This is the day the veil is at its thinnest and our world comes together with the world of the Fey.  Faeries dance the summer solstice dance at midnight on the eve, well into the next sun rise of the first day.  Lights of faerie energy can be seen in the forests and woods, by near by streams, and of course within the circles of mushrooms.

Oak, thorn, apple and ash trees are the magical trees that draw the Fey.  If you have all of them within a close radius, hovering in a circular pattern, then the power they give off can summon even the Queen of the Fey herself.

Watcher beware on this magical night.  You can be pulled into the mystical world of dance by the music and enchantment created by these lovely creatures. According to legend,  beautiful faerie ladies have enchanted the best of men into their dance and lead them away to their world  where they are never seen again.

But!  If you are a lucky one who is given the gift of an invite into their celebration of this magical night,  then dance you shall and feast upon the sweet nectar of the fruits of mother earth.  You will be left with a  deep appreciation and spiritual understanding of these magical creatures.  But, alas, all will seem like a beautiful and enchanting memory  the next morning, wondering if it really happened or just a dream.    For you see, faerie dust is a wonder thing.

For me, I will be in my faerie circle on Midsummer’s eve dancing to the music that is carried on the breeze and sipping the sweet nectar of mother earth in hopes to catch another  quick glimpse of the magic of the Fey.

Blessing to all

As the story goes…..how do you stop a fairy from flying?……..you clip her wings!

Well, that is my story…..how do you stop a writing fairy grandmother from writing her stories?……you break both of her arms!

Yes, in deed I did do that. And I am pecking to you with one good finger, which is very frustrating and difficult, but I have a message to bring.

You see what happened was, I think I forgot how to roller skate. I have skated for years, (either ice or roller skating that is). But for some strange fluke of the universe on December 11, 2010, at my granddaughter’s birthday party, Nana decided to join the festivities and skate with her granddaughter.

Something within my psyche,told me not to do it, because I was to hold a Magical Fairy Tea Party the very next day for 30 fairy guests, but my wild and determined Irish temperament drove me forward. I was going to skate with my granddaughter.

Everything was great for the first two songs with her and then she let go of my hand and this feeling of great doom came over me. I was alone in the dark skating under the flashing lights of the disco-ball when a voice so loud resonating throughout my body yelled “don’t turn around!” and in the blink of an eye, I saw myself falling within my mind right before it actually happened. The skate wheel stuck and both feet went out from underneath me causing me to fall backwards. Of course the first reaction is to put my hands down to catch my fall. Needless to say, that was not good. The force in which I fell caused my left arm to shatter 1″ below my wrist. My arm looked like a S shape. That break required surgery to plate and screw both bones back together. My right arm hurting very badly also, was not detected as broken until three days later.

So, as I sit here reliving that moment through a haze of pain pills with two arms in casts, pecking this story to you with one good finger, makes me understand the importance of listening to ones inner voice. Or, I believe in my case, my fairy friend whispering to me in my ear on that unforgettable December day, “DON’T DO IT……YOU ARE TO OLD TO SKATE, AND YOU WILL BREAK!”

Blessings to all for the year 2011

Sandra

After the last stroke of midnight on October 31st, the Celtic New Year begins.

The long days of light and summer are now just memories.  Days of colder and darker days are now upon us.  Mother earth is returning to sleep mode, protecting herself  in a hibernating slumber until the next years warming days of spring.

All the Fey folk of summer have now returned to the otherworld, beyond the veil of this world, as the Winter witch slowly and gracefully makes her presence.  For those few unknowing recipients, who accepted the entrance of a  Boggart or Pooka before the stroke of midnight of the Celtic New Year into their homes,  their winter months will be filled with more than just a bump in the night.  For you see, these two are the fairies of havoc, mischief and chaos.   They shapeshifted their way into your home, maybe by acting like an abandoned  cat, rubbing up against your legs with those big sad looking eyes, staring at you all the while knowing that any minute you are going to pick it up and take it into the house.  Or the horse that shows up in the pasture all alone and you take it back to the stables to contact the local constable to locate  its owner.  In both cases, you have just invited trouble.

It is really easy to invite one in,  but to get rid of one is very difficult.  For it takes the magic of the next years spring to expel them from your home.   That is why it is important that every spring an iron horseshoe is hung above every door of the house, because  fairies of all kinds HATE! iron.

Boggarts and Pookas both like to play tricks on people.  They love pinching little children and making them cry, messing up a room that has just been cleaned, hiding your personal items like keys or jewelry,  and making noises at night to try and keep you up.  Do not offer them clothes, food or a bed of their own.  That makes them very angry. Pacify them with just a bowl of milk and hope for the best.

As a child growing up with two younger sisters, we had the misfortune of what I  believe was a Pooka in our home.  Being of  preadolescence, an abundance of unreleased energy was prevalent.  Many strange and unexplained things happened to us.  We were blamed for things we did not do and had many a restless night from what I believe was the mischief of the pooka.  Night  would be the time that my sisters and I would hate the most.  Going to bed would present the same reoccurring nightmares of a bad spirit in the closet coming to get us.  Or being viscously tickled by a giggling bad fairy, waking us up to hear it giggling as it ran away  and being too scared to fall back to sleep for fear of it happening again.

Lots of strange noises would come from the huge walk-in closets that flanked both sides of the room.  Doors would open and close by themselves and things would disappear or be misplaced.  Glimpses of seeing things move that others did not see and sounds that only we heard were a few of the unsolved mysteries of our childhood years.  Trying to explain these fearful concerns to our parents only met with an explanation of an overactive imagination.

When I turned 13, my father remodeled the large dormitory style bedroom.  Tearing out the closets and making two bedrooms out of the space, separating us girls to our own rooms.  Other things also changed in my life with the onset of puberty,  school activities and boys.  It was at this time  these plaguing and annoying actions stopped for all of us.  I truly believe that my father got rid of the pooka.

As my grandmother once told me, ” A child’s mind is very open to the magical energies in the world.  They can hear and see things that some adults do not.  For you see,  grownups  are so  busy with life in working and daily duties that they are blind to the magic that is right before them.”   Today, I totally understand her statement.  I find life gets in the way sometimes of living and we forget the wonderful, interesting and magical things that God has put before us all.

I myself believe that today a brownie pixie lives in my home.  He has been with me since I was a child. A brownie will attach themselves to a family or person and stays with them as long as you don’t hurt their feelings.  They will appear to that person only when they believe necessary, otherwise they just hide and make their home in out of the way places.  Sometimes you might catch a glimpse out of the corner of your eye, of something just darting by or peeking out from behind a chair at you.

One night when I was just falling asleep in bed, I heard this little voice humming to me in my ear and tickled my face by moving my hair.  It woke me up and I  brushed the side of my head with my hand, only to find nothing there.  The next morning when I awoke, I found my cat sitting on the side of my bed, just staring at my face like she was guarding me from something and she had never done that before.  Hummm?

But  I do like my little brownie.  He brings ideas and joy to my artistic creativeness.  Maybe you have a brownie living with you and you don’t know it.  Or then again maybe you do.

Happy Celtic New Year!

Blessings to all

Sandra

On the old Irish Celtic calendar, Mabon is the name for the season of Autumn.  Half of the season is still within the days of summers light and the other half starts the beginning of the winter days of darkness.  The old Celtic beliefs were that the year was divided into two parts.  Summer and Winter, light and dark.

We still celebrate many rituals in the fall as they religiously did back then.  Harvest time bonfires, with hayrack rides, roasting hot dogs and hot apple cider are typically the parties of today.  But long ago, the bonfires were set at the beginning of harvest and carried through until the eve of Samhain.  Samhain (Halloween or All Hallow’s eve) was the last day of light or summer.  All of the harvest had to be done before the first day of winter (November 1st), because the days of darkest would curse any of the unharvested crops and make them uneatable.  At midnight, when the fairies left the lands of this world to return to the other-world, any crop, fruit, or vegetable that remained unharvested was destroyed by the Winter witch.

Flower divas, tree sprites, pookas, and other summer Fey folk fairies, come to our world when Mother Nature calls in the Spring to help her with rebirth and awakening of the earth.  They leave every midnight at Samhain (October 31) to return to their world before the dark and cold of the Winter witch returns.  You see, their work here is done after the harvest.

There are three days in the year when the veil between this world and the other-world is thin.  Beltane (May 1st), Litha (June 21st, summer) and Samhain (October 31st).  Samhain is the most magical day of all days of the year, because the veil is the thinnest.  Spirits can walk freely amongst the humans, and havoc is at it’s highest.

Some of the rituals that we still celebrate today are the carving of pumpkins and trick-or-treat.  Pumpkin carving was started long ago as a way to ward off evil spirits.  A face was created on the pumpkin and set outside of the front door to scare any evil entity from entering your home on All Hallow’s eve.  The festival of the dead was a celebration of honoring all those who had died that year, by dressing up in costumes and marching through the village towards the great bonfire chanting a prayer.  This was the way of leading the dead to the next world by protecting the spirits from evil by tricking and confusing them with their costumes.

Today, our trick-or-treat still carries on the tradition of costumes, but the tricking is on the unexpected living for the treats of candy.

At the great bonfire on the eve of Samhain, a wonderful celebration of dancing, feasting, and stories of that years harvest were told.  At midnight, small blessing bags were cast into the fire thanking the gods for the harvest and asking for personal blessings upon each house.  Carved wood or metal pieces of craftsman, were also given as thanks for the many skills and talents that had been bestowed upon them.

After the blessing, each head of the household lit their torch from the sacred fire and returned home to re-light their new winter fire and hoped that the prayer fire would protect and bring many blessings upon their home.

Halloween today has changed in many ways.  What was once a very sacred time has now been changed for the benefit of commericial interests.  Whether you are Pagan, Christian, or any other spiritual belief, we need to give thanks for the life we were given, honor those who have passed on, and remember our many blessings for all that has been bestowed upon us.

So, I leave you with these words…….

Guard against evil

Keep the warm home fires burning

and most of all…..make sure you have enough candy for the little tricksters that come ringing your doorbell on Al Hallow’s eve or their trick           you will receive.

Blessings to all

Sandra

I remember the fall of September 2006, my first trip over to Ireland. The magical land of green. Beautiful land and full of surprises for my husband and I. Of course we did  all the usual things that all tourists do. But there was something more to it than that. I got that familiar itch that all true blooded Irish get. NO! I’m not talking about the Guinness beer. I am talking about that feeling that you get when something  really feels familiar and like home.

There was this serene place off the beaten path that we stopped at to take some pictures and take in the view.  It was hidden and we had to walk a ways to get to it.  As we walked up this rocky path, through the trees and to the top of the hill, the setting just took our breath away. We were on top looking down into a rough rocky valley, with trees nestled in the hillsides overlooking the bluest water that I had ever seen.  And just for a moment, I felt as though I had been at this particular spot once before.  I knew this place!  The smell of the moss and woods had a scent that I recognized, but could not put my finger on it.  The flowers popping up in the moss resembled little smiling faces at quick glance.  The panoramic view of the valley and water made my head sway and I needed grounding. I thought that I was going to take off flying into that valley at any minute. Like a leaf floating down to the ground from the highest branch of a tree.  For that split second, I knew I had been here before. But how and when?

The trip was just one week and  we traveled the west and south sides from Clifden to Cork.  Non stop day and night eating, shopping, sightseeing and meeting the most extraordinarily friendly people ever.  The trip for me was too short and I didn’t want to leave. But,  the time had come to go home.

It rained alot when we visited Ireland, maybe that is why September for me reminds me of that magical place when it rains here. I visited many gardens and fairy glens there. Took lots of notes and pictures and knew that I had to have this magical place closer to me somehow.

When I returned home, I knew that I wanted my own Ireland in my backyard.  I wanted to wake up every morning and look out over my rolling green hillsides and waters and feel that magic again.

So, I started creating  fairy gardens and herb gardens to attract the fairies. I put a Celtic spirit ring made from stone in the circular area of my back yard next to the edge of the woods and water. In the center of the ring, a fairy mound was created with rocks, herbs and flowers that attract fairies, a gazing ball for the fairies to look in and a plate for an offering of food or a bobble. I have been slowly developing my own little Ireland on my acreage in hopes of bringing that wonderful  magic here.

Well, I think that I have succeeded in a little way of bringing the wonders of Ireland to my home.  My pond water is not as blue as that valley lake, but to me, just as meaningful.  The flowers and moss are growing profusely, and fairy mushrooms have shown up every year, in the Celtic ring. They appear in the earlier morning hours and disappear like magic before noon. Butterflies, hummingbirds and dragonflies call my gardens and waters home.  And who knows, maybe a fairy or two have found a home in my gardens.

Well, the question still remains, had I really been at that place in Ireland before?  Was it just in my dreams or maybe another life? Who knows. All I know today is, Irish blood runs very deep in my veins, and wherever I live Eire is there and so is her magic.
Blessing to all

Sandra

August is a most magical time of the year. The suns rays are hot, helping the grains of wheat, corn and rye to dry and complete the cycle of growth. The hard work of our labor in the spring of planting the crops, are now releasing their hold to Mother Earth and ready for the harvest.

On the eve of August 1st, the first day of harvest is celebrated by the old tradition of breaking of the bread. This celebration of Lughnasadh is an Irish tradition and sacred holiday to the God Lugh. It is a time to give thanks and reflection upon our skills and accomplishments of the year.  The fruits of our labors.

The Christian word for this celebration is called Lammas. Meaning “Loaf Mass”.  A fresh baked loaf of wheat  bread is broken and thanks is given. It is a sacred rite held in Church.

But Lughnasadh, is also a time to reflect upon life as a whole.  All of the blessings that had been bestowed upon you in many ways. Fires are lit after the first harvest and tables are filled with tasty foods from the bounties of the crops. Stories are told around the fires of tales of bygone days and stories of other harvests.  Bad crops were blamed on the  faeries cursing the lands for being mistreated.  Some are malicious and bad tempered, but treat them kindly and share some of the harvest with them and friends they will be. Come the next spring the kindness will be remembered and a great help and harvest you will reap.

Festivals are many as people take their crafts and skills to the market places for sale.  Corn dolls are made from the last stalks of the corn and put in the barns symbolizing the spirit of the corn harvest.  After the harvest is over the dolls are put into the house until next spring plantings at Imbolc in February.  At the beginning of the spring plant of corn, the doll is burnt, releasing the spirit of the new corn  crop.

Some of our old customs hold strong today, but others have changed and because of our busy lives forgotten.  In my book series “The Three Little Lasses”, I teach my grandchildren, through my stories, of the old traditions and how they apply to today.  Some of them have changed a little, but the meanings still hold true to the belief.   The traditions of skills and crafts are taught throughout the families, one generation to another. As are the stories. This is what helps us to know where are heritage comes from and family values. Meaningful time spent with grandparents, passing on secrets and memories is what keeps our family members who have passed on alive within our hearts.

Magic! is a interesting word. In the months to come, we will see Mother Nature weaving her magic as the seasons start their change. The birds will start flying south, flowers will stop their blooming, trees will release their sap as their leaves fall and ready for the changing weather.  Mother Earth takes on a new color palette of golds, browns, reds and oranges.  These are the resting colors of her last days before the sleeping colors of winter engulf her.

Nana and Papa, teach the lasses and laddie how important Mother Earth and all her beauty of magic is to all of us.  How can you not believe in the splendor of this great creation gift bestowed to us from God. This is magic in a large and meaningful way.  Teach your children well, make this place still a wonderful place to live for our great grandchildren as well.

Blessings to all.

Sandra

All in all, everyone has a mystical time.

Serving Tea

June 19 & 20   2010

Magical Faerie Tea Party and Fairy Fair was held at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie Mall.  It was a very magical day. Vendors were there with their arts and jewelry , a face painter adorned all the little guests with unicorns, dragonflies and butterflies on their cute fairy faces.  The real three little lasses were there each day at 1pm to serve tea and fairy cakes to all their guest. The children were all delighted to meet them in person.  REAL characters from a book series. How exciting!  All guests received a copy of my book “The Magical Tea Party” after their tea and a fairy wand to conquer up their own fairy magic.

All in all it was a most magical day.  Look in the Magical Tea party post to see the pictures of this wonderful event and maybe even catch a glimpse of a fairy or two.