Pagan Events for Earth Day, St George's Day, Beltane

Earth Day is on Friday 22 April in 2016, St George's Day is on Saturday 23 April and Beltane is on Sunday 1 May. Here are some of the events in London and a few in other parts of southern England that could be of interest to pagans over those festivities. 

Now - 29 July 2016; Scholar, Courtier, Magician: the lost library of John Dee. London exhibition. Venue: Royal College of Physicians, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4LE. Entry free. Opening times vary but normally only Monday-Friday until 5pm, visit the website for details: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/events

Now - 31 August; Akhenaten: Heretic, Visionary, Icon Exhibition at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL Malet Place, London WC1E 6BT. Lunchtime tours: 1.15pm-1.45pm. For more details, email events.petrie@ucl.ac.uk or phone 020 7679 4138.

Now - 12 September; Austin Osman Spare - A Major Retrospective. Venue: The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Natural History, 11 Mare Street, London E8 4RP. http://www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org/

Now to 30 September; Folklore, Magic and Mysteries: Modern Witchcraft and Folk Culture in Britain - exhibition of artefacts, manuscripts and documents from the Doreen Valiente Foundation. Venue: Preston Manor, Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD. Time: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 2-5pm. Free entry to exhibition with Preston Manor admission (adult £5.85, child (5-15) £3.15). Details: http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/prestonmanor/

Wednesday 20 April; Free one-day academic conference on Southwark’s sacred rituals and heritage. Venue: Bankside Community Space, Gt Guildford Street, London. Time: 10.45am-4pm. Details at https://iconicreligion.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/urbansacredprog200416.pdf

Wednesday 20 April; More Mead Moot promoted by Pagan FutureFests. Venue: Hope Pub, 48 West Street, Carhsalton SM5 2PR. Time: from 7.30pm. Meets on the third Wednesday of each month. https://www.facebook.com/Pagan-FutureFests-352385661439366/

Thursday 21 April; Mediumship Skills Workshop - Psychic and Spiritual Circle. Venue: Fairkytes Art Centre, 51 Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1AX. Time: 7pm. £8. https://www.facebook.com/events/1120752834636259/

Thursday 21 April; The Circle of Ankerwycke moot on the third Thursday in each month. Venue: Function room at the back of the Two Rivers Pub, 43 Church Street, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 4EN. Time: 8pm.

Thursday 21 April; Drum Circle to Shamanic Journey. Venue: Caer Corhrain, 1 Southleas farm cottages, Lower Road, Minster, Sheppey ME12 3SW. Time: 8pm. This takes place on the third Thursday each month. For more information visit http://www.touchtheearthuk.com/

Friday 22 April; Earth Day 2016 - Evening walk and candle-lit picnic in Richmond Park with London Woodland Witches EcoMagicians and Outdoor Pagans and Hern's Tribe. Meet at 7pm at the Richmond Gate of Richmond Park to walk to the ritual site. For details and to reserve a place: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/

Friday 22 April; Esbat ritual with the Circle of Ankerywcke near Staines. Time: 8pm. Old and new members are invited - for more information call Sally on 078969 75278 or email sallyagarza@hotmail.com

Saturday 23 April; Beating the Bounds with Dacre Morris. Starts from the Dacre Arms, 11 Kingswood Place, London SE13 5BU at noon. Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1721480208121330/

Saturday 23 April; Earth Day Clean-up and Ceremony in Queen's Woods in memory of Jean Williams. Meet at 1pm at Highgate Tube Station, Priory Gardens exit. There will be a walk from the station to the wood, leaving a few minutes after 1pm. Once at the site there will be rubbish collection in Queens Wood until about 3.30pm, followed by a picnic and attunement in the clearing. Details: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/events/230286684/

Saturday 23 April; St George in Southwark Festival - Quest for Community, Taming the Dragon of Difference. Starts with a procession at St George’s Fields, from the Cathedral to St George the Martyr Church in the Borough. Events all day including a free jazz concert in the evening. Details: http://www.stgeorgefestival.org.uk/2016-festival/

Saturday 23 April; Earth Festival - Ecology and Yoga with Advaya Initiative. Venue: The Hoxton, 81 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3HU London Time:10.30am to 5pm. Tickets £45. http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/earth-festival-ecology-and-yoga-with-advaya-initiative-tickets-22575344463

Saturday 23 April; Renaissance art during William Shakespeare's era. Venue: Room 40, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Time: 1.15pm. Free event. For more details visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar.aspx

Saturday 23 April; Crossbones Vigil to honour The Goose and the outcast dead of Cross Bones Graveyard. Gather from 6.45pm for a 7pm start in Redcross Way outside the Memorial Gates, SE1 1TA, opposite the Boot and Flogger pub, just north of the junction with Union Street. Nearest tubes Borough or London Bridge. The event is free, but donations are welcome. For more details, visit http://www.crossbones.org.uk/

Sunday 24 April; Meditation at Russell Brands Trew Era Cafe, 30 Whitmore Road, London N1 5QA. Starts 10.15am. Free event. Details: http://www.meetup.com/londonspiritualcommunity

Sunday 24 April; Second part of four one-day workshops on the Path of Earth run by Shamanic Spirit at a venue in Croydon, South London. Starts 10am. For more details and to book places call 07952 041477. For more information, visit http://shamanicspirit.co.uk

Monday 25 April; Pagan Pathfinders Beltane 2016 in Finchley, London N3. Time: 7.30pm. Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1714080525530680/

Monday 25 April; Tarot Archetypes - The Sun Card. Talk by Marysia Kay. Venue: Treadwells, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7BS. Time: 7.30pm to 9pm. Ticket price £8 in advance. Tel: 020 7240 8906 or email: info@treadwells-london.com http://www.treadwells-london.com/

Tuesday 26 April; Between the Worlds (lesson 1 of 2) - Shamanic training, basic level, no experience needed, organised by Behind The Veil Shamanism. Venue shown only to members of the meet-up group. Cost: £25. Tickets and details: http://www.meetup.com/Behind-The-Veil-Shamanism/

Tuesday 26 April; Rebels and Outlaws - storytelling and music with London Dreamtime. Venue: Teddington Library. Time 7pm. Cost tbc, For more detials email vanessa@londondreamtime.com or visit http://londondreamtime.com/calendar/

Tuesday 26 April; Chertsey Moot. A social moot held on the last Tuesday of the month at the Golden Grove pub, Ruxbury Road, St Annes Hill, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 9EN. All welcome. From 8pm to 11pm. For more details, email: sian_ap_pysgotwr@yahoo.co.uk

Wednesday 27 April; Hertford Pagan Moot. Venue: White Horse Pub, 33 Castle Street, Hertford, Herts SG14 1HH (45 mins from central London). The pub does not have disabled access. This moot meets on the last Wednesday of each month at 8pm. contact via Facebook page Hertford Pagan Moot

Thursday 28 April; PF-London Beltane Open Ritual run by the Temple of Aphrodite. Venue: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn London. Time: 7.30pm for 8pm start. Ritual ends around 9pm followed by feasting until 10pm. Entrance: £6/£5 PF members. Please bring seasonal food and drinks to share at feast after ritual. For more details, visit http://london.paganfed.org/

Thursday 28 April; Overpowered! The Science and Showbiz of Hynopsis. Talk organised by the London Fortean Society. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Tickets: £4/£2, advance booked required. Time: 7.45pm. Details: http://forteanlondon.blogspot.co.uk/

Thursday 28 April; Beltane Blessings in the Field of Love with Emily Love and the London College of Spirituality. Venue: Columbia Hotel (Lancaster Suite), 95 - 99 Lancaster Gate, London W2 3NS. Time:7pm. Tickets: £15. Details and booking: http://www.meetup.com/londonspirituality

Friday 29 April - Sunday 2 May; Mind Body Spirit London Wellbeing Festival. Venue: London Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX. One-day tickets booked online cost £9/£11. For more details and to book tickets, visit: http://www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk/london or https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mind-body-spirit-london-wellbeing-festival-2016-tickets-16612171452

Friday 29 April 29 - Sunday 2 May; Hastings Jack-in-the-Green Festival - traditional annual event to celebrate May with music, a procession, Morris Dancing, a May Queen and Jack-in-the-Green. Full four-day festival programme culminating on Bank Holiday Monday with the Jack in the Green parade itself, starting at 9.45am in Old Town. For full details visit the festival website: http://www.hastingsjitg.co.uk/

Friday April 29 - Sunday May 1; Spirit of the Marsh Beltane Camp and Gathering 2016. Three day family-friendly pagan camp with talks, workshops, music, meditations, plenty of pagan and spiritual ceremonies, children's entertainment and Beltane fire. Venue: Trusthorpe, bear Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire LN12 2PS. Tickets: £40 adults, under-12s go free. Details and booking: http://www.spiritofthemarsh.com/

Friday April 29; Poussin's Search for the Golden Age.Lecture by Guy Patton at Rilko (Research Into Lost Knowledge). Public lecture. Venue: Rudolf Steiner House, 35, Park Road, London, NW1 6XT. Time: 6.45pm, lecture starts 7.15pm. Entrance: £7/£5. http://www.rilko.net/EZ/rilko/rilko/home.php

Saturday 30 April; Society of Psychical Research (SPR) study day: The History and Philosophy of Psychical Research. Venue: Society for Psychical Research HQ, 1 Vernon Mews, London W14 0RL. Time: 10am to 5.15pm. Tickets: £42/£38. Details: http://www.spr.ac.uk/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=80

Saturday 30 April; Love and Lust in Greek Myth. Venue: Room 13, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Time: 1.15pm. Free event. For more details visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar.aspx

Saturday 30 April; Free and Open Gorsedd of Caer Abiri Beltain Celebraton. Druidic ceremony to celebrate Beltaine at Avebury stone circle in Wiltshire. Meet at the Red Lion pub from Noon for ceremony around 1.30pm. The ritual should end at 3pm, then back to the pub. Offerings of bread, mead and song or poetry welcome. Overnight camping is allowed in the overflow car park.

Sunday 1 May; Fowlers Troop and the Deptford Jack in the Green will be in Deptford and Greenwich to celebrate May Day. The procession starts at the Dog and Bell, 116 Prince Street, London, SE8 3JD at 11.30am. Free event, join in when and where you like. If you want to help dress Jack, you can do so at the Dog and Bell on Saturday 30 April. For full details, visit: http://www.deptford-jack.org.uk/mayday2016.htm

Sunday 1 May; Wheel of the Year Festival - Flowering Meditation at Chalice Well World Peace Garden, in Glastonbury. The gardens open at 6am for a morning meditation around the Beltane fire at 7am. Also gather at the well head at 12 pm for midday meditation until 12.30. Maypole dancing in the day, accompanied by live music. Free admission to the gardens 6am to noon. You can find out more here: http://www.chalicewell.org.uk/

Sunday 1 May; May on the Docks - family event of traditional May Day activities including Green Man mask making. Location: Museum of London Docklands, West India Quay, Canary Wharf, London E14 4AL. Starts at noon. Free. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands/

Sunday 1 May; Woodland Beltane Ceremony and Maypole Dancing 2016 run by Mani Navasothy and London Woodland Witches EcoMagicians and Outdoor Pagans. Location: Queen's Woods, Near Highgate Station. Time 1.30pm. Details: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/

Sunday 1 May; Anderida Gorsedd Beltane open ritual at the Long Man of Wilmington, Sussex. Meet near the car park between 1.30pm and 2pm for a walk up to the chalk hill figure at 2pm. Afterwards back to the Giants Rest pub in Wilmington for a social drink together.

Sunday 1 May; Woodland Beltane Ceremony and Maypole Dancing 2016 in Queen's Wood, Highgate. Meet at the Woodmans' pub garden at 1.30pm. At 2pm everyone will walk to the woods for setup and ceremony. Details: http://www.meetup.com/London-Woodland-Witches-Outdoor-Pagans/

I do not organise any of the events listed on this page. I try to make sure that the information given is accurate, but do check with event organisers as times, ticket availability and other details can change. If you know of an event that you want listed, please email the details to me at badwitch1234@gmail.com.