A Great Day of Talks and Shopping at Leaping Hare

I had a brilliant time at Leaping Hare 2022 yesterday. Leaping Hare is a one-day pagan festival with talks, workshops, storytelling, music, a spring equinox ritual and a market at a lovely community centre on the edge of Colchester. I'd never been before even though it's been going for some years and friends have recommended it to me. It's pretty easy to get to from London too. This year I was invited to give a talk on scrying, but I'm sure I'll go again in future just for a great day out.

Leaping Hare is a really friendly event - and it was great to meet up with real people face-to-face rather than just see heads and shoulders in Zoom or comments coming in on Facebook Live. Robin Herne talked about mythology from Ancient Egypt, Brendan Howlin spoke on Urban Druidry, there was music from Carys (pictured left), an update from the Police Pagan Association, an introduction to Chaos Magic from Tim Clay and other workshops and entertainment. 

The market was excellent. You can see one row of stalls in the picture at the top. I stocked up with my favourite soap from Bewitched Botanicals and bought a very witchy hat. (I wish I remembered the name of the stall I bought it on. If anyone reading this knows, do leave a comment.) The community centre has a cafe area separate from the main hall and the food was excellent. I had a lovely hot halloumi and mushroom roll and a mug of tea, but there were also vegan options on the menu. 

Although I got free entry as a speaker, the festival was not expensive. Tickets were available for £6.50 in advance or £8 on the door. All the talks, workshops and entertainment were free once you were inside. It's organised by Colchester Pagan Network and Pagan Federation volunteers. Profits from the event go to various local worthy causes. To find out more and keep an eye out for announcements of future events visit: https://leapinghare.webs.com/