Information about BMWC and BMWC rules
Regular participants of BMWC
Regular participants of BMWC are ordinary people practising witchcraft, magic, paganism or people, who are interested in these fields and want to meet similar folks in person. They come from all parts of The Czech republic as well as from other countries, mostly, they were and are people from Austria, Great Britain and the USA.
Except for our common hobbies and interests, we share the will to give time and energy to others and also have sense of humour. We are not looking for freaks, madmen or madwomen. Most of us are well grounded in real life and we live in the common world.Families, children and also pets can come to the conference without problem.
Statistics
All in all almost 100 participants came to BMWCThe biggest number of participants was at BMWC 13 - 34 peopleThe smallest number of people came to the first one was 5 We had participants from 9 different countries (The Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Great Britain, Austria, the USA, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland)T
Overview of the past BMWCs
2010: BMWC 14 Deštná v Orlických horách (North-East Bohemia)2009: BMWC 13 Chata Živec, Písek (South Bohemia)2009: BMWC 12 Brumov-Bylnice, Bílé Karpaty (Czech-Slovakian border)2008: BMWC 11 Sloup v Čechách (North Bohemia)2008: BMWC 10 Farma Cidlinského, Malá skála, Český ráj (North Bohemia)2007: BMWC 9 Vanov(Czech-Moravian Highlands)2006: BMWC 8 Janov (Staré Hobzí) u Slavonic (Czech-Austrian border)2006: BMWC 7 Brumov-Bylnice, Bílé Karpaty (Czech-Slovakian border)2005: BMWC 6 Malá skála, Český ráj (North Bohemia)2005: BMWC 5 blízko Čáslavi (Central Bohemia)2005: BMWC 4 hrad Svojanov,(Czech-Moravian Highlands)2005: BMWC 3 Jizerské hory (North Bohemia)2004: BMWC 2 Propast Macocha (South Moravia)2004: BMWC 1 Mezná - Hřensko (North Bohemia)
General information and history of BMWC
BMWC is a regular, non-commercial event lasting couple of days not only for neopagans as a meeting seminar and it is one of the most important pagan event in the Czech Republic. Usually it does not interest supporters of New Age. Despite its name it is a mostly neopagan action, rather than a conference focusing only on witchcraft or Wicca . The usual number of participants is between twenty and thirty and it is slowly increasing. It is a non-profit project. It takes place once or twice a year since 2004. Since the 6th meeting, it turned into a more formal event with it's own programme which consists of workshops, lectures, trips, rituals etc. Neopagan rituals are done regularly since BMWC 9.
9th, 12th a 13th meetings had an eclectic form based on witchcraft and Wicca while BMWC 10 a 11 had rituals based on druid tradition ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship). In the past there have also been Ásatrú blóts .
BMWC was established by Zahrada in 2004. Zahrada is author of the first Czech book about -Wicca : Wicca - první zasvěcení. (Wicca - The First Initiation)
Organisation of BMWC
BMWC is organised by a group of enthusiasts which is also active in Pagan Federation International (PFI). This organisation cooperates with the team preparing the conference and they announce the forthcoming BMWC on the PFI forum. Some of the national coordinators from several countries have been to BMWC. Some of the pastmeetings were organised by the civil association ŘEČ which does not exist any more. The organisational team has no law subjectivity and since BMWC 8 it regularly changes. Since BMWC 11, Zahrada does not have to be a part of the organisational team.
Participation at BMWC
As it has been said, people from variety countries come to the conference. Most of our foreign guests come from Austria. Morgana, the international coordinator of PFI and it's head came to BMWC 12 in 2009. The participation is liable to admitting new participants according to application form which can be found at this web site. This form application must be accepted by a majority of the organisers' votes.
Critisism
BMWC has been criticised in the past because of consummation of alcohol and alleged elitism or sectarianism. The whole case seemed to be just a reaction to personal quarrels in the local neopagan community. BMWC has also been criticised for eclectic (or in metaphorical meaning ecumenical) character mostly from reconstructionists.
References
BMWC 9 - done (bloxxter.info)BMWC 10 (bloxxter.info)Kámen, voda, oheň a nebe - krátký report z BMWC 11 (zahrada.bloguje.cz)BMWC 11 očima organizátora (listy.pohanskeforum.net)BMWC 11 (listy.pohanskeforum.net)BMWC 13 (bloxxter.info)Pagan World - Winter 2006, str. 6, "Bohemian Moravian Witches’ Conference 8 (BMWC) South Bohemia, Janov, 27th September – 1st October 2006 Written by: Jakub Achrer (Zahrada), at that time National Coordinator of PFIczAnna-Marie Dostálová: Neo-Paganism in Czech Republic: History and Contemporary (arbor-nocturnus.wz.cz) Heslo BMWC na serveru Referáty a Seminárky (referaty-seminarky.cz)
Note
This text has been written by Zahrada, minor changes were done by Cody for the Czech Wikipedia. and the article has been deleted by wikipedist Tlusťa (discussion posts) 30. 9. 2009, 14:22 (the stated reason was that it was “lacking objectivity”). That is why the text has been moved to Knol.