Reclaiming Voices

Oh, the joys of summer produce! Since reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, I've really tried to make the majority of my produce local (and therefore, seasonal). I feel this is an ethical choice as an earth-worshipping witch and view it as a commitment to the Green Bloods.

With the growing season going at full tilt now, I'm in absolute paradise.

Last Friday, I went up to Butler's Orchards (about 10 minutes away from me) and went strawberry picking. I sang to the berry faeries, the plants, earth, and sun, enjoying myself immensely.

It wasn't until I finished going over four 40-foot long rows that I realized I might be a little overloaded. After waddling down to the checkout stand, bags in tow, I found that I had picked 25 pounds of the Early Glow variety gems!

Giggling on the drive home (and not giggling lugging the bags up the four flights of steps to my apartment), I was excited about all the treats I could make with my treasures.

The next day I got to making jam - and lots of it.

I hulled.






I stirred.






Finally, I canned.

Half of the strawberries were done in a plain jam, and the other half, I scraped vanilla beans into the bubbling fruit, making it a delightful strawberry-vanilla treat. I remember my mother, stepfather, and I eating stawberries dipped in vanilla sugar on the porch during early summer, so I figured this would be a good bet.

While in the process, I sang to the fruit, danced hip-spells of plenty and sensuality, and kissed the beautiful berries, sending reminders of beauty, love, sensual pleasures, and the joys of summer into the jam.

Upcoming pick-your-own harvests are blueberries and blackberries (I make a killer Blackberry Bay Leaf jam - thanks, Martha! Some may mock me for my adoration of you, but I don't care!)

The Fairies Barque by John Anster Christian Fitzgerald

Hand in hand let's dance a round,
For this place is fairy ground.
-- from The Queen of Fairies, anonymous

Creating a special meeting place with an altar is an integral part of building a relationship with the Fair Ones. And today, with the New Moon in Gemini, is the ideal time to dedicate your Faery altar. The New Moon is always the time for new beginnings, and this is the very lunation that will light our path to the height of Faery celebrations – Midsummer Night (Summer Solstice).

Altars can be created from just about any flat surface, be it a tree stump, a cubicle shelf or even a dinner table centerpiece. The main idea of this altar is to establish a permanent meeting ground for communing with the Fair Folk. At this location, you can focus your own spellwork, ask their blessings, leave offerings for them and simply meditate, talk, and deepen your alliance together.

Remember that I have warned several times that you do not want to send an all-comers summoning. For the time being, I would suggest you focus your communications and invitations only on those who have already been your allies, and who, in all probability, have been guiding you to this work all along.

So if you have any ideas about their particular personalities, what especially delights them, and is a thoughtful way to invite them, this would be the time and place to begin to customize your sacred place for them. If you don't yet, that's okay. This is where you are going to develop that familiarity.

Today, once your preparations are complete, take time for your New Moon ritual of dedication. Clear and purify the energies around your Faery altar, both with a ritual sweeping with your besom, should you have one, as well as cleansing the subtle energetic fields.

For working with the People of Peace, my own preference is not smudging with smoke, but toning with either a Tibetan brass bowl, or a special bell. I also welcome my own allies with some of the luscious, fragrant oils that my friend, herbalist and Wise Woman Sarah Campbell has created. You can order them here.

When you have cast your Circle and called the Directions in your traditional way, spend time just getting comfortable, and settling into your new sacred space. Listen. Meditate quietly to search out with the power of your inner wisdom and imagination those benevolent beings who patiently wait for your discovery.

If not much happens this first time, that’s fine. You are forging a new path, and it takes patience and time. You may well be tested in this process to see if you are sincere in your desire. Patience and gentle progress are key.

It seems just perfect that this Gemini New Moon is during a Mercury retrograde. Mercury rules Gemini, and the retrograde time is when we are pulled to review, revisit, revise, go back. In our modern, secular world we have fast-forwarded just about everything. But our species is in critical danger and I believe that re-establishing our ties with the Gentry is essential to our survival.

As we dedicate our Faery altars, may our spirits tread back, returning to the ancient pathways our ancestors knew so well. For as they once lived in harmony and respect for the Fair Ones, so must we. For it is as allies and friends that we must both be, if we hope to see the future dawning.

Death
She changes everything She touches and
Everything She touches, changes.
- Kore chant, by Starhawk

From last week's The World, to Death today. Seems like heavy times are afoot. You may have noticed I am ridiculously late with my post today. That’s because I have spent the whole morning struggling with the interpretation of this week’s card. Yes, dears, I know perfectly well what the Death card can mean – a hundred possibilities from actual physical death (rare, but possible), to metaphorical surrender or release, and a rainbow spectrum of shades in between.

But I gaze upon our lush North Carolina woods, filled with the splendor of early Summer, and frankly, I am having trouble getting in touch with Death. I am intoxicated with my Graham Thomas and Zephirine Drouhin roses, hanging heavy in full bloom. I delight at the besotted courtship and parenting of the birds, animals, and insects in my yard. And there is certainly plenty of hot sex ramping up among the grasses and weeds, judging by the pollen everywhere.

So what is Death doing in our reading this week?

Death always points to change, and frankly, change is not always the favorite thing for us humans, who like our cozy, safe comforts. It is especially hard to think about Death in this time when everywhere, life is bursting at the seams.

Yet change is certainly needed, and change surely happens, whether we like it or not. With this card, there is Big Change waiting in the wings.

This week, I would suggest that we are seeing the end of an era. And with this week’s New Moon, we are making way for the new. At New Moon, we plant the magical seeds of our desires. But first, we must clear the space for them. What needs to be wiped clean, emptied, released, to make room for new growth?

On a day like this, on a week like this, with skies filled with birdsong and children squirming for the last bell before summer vacation, Death seems quite unreal.

Perhaps that is the very point.

Death is the shadow that makes clear our perspective. The sweet fruits of early Summer will not last, and that is what makes them rare. Blessed are we when we know it.

It goes like this:



First, snowdrops stand alone against the winter.


Then pussywillows, primroses, daffodils by the roadside.



Next, lesser celandine, delicate windflowers, sweet purple violets.



(A gradual greening of the hedges and trees)



Blackthorn blossoms. A sudden abundance of dandelions.



Cowslips, lady's smock, daisies, forget-me-nots.



Stitchwort stars the bank, speedwells sprawl in grass, ferns unfurl tender fronds.



Bluebells, Queen Anne's lace, red campion, buttercups, jack-by-the-hedge, ramsons.



A froth of sweet-sickly hawthorn flowers.



Red clover, Welsh poppies, ox eye daises, early purple orchids, greater celandine, columbine, wild strawberries.



The momentum increases and as summer erupts I am overwhelmed in a profusion of foxgloves thistles woodruff meadowsweet birds' foot trefoil tufted vetch corn poppies knapweed rosebay willowherb purple loosestrife wild roses honeysuckle brambles mullein figwort...



...and I find myself out under the sun walking barefoot on soft grass listening to birdsong and smiling at the foolishness of lists.

June is the sixth month of the current Gregorian calendar and the first month of Summer. June is named for the divine mother Juno (the Greek Goddess, Hera), wife of Zeus/Jupiter. Juno is the protector of the sanctity of marriage and the family. She is the Triple Goddess as Mother.

Celebrate with this video to inspire you!

Today I feel hopeful. My personal world is good. My spine feels a lot better, which makes all the difference in my outlook. Pain and impaired mobility can really drag me down.

Barcelona Spain is out of water. A ship with 5 million gallons of water was brought to the city this week, and there is a fine of 5 million euros for watering flowers. Australia, China, Israel, all in water crisis. Los Angeles is going to start rationing water.

“Theft” of used cooking grease from the fast-food poison food oulets is increasing as people now know how to use this substance for fueling vehicles. At least those outlets are producing something useful!

It’s all happening. The many gradual changes are mounting. The wave is building momentum.

I have spent my adult life consciously preparing for these changes. That doesn’t mean I am prepared, but the feeling of waiting for the shit to hit the fan is being replaced by awareness of the shit actually hitting the fan...from the frying pan to the fire? Yet, it’s a relief not to just be waiting.

It must seem odd for those bits of information to follow a statement about feeling hopeful, but it makes total sense to me. The state of waiting challenges my sense of ability to respond, but as the waiting ends and the situation becomes clearer, I find myself more easily mobilized to act. The experience of my spine and mobility alongside these thoughts about waiting and acting “fits” to me. I wonder how many other people have a similar experience, or even a similar feeling.

Yesterday the server was down for one of my email accounts. I couldn’t get a number of US websites to load, like the New York Times and CNN. I wondered, has the government closed down the US internet? Has there been a bombing? Neither of those things had happened, but it was an interesting moment. These things are very possible, and how will I respond? How will people be affected?

I don’t mean to be a doomsayer. In fact I do not feel impending doom. I do feel change in the wind. The corporate governments are scrambling to retain control, and gradually it is slipping away from them, and as it does they become more desperate and oppressive. Humans, however, cannot control nature, and we are part of nature. As situations become increasingly dire, the mass of humanity will become less and less malleable by the manipulators. Even Katy Couric, corporate whore, said this week that she felt pressured by the government to promote the war. Scott McClellan, former Bush spokesliar has come out with his mea culpa book “exposing” the dishonesty of the Bush cabal. Rats deserting a sinking ship? It’s a pity the rats didn’t speak up sooner but hey, I’m sure they were caught up in fear-based self preservation, and status seeking, and belief.

It is increasingly clear that it is up to each of us to choose how we will be part of solutions. I imagine and hope that even people who have been duped and complicit are beginning to see beyond their beliefs and fears. There are seriously dark clouds coming...they are closer than the horizon, and the storm they bring will uproot and scour, and isn’t that nature’s way? I don’t mean to sound so biblical, being such a pagan and all, but a good metaphor is hard to resist.

I teach this class online, Healing Magic. The gist of the material is to stimulate awareness, a sense of being part of the web of life and thus able to act in support of life. I know this blog reaches a relatively small number of people, many of whom I know personally, and know to be actively involved in supporting life and solutions and all that good stuff. I visualize Earth and the people I know here who are doing this work each in their own way; maybe a few hundred that I personally know. And they all know more people doing the same thing in their unique ways, and they know more, and on and on. Today I choose to be aware of the millions, maybe billions, who do see, who do want change, who do what they can, or at least what they think they can, and that adds up to a lot of people doing a lot of amazing things within themselves, their families, their communities. I’m cheering us on! We can do it, we can do more than we even know we are capable of, and it matters.

Chloe the cat is curled up on the bed, sleeping, comfortable, her person nearby, her belly full.

If you can't attend my Tarot class today, here is a fun introduction to tide you over till you can! Not exactly how I'll be teaching it, of course -- I'm not, after all, Stewart Copeland! Enjoy!




And a reminder --
Today is the last day of the month, and so is sacred to the great Triple Goddess, Hecate. On this day, we honor the Her as Queen of the Night and the Goddess of Witches. Hecate is a protector of women, mighty advocate for the disenfranchised, and She who guards the crossroads. It is She who teaches us the ancient Mysteries.

In ancient times, worshippers would leave a "Hecate's Supper" with specially prepared foods as offerings to Her. The offerings were also gifts to appease the restless ghosts, called apotropaioi by the Greeks. These offerings are to be left behind at a crossroads at night, without looking back.

Faeries Looking Through a Gothic Arch
by John Anster Christian Fitzgerald

Dare you haunt our hallow'd green?
None but fairies here are seen.
-- from The Fayries Daunce (in A Briefe Discourse),
by Thomas Ravenscroft, 1614

Creating a special meeting place with an altar is an integral part of building a relationship with the Fair Ones. This is where you can communicate with them, tell them your thoughts, share your prayers, spells and wishes. If you have invited friendly Folk, sharing yourself this way will be welcome, for, in fact, they want to hear from us and participate across the worlds, as once our ancestors welcomed them to.

Sharing what is beautiful, natural, and delightful to you is an expression of gratitude and peace. It is how we show them who we are.

It is important, especially in a world that has become so unappreciative and even hostile to their race, that you let them know you are grateful for their presence and friendship. So open your heart and express your true self with your words, how you decorate your altar, and the offerings you leave. For the Gentry deserve to be treated with appreciation and respect, and leaving offerings is an excellent way to do this.

Next week, I’ll have a lot more to say about tokens for your altar offerings, but before that discussion, I want to emphasize the most important gift of all. In fact, unless you give this, your relationship will go nowhere, or even possibly take an unpleasant turn.

This may seem obvious, but it is vitally important that you take excellent care of your home, garden and the living beings of the Earth around you. If you are neglectful of your family members, unkind or apathetic towards people, plants, or animals, forget it. You are not ready for friendship with the Fae.

If you do not walk upon Mother Earth with extraordinary awareness and respect, you will not be welcomed by their ancient race, for they have long been caretakers and guardians of the wild and the natural world.

It’s not for nothing that a constantly recurring theme in faery tales is of the gentle soul who stops to care for the hurt, the vulnerable, the ugly, the marginalized and the insignificant. And woe to those arrogant, self-righteous characters who step over the small or suffering.

So as I said yesterday, developing your alliance with the world of Faery may require significant lifestyle changes. How you use the Earth’s resources, your habits of working, eating, recreation, and even some relationships will almost certainly shift as you go deeper.

May our journeys be blessed with mirth, flowering and the loving, Graceful guidance of Thalia.

One of my early memories is of being six years old, getting ready to go to school early one morning. My mother had turned on our small black and white TV, and on it I saw a long, solemn procession moving slowly down a street, with many people bearing a raised casket in the middle [...]

At the urging of my dear friend, Donald Engstrom-Reese, I'm sharing my love of the Green Bloods.

Although I only have a balcony (there will be full earth someday!), I try and take full advantage of it, growing as many herbs and vegetables as I can comfortably fit (mind you, the definition of "comfortable" is completely subjective).

In years past, I've done tomatoes, acorn squash (which I adore), moonflowers and a smattering of herbs.

This year, I'm doing basil, of course. Every year, come mid- and late-summer, I can be found in my kitchen making fresh pesto with my mortar and pestle - truly the only way to go. I made pesto for years in a blender, but after seeing a handmade version in a cookbook by the eternally lovely Sophia Loren, I never went back. The pesto achieves a texture that is unbeatable.

I overwintered a lovely rosemary plant in my kitchen this year, and now s/he's happily outdoors again.

There's sage, which I (perhaps foolishly) let flower, because I love the purple blooms.


I'm doing Italian flat-leaf parsley this year, which I always end up wanting for recipes, including a wonderful one from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food. I make a salsa verde, again in the mortar and pestle. A handful of parsley leaves, one clove of garlic, the zest of a lemon, and olive oil get mashed together until I get a pesto-like consistency. This makes a wonderful dressing for egg or potato salad, as well as an incredible topping/spread for vegetarian sandwiches - oh, the possibilities are endless, really.



Chives were overwintered outside this year and are clearly growing like mad.





This year's experiments are rapini greens (known by Italian-Americans as broccoli rabe). They're a divine green that are wonderful sauteed with some olive oil and garlic and tossed with pasta and toasted pine nuts (garnished with some freshly grated parmigiano reggiano or romano cheese). The greens are also great in frittata, strata, and as salad and sandwich accents.

Not pictured are my rosa bianca eggplant - a variety I fell in love with last summer at my usual haunt, the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market. I couldn't get enough of it, and I roasted and a bunch of them, using slices for summer sandwiches as well as a great recipe of roasted eggplant halves, topped with avocado cream, goat cheese, chopped tomato and fresh cilantro.

I'm also attempting to grow an heirloom variety zucchini this year, partly because of a great recipe I saw for an Italian zucchini and lemon cake from a divine book by Gina De Palma titled Dolce Italiano.

I sing to my plants little impromptu numbers, either while planting them or watering them in the mornings. That and adding some charged quartz to the pots seems to make them happy.


I also keep one pot completely random and wild as an homage to the Faery folk of the green world. I started doing this last year as an offering, and if I'm not mistaken, this year it looks as if I have some kind of maple sapling growing in the pot. Once it's strong enough, I'll plant it somewhere safe, so it can grow into a big tree.


Most of this year's seeds were bought from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., located in Montana. They had wonderful varieties of vegetables and herbs, and I'm really pleased with my first purchases from them.

I believe in magic. The fog on the mountains, the rain, friends and family and lovers; the snail on the leaf, the birth of a new life, the death of a loved one or even one I didn’t know who touched my life...

...even the pain in my body. I believe in magic. I call it...existence. Some say there is a creator who is separate from what we call creation. Some say that creation and creator are one. I call it a mystery, and that is also magic.

I’m listening to a song called “Apple of my eye” written and sung by Rosalie Sorrels. I went to school briefly with one of her sons when she and her family lived in Vermont in 1975-76. Here is someone who is still out there making music, who has lived a life with joy and pain. This is a voice worth listening to.

This week marks the passing if Utah Phillips. He was a true bard, an activist, someone who spoke truth to power, who put his life into action. His presence will remain in his music and the memories so many people have of him. I met him once or twice when he and Rosalie did benefits for our little free school in Vermont.

My latest blog is over at The Wild Hunt. Jason honored me by asking me to be among his guest bloggers while he took a vacation. Other guest bloggers this week are Cat Chapin-Bishop, Anne Hill, T. Thorn Coyle, Chas S. Clifton, and Deborah Oak Cooper. Such awesome company!

I've posted today more about dying and death, inspired by the recent passing of my mother, pictured above. Come back later because I know this won't be the last of it.

There seems never to have been an uncivilized tribe, race, or nation of civilized men who have not had some form of belief in an unseen world, peopled by unseen beings.
-- W.Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, 1911

In order to nurture your relationship with the Gentry, I would urge you to first begin with your own allies, who you may already know to a degree. The idea is to develop your connection by making an intentional commitment to do so, in an established, somewhat formal way.

Please bear in mind that this is not a commitment to be taken lightly. Inviting the Tylwyth Teg into your home and daily life will almost certainly be a life-changing decision. And one doesn’t simply drop these relationships if it becomes inconvenient.

So by creating an altar area, you are creating a portal for your rendezvous, and a place which, with time and usage, will grow in power and familiarity for you and those of the starlit realms.

Avoid loading up your altar with man-made tchotchkes, no matter how cute. The Elemental faeries are, obviously, creatures connected directly to the natural world and, in my experience, their ideas about what is beautiful and sacred do not usually include the latest mass-produced statues or greeting cards. Of course, this is my experience only, and it may well be different for you and your allies.

Simplicity and natural materials seem to be best. Ideally, you might even consider making your altar area outdoors. You might use a large stone or a wooden table (remember – they shun iron, so that may eliminate your patio table).

It is best to display objects on the altar that have personal meaning for you. You can't wrong by having them represent the elements, such as a feather for Air; a candle for Fire; seashells for Water; and stones or crystals for Earth. You may also wish to add a few other items, such as found objects, charms, herbs, and other things that are beautiful and that delight you.

In fact, sharing your appreciation and delight is a powerful act and is key to making your altar a beacon of welcome to the Fair Folk who may be nearby. More about this tomorrow.

Please note: If you are working with the Faery realms, I would love to hear from you. Please share your stories, or even photos by either commenting here, or by emailing me.

© Margaret Dean

The fairy beam upon you,
The stars to glister on you;
A moon of light
In the noon of night,
Till the fire-drake hath o'ergone you.
-- Ben Johnson (1572 –1637)

I’ve been suggesting that, if you feel called to do so, you may wish to establish and deepen your alliance with the Good People that dwell near (or in) your home and garden. However, those who have been working with them and studying their ways for many years remind us that, just as you would not post open invitations at the local biker bar if you wanted to have a tea party, you need to be discerning about with whom you wish to connect among the Fair Folk.

Listen closely to the whispering voices of the land where you live. Learn its history. Has it been a peaceful place, or has there been strife or even death there? Who else has lived there? Are the resulting energies gentle, wholesome and benevolent there, or might you need to do some deep clearing?

If you have come this far, you probably already have benevolent allies who are guiding you in this work. Do you know who they are? Have they shared their names with you? This is the most natural starting point for developing your wider relationships, for it is through your allies that you will be introduced to others of the Faery realms.

As I discussed last week, one way to cultivate your relationship is to build an altar area. Again, this is not to worship the Folk, but to open a doorway of welcome. Setting aside and creating a special altar area is, itself, a powerful act of awareness and appreciation. And it will become a place where you can focus your magic, communicate and leave offerings.

Simple and beautiful is a good rule of thumb. A small accent table or even a clean, artfully decorated box can make a nice altar. Plus, these have the advantage of being left up in a quiet corner, without taking up too much space.

It is preferable, in my view, for your altar to be permanent. Altars that one puts up and takes down may be more convenient for you, but this does not really honor that the Folk may have their own scheduling preferences. After all, we, as humans, do not summon them to our command.

So having a permanent meeting place acknowledges that they may come and go freely, whether or not you are there to visit with them or not. This is an act of respect and friendship that will not be taken lightly. (And hence my cautioning you to be discerning about exactly who you are inviting!)

Tomorrow, I’ll have more ideas for you! Meantime, if you are working this magic, I would love to hear from you. Tell us your stories, or perhaps you’d like to share some photos of your altar area or your other Faery sanctuaries. Please post here, or email me at zenrose at sign nc dot rr dot com.