Labyrinth (Moama V)

It's a return to the womb. And often people have a rebirth experience by that. (Orryelle)

The Labyrinth was an interactive ritual initiation cycle weaving 'a multi-cultural and multi-subcultural tapestry of ancient mythologies and modern technology' (from ticket). Located in a tightly wooded grove on an elevated region of the site, the installation was demarcated by a hessian wall, and trees within were webbed with ropes and string to form spirals around a centrally positioned geodesic dome. The production incorporated a conglomeration of groups: the Metamorphic Ritual Theatre Company (MRTC), Mutation Parlour, band Dwellers on the Threshold and Mozart Project, Mutoid Waste Co (see Tek Know), DJ Krusty and Clan Analogue.31 According to its designer, Orryelle Defenestrate, the Labyrinth is

a total interactive journey that people can go on where they meet all sorts of strange characters in different locations throughout their travels through the maze, and interact with them and become a character for themselves, in the process.

As it was repeated over three nights, hundreds of initiates were able to experience the journey.

In designing this installation, the MRTC were inspired by both the stone labyrinths of Ancient Greece (like that created by Daedelus entrapping the half-man/half-bull Minotaur), and forest labyrinths created by the Druids. As such, the Labyrinth is said to be an ancient pagan tradition. The usually spiralling maze is said to represent a womb, and the 'initiate's journey in then out of the labyrinth was a symbolic death and rebirth experience for them' (web site). Although possessing similar mythological/magical premises to an initial Labyrinth performed at Moama III (Easter '95), the Moama V production, with its use of modern technology and greater collaborative input, was a more spectacular event. Drawing upon various sources (an interview with Orryelle, the Labyrinth web site, the entrance ticket and my own experience) I reconstruct the concept and journey here.33

Initiates entered via the 'Labia Gateway' ('a long fully-enclosing red stretchy fabric tunnel'). Out into the Gateway Chamber they met Clotho (the maiden), 'The Spinner of the 3 Fates', who sat at her spinning-wheel spinning the threads of destiny. The maiden requested they spin the Wheel of Fortune to determine which of the four elemental pathways they were to travel. Bearing the 'etheric' or life-threads given them by the Spinner, the objective was to achieve the centre of the maze. Each elemental path, lined with strange characters and installations, spiralled into the centre, 'the dome globe egg web'.34 At the crossroads of all the elemental paths, there was a 'Mutation Parlour' where initiates could 'be physically and psychically mutated as a part of their journey' (web site). Once inside the dome they were calmly greeted by Lachesis (the mother), 'The Weaver of the 3 Fates', who took their life-threads so as to weave them into 'the web of relationship'.

Initiates then faced the Minotaur (half-man, half-bull) representing 'the beast within' ('peoples' shadows or primal selves') and were symbolically killed by him. At this point, Death, Atropos (the crone), 'The Cutter of the 3 Fates', came and cut the thread ('the lifeline') and gently led them into 'the mirror chamber', the axis mundi of the dome. Inside a tall chamber, its interior walls encrusted with slabs and shards of mirror, the dead initiates ascended a spiral staircase 'surrounded by infinite reflections of themselves' (said to represent 'the journey to "Caer Arianhrod", the spiral castle of Celtic mythology where you go when you die': web site). Emerging on top of the dome, initiates then climbed down rope ladders to 'the Netherworld', a space in front of the dome described as 'a kind of cosmic waiting room between incarnations', where they were reunited with other initiates/travellers.

They waited there until the hero Theseus, who was chosen from the initiates, entered the dome with a golden thread and an 'electrosword' (which sparked and crackled as it was scraped along the dome's metal structure) to face the Minotaur. As Theseus appeared, the Three Fates converged to form 'an eight-limbed (six arms, two legged) triple-headed kama-kali spider'. When Theseus lopped off the Minotaur's head (a costume appendage above the actor's head), the battle was over and he was crowned the new Horned God by Ariadne (also The Spinner). At the moment of the Minotaur's demise, the generator was switched off:

causing all lights and sound to de-generate into blackness and silence. From this rose an acoustic chant chorused by all the people involved in the Labyrinth's construction and enactment, the sound circulating as they formed a human web around the dome. Seven different chakra tones ascended the musical scale as the Minotaur ascended the seven steps of the spiral staircase, climaxed by a red flare shot off into the heavens with his spirit. (web site)

Atropos then cut the threads surrounding the Netherworld. Hermes, 'messenger, guide and psychopomp of the Labyrinth' (played by Orryelle himself), sent the initiates down the spirit path, back through the spinning chamber and out the labia gateway, 'to be reborn into the rest of the festival'.

Pagan tradition was honoured for, on the following night Theseus became the new Minotaur, who was then killed by a newly chosen Theseus. Thus 'the old Horned King dies, the new Horned King rises'. But on the final night of the performance, Theseus, now 'Thesea', was played by a woman. Upon slaying the Minotaur she became the new 'Horned God/Goddess/Demon/Demoness of the PandemonAeon: Baphomet!' (Web) who paraded around the dome with bare breasts wearing a large phallus (carved from a cow bone). This was 'the Age of the Hermaphrodite', of The Twins, Horus and Maat. And Hermes himself, who became 'HermAphrodite', displayed a symbolic bellybrand, performed a Caduceus dance with snake-skins (stitched onto his arms) and owl wings (invoking 'Quetzal Coatlicue'), and finally proclaimed: "Fuck the Patriarchy; Fuck the Matriarchy; Let's just have An -archy!" As the web site conveys, this transpired around midnight initiating 'the transition into an all-night de-construction doof'35 in the Labyrinth. And so April Fool's Day 1997 was ushered in.

Massage (all events)

Described as a 'sharing, caring, safe area' (Barry in DTE News 82:4) this is a covered space with about 30 massage tables where people gather to receive and reciprocate massages. According to George, past director and teacher of holistic massage techniques, ConFest possesses 'this fantastic opportunity for everyone to live out their internal needs' and the need for Massage is suggested by:

the gross neglect in our society of any kind of touching and physical contact despite all the evidence before us, where it is patently clear that the less touching, the greater the psychological disturbances.

Music (Birdlands, Toc IV, Moama IV)

The village has reproduced the type of music productions appearing at the Walwa events. A stage was set up upon which there occurred concerted performances by billed acts, spontaneous combos, and unplanned ensembles of amateur musicians. It has also been a site of fringe theatre performances. In concordance with the music, pop and folk festival genres, and in contrast to the unifying propensity of the Fire Circle, this zone is characterised by the presence of an audience, who, while variously engaged, are demarcated from the authorised performers, acts, and 'stars'.

Nothing In Particular (Moama IV & V)

A non theme-specific camping zone. A banner first appeared at Moama II, indicating a region for ConFesters who wished to camp without any obligations of being 'for' or 'with' anything.

Pagan (Toc III)

The village incorporated a curious, ad hoc, mixture of themes including anything bordering on the occult. Workshops included knife massage, circle dancing, Celtic mythology, 'meditation for pagans', tantra, 'wild women - celebration of the Goddess' and rebirthing. Loud screaming in the night associated with rebirthing relegated Pagan to the fringes. The village has not appeared since that event. However, as a great many participants sympathise with paganism - Earth based religiosity - in some form, it has pervasive on-site manifestations (see Chapter 7). This is despite some misconceptions as Cedar's story reveals:

I was at the gate one day and the police turned up and these freaked out Christians on acid had walked all the way to Walwa, the town, and told the police that the Pagans were sacrificing a baby, which is part of the stigma that the Pagans have. And it turned out that one of the babies had fallen down a toilet pit ... and the parents [were] carrying it by a hand and a foot down to the creek to wash [the shit] off. And somebody saw that and thought 'OH they're sacrificing children!' And it's the sort of story and rumour that would go around about them for a long time.

Queer Presence (Birdlands, Toc IV, Moama IV & V)

A centre for the open celebration of queer (homo/bi/trans) sexuality. The emphasis on being obvious and public is crucial and particularly apparent at Moama IV where the village had a prime location next to the market. Mimosa, a Gay Spiritualist who had been distributing condoms and Coca-Cola flavoured dental dams, described Queer Presence as: 'sex workers, poofs, drug users, all of the people that most of society doesn't like to look at, being very obvious'. Promotions for the village emphasise an exposure or 'release' of almost millenarian proportions:

Unique persons, double spirited ones. All you who push at the boundaries of sexuality and gender ... For too long our message and teachings have been left unheard ... But do not despair kind folk, fear not good people, for the spirit is moving and evolving, we are coming together and our stories will be heard from the highest places to the quietest corners. Bigotry, corrupt morals, fascism and the climate of domination and power will be dispersed. We will be thrust into freedom. So rejoice, celebrate and prepare. Talk to each other in your places of meeting. Keep the spirit moving and live, share your dreams and desires. The time will soon be at hand. The time of our release. ('Queers' leaflet)

At Moama IV the village attracted people from the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria and Radical Fairies, they highlighted safe sex issues, and workshops were held on transgenderism (Norri May Welby), queer spirituality, bisexuality, sex-industry myths, IV drug use and crisis intervention.

Sculpture (Birdlands/ Moama IV)

A camp set up by the multimedia sculptural group Futurelic who specialise in constructing large scale artworks from scrap material. They used low voltage equipment with welders and oxy torches to create site specific sculptures. Dressed in army fatigues, Africa Core desert hat and jungle boots, Cooba, like many other artists here, is enthused by the potential of that which can be scavenged from places like the 'rust belt', a wasteland of abandoned factories in Melbourne's west. Commenting on a fellow artist's piece - a metallic skeleton which lay in a shallow grave (which he refers to as Robo Erectus) - Cooba explains: 'basically we like to dig up the past via junk and find out what we can from it and put a different twist on it, turn it into things monstrous or turn it into things delightful'.

Most objects and installations are sculpted out of 'locally found metals, scrap, factory offcuts, wire, gaffa, paints, plastics, pvc pipe, wood, natural stuff' which are then suspended in trees and placed around the site as landmarks (Nipa). Futurelic encouraged ConFesters to participate in creating sculptures, such as in 'the house of wax' body plaster casting, and, at Moama IV, they had an exhibition area. On the night before New Year's Eve, they lit up their site with:

little kero candles, little silver candles, kero lights, twelve volt spots and smoke effects ... we call it the twelve volt apocalypse ... And we did some spoken word stuff and performance and Tony had his percussion set made from bits of drums and ... metal equipment we found ... and we were all in outfits dragging chains around and it was really dark and smoke was pouring out over everything ... [And] it came across as a really strange vibe cause we've got so many things that are like graves and dark creatures and the house of wax ... That night we sort of gave this impression as being some sort of weird ghoulish low voltage cross between technology and barbarianism with all the noise and the screaming ... And for a whole four or five hours we just had something going on that's hard to describe. (Nipa)

Self Development and Therapy (Toc III)

Popular central workshop space. A regular ConFest fixture himself, the Right Reverend Dr J. J. Fu (a Chinese Catholic priest) took workshops on past life regression therapy, 'Agape love and healing meditation', and taught self hypnosis designed to help people quit smoking, aid study and overcome asthma. 'Women's mysteries and spiritual midwifery' also transpired here.

Sexuality (Toc III)

Located at a relatively remote cul de sac, a variety of ideas were exchanged and propagated about sexuality. Tantra and tantrik massage were popular. There were discussions on bisexuality, homosexuality and gender politics. Other workshops included 'the relevance of bondage and discipline to sacred sexuality', sensual massage, erotic techniques, 'radical intimacy and non-monogamy' and 'flirting'. According to its facilitator, Cedar, 'flirting' (which attracted up to 300 people at a time) was not a 'meat market' but was designed to explore what he called 'the politics of flirting'. Cedar has participated in orgies at past ConFests, but says 'they're not really my thing ... because I like to get to know people first'.

Spiral (Birdlands, Toc IV, Moama IV &V)

Referred to as 'a sacred communal place', Spiral first appeared at Moama III. It is a drug and alcohol free community performance space precipitating the development of a larger drug and alcohol free zone at ConFest. Spiral is a collective of people, many in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions and broken relationships, who hold drumming and dance nights in Melbourne. Commenting on the philosophy of the group's name, Prion explains:

'spiral' relates to just about everything on earth. It's in everything. It's in our DNA, sea shells, just about everything that grows. It's also an old word used for dance - growing in spirals instead of going round in circles. There's a lot of symbology around the world. It's an ancient recognised symbol. A lot of what we're doing here is very community, tribal. We operate in circles. Whilst most workshops use the 'Roman system' where a speaker sits on a chair with an audience, as in schools [and] politics, with us ... guidance is through eldership and it's earned, and the idea is to get out of the way as quick as possible and allow things to happen. And our stuff is experiential - learning through experience rather than being lectured to and creating a passive audience. (Prion)

According to Prion, Spiral is about recreating 'sacred space in our community as a whole'. Spiral usually features a central medicine wheel, a broad ring of sticks and rocks with a central pole functioning as a 'dance, drumming celebration space'. According to Daemian - who first organised such a ritual space at Bredbo - the medicine wheel is a 'ritual healing circle ... based in the common lore of virtually every tribal culture and every timeless spiritual culture' (Daemian 1987:5). At Birdlands, this feature, purposefully fashioned to resemble American Indian and Celtic practices of contriving 'sacred space', was 'initiated into the four directions [in] an opening ceremony'. These rites consecrated the space, and the wheel, which 'builds with energy as the days go on', was furnished with respect, such that most people avoided entering it outside ritual moments. Such a 'sacred space' is designed to effect healing via 'primal drumming'. As Prion says, 'the symbol for the spiral is the snake - and that's working with the kundalini and the primal drumming is working down in the base to get people connected to the earth, in touch with themselves'.

At Moama V the medicine wheel was the location for Wankan Tanka, a Native American Indian ritual play performed by the Rainbow Ritual Theatre, in co-operation with Spiral Connections. Wankan Tanka sketched a warrior's quest for 'self realisation and his journey back home to the body of light'. On his quest, Wankan Tanka met with 'the shaman' who granted him a vision into a state of consciousness which took him to 'the beginning of time and the birthing of creation'. He encountered helpful totem figures (Father Spirit, Mother Earth and the 4 winds) who revealed to him that 'to sustain this consciousness' he must undergo initiation by battling and finally liberating 'the negative elements within himself': being the ego (the shadow), the body (the bison), the emotions (the serpent) and mind (the raven) (quotes are from a poster).

Spirituality (Toc III, Birdlands and Moama IV & V)

A quiet meditative area usually set up on the periphery in the drug and alcohol free zone. There is normally a large marquee, the interior of which is akin to a shrine, with portraits and photographs of the spiritual leaders of different world religions who look out over the large open space within. Sri Param Eswaran, who has co-ordinated Spirituality for years, claims the village's purpose is 'to let people understand the environment within themselves - the stars, meditation, chakras within the body ... [but] it goes deeper than that ... Each day here is ruled by a particular planet'. A spiritualist with diverse influences (Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism), Param co-ordinated workshops in WA at the inception of the DTE movement. At Moama IV, he still held purification rites (fire meditation), took tantra, cooking classes (with dahl and halva) and did counselling work. Massage (Reiki) and chanting techniques (eastern and western) were also taught there.

At Moama IV, 800 people gathered in this area on one evening to feast and participate in a ceremony which eventually saw Ananda Marga 'marry' several couples. Participants arrived holding candles earlier distributed and made a circle around a large earth mandala image which had taken many ConFesters several days to complete.

TAZ-Cyber (Birdlands)

Named after Hakim Bey's book (TAZ 1991a), a 'cyber tent' was pitched housing around eight terminals connected to the Internet via a main server. The idea was to provide support and encourage casual use and exploration with one computer set up as an electronic notice board allowing ConFesters and Internet users around the world to obtain information about ConFest. Those supporting the presence of this village are keen to point out the networking and communication transfer potentials precipitated by the distribution of cheap 2nd hand hardware and the free circulation of necessary user skills (like html editing). According to the village proposal:

[t]he Internet is a fundamental paradigm shift in human communication. It marks the transition from the top-down information flow of traditional mass-media to new methods of information flow and exchange which are not mediated by the traditional authorities ... One individual with minimal technology can communicate with millions of people across the globe, and access information with a freedom beyond anything previously possible ... The Internet provides an unparalleled opportunity for individuals and groups who wish to pursue alternatives to our current social and economic structures.

The facilitator Epacris, who has a background in systems administration, and who made an unsuccessful attempt to get a cyber-cafe off the ground in Melbourne, declared 'ConFest validated my choice to drop out'. He regarded TAZ as 'a nexus point for ideas to converge, modelled on the Spirit of ConFest ... [It is] a place to link up with others, to form networks'.

Tek Know (Birdlands, Toc IV, Moama IV)

This event appeared in somewhat clandestine circumstances at Moama III (Easter '95) - at the site's epicentre) and Tek Know (or Techno) was present at each of the following three events (called Rainbow Dreaming at Toc IV) before undergoing later mutations. At Moama IV, Tek Know attracted around 2,000 people over New Year's Eve. The music started at nine pm (stopping about nine am the next year) and could be heard from a great distance (as far as the other end of the site, a strong source of indignation and anger). After dark, habitués were guided in by the throb, typically around 140 bpm, as well as the fluoro stickers and fabrics lining the ground and trees on the approach. The village had a main 'doof' and two 'chill' (or rest) spaces, one with a separate sound system and DJs (but with more, ambient, 'astral' 'fluffy trance' music), and the other with no immediate music. There were about 10 DJs all together.

Speaking on the techno crew, Krusty - Tek Know's principal architect and 'Dr of shamanic dance' (Richard) - remarks 'we're just basically artists. And this is our late twentieth expression of art'. In fact, the site featured numerous installations, many good examples of industrial sculpture. Commenting on the most outlandish piece (which members of Futurelic helped construct), Dama remarked:

I think there's quite a lot of insect consciousness starting to happen. So we built a giant praying mantice on the dance floor with a Volkswagen beetle for the body, trussing legs, and a long, long neck with a big head on the end with feelers and flashing eyes and such like. And ... the lighting on the legs was on a chaser, so that at certain angles it actually looked as if the legs were moving when the lights flashed.

A scaffold tower was positioned nearby, a platform for fire performances around the base of which there were attracted many fire stick and mace twirlers and fluoro club jugglers over New Year's Eve.

Krusty regards ConFest as 'a unique entity' and perceives the Tek Know crew to be a 'fractal' of that entity. In Krusty's view, the dance ground is 'a sacred space, a place to connect with our power'. He is keen to explain the import of this event and the seriousness with which participants regard the global 'fluoro-rainbow tribe' Trance Dance.36 'I think they need us' he reflects. 'Without any fresh energy, something dies ... it doesn't evolve, it doesn't move foreword, it just stagnates'. And when he offers, in reference to Tek Know, 'I think people especially when they come to a festival, do like to have a focus point of celebration', he is intimating that this event has become a principal node in the ConFest counterscape.

Tipi (Toc III)

This riverbank area provided a site for the erection of several tipis, though many others could be found spread over the site. Here one could find serious imitations and interpretations of Native American Indian culture. While there has since been no Tipi village as such, these structures (old, new, or mock tipis locally fashioned from logs, bark, scrub and corrugated iron) have taken on a pervasive presence. Many temporary dwellings or bush shelters constructed from local materials of varying shapes and sizes are evident. As Wirilda remarked, 'houses don't have huge mortgages when they're made out of sticks'.

Warrior (Toc IV)

By the river beach, an imposing tree house was constructed by a ConFester who had encountered the event two years before while competing in the Murray River Marathon.37 Following that, Cypress discovered a niche at ConFest. Having completed 'inner work' and martial arts training, he is an archetypal warrior of the vigilant and peaceful kind, and therefore his name for this area was fitting. Significantly the 'warrior' theme was a central component of a firewalk which took place in a small clearing nearby.

Where the Wild Things Are (Birdlands, Moama IV)

Paula, the initiator of this village (being the title of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book), explains:

I have a big thing about staying wild ... If you stay wild you stay in connection with the raw emotions and I think ... the raw emotions are your measure. Staying wild is one of the most important things in life.

At Birdlands, this village became the centre for various community based organisations from around the Dandenong region to congregate, holding a feast on the final night. It was a food kitchen centre at Moama IV.

Wolfgang's Palace (Birdlands)

Wolfgang's Palace are an interactive theatre troupe, based at an old cheese factory converted into their 'palace' near Colac, where the key points of the pagan calendar are observed with celebrations and dramatisations of original interpretations of Ancient Greek mythological themes. At ConFest, they set up a performance space where they performed a play on one night. They also hosted theatre sports and the Freak Olympics, which involved four teams (membership being determined by each participants' Zodiacal element) competing in a series of games.

Women's (Moama II & III)

Also called 'Wimmin's', this was a 'men-free zone' where 'women's drumming', 'meditation and the temple of Delphi' workshops took place. On defending the presence of Women's as a separate, women only, area at Moama III, Jenny argues that it is not 'anti-men', but:

a celebration of being a woman. It is anti-patriarchy, but not symbolic of the desire, for women to hold power. All we seek to rule, control, have power over, is ourselves. And so we shall! ... In going back to Australia's sacred bushland, Aboriginal culture is very relevant to ConFest. Think - there has always been men's business and women's business in Aboriginal culture, in fact in most indigenous traditions around the planet. It makes sense that men and women are able to have separate spaces at ConFest. (Jenny J. DTE 83 March 1995:16)

As such, a Men's village appeared on the map at Moama II. Little appeared to occur there, although a workshop on 'freemasonry' was listed on the blackboard.

Yoga (Birdlands, Moama IV)

Distinguished by the Rainbow Tipi and ochre pit, the village was located in the drug and alcohol free zone at Moama IV. According to its co-ordinator, Marko, Yoga is a 'sanctuary'. Marko's first encounter with ConFest at Walwa III was a catalyst: 'I felt "fantastic there's a tribe here", there's a group I can identify with, people who are really open to change'. Inspired, he later elected to co-ordinate Yoga so as to create a context for exercise classes where a range of styles, including representations from Iyenga, Hatha and Oki schools, and sharing circles eventually appeared. At Birdlands, a yoga cafe appeared: 'a nice clean white atmosphere. It wasn't a place to go and smoke and bong out. It was very open, very supportive, light, clean'.

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