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Join me as I interview Francesca De Grandis.
It's a credo of the Fairy Faith.
If ever you should happen into That Land, Don't eat the food.
To eat it would be to bind yourself irrevocably to that world, from which you can “never return to your ain countree.”
Witches excepted.
All the stories agree that the Tribe of Witches are exempt from this taboo.
We have, shall we say, a special relationship with the Secret Commonwealth. As people of the betwixt-and-between, it is given to us to pass from world to world with something (dare I say it) akin to impunity.
Scottish witch Isobel Gowdie said of her visit to Elfhame: There I got meat, more than I could eat, nor did this hinder her comings and goings in the least.
Old Craft would have it that this right of free passage derives from being ourselves of That Blood, half-elven, from whence we draw our Otherness.
Magic is the science and art of causing effect to occur in conformity with our will. This will has to be focused and expressed creatively, through images, symbols, ritual, art or music - anything that connects us to the flow of Awen. The Faerie Enchantment cards are designed with these ideas in mind. -- Ian Daniels
I love it when I find beautiful, useful oracles on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. It seems that this is the golden age of publishing for the bold, the innovative, the avant garde--especially for those who create and produce independently (i.e. without the strictures and interference of traditional publishers).
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"The Kingdom of Faerie lies within."
(Tony Kelly, 1949-1997)
We are the outside looking in.
They are the inside looking out.
According to Cal State folklorist Sabina Magliocco, author of Witching Culture, fairy belief is alive and well among American pagans.
In a recent talk at the University of Minnesota, she told numerous tales of first-hand 21st-century encounters between modern pagans and the inhabitants of what Robert Kirk called the “Secret Commonwealth.”
Of them all, the following was my favorite. It bears all the hallmarks of classic fairy narrative.
Including the ambivalence.
Who are They, the Twilight Kindreds, the Neighbors, those other peoples in the land?
Called by many names, more felt than seen, once known by everyone everywhere: who are they?
They are the Interiority, the Inwardness of things, the Inside looking Out.
Environmental? Yes. In them, environment looks back at us.
Truly, the kingdom of Faerie lies within.
Following on from my previous post about foraging and working with plant spirits to add extra magic to our potions and hedgerow cooking, one very important berry to collect at this time of year is the rosehip. Rosehips are the hard, oval shaped berries of the rose. Packed with vitamin C and a host of other essential vitamins and minerals these rich red berries have been used medicinally for thousands of years all around the world and are a potent magical resource. Like roses, these are usually thought of as sacred to earth goddesses as well as goddesses of love, and astrologically they are usually thought to be ruled by Jupiter and Venus and are suitable for magic related to these themes; love, abundance, exuberance, fertility and sexuality. Like roses rosehips also have strong faery energy, and are attractive to the sidhe and nature spirits. Rosehips however have quite a different energetic feel than rose flowers. Far more robust, their taste and scent is quite fruity and zesty, hinting at their high vitamin C content. Traditionally the best ones to use for flavour or magic are hips from rosa canina the wild dog rose, although garden roses also work well.
Medicinally rosehips have been used to help with intestinal problems, kidney and bladder infections, stress and depleted immune systems, and to boost the circulation. When using rosehips some like to remove the seeds inside which are covered in tiny hairs and can be an irritant, but personally I've never noticed this be a problem. To remove the hairs, slit the berries and scoop out the seeds, or roughly chop the berries in a mixer, and then sieve. The tiny hairs will fall through the sieve easily.
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