1. See Appendix B.1(v).

2. While these are often referred to as 'alternative healing' systems (McGuire 1988), 'fringe medicine', 'folk therapy', 'unorthodox medicine' (e.g. Gevitz 1988), 'vernacular health belief systems' (O'Connor 1995), 'non-cosmopolitan medicine' (Ross 1992:539) and 'natural medicine' are terms variously employed .

3. Of whom, those like Marc (see Healing village) possess complementary skills.

4. Many items may disappear from the menu, or become less popular, as they move into 'the mainstream' (practice and education). This has been the case for chiropracting, acupuncture and naturopathy. Unfortunately, it goes beyond the scope of my thesis to explore these trends further.

5. O'Connor's (1995:29) spectrum of 'energies' identified within 'vernacular' systems is resonant:

Interpretations of pertinent energies may include a vital force that animates the body and provides the essential condition for health, energies that link individuals to the cosmos or to Nature; energies that flow through the channels within the body and whose blockage sets up conditions for disease and dysfunction; negative energies that are sources of disharmony and disease; and healing energies that can be tapped, channeled or manipulated by healers or by sick individuals themselves.

6. Alternative healing is more orientated to address wellbeing issues (including the way a person experiences illness) than the 'disease', and is thus inclined to take into account the socio-cultural meanings and conditions in the world of the afflicted.

7. In contemporary times, Jungian analysis is a popular form of rite of passage via which 'contact with a transcendent realm (the collective unconscious) and its powers (the archetypes) leads to an energizing renewal, rebirth or redemption (individuation)' (Noll 1994:292). Contact with the collective unconscious (or the Self), also known as the inner deity or the God or Goddess within, is often said to be achieved by meditation.

8. This can be variously expressed - as in the following allegorical rendering of ConFest as 'social LSD': ConFest and LSD both are 'methods of consciousness expansion, both are instruments of the Possibility Archetype ... Now ConFest as social LSD costs $30 a go, it takes about a day to come on, it peaks for 4-5 days, comes down for a week and it takes weeks, if not months to recover!' (Lord Kelvin & G 1995:4).

9. Acknowledgment of which runs concurrent with the continued desire for unlimited self, human or social 'growth'. Ross (1992:548), for instance, discusses the 'New Age's' 'fiercely moral attachment to the idea of setting external limits', while being simultaneously 'devoted to limitless "internal" development'.

10. However, it has been reasonably argued that such global imagery reinforces 'ontological detachment' and is fundamentally colonial (Ingold 1993:38).

11. In 'New Age religion', spiritual development - often amounting to a transcendence of self (or achievement of 'higher self') - is thought to engender 'harmony' between humans and nature. Accordingly, 'healing the mind leads to the healing of Mother Earth' (Hanegraaff 1998:22).

12. According to Harris (1996), 'the ecological crisis ... is at root a spiritual crisis' (155). He believes that in the example of reconnection with our body, our physical self, provided by Paganism, 'we may come to heal our relationship with our planet' (155, 149).

13. There are, however, a great many workshop themes (especially therapy) that are not immediately relevant to what I call the self-globe nexus, or at least don't appear to be. I am not suggesting that this nexus unites all discourse and practice. With such a diversity present (and disputation between advocates of varying strategies) this is obviously impossible. Nevertheless, in my reading of the evidence this is a significant underlying theme.

14. Possamai (1998) suggests two types of 'critical mass': (1) Critical Mass by Meditation (CMM) where a shift (specifically towards the 'Age of Aquarius') is brought about through meditation, the channeling of universal energies (e.g. Transcendental Meditation), and; (2) Critical Mass by Social Action (CMSA) where revolutionary social changes are accomplished via the everyday attachment and commitment of individuals to a network of activist and community groups (Possamai 1998:191-92) (e.g. Critical Mass - the anti-car and world fuel crisis activists).

15. It also evokes the 'energy' concentration, channeling and/or magic acts found in such diverse practices as meditation, Reiki and Wicca.

16. Billed as 'Australia's first National Occult and Alternatives ConFest', Unicorn Star Enterprises' Sky to Earth ConFest, a non-DTE event held at Glenlyon in 1984, was an early expression of this.

17. ConFest also inspired the All One Family Gathering, which, celebrated on the equinoxes and solstices since 1986, has been variously described as a 'purification of the Earth and its peoples' (DTEQLD Feb. 1986:7), and a 'celebration of the summer solstice and the wonder and joy of living and growing into total health in harmony with mother nature' (DTE NEA Nov. 1995:4).

18. The 'mystery of menstruation' is articulated as a rite of passage and revealed to be a source of wisdom and power. Women are encouraged to connect with their own cycles (and with the cycles of the moon, tides and weather), and are instructed on the value of washable cloth pads, which, whilst not only ethical in their reusability, satisfy the desire to get 'back in touch' as they can be used to transfer a woman's vitamin and mineral filled blood-soak 'back into the earth' (which is declared, on a pamphlet for 'Rad Pads' - 'the environmentally friendly modern woman's menstrual companion' - to instill 'a great feeling').

19. One instance of ecological 'duty' springs to mind. Anxieties awoken by contemplation of the environmental consequences of mindless consumption and waste is allayed through the serious undertaking, according to a sign at Toc IV, of 'returning the site to nature ... all welcome'. A responsibility upon which the success of ConFest is said to be dependent, such commitments are nothing short of purification rites. In this vein, at the signposted compost area of the same event's divisional recycling system we find: 'in celebration we give back to you Mother Earth that which is created from yourself and the energy from the sun'.

20. Who, according to Greenwood (1998:101), is the 'ground of being': 'the ultimate reality connecting the universe in which all participate'.

21. The universalistic property of Shamanism is thus evoked to legitimate the experience.

22. It should be pointed out here that the proliferation of indigeneity at ConFest stands in contrast to the relative absence of Aborigines. The record with Aboriginal groups is not comforting to DTE. According to Cockatoo, a large group of Pitjantjajara used to come down to Daylesford, building mimis (bush huts). However, after a request for travel funding was refused, they stopped coming. Koories also travelled from Melbourne to Walwa to perform dances, but did not return after DTE failed to deliver on its promise to allocate 'a certain percentage of profits' to them. As rental for and recognition of prior occupation, and in agreement with the 'Pay the Rent' scheme formulated by Koories as an alternative to Government funding, DTE paid the Yorta Yorta 1% gross income of Toc I and Toc II (DTE News 70 July 1992:1). This gesture has not been repeated.

23. These gestures are common place within alternative culture. The Aquarius Festival was said to have occurred on a Bunjalung initiation ground and organisers invited 'one of the old Aborigines from the area ... to open the festival' (Byron Express, 5th ed, May 1973:4). That Mornington Islanders performed corroborees, dancing around fires in proximity to a host of white bands such as The Magik Karavan (Shelmerdine 1973:4), was also heralded as significant. The 1983 Nimbin Lifestyle Celebration closed with the performance of a 'Rainbow Serpent' ritual (Newton 1988:67). And, local Murris, notably the Gabbi-Gabbi, have 'hosted' the annual Woodford/Maleny Festival, opening the event via a 'permission ceremony' (Lewis and Dowsey-Magog 1993:203-4). In North America, the Rainbow Family often send a delegation to meet with local Indians - sometimes the wrong ones - seeking their approval before holding a Gathering (Niman 1997:142-4). These examples indicate that Aborigines (and other indigenes), approving, opening and consummating events, have become sanctifying signifiers, performing the role of an authenticating 'presence' (physical or spiritual). They also take an important role as the 'absent referent'. Disappointed with the unacknowledgment of Aborigines at recent events, anarchists from Food Not Bombs at Moama IV fashioned a large banner hung near the Market: 'You are on Aboriginal land. Where are the Aborigines? Have we asked their permission?'

24. It is not clear whether these 'authorities' were referring to the spirit of the festival or the river. Rawlins did not seek further information from either.

25. There is some confusion over this, since the purpose of restricting access was believed by some to be a matter of safety on account of the rabbit boroughs.

26. The mound became a 'sacred site' even though midden sites - traditionally gathering places - were not 'sacred' or religious places. Places may now be 'sacred' due to imputed religious, cultural, historical, even personal significance (cf. Maddock 1991).

27. Though he does not refer to middens, for a discussion of ancient and indigenous sacred sites serving as 'energy transmitters' for both Aborigines and Euro-Pagans/New Agers, see Kolig (1996:371).

28. According to Heartland Didgeridoo, 'remembrance and grieving is the start of the journey' to reconcilement.

29. Though presaging disaster for some, many participants were oblivious, interpreting the flag's demise as part of the proceedings.