A

Pagan Alliance

The Pagan Alliance is the major networking organization of Pagans and Witches in Australia. As in the United Kingdom and North America, nature-centered Goddess worship spread through Australia during the 1970s and 1980s. The movement was based in a number of small autonomous covens and groves and in somewhat limited associations of covens that shared the same heritage and approach to magic and witchcraft. The Pagan Alliance, founded in 1991, emerged to promote communication and cooperation between the very decentralized movement. Members affirm their love for and kinship with nature; an ethic of individual responsibility; and an acceptance of the many-faceted nature of divinity.

The alliance is organized through a set of state councils, each of which seeks to have at least three members and represent three different Pagan/Wiccan traditions. The alliance attempts to network different groups and individuals and to serve as a contact between the Pagan community and outsiders, especially the news media. On a national level, the alliance involves itself as an advocacy group on issues of interest to Pagans including freedom of religion. In this regard, it monitors news coverage and responds to attacks, especially those involving negative stereotypes. It has also compiled a list of Pagans licensed to perform official functions such as marriages and funerals.

The alliance is currently administered by Chel and Jon Bar-dell, who may be contacted at P.O. Box 823, Bathurst, New South Wales 2795. The alliance's Internet site is found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/4320. It publishes the Pagan Times quarterly.