Pictures from Belostra Festival 2018 in South London

The weather couldn't have been better for the Belostra Festival at Stanley Halls in south London on Saturday, as you can see from the photo on the left.

I really like Stanley Halls as a venue. It is a gorgeous Arts and Crafts style building with lovely central hall, a side hall with a bar, several rooms for talks and workshop, and an independent cafe that sells scrummy home-made cakes and coffee.

Belostra is organised by Pagan Future Fests, which has been running friendly pagan festivals and moots for years, so knows what it is doing in terms of putting on entertainment throughout the day and into the evening.

Drumming and dancing are big features of the event. Anyone who comes along is encouraged to bring a drum if they have one and join in. A drumming procession around the building is one of the regular highlights.

The photo at the top shows early arrivers getting into the spirit at the start of the day and the picture to the right shows the drumming procession going through the market.

I was at Belostra primarily to help my friend Maria run her stall (pictured below). She makes beautiful tarot bags, altar cloths and bespoke items with hand-embroidered symbols on them, under the name Liminal Threads.

I had seen her sewing her bags in the past, but hadn't had a chance to really inspect them before the event. They are really high quality and made from pure cotton. All the bags are fully lined and each one has a symbol on the front that has been individually embroidered by Maria herself.

There is a range of colours and a huge variety of different symbols from pentacles, hares and stags to god and goddess images from many different pantheons. The prices are also extremely reasonable, starting at £11.

You can see Liminal Threads' products online at https://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/home/LiminalThreads The prices there are listed in dollars, but don't worry, Maria is UK-based and if you buy a bag you can pay in pounds. You can also follow Liminal Threads on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiminalThreads/

I really enjoyed helping on the stall. We were lucky as it was very well positioned. It was next to the bar and I had a view of the main stage through the doorway, so I could watch and hear all the entertainment throughout the day too!