The following are short biographies of some of the organisers and presenters at this year's conference.
Gabby has been a practicing Witch for 15 years and is a Wiccan High Priestess and teacher. She has been involved in running Pagan gatherings and other public Pagan events since 1995. She has presented workshops at the Pagan Summer Gathering, Gateway, Gathering of all Tribes, Pagans in the Pub, Magick Happens, AWC and many other gatherings that have been presented by Applegrove. Gabby is a former producer and presenter of 'The Cauldron' Pagan radio show and is a contributing author to Douglas Ezzy's book 'Practicing the Witch's Craft' writing on training in the craft. She is one of the founders of Applegrove and its teaching arm Circle of the Hearth.
David is the founder of the Pagan Awareness Network Inc, and started the public full moon circles in Sydney's Seven Hills that have run continuously since 1997. David has been practising earth based Magick/religion since 1986, starting his path as a healer, Tarot reader and psychic, leading to his interest in modern Paganism and then to formal Gardnerian Wiccan training.
Jo is a member of the Circle of the Hearth and has been formally studying since mid 1997. Jo's workshops center around the practical and she is known for her wand making, magickal tools, props and costumes. She has been a consistent volunteer in the Pagan community helping out at events and has presented the odd workshop at Applegrove gatherings and Magick Happens. She has also helped run public rituals presented by Applegrove and PAN. Jo is also the web developer and graphic designer for this year's AWC.
Foxglove has been a Practicing Witch for the past 14 years. An Initiate of Traditional Wicca, he has explored many and various magical traditions with personal interests in Divination, Celtic tradition and Hellenic Paganism; preferring a more nature based "grass roots" approach to magic. He is a founding member of Applegrove/ Circle of the Hearth and teaches a Wiccan based craft in Sydney' Western Suburbs.
Ray Thorpe has been studying and using plant medicines for most of his lifetime. Once caught up in the corporate world, he decluttered his life, moved into the hills of Northern New South Wales and explored the benifits of herbs. Intruiged by the magic of such herbs like Mugwort, Sage, Damiana and others, he began to promote them at markets and festivals as legal highs. He now runs eight Happy High Herb shops around the country.
Anna (nom de plume) has been a practising Wiccan for over 20 years. She is High Priestess in a tradition best described as eclectic. She has training in hypnotherapy and has presented workshops and written articles on altered state of consciousness and similar topics in the past. Alongside her Wiccan practice, Anna is involved in the conservation movement and is interested in overlaps between the two.
Bryan is a first degree Alexandrian initiate from the A.C.T. He began to seriously investigate the occult in 1989, which eventually led him to contact with local Wiccans by 1994 (nothing moves particularly fast in Bryan's life) and to initiation a few years later. He attended the 2002 AWC in Victoria, assisted with the organisation of the 2004 AWC in the A.C.T., and has recently undertaken to organise at least one PANinc full moon circle in Canberra. Bryan is most likely to be known to the wider Australian Pagan community by his online nick of 'Finrod'.
Wolf is Secretary of the Pagan Alliance, and has been a Wiccan initiate for over 13 years. He has been involved in both organising and presenting at Wiccan Conferences in the past, as well as being an irregular contributor to various pagan magazines, including being a past editor of "Pagan Times". Wolf's interests include history (particularly Wiccan history), various forms of magic, Astrology, Incense, martial arts, folk music, folk magic (and way too many others to continue listing them).
Madam K, nee Kristie Stamford is a witch blessed by the inspiration of the muses and is no stranger to treading the boards. In recent times she has appeared in the award winning play 'The Permanent Wave' at the Newtown Theatre and in the Lane Cove Dramatic Society's production of Eve Einsler's 'The Vagina Monologues'. Her early years of performance were based in Revues at both The University of New South Wales and The University of Sydney and prior to this has appeared on Romper Room, Ridgey Didge and the 1990’s ABC teen's quiz show Vidiot.
Kristie is currently studying with Improv Australia and has been an active member of both the Australian Theatre for Young People, the Sydney University Dramatic Society and the Sydney University Musical Society. She has performed and written Stand-Up, Sketch and Improvisation Comedy and was a regular at Sydney University's own Theatresports competition in 2002 where her team died miserably but hilariously on stage during the grand Final.
During gatherings Kristie can often be heard singing a politically incorrect, blasphemous or otherwise wickedly funny songs from one of the abovementioned Revues or reciting some of the more scandalous lines from the many sketches she has appeared in or written.
2007 will see Kristie in her directorial debut with the Lane Cove Dramatic Society with the original musical play 'The Devil May Care' and the debut of her own original play 'Bus Stop' at Sheilafest. Madam K firmly believes the basic skills of actors are essential for anyone who would like to bring more meaning and flow to their ritual work.
