Turner argued that it is via the cultural drama (especially life/death cycle rites and seasonal festivals), that knowledge of two forms may be communicated. First, 'sacred and eternal law' may be presented to initiates or participants. Here, the sacra are transmitted: mysteries, origin myths and cosmic law are taught to the uninitiated, and cultural and religious values, axioms and principles are communicated. Drawing upon the observations of Harrison (1903), Turner takes the sacra to include: mythically significant objects ('what is shown'); actions, such as dramatic performances ('what is done'), and; instruction, such as oral histories and the teaching of theogony, cosmogony and mythical history ('what is said') (Turner 1967a:102; Turner and Turner 1982:204).

The second form of knowledge communicated is that which is potentially sacrilegious, that which may be subversive, threatening to transgress 'the most sacred texts, the mightiest rulers and their commandments'. Here, usually in cultural modalities contingent upon a ludic atmosphere, liminaries are granted freedom to scrutinise and question the conditions of their existence (Turner 1985d:236). Such a context parallels the 'gay freedom of thought and imagination' conditional of carnivalesque consciousness (Bakhtin 1968:49), a 'carnival spirit' which 'offers the chance to ... enter a completely new order of things' (ibid:34).

We can observe both forms within ConFest's hyper-reflexive environment. ConFest is a circumstance where the transmission of 'truths', of sacred 'objects', 'rituals' and 'texts', coincides with variegated dissension from hegemonic, and/or more popular alternative, discourse and practice. Indeed, that which is revered and that which is heretical are likely the same - 'truths' transmitted are those which agitate or rupture 'truths' the majority culture holds dear. There is thus no clear distinction between 'law' and 'freedom', the sacra and the sacrilegious. The sacrilegious is the sacra. This trait is not uncommon to liminoid events, appearing in an era when the 'antinomian egg containing both law and freedom, which is ritual's tribal form ... [has] cracked open' (Turner 1985d:236-7). It is, nevertheless, a striking characteristic of ConFest - a counter-spatial event designed to posit challenges to entrenched ideas and practices - to accommodate the discussion of, and experimentation with, alternatives. In this, it is an occasion where the 'lived in world' (Handelman 1990) of alternates is self-'presented' - it presents lifestyle options to growing numbers of converted, or at least similarly predisposed, participants. As Amulla exclaims, 'ConFest is one of the ways I touch base with what is going on in the real world!' By that which is 'shown, 'done' and 'said', ConFest provides reflexive attention to dominant consumption patterns, social relations, economic platforms, sexual politics, environmental management, agricultural practices, health care. And the sacra, so presented, may eventually achieve broader appeal in what is a 'space of alternate ordering' (Hetherington 1997:52).

Available avenues of 'redress' and resistance are multiple - multifarious marginalia circulate under the greater marquee of ConFest. With around 300 workshops on offer at summer events, the options are dazzling. Browsing the latest authentica, ConFesters sample esoteric accessories, folk-theologies, funky fringe therapies, chic modes of enlightenment and fashionable words of wisdom. They champion the principles of a proposed new: 'Age', 'Jerusalem', 'cosmos', politic, 'tribe', 'spirit', ethic, 'consciousness', 'millennium'. In such a diverse and dynamic context, that which is sacred for one individual (e.g. techno-trance), may be profane for another. And what today is 'law' or the 'truth' (e.g. zone therapy or Rajneeshism), may tomorrow be dated or unpopular.

This multi-cultural drama also possesses the refractive effect of ramified performances. It is host to events transpiring at multiple venues: passage rituals (e.g. fire walk, 'wild women'), healing/curative rites (e.g. Spirituality - Tantra; Pagan - rebirthing; and Massage), community dance and percussion (e.g. Spiral and Fire Circle), games and parades (Children's), interactive theatre (Labyrinth), raves (Rainbow Dreaming/Tek Know), entertaining spectacles and theatre (Music, Spiral), exhibitions (Alternative Technology), demonstrations and educational forums. Demanding a range of participatory involvement (from total engagement to passivity) and uncertain shifts between 'deep' and 'shallow' play, between reflexive and unreflexive moments, this is the forum for communicating the contemporary sacra I attend to in the following sections.

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