summer – Verdant Faerie

New York Faerie Festival 2016, A Missy Friendly Affair

When you look into the woods at night or dusk. And you can feel the mystery. The wonder of it. Alchemistic renderings of earth and spirit, your transcendence is a gossamer thread away…

From the edge of the dance floor at the Masquerade Ball, Missy’s ears prick up, “It’s Missy! I know that dog! She’s a dog worth petting again!” Missy’s first visit to the New York Faerie Festival, or any festival, and she’s made friends with faeries, trolls, goblins & wizards within the realm of the fae.

Missy strikes a pose in the Walk of Frame

And what a festival! Abundant enchantment; music & dancing all day…

Downloading faerie tunes through his antlers

Dancing to the beat of the troll drum jam

Don’t you love a faerie queen who dances with her subjects?

Magical creatures of all varieties… (Missy’s new friends)

Mother Crane the poetry giving faerie. My poem? Tree House by Shel Silverstein

Tree House

A tree house, a free house.
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house
Be sure and wipe your feet house
Is not my kind of house at all-
Let's go live in a tree house.

~Shel Silverstein

This little woodsprite moments before lavishing Missy with the pets.

Grandmother Tree graces the Queene’s throne in The Faerie’s Garden in the Queene’s absence and lends an ear to wonderments.

Sacred Drum Master of Events, Ken from Eyeclopedes (for all your drumming needs) with a Powerful Elven Enchantress

An odd creature who trades and sells an even odder assortment of thing-a-ma-bobs. I ask him, can I take his picture? His curt reply “Can I take the color of your eyes?” Considering my answer carefully (faeries can be dangerous) I notice we have the same eye color. I tell him so and we look into each others eyes for an unusually odd and long moment.

Gregarious juggler Trinket (Lisa) of Tinket’s Costume and Sundry. Lisa can help you create a costume out of recycles, vintage, and whatnots! Really helpful, especially if you are just starting out.

Missy is particularly enchanted with the joust and horses, ‘scuse me, unicorns.

The Faerie Queene, Mistress of Ceremony – Round Table Productions

When not getting petted, Missy let me visit some of the many lovely vendors. Just a sampling…

Do you know this feeling?

When you look into the woods at night or dusk. And you can feel the mystery. The wonder of it.

What. Is. Going. On. In. There?

Magnetized towards the pulsation of the ancient virtues. Heart quickening. You know something is going on in there! Alchemistic renderings of earth and spirit, your transcendence is a gossamer thread away…

It’s on the other side of the Troll’s Bridge (no duh), the Faerie Habitat. An enchanted sphere of the Festival grounds. Dryads, Mermaids, Faeries… Charm spinning and spirit gifting…

Linger in the Habitat to connect and transcend.

But first you must get past the trolls. And, be warned. There is a troll toll. They demand, in the friendliest of ways, “shinys” (really anything that is shiny), or a joke, or you may choose to get mud tattooed.

Missy is not so sure of the trolls. Mayhap because they refer to her as a goat.

But the charm of the Trolls wins Missy over.

In the end Missy passes in to the Faerie Habitat. Her mysterious encounters there will remain mysteriously hers.

But wait, Goblins!

Gandersnitch the Goblin is a revelation. Despite the assurance that he is a reformed Goblin, poetic and wise, I’m wary. But he turns out to be a kindly inspiration.

Gandersnitch is indeed poetic and wise. I’m reading and loving his perfectly inappropriately refreshing and highly entertaining book now.

Inscribed “Be quick, be clever, be wild.” It’s on Amazon, who knew? To get it, click here.

He also has a lovely card game and takes confessions.

As for me, the festival was my sublime medicine. I am sincerely grateful. Thank you.

Surrounded by the singing of the spirit of the wild self, I am mended. Thank you. I soak up kindness, wildness, and joy from the festival creatures. Thank you. The dear souls near my tent who chat with me and help me set up and dance with me at the ball. Thank you. The sparkling eyes and filthy-glittered dancing bodies. Prose and laughter spilling from mouths like honeyed nectar. And the collective feeling that life is indeed something to be lived and played with. The outward reflection that we are all of us beautiful and magical. Thank you.

It brings me back to myself. Ah yes, hello to my beautiful, magical me. So nice to glow you again.

Thank you, New York Faerie Festival.

Some general info about the festival.

The New York Faerie Festival is a three-day affair just completing it’s 7th year. It is out in the boonies of New York, tucked in a valley near a river. Parts of the Festival grounds are in shady woods, and parts bright sun.

Primitive (Port-O-Let) but happy camping is available on the premises. Two yummy dinners are included, with options for meat eaters and vegetarians. There is a simple breakfast hosted at the local firehouse for a small fee/donation. There are some other campgrounds and motels nearby.

There is so much going on at this festival! I barely touched on it here. Fantastic music and performances on multiple stages, outstanding vendors, jousting, tons of street characters who interact with the festival goers, some food trucks, and little spaces throughout the grounds to hang out and play or dream. The Masquerade Ball on Saturday night is not to be missed!

Wear a costume.

Bring cash, always appreciated and it was hard to get a signal to use the Square reader.

Also, read the email communications you receive from the Festival carefully, for if you camp there are specific arrival times.

Hope to see you there in 2017!

If you want more festival blogs, I have several. Here they be:

Maryland Faerie Festival, 2016

Maryland Faerie Festival, 2015

Bristol Renaissance Faire, 2015

…In Memoriam ~ Margaret ~ Brightest Blessings…

Happy Summer Solstice Meditation

Can you feel it? The pulsation of energy and expansion. Summer is a time of unfurling and ripening, an outward – yang season. A genial time for delighting in the company of others and for self-expression.

victorian ladies gone fae! This reminds me of a circus contortion blog – click here to read it!

To connect with this genial and expansive energy, find some time to honor your connection with the sun and the start of summer. Be quietly with yourself and wildly with others. Or wildly with yourself and quietly with others!

Summer Solstice has become quite the holiday, as in days of yore, so most of us are aware it is the official kick-off of summer. It’s also a day when the veil between the faerie and mortal world is thin and contact can be made. Hence for me, reading the faerie cards is a must…

I also like to leave gifts for the fae; nuts, cheese, honey, whiskey… They flutter about and absorb the essences.

Meditation and Faerie journeys are wonderful to get into the faerie summer spirit.

Here’s a faerie journey/meditation…

To start, you may like to use scent and aromas. Jasmine is a beautiful transportive scent. I’ll be using my DuskBlossom Perfume.

DuskBlossom Eau de Parfum can be found here.

And I’ve been playing with essential oil of Mugwort lately. Honestly, it does not smell so yummy, but is reportedly great for accessing the faerie and astral worlds. You may use these by applying to wrists and hands or temples. If you are pregnant you should avoid Mugwort.

(MUGWORT SHOULD NOT BE USED BY PREGNANT WOMEN!)

Next, take a moment to center yourself and breathe deeply. Close your eyes. Feel yourself connected to the earth and simply feel your body from within. Try not to judge, just let yourself be and observe.

In your mind’s eye, picture yourself in a sunny meadow filled with flowers. The sun is high in the sky. As you are enjoying the warmth of the sun you see at the edge of the meadow a white deer, stag, or unicorn.

Slowly approach it and see if it is friendly towards you. Perhaps it will let you gently stroke it’s neck. Perhaps it will let you climb up on it’s back.

If it does not seem like a good choice to climb up. Just enjoy your visit, thank the creature, and go back to your meadow and sit and feel the effects of the visit.

If you are able to do be on the back of the creature. Let it take you for a ride. Observe what you see and feel.

When the ride is complete, go back to your flowery meadow.

Contemplate what was revealed to you.

Here’s where we use the sun. Allow the bright brilliant light of the sun to illuminate anything you felt, saw, or thought. You do not even need to understand intellectually. Just let it be filled with sunlight.

Enjoy this sensation.

When you feel complete, stretch and yawn, allow yourself to awaken,refreshed and energized by the sun.

Finally, pet your dog, even though she has barked throughout your meditation and stepped all over your faerie card spread.

Happy Summer! Blessed Solstice!

The Heart Journey Gnome – Maryland Faerie Festival – 2016

The wee faerie houses themselves seemed to whisper, “open the door, open your heart, open to mystery, magic, the fae arts.”

Sprawled under the hydrangea bushes. Late spring only, but the heat says otherwise, sayin’ summer already. There is Lulu, reflecting momentarily on the turn of event. The event? Gettin’ with your gnomies… At the Maryland Faerie Festival.

Thoughts and images flood… Remembrances… Treasures…

First, to commune with the faeries tenting is key… For in the tent you hear the faerie wild rites surging and glittery faerie glam seeps through the zippy fabric into dreams.

But who could sleep with all this ruckus? And the music, sometimes eerie sometimes tribal, always magic.

It was at the drum circle that the Faerie Festival Queen announced that a gnome was missing.

Despite the late night, at dawn Lulu is up and Unicorn-led. Onwards through a sparkle chandelier lit crystal curtain to a village of wee fae homes inhabited by kindly faeries. Going where??? In search of what??? The stolen Gnome???

Sweet Stardust the Unicorn and his yellow fae, Rawbin.

The wee faerie houses themselves seemed to whisper, “open the door, open your heart, open to mystery, magic, the fae arts.”

Faerie Houses for Wee Folk by talented Rena Damskey

Yet the voices of these two rang most clear (in a singsongy pixie way.)

Darling Mother and Daughter Gnomes Holly and Shirley

Some fae folk clapped their hands and pointed with staffs. “This way and that.”

But with all the delightful distractions, staying on course, of course, which course?, is there even a course? as tricksy as a faerie path.

Other more mysterious messages came from ever more mysterious fae folk.

And Shane with the Kind Eyes of Mythical Designs by Miscellaneous Oddiments.

There were gnomes everywhere. Near trees…

In trees…

Wearing trees…

And gnomes that claimed to just be “Thinking of trees…”

But it was Wedji TuCheeks the Goblin who led to the purchase of a hat.

And the brilliant musicians that sold her the flute that truly set Lulu’s course

David of the House of Musical Traditions

Eyes closed, ya’ know, Lulu wears her hat and plays the flute. Magical notes play. The melody like rivulets streaming sing. Stardust the Unicorn hears and heeds the calling thus whisks her to a flowery meadow. Sliding off his back she encounters the tree. Now so small she opens the wee tree door and slips in and down the very roots of the tree where her special gnomies wait for her in a crystal hall. Vessels of sweet ambrosia and faerie cakes await (but she knows better than to eat any faerie food, ya’ know). The fireplace crackles with delight. The gnomes whisper strange words that both sooth and astound. And Lulu just knows, ya’ know, just knows to sit and soak it all in…

The Maryland Faerie Festival is an annual weekend long event. I highly recommend this Festival! Here is a blog I wrote about the Festival last year when I was quite new to blogging – Maryland Faerie Festival 2015

Thank you so much, dear reader, for experiencing this blog. Will you attend any festivals this year?

Fae on Friday – Yellow Bliss

Summertime, and the living is easy.

Singing Soul in Yellow and Green

Yellow singing faerie joy
Light inside and bright employ
The summer’s song all in your heart
Makes loss or sadness fast depart.
~ Doreen Stelton

There is such a feeling by late August. Creamy and bright. The excitement of the spring blooms have mellowed and the verdancy of summer is familiarly sweet. Cicadas, crickets, and birds serenade. Even when feeling the slightest bit low, just lie on the beautiful earth and listen and breathe. Soak it up, radiate it out. Summertime, and the living is easy.

It gets me every time regardless

Find that little yellow faerie inside of you and let it sing.

images-1 — (Ahem, this canary looks a little pissed off, but birds just look that way a lot, I think)

Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery has the perfect summer perfume for you – Songbird. This beautiful natural perfume was composed to the sound of birds singing outside the perfumer Laurie Stern’s window. It’s a complex blending of multiple lush, exotic florals and sweet spices with a soft vanilla finish.

Do you like Missy’s summer look? She did not… She tried to make a game out of eating them short after.

More Beauty Please!

“Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks.”

We need more beauty, and liberation! I know I always and ever do. Having an opportunity for both I escaped to Koehler, Wisconsin. Exploring an Austrian mansion plunked down in the woods with a wildflower prarie for a backyard cozied inside a loopsy curve in the Sheboygen River. Called River Bend, built by Koehler as his Governor’s house.

The inspiration for the mansion was this Shakespeare quote, “Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks.”

I spent my time meditating and reading and eating fantastic food on the patio, and reading some more…

Here’s by the river where I read this perfection from Fire in the Head about Celtic Shamanism by Tom Cowan.

Beauty before me, with it I wander
Beauty behind me, with it I wander
Beauty below me, with it I wander
Beauty above me, with it I wander.

After which I did indeed wander in beauty on a path flanked with fat beavers plus the river to one side, and a wildflower prarie with deer on the other.

Out back, and the patio for dining…

Creeping around the house after dark…

discovering little details…

and the parlor and library…

and this ominous Austrian trunk in which Koehler, Sr. had allegedly immigrated with his possessions.

(Um – what is going on here, anyway? Maybe don’t wanna know.)

But, were there any faeries, you ask?

Of course!

Hidden in little rock caves,

and most certainly behind this curious little gnome door…

I hope you are liberated by a massive dose of beauty real soon!

Fae on Friday – Flower Faerie

Summer Blooming

Fairies, arouse!
Mix with your song
Harplet and pipe,
Thrilling and clear.
Swarm on the boughs!
Chant in a throng!
Morning is ripe,
Waiting to hear.

-William Allingham

Today’s Faerie is a summery flower faerie. Now is the time to let your spirit blossom like summer flower. (Perhaps you are in a wintry zone now- if so bring a summer feel to your heart.) Wear something flowery or bright, gentleman this includes you! Take some time to smell the flowers…

A couple suggestions for natural perfumes to wear in celebration (Thank goddess there are so many florals)

Visions in the Garden by Chicagoland’s Kindred Earth Botanicals. Or Gracing the Dawn by Roxana Illuminated Perfume.

What’s your favorite summer flower?

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Here’s a faerie journey/meditation…

Happy Summer! Blessed Solstice!

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Singing Soul in Yellow and Green

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Summer Blooming

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