SUSAN and Eric Rae are desperate for a millennium baby.

And according to experts, now is the best time to conceive if you hope to give birth on January 1, 2000.

But rather than leaving it to Mother Nature, the Raes have enlisted the help of white witch Kevin Carlyon.

On Sunday, the childless couple will be taking part in an open-air hillside ceremony.

Service

Kevin, who comes from St Leonards, will conduct the service wearing full regalia.

But first he will have to haul his altar, candles and incense-burners up the hillside in Oxfordshire.

Quality controller Susan, 33, said: "Kevin seems ever so confident about this, and so are we. He's shown us another avenue to go down."

The couple have been trying for a baby for five years and turned to Kevin after tests failed to show why they could not conceive.

They will stand fully-clothed inside a circle made of flour, holding crystals. Then they will be asked to go home and, hopefully, conceive.

Kevin, of Dane Hill Road, said: "I will be invoking the forces of nature with incantations and summoning earth, air, fire and water to invoke energy to help the couple to conceive."

The Raes, from Oxfordshire, contacted Kevin after reading about another of his rituals. A Dorset couple had a child after one of his services.

Kevin said: "They had been trying for five years and used me as a last resort. The ceremony was carried out on a hill figure, similar to the Long Man of Wilmington.

"The only difference was, I left and they made love inside the 20ft phallus."

The Raes have been married for eight years and have been trying for a child for the past four.

Susan said: "It has just not happened for us so far. We've had all the tests at hospital and they say there is nothing wrong with either me or Eric.

"We are classed as unknown as to why I'm not conceiving.

"We've been offered IVF treatment, but I can't see the point if there is nothing wrong."

Kevin, who is married with a 16-year-old daughter, said: "I'm doing it because it will create a magical baby for them. I help a lot of people all over the world, with ghost-busting and spells, but it's not black magic.

"It's all self-taught, you use your instincts. I started The Covenant of Earth Magic and there are now 963 members, including police, teachers and firemen."

Kevin is also carrying out a ceremony with a Hastings couple next weekend who want to remain anonymous.

And he has led ceremonies to stop the Gulf War, fight poll tax, and stop a bypass being built on woodland.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.