Feile Draiochta

Trolled off to Dublin on Saturday to talk about out-of-body experiences at the Feile Draiochta, the annual Festival of Irish Magic and Spirituality. My wife Jacks also gave a talk about the Celtic Wheel of the Year and my old friend Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki did a two hour lecture on village witchcraft. Good attendances at all three sessions, a fabulous programme of events generally (there was one workshop on 'Voodoo for Eejits') and lots of lovely people. I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

The organisers opened on a crisis note when they learned on the sweltering hot morning of the Festival that the hotel's air conditioning had broken down. But they rose to the occasion with helpers circulation with trays of iced water and banks of electric fans at the various events. The audiences were stoical and enthusiastic. My lot endured a theatre that was roughly the same temperature as the bottom oven of our Aga; and still managed to stay awake long enough to ask questions after I'd droned on at them for three quarters of an hour. That struck me as a magical phenomenon in its own right.