Celebrating Imbolc or "Why we want the Groundhog to sleep late"

It's Imbolc. Time of reflection and time for hearth and home. We celebrate many things this time of year. For those of us who live in the cold and frozen North, this is the time when we dream of SPRING.

This is when seed catalogs come and folks start dreaming of better weather. It's cold. We want and NEED the sun!

It is the time of cleansing too.Time to cleanse our hearts, our lives, our bodies, our relationships, our homes...

Pagans of the past celebrated Imbolc with a blessing from the Goddess Bridgid. She is a Fire Goddess of Hearth and Home.

In Ireland, Brigid was the daughter of the one of the Tuatha De Danann.(in history, they are where faeries come from!) She is considered a classic Celtic, Triple Goddess.

She was a women of poetry and poets, a healer and the Goddess of all things related to high and lofty. High rising flames, high towers, highland hills and high and lofty ideas (high intelligence, wisdom, eloquence, poetic eloquence) but mostly she reigns supreme over house and home.

She was absorbed into the Catholic religion as St. Brigit, as were so many other Pagan ideas, ideals and traditions.

This is the season of Life and Death in an Agrarian culture. This is when herds are culled, when the weakest are eliminated, when the farm communities used to be 1/2 done with winter and 1/2 their hay was gone for their livestock. Farmers (as we who also live in the land of ice and snow) look forward to spring.

Brigid, bieng a fire Goddess, was honored with bonfires and light to celebrate the hope for better weather.  She is the Goddess of Transformation. As the world awakens from it's winter slumber and as the days grow longer and brighter, we await for better weather and for the world to burst into newness and joy and to shed the long, cold, hard days of winter and emotions.

This truly, is a time of "Fire & Ice: The Circle of Life."

How is she related to Pauxatawney Phil you ask?

The groundhog gets all tangled with this because of Celtic traditions celebrating St. Brigid's Day (Feb. 1) and Candlemas, the Catholic St. Brigit (Feb. 2)

Here's an old poem from Celtic tradition:

"As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop."

They share almost the same day for a rememberance day."

They used to use Hedgehogs as the prognosticators, to say when spring was on it's way, but when the Pilgrims and travelers came over here to the Americas, they could find no hedgehogs! Only the lowly, fat groundhogs. And so if he sees his shadow (likely) there will be 6 weeks more of winter. If he doesn't (hopeful) we will have an early spring.

Which of course is why seed catalogs are so prevalent in your mailbox on Groundhog's Day :) It is the wish for SPRING. That's why we WISH for the groundhog to NOT see his shadow :)

We WANT a sleepy groundhog!

We now clean out our houses, hearths and home and dedicate our hearts and minds to doing better, getting to where we need to be, adjusting who we are, who we associate with, what takes up our time and how we will get to where we want to be.

Maybe we will sleep in like the groundhog and let spring come to us.
Maybe we will sweep out our houses and purify our lives and makes some changes and get up early.

Maybe we should all just have a feast and celebrate Brigid and Phil and offer up our prayers to the Gods on the winds of a bonfire, burning slips of paper with what we want to release, and what we want to add.

Hey, it can't hurt....and after all...

It's TRADITION :)

Poem in the Middle of the Night

Fairytale Pink

Gingerbread Red

Pine Forest Green

Sunshine Citron Yellow

These are the colors of Enchantment

My intrepid fellow!

Tropical Blue

Puffy Cloud White

Fairies dance

While you sleep at night!

Petals and Pollen

Blades of Grass

Childhood Moments

that last and last!

Beauty and Wonder

I wish for Thee

Pixie Dust trails

and Holes in Oak Trees

Twilight tingles

and Midnight Moon

Dreams of Love

to Find You Soon!

Merlyn’s Magic and Morgan Le Fay

Broomsticks and Apples

Morning Dew in May

Cauldrons and Kettles

Sage and Sweet Smudge

Strawberries Ripe  

and Chocolate Fudge

Music and Laughter

Flirtatious Eyes

Silver and Golden Sunsets

Fill the Skies!

Come to me Magic! 

Bid me no farewell!

My heart calls to Thee Sweetly

Echoed deep in water barrels

Dragonflies and Hummingbirds

Suddenly appear

Tarot and Goddesses

Give me Nothing to Fear

Magic within me

Magic without

Let Nature show her Wonders

Let the Flowers Shout!

Faery Glamor

In my quest for knowledge and communication with the faeries, I became aware of some ills...some things not quite right in my world. Oh, they seemed right from the outside. But when the surface was scratched a bit, I saw a dark underbelly of pain and saddness and anger.

I realized that I had used Faery Glamor to cover something.
I had made a castle out of a stone hut and manipulated my feelings to bring euphoric results to myself and others..

I have come to the conclusion that I may indeed, be a Faery Witch. A bit different than a Wiccan Witch, but still wonderful. I have some magic powers. Have had since I was a gifted child..
It is true that they are hard to control sometimes, and some days they get the better of me, can scare those around me, but I think this last bit has finally freed me of some of my own spell upon myself.

*I feel ill when I'm not out in nature.
*I adore all things Arthurian and Merlin related (hence my name itself),
*I can be fanciful and demanding, hard working and love to sing.
*People tell me how much they admire my singing voice, and that it soothes them.
*I sometimes move things or people with my mind.
*I have built dreams and torn them down in one evening.
*I give all I have in a relationship and spoil my partners and gift them and put them upon grand pedestals.
*I also require their devotion and faithfulness and am a very jealous lover.
*I am vengeful if I don't get my way.
*Yet I think of myself always as a giver and yet, I always think of the gypsy trade in anything, one thing left in place for another.
*I adore the stage and the floaty things of air, whether they be birds, butterflies, dragonflies or gossamer wings.
*I love to hide when I want to, and eavesdrop if at all possible, like a faery in the corner.
*Yet I love to burst upon the scene in full regalia and have everyone's attention.
*I hold a grudge, but can be easily convinced to let it go if given gifts.
*I am a good storyteller.
*I spent most of my youth and young adult hood outside and preferred it to any other place.
*I realized at a young age that trees and animals and even the elements have spirits and souls.

These are ALL Faery qualities.

Yes, I believe I am a Faery Witch. Which is why that ring came to ME out of all the people it could've gone to. I would never have come to this conclusion this soon without it.

In thinking about Faery Glamor and all its qualities, I thought about Midsummer's Nights Dream.

I am convinced now that I have used my powers on others...and even myself. I have, through my joy and reckless abandon, put spells upon them and convinced us both that we were in love, or in some faeryworld of hope and magic...when in sooth, he was only bewitched and woke with donkey ears, like in Midsummer Night's Dream.

When involved in Faery Glamor, there is nothing more delicious, nothing more delightful, nothing more real and yet, nothing more illusionary.

The Faery Ring has taught me that I can set and lift these spells at will.

I choose to now be very aware of the power that I have upon others. I will choose to use my magic in my songs and stories and to not use it on other fragile or damaged people, even if I think it may benefit them.

Granted, there is much to gain by using Faery Glamor. And the recipients may take many experiences and lessons back to their mundane world, albeit, they have lost a great deal of time while lost in fantasy.
They may remember fondly our time together, and then more and more vaguely, the magic that was, until one day it will only be a dream, a thought, a moment of a smile, or a lost feeling.

Like Titiana, I am totally obsessed at the time, all engulfed by the magic of the moment...then awake from my dream, slowly blinking to the new day of reality as Oberon's love potion has worn off, and I find myself back to myself again.

The story can not be repeated. Nick Bottom will wonder what happened, then he will wonder no more, as his life of work and self consumption and apathy towards others and love of self will once more become his familiar theme.

And I, like Titiana will find myself still in love and lust and always at odds with Oberon. :)

New Year's Resolutions and Dark Elves

The year 2010 has been a good one for me. My life has taken some twists and turns, but here I sit, poised to go forward into 2011 with a hopeful heart.

My daughters are both settled in their homes, happy and independant.

My doggy has healed from a major trauma.

My mates are busy with work and are happy.

We are all healthy.

I have much to be thankful for!

Yet as I look back on my list of priorities that I set for myself last year, Dec. 31, 2009 I see that while I have accomplished much, there were things that went tossed off like a kids' bike along the roadside.

I didn't lose those 25#. Matter of fact, I probably gained a few more....
I didn't get to my outings and adventures of visiting NYC to see St. Patrick's Cathedral nor the Cloisters....
Nor did I get a permanent awning built over the hot tub or seal the foundation under the porch....
and the Christmas CD didn't get worked on and the holiday is now over....

HOWERE....

I DID have a fun year, with gigs, made new friends, took a belly dance class, grew out my bangs (you ladies know that this is major :), put in a big proposal for school gigs that got accepted, motivated Harry to rework the office area (no simple feat there, my friends! this will motivate him to have a better studio for my technologically advanced husband and a place to play with video and audio gear for future Merry Mischief projects :), I worked diligently on writing and organizing my previous writings, got wheels (!!) painted the porch, and finished and offered a Live CD...and we started work on a music video in a local cathedral for a Christmas song! Nursed an injured dog to health, worked hard at moving my daughter Shawna from dependance at home to an independant life of her own in residential housing, have taken a good look at myself and my wants and needs and have started projects and get togethers to accomplish them ....and (Bonus) I managed to live with two testosterone filled men and didn't kill either of them, but still consider them my best friends and partners in crime :)

My spontaneous and spiritual life has taken an interesting turn into the fantastic and direction of whimsy with my focus on life, love and fairytale, and faeries themselves. I guess Santa got me thinking about such things, being that he IS an elf/faery that most people accept....so I've tried to get back to my sweet roots of belief in the amazing, the fantastical, the mysterious joy of all things hidden.

But there are pitfalls.

When you look within, there are scary places within your memories or secrets in your closets that you'd rather not go in. You avoid them and try not to think of them.

Kind of like the Dark Elves that live under the Stairs.

I'm not talking about the Dark Elves of World of War Crack....altho, Art does imitate Life.
I'm talking of the everyday Dark Elves....the ones that follow you in the dark and you only hear their footsteps or feel their burning red eye glances, but can't put your finger on where it's coming from.

Dark Elves like dark places. Under stairs where they can reach out between the steps to grab your ankles to trip you as you go down to the basement. They like to live in unused rooms, in corners of closets, under racks and they like to hide under desks and take up residence where anything gets stagnant. They are the ones whose faces pop out at you like a Jack in the Box at the worst times. They are the ones who keep people apart from each other, from looking within, and from connecting those around them. They are the ones who whisper misgivings to your conscience, foul your memories with clouds and give bad advice to your ears in a hushed but firm inner voice.

They are there to remind us to be on our guard.

They are there to keep our feet firm on the path and to keep our bracers on....
even after we say our prayers and go to sleep. They want to use chaos and ill will to make us falter and to pull us from doing good. They busy our lives and take time away from us, and fill it with TV and time wasters so that we don't see friends or read or walk or get out into nature. They sap our energy and say things in our ears like, "You are too tired to exercise, why don't you just watch a sitcom and veg tonight?" Or "it's too cold/dark/rainy/windy to go see a friend".

There is a Yin/Yang to everything in this world. Even in worlds that we can't see.
Even though I've never seen an atom or an quark doesn't mean they don't exist.
"For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction."

And so it is with life.

Sometimes the more you are doing good in this life....the more the Dark Ones try to sway you with lost motivation, clouded direction or weak willpower. The force of a rolling snowball of good must be stopped in their eyes. Their glowing red eyes.

They have just one enemy.

The LIGHT.

So, I give to you this thought....this goodly request....as you make your New Year's Resolutions.

Try to:
Keep being YOU.
Keep trying to offer goodness, friendship, LIGHT and happiness.
Keep HARMONY and the lilting sound of Laughter in your life.
Keep magic and wonder and Faery magic and yes, even winning the jackpot, as a REAL possibility!

Nothing stops the Darkness invading our consciousness like these things.
War, poverty, famine, ill will, hatred, fear are all friends with the Dark Elves.

Try this New Year to side with Healers, Connectors, Friendship, Creativity, Music and a Spirit of Laughter.

The Law of Attraction says, "You get what you Ask for."

So.....

"Ask and Dream BIG!" :)

Bright Wishes and Hope for you and yours this Magical New Year 2011!!

Pondering the Faery Ring at Christmas

Faery Tales are all around us. Have we not all had a visit from the Great Elf Himself last night? Did Santa come in some way down your chimney?

I have been pondering faeries, luck, magic and co-incidence for quite some time, and most especially since this ring has come to me.
This 5 petaled ring.

Two petals are purple and 3 petals are silver.
Could it be my 2 husbands and my 3 children? (one of which I lost?)
Could it be my 3 Great Loves and my 2 living children?
Could it be my 5 decades of life?
Could it be the Elements with 2 in particular calling out to me?

I have been trying to follow my intuition..... and more so, lately.

I will tell you one secret thing.
Something MAGIC happened to me.
I left out a chocolate chip cookie "special" for the faeries.
NOT on Christmas Eve.
Before.
I left it on a silver tiered cookie tray all by itself.
I broke it in half with the words, "Dear Fae Folk: I'm leaving this cookie special for YOU. I am also leaving some Egg Nog in this wee cup with the words, "Amore" on it for you. I hope you like it."
I turned on the twinkling Christmas lights and I left for the day. I forgot about it.
Later on, when I came home, I saw that the whole cookie was gone!
NOTHING left but a wee crumb or two! The Egg Nog was untouched...it had hardened like custard on a cold day.
But the cookie was GONE!  
(now of course the first thing I thought of, after the whole leaping for JOY thing was done, was that a mouse may have taken it. I looked. No mouse poop on the tray or the counter. Always a tell tale sign. I mean, if I were a mouse and found a cookie...I'd shit too...but I'd also want the egg nog :)

So....I dared to ask the guys...."Did you eat the cookie on the silver tray?"
"No, what cookie?"
and "Nope, I didn't see a cookie."

Which means ....the Faeries DID take it!

I have followed my intuitions of late and invited my first husband, father of my girls to come to Christmas dinner. He magically accepted. Yesterday, was a day of note. Here were David, Wayne and Talon and my beautiful children all gathered round to be together for a holiday dinner. Opening presents, cracking jokes, sharing some Christmas cheer and a meal with a hearty, "God Bless Us Everyone!"
We ALL got along.
Just like magic.

And I thought that sometimes Faery magic isn't just silver nutmegs and glass slippers...
Sometimes it's about forgiveness and being content to share a life together.
Sometimes it's about being ODD and that it's OK anyway.
Sometimes its' all about surviving the poison apple and gettng lost in the woods of life.
Sometimes it's about coming through the haunted woods to the clearing to see Grandmother's house and shooing the wolf away from the door.

Sometimes it's just about being together, magically, sharing a simple thing, like a meal.

I look at my Faery Ring of Communication and I bless it for letting me see the magic in my own life this Christmas.

I will try to continue to see the Magic in my life...
I will try to see the wonder and enchantment in the simple things...
from a missing cookie on the counter ....
to the blessing of small handful of special people that I call FAMILY.

May much JOY and Enchantment be yours this day!

And if you can't find any....

MAKE SOME. :)

A True Yule Faery Story :)

Don't you just love it when you get Yule surprises? I had a big one the other day.

Remember when I last wrote to you, I mentioned that I wanted to get back in touch with faeries and my spirituality and feelings of enchantment and wonder with them?

Well, here's a TRUE story:

Harry & I were working a gig at a mall type market last weekend...as wandering minstrels...caroling...spreading Merriment and Mischief :) We stopped to talk to a vendor. She said she loved anything Celtic, so we played "Flower of Scotland" for her...and then she dropped a couple of Earthen/Pagan hints so we played "Witch of the Westmoreland" for her. She was beaming. Harry then mentioned (I don't know why, except that it's been on our minds...) that I've been reading a book on Faeries. She asked me the name, and when I told her quickly about my Fairytale book discussion club, a look of curiosity spread over her face.

She then asked me, directly and out of the blue: "Is it true you want to speak to faeries?"

This took me aback a bit, but I said, "Why...yes...YES I do."

It look like a loud bell had rung in her ears. She then made a sweeping gesture of taking a ring off her finger and handing it to me. "Then THIS is for YOU."

"You are giving me this ring?" I asked her in disbelief. (remember that I don't know this person, have never met her before these two songs....)

"Yes. I just bought it on eBay. I didn't think it was for me. But it is a ring for Faery Communication. It must be for you. I have only had it (she looked at her watch) not even 20 hours. It is meant for you with my blessings. I bought it from a website where a woman is selling some of her family treasures."

I didn't know what to say, but stammered a hearty "Thank You" and put it on the finger that I've been searching for a special ring for. It fit PERFECTLY.

Just then, in the aisle, a shopper walked by with a large sign of a "Fleur de Lis" and I KNEW that the faeries were at work here! It was MAGIC. (I had just the day before written my blog about the faeries!! They surely work fast!!)

She gave me her card and even though we wanted to talk more, we got pulled away as minstrels to go work the crowds some more.

I wore the ring all day. It IS unique. I got some info from her about it. Here is the info that prompted this person to buy it....it is viewed below as well as a picture of the ring itself:

               ~HAUNTED FLOWER FAIRY RING~
                         ~FAE COMMUNICATION~

Welcome and thank you for visiting my auction. I can't express the gratitude and affection I feel for all of my wonderful clients, for the friendships we've formed, the things we've shared and the paths we continually explore together. So many of you return again and again and I can't think of a better testament of magical authenticity than that. I've never tried to convince anyone that magic exists because either you believe or you don't but I do invite you to come in, get comfortable, and visit for a spell. Share in my family's rich heritage of magic and enjoy the tippets of wisdom and guidance passed down from generations of witches that you will find in many of my pages. I am always happy to answer questions and to help you along your own magical path, so please visit often, stay long and learn much. All are welcome. This lovely 'Coven of Blackthorn Fairy Magic Ring' belonged to my Aunt Dariana and was cast with a powerful spell which absorbs and transforms negative energy thereby opening a portal to the Fairy World allowing it's owner to see and hear fairies as well as other magical creatures who reside on a slightly different plane. This spell was cast beneath a full moon and blessed by the Fairy Queen of Blackthorn Forest herself. This lovely ring is graced with a beautiful and unique flower design with three silver petals and two purple petals, it bears no mark inside the band but it is silver tone and is a size 8.  This ring is truly beautiful, unusual and full of magic. Dariana always said that if you want to be successful in communicating with fairies, you should take care to keep your home clean and neat as fairies dislike clutter. She always put honeyed milk and saffron cakes in a window sill for them at night and she had many plants and flowers that fairies are known to love growing in her garden which is a favorite place for fairies to visit. She wore this talisman often when talking to the fairies and I have always been enchanted by it. This ring is charged to amplify one's authentic traits and characteristics. It helps one to recognize and to feel the creativity which is within the self, providing inspiration and imagination in all situations. This amulet can be used to strengthen the memory and to instill faithfulness and loyalty with respect to love, personal affiliations and business relationships. It has been used to assist one in becoming "invisible" in circumstances where one does not wish to be noticed just as fairies are invisible to most humans. It can also be used to awaken both the psychic and the mystical qualities. It has been blessed with moon-infused waters by all thirteen members of The Coven of Blackthorn and is very special. It can be worn during spell casting to relieve stress and for emotional stability and it will bless it's owner with the rare ability to communicate with fairies and other magical creatures who will gradually appear to you with more and more strength and form. My Aunt Dariana, a beautiful Romanian Gypsy Witch who married my uncle while traveling through Europe with her family many years ago. Theirs is truly a fairytale story and one of my favorite family legends! My uncle, who was born into a wealthy and very magical family in York, saw Dariana while she was dancing at a local fair as a very young woman. As soon as their eyes met, he knew that he had to have her. There was never a question that his family would accept her since they also come from a very long line of magical people, so the two families blended and shared their magic with one another. Of course, there were other problems with society in general, but my family overcame all of them and my aunt and uncle lived a very happy life together traveling all over the world. Dariana continued her family’s traditions, developing and practicing her magick until she died several years ago at the age of 104. It is said that her magick was blessed by the Faery Queen of Blackthorn Forest herself who loved Dariana very much and trusted her above all humans. She left most of her jewelry and charged treasures to me with instructions to distribute her beautiful magical possessions all over the world without making it too easy for just anyone to obtain them. Though the opening bid will be far less than it is worth, it will not be won by someone who cannot appreciate the power of this special ring. After much consideration and thought, I think this is the best forum in which to offer it though pictures simply cannot do its beauty justice. Please check the shipping calculator before bidding. I will look forward to meeting the rightful owner of this beautiful amulet very soon. Thank you for visiting my auctions! Brightest Blessings!

Is this WILD or WHAT???

Now here's the OTHER wildness....

1) Harry & I have been trying to remove the house of some of his clutter (it is true that Faeries hate clutter)

2) As some of you know, I have often joked that if I could ask for a Super Power, I would ask for the "Power of Invisibility" and here is a ring with that as one of it's attributes!

3) The ring fits my wedding ring finger perfectly. Our wedding rings need to be re-sized after all these years, and our relationship has grown and changed into a magical thing. Harry already bought himself a magical replacement ring a couple of years back at the ren faire....but I resisted. Recently, I've been looking at rings for myself. What would it be like? Well.....
Something SHINY.
Something DIFFERENT.
Something of meaning to me...
Something that gave me Joy when I looked at it..
...oh...I don't know..".I'd know it when I see it sort of thing"...
But I haven't had ANY luck in the past 6 months of looking. All the rings were so...so...ordinary.
And then this ring comes along! A ring with a history of a love at first sight (much like Harry's & mine). A ring surrounded with hearts (they are on the sides all around the edges) A ring with magic and imbued with the powers and traits I'm looking for, a ring with attributes that protect and dispel negativity around me, in me....
and?
It FITS PERFECTLY.

4) A ring that made it's way to me, not by ME buying it for myself, but from a stranger, through a process that was difficult for HER to even get it. And she handed it to me, with grace and panache and generosity. I don't know how much she bid for it. She said that she just HAD to buy it. She was wearing it at the time, and KNEW it wasn't for her. Then I came along....

(Insert Faerie laughter and delightful giggles here)

Also insert my own giggles hither. For I, indeed,  am walking on a CLOUD of merriment right now and have been since Saturday about it!!

(Note to reader: I did write this story once...but then something happened and it got LOST. I couldn't retrieve it. I was bummed. But I was really thinking I needed to write this story and tell this marvelous tale...so I "asked the Faeries if I could have permission to tell this tale of Enchantment, so that YOU too might start believing in Faeries and Magic again in your own lives. And the blog has gone smoothly. And...once it was published....the former blog appeared out of nowhere. What funny little tricksters they are. I just needed to ASK first. :)

SO

On this most Magical of Yule Days, I wish you JOYFUL ENCHANTMENT!
I wish you the ability to catch a snowflake on your tongue!
I wish you ability (no matter your capabilities of sight)  to see the Faeries dance, in the snow, in the grass, in your garden this whole new life on.

And it IS a New Year of JOY :)

Bright Blessings to you on this Amazing Magic Winter Solstice!

Faery Stories

I have always believed in faeries. Santa, the Tooth Faery, Elves, Hobbits, Dwarves, Dryads, wind and dust devils, water sprites, salamanders (fire sprites) these are just a few that I have experienced in one way or another.

Living in the country when I was small, gave me ample opportunity to wander and spend a great deal of time by myself in the outdoors."Raise a child up in the way and when they are old, they will not depart from it."

And so it is that of late, I have missed my faery experiences.

You see, I banished them from my home a few years ago. I miss them. I will get to that story....

But in the meantime, I will recant that I have recently started a Fairy Tale and Folk Tale book discussion club. I realized in the reading of my latest acquisition "Faery Tale~ One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World" exactly what I have done.

This book, written by Signe Pike, jumped out at me when I was thumbing through my book club. I ordered it on a whim because of my new book club I am forming. When I started reading it, I was pleasantly surprised at the parallels in my life and hers, and then found it uncanny all the "co-incidences" this book was showing me.

She believed in faeries as a little girl. (Ok, don't we all?)

She thought, and still does, that there are monsters under her bed. (ahem. This is why I keep my bed on the floor. No monsters. No dangling feet over the precipice of possible annihilation is waiting for me)

She'd had a faery ring in her back yard. (Ok, don't we all? No? I have seen many...)

While she'd never been pricked or prodded by an imaginary being, my daughter Shawna was pestered by "a mean little man" (she said) for quite some time, which is another sign. (Ok, so I'm starting to feel like she's got something to say with this book)

I had an imaginary friend who would appear to me, yet when I finally told my mother his name....he never came to me again. I was very sad for my loss of such a bosom friend at such a young age.

She went to Tulum. I have been to Tulum. (ok, this is still co-incidental as far as I thought, and it was nice to see and remember some of the imagery of this sacred and magical site again. I was there 10 years ago)

She is petrified of the paranormal. So am I. After having some very frightening experiences thrust on me when I was young, I do NOT ghost hunt, use Ouija boards, do seances, or visit cemeteries. I don't want to see dead people and I do not watch any movies that feature any of these elements. My imagination and memory are too full of such things. (ok, this too, may be a common experience...still co-incidental in the kindred thing, but it's starting to feel pretty surreal, like she's talking about me. She's writing my life...)

The writer doesn't like to go to the bathroom at night, feels "presences" in the hallways and in strange or familiar settings. (ok, this is probably universal too....right? anybody with me?)

She has felt a touch and seen out of the corner of her eye a movement or a swift figure. ("muscle twitches, cataracts and shadows", says I, uneasily remembering the same...)

Then I turn the page to Chapter 3. It reads, "Finding Faeries in Upstate New York" (oh god. This really now no longer co-incidental....I'M from UPSTATE NEW YORK)

She then talks about Potters Falls, Ithaca....going to Cortland...Rochester.....fer feck's sake she even mentions "Doug's Fish Fry" all as places to note in her writings....SYRACUSE...(ok ok OK! You have got me! Uncle!!)

She goes to chat with someone, an expert on Faeries. She talks to....Coleen Shaughnessy, and describes her as looking like "Joan of Arc" with her bowl haircut. I had to laugh as a shiver went down my spine. I KNOW Coleen. I've read tarot at psychic faires where she also did readings. Have chatted with her at great lengths. I even had her husband. Mark, come to the Unitarian Universalist Church and talk about his animal medicine readings. (Ok, so are YOU now finding this all to be too much co-incidence too??? Or is it still just me here?)

Then the book goes on to talk about Dark Elves. You know. The ones that live under the stairs. (you mean the ones that used to live at mom & dad's house? Yah, I know them....<shiver>)

This all got me thinking as I am currently enjoying this kindred book.

There are all kinds of stories in my life, just like hers.
There are lots of people who have stories such as this.

There are stories about sweet faeries (Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Elves, House Elves or Brownies, Gnomes and Faery runners who help you ahead of the fact).
There are also not so nice ones (Dark Elves, some House Elves, Bogles, Goblins, Trolls, Pixies...just to name a few)

I have stories.

Maybe the emergence of my need to bring Fairy Tales & Folk Tales back into my life, is a deeper need to bring the faeries back into my life.

Yes, I banished them awhile back. I wanted to banish the harmful, tricksey ones who were tormenting us here at Squirrel Haven. I didn't mean to banish the good ones. I had no choice.



While it has been quieter for the last few years....things only go walking for short periods of time, and there is a house sprite who still lives here and helps us from time to time...

I miss the sightings.
I miss their humor.

I don't miss the pinches tho.

So I may go on a quest to bring them back into my house.....

You have to weigh the odds on these things.

I think that bats, and spiders and snakes are all good creatures. I think most faeries are also good creatures.

But I don't think I want any of the above in my house. They can be disruptive, frightening and disturbing.

I think some critters are best left outside.

So......

I shall go outside and make my peace with them and look for them in my life.....

and I will....

in the meantime....

ponder taking down the horseshoes over the front and back door.