenade.
Looking forward to the next meet at the end of May.

— Dorian

Monthly Hills Coffee Meets

The Hills Meets continue apace. March saw me finally make good on a threat I’ve been holding over everyone’s heads for a few months now: Sparkles, the Disco Owl. A few people have mentioned, over the last couple of years, that our little mascot is subtle and hard to spot across a crowded room. Sparkles is neither of those things. Sparkles is nearly a foot high and covered liberally in white glitter, which he sheds over everything he touches, and came from a local $2 shop, and I’ve been promising to humiliate all of us by bringing him along to a meet for ages now. Sparkles is the Maxwell Demon of the owl world.

You can read more about the Hills Meets in this month’s feature article. For upcoming event details, see the Monthly Hills Pagan Coffee Meets Facebook page.

— Sarah

CBD Pagan Pub Moots

The March CBD Pagan Pub moot was joined by a special guest, Dr David Waldron, who was kind enough to be our first guest speaker. Dr Waldron captivated the room with his fascinating talk on Witches’ marks, concealed objects and magical folk practices in colonial Australia.

Dr David Waldron is a lecturer in History and Anthropology at Federation University Australia based in CRCAH (Collaborative Research Centre in Australian History) with a research focus on folklore and community identity. He is the author of “Sign of the Witch: Modernity and the Pagan Revival” (Carolina Academic Press 2008), “Shock! The Black Dog of Bungay – a Case Study in Local Folklore” (Hidden Press 2010) and “Snarls from the Tea-Tree: Victoria’s Big Cat Folklore” (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2013) and editor/contributor of “Goldfields and the Gothic: a Hidden Heritage and Folklore” (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2016).

— Ryan

 

Oak, Smash and Thorn Pagan Morris

Our little Morris side keeps chugging along, even with one less dancer due to Alex’s knee injury. Get well soon, Alex! This month we were treated to a Morris workshop with our friends Adrienne and Paul, of Spiral Dance and Hot for Joe Border Morris fame. This cracker of a workshop and Paul and Adrienne’s invaluable advice helped us polish our very first dance and get that little bit closer to being able to perform!
If this wasn’t memorable enough, the Edinburgh Gardens were the site of the Australian Naked Bike Ride that day, with around four hundred naked cyclists crashing our rehearsal. Our interstate guests took it all in their stride and promised they’d be back soon.

Our Morris workshop was crashed by the Australian Naked Bikeride in March 2017! Photo by Sarah Morgan

Our Morris workshop was crashed by the Australian Naked Bikeride in March 2017! Photo by Alex Edwards

Our Morris workshop was crashed by the Australian Naked Bikeride in March 2017! Photo by Sarah Morgan

A million thankyous, beers and sweaty Morris hugs to Adrienne and Paul. 🙂

— Josie

PCV Diary Dates:

• Saturday, 8th April: PCV Committee Meeting (Ballarat)
• Saturday, 8th April: Central Victorian Pagans and Heathens in the Cafe (Ballarat)
• Sunday, 9th April: CBD Pagan Pub Moot (Melbourne)
• Sunday, 30th April: PCV Public Samhain Ritual (location TBC)