Tag Archives: wiccan

Midsummer Magic

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Midsummer Magic-By Angelique Duncan

Angelique Duncan is proprietor of Twilight Faerie Nostalgic and Capricious Objects. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and vintage inspired traditional holiday art. Visit again next month for more traditions and folklore.

The Blue Feather

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The Blue Feather

By Intricate Knot

“The game is afoot.”~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When last we left our heroes, the ever stylish, sleek, cat Fiddler and the forever cantankerous owly-raven Wilbur, they were in the midst of saving Easter. With all those spring time eggs that needed to be decorated, there was no time to contemplate the clues left behind by the kidnapper and thief: a single blue feather and a scrap of dirty, gold scarf. Who or what had caused the disappearance of every one of Aloysius’ bunny holiday helpers had to be placed on hold. Although their hands were kept busy decorating and packing eggs into baskets, they couldn’t stop their minds from wandering to the chilling fact that all of the helpers were missing and even more disturbing were the missing flowers. Not one spring time flower remained in the forest or the great field that surrounded it! And the flowers hadn’t been picked or plucked; trimmed or torn…it was as if there had never been any flowers at all. Not a sign of them! Thank goodness the faeries had this matter well in hand and were busily coaxing new flowers from out of the earth.

Once the last egg was packed into its tiny colorful straw basket and Aloysius hopped off, Fiddler and Wilbur turned their attention to the blue feather. Both of them knew that sometimes in order to understand the present, we have to make a trip back to the past. It’s not always pleasant, although it does depend on what’s back there. In this case? Definitely not pleasant for our heroes…

Hundreds upon hundreds, perhaps even thousands upon thousands of years ago there lived a beautiful and frightful creature named Glassy Croon. Beautiful because of her fantastic royal blue plumage and frightful because of her glittering scales, Glassy possessed the wings and headdress of a bird and the scaly, coiled, fluid body of snake and at the end of her tail a hypnotic rattle with a venomous tip. To add to this, Glassy had the most beautiful singing voice: a gift from one of King Neptune’s Sirens.

Once upon a time they had all been famous friends: Fiddler, Wilbur, and Glassy. The trio was inseparable. They did everything together, even eating breakfast, lunch, and supper together. Oh, and the adventures and fun mischief they would get up to! Fiddler was much then as he is now, but Wilbur had been a much lighter, less crabby soul in those days. He even fancied himself in love with Classy Glassy, as he called her then.

Her friendship had all been a sham, though. Glassy had devious plans, plans to disappear all the holidays and disband the Great Holiday Maker Tribe forever. It was only sheer luck that Fiddler and Wilbur discovered her plot, but that is a tale for another time. Suffice it to say our heroes saved the day (actually they saved many days!) and Glassy was banished. Although, they never discovered why she wanted to destroy holidays and the mystery has always haunted them both.

As punishment Glassy Croon had been banished to the far off Land of La, where they all believed she would never trouble anyone ever again. The portal between their world and La had been sealed, permanently. Of course in these situations the villain or villainess always manages to escape to cause grievous mischief another day though, yes? And our villainess is no exception. While in La she planned her revenge for a long, long, very long time and found a way to escape.

“We definitely know who that feather belongs to,” Fiddler began.

“Yes. Although how she escaped…escapes me at the moment,” Wilbur responded with a woeful expression in his big owly, black eyes.

“That is not our problem right now. First, we need to find her.”

“Then we are going to need help and a lot of it.”
Fiddler nodded, deep in thought,

“Yes, you’re right, of course.”

“And I’m thinking of-”

“Fizzy.”

“Yes.”
The two friends in accord, they sent Sassy the Pigeon to request her presence.

Fizzy Frazelli, a foxy fox with her beautiful amber coat, fluffy snowy-tipped tail, and Italian accent was eager to help out. To assist in saving the Great Holiday Making Tribe and the forest was a worthy and noble cause. Who could refuse? Though foxes don’t feature much in human holiday tales, being clever and pretty they certainly do have their place and all places are important. Wearing a periwinkle sun hat, Fizzy arrived at Loy’s bunny domain in record time, greeting Fiddler and Wilbur with a smile and a wink,

“You tell me what you need and I’ll get my boys started.”
Fiddler imparted the news,

“Fizzy, it’s Glassy. She’s back. Worse yet, we don’t know what else she may have planned.”

“Indeed, with the summer months upon us there is much to be put in order and set into motion. We daren’t have a setback,” Wilbur added.
To her credit, Ms. Frazelli’s dazzling smile never faltered,

“Well, I’ll just have to get a few of our neighbors involved. Don’t you worry, we caught up with her last time, and we’ll do it again.”

True to her word, Fizzy enlisted the help of her foxy boys, and asked the coyotes for help, too. All of them clever enough to scent out even the most subtle of creatures. Wilbur flew over field, glen, and forest, Fiddler prowled through burrow, cave, and hollow, and the foxes and coyotes sniffed at every valley, ravine, and crevice. All of them searched for anything that would lead them to Glassy’s whereabouts, but as the sun set that evening not one of them had found a sign. They decided to meet at Loy’s, this way they could stand guard over their bunny friend, while he slept after the long Easter day of deliveries and appearances. Who knew if Glassy planned something more for their bunny friend!

When they all met back at Loy’s that night, Fiddler, Wilbur and Fizzy discussed their next move over large mugs of frosty root beer and maple creams. With a decisive click of his mug on the rustic table Fiddler stated,

“Right, we’ll go back over everywhere again tomorrow.”

“Okay, but I think we need more help,” Wilbur suggested.

“Good idea. What do you think, Fizzy? Fizzy?”

“Hmm…I was only thinking.”

She had Wilbur and Fiddler at the edge of their seats and when a few more moments passed they said in unison,

“What?”

Well, how did Glassy escape the Land of La?”
Fiddler and Wilbur exchanged glances.

“I am wondering if she’s opened the portal to escape that perhaps-”

“She can open the portal and go back in,” Fiddler finished.

“Oh, that’s just fabulous. Anyone want a refill?”
Fiddler and Fizzy held out their mugs to Wilbur. He began pouring more root beer and suddenly stopped.

“I just thought of something worse.”
Fiddler felt the hair along his spin rise,

“What?”

“If she’s able to come and go as she pleases and has taken Loy’s helpers and the spring flowers to La, what if she can bring-”
Fizzy gasped,

“No!”

“I hope you’re wrong, Wilbur,” but even as he said it, Fiddler knew Wilbur wasn’t wrong. It explained that scrap of dirty gold scarf…

To be continued next month!


Illustration “Glassy Croon” by Intricate Knot.
Illustration “What to do?” by Angelique Duncan. Appearance of Wilbur with permission of Intricate Knot.

Intricate Knot is proprietor of Cards For A Gloomy Day.Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for more adventures of Fiddler the cat.

 

May Day Celebration of the Faeries and the Witches

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May Day; Celebration of the Faeries and the Witches-By Angelique Duncan

May Day; Celebration of the Faeries and the Witches

May 1st, associated with colorful flowers, Maypoles and the celebration of spring warmth and the pending arrival of summer. The origins of May Day go back far into history and have a presence in some form in most European and North American cultures having similar meanings attached to the day. However if one digs deep they find buried under all the flora and ribbons a history associated with the enchantment of fae folk, witches and Halloween.

Up until the 1950’s May Day was part of popular American culture with picnics, May pole dances and crowning of May Day Queens. In most European and Nordic countries some incarnation of May Day celebrations exist till this day. Many historians trace the holiday back to the Roman Empire and the Festival of Flora. The Gaelic cultures of Ireland and Scotland celebrated Beltane. The Welsh celebrate Calan Mai. In Germany and Sweden Walpurgis is celebrated.

The themes are common in each of these celebrations. An emphasis on flowers, fertility, protection and often include outdoor picnics, parades, May pole dances, crowning of May Queens and symbolic cleansing bon fires. Another common theme is the belief that other worldly entities are at their most prevalent at this time.

Ancient religions believed that there were certain times of the year, usually corresponding with the change of seasons and phases of the moon in which magical creatures could pass through a thin veil that separated their enchanted plane with the human physical plane. May Day or May first is one such occasion. It also is the antithesis holiday to Halloween, or what was once commonly known as Samhain.

Many early cultures believed that on the return of summer the faeries returned as well. They like their human counterparts had hibernated through the long dark winter months. When the warmth and flowers returned, so did the magical folk. It was believed that one of the most powerful crossovers for the magical creatures known as faeries, gnomes, pookas and other sprites was on the eve of May Day. They returned through the veil during the night to roam the earth in celebration.

Mythology tells that the spring celebrations of the faeries were not that dissimilar to that of the humans. Some cultures believed that, much like candy for trick or treaters at Halloween, that gifts of sweets, flowers and shiny things should be left at ones door in small baskets to appease the faerie revelers. If one did not leave gifts for the faeries, it was believed that they would reek havoc on ones crops, livestock and bring misfortune to ones home through out the summer season. During the Victorian era it was popular, especially among children and young girls to leave offerings of trinkets, cookies and cakes for “faerie picnics” or “faerie parties” to draw the faeries to their gardens and also guarantee the safety of ones flowers from faerie mischief.

Legend states after their night of merriment that magic folk would return to their prospective faerie mounds, woods and gardens until October 31st, the night of Samhain. This would mark the return of autumn, and the pending dark of winter. At which point the faeries would hold another night of celebration before passing back through the veil to their enchanted world to hibernate again until the return of the sun the following cycle.

It is not only the faerie folks that have had a place in May Day, but the day has a history with the Witches too. Many European countries believed that May Day was a night for witchcraft. Many, following the same theory of faerie legend that the veil between two worlds was lifted on the 1st of May, believed that witches would prevail on May Eve or Walpurgis night. There are many associations with May bon fires and witches through out Europe, Norwegian and former Soviet countries. It was believed that this was a time of Sabbath for the witches. Some cultures believed that the witches would hex or curse their crops and live stock and spread disease and misfortune to homes so bonfires would be burned to purify and scare away the witches or any passing evil spirits.

Others believed that witches would hold grand gatherings at significant geographical locations on Walpurgis Night. Some countries still carry on festivities to emulate and celebrate the meeting of the witches with costumed bon fires, extravagant costumed parades and merry celebrations. Other countries hold bon fires to burn straw or cloth effigies of witches to symbolically ward off evil from their lives and celebrate the arrival of summer.

In modern times most of what is celebrated is of a symbolic celebratory nature and less religious or meaningful ritual. However the symbols are mostly still in tact and the spirit of the celebration is the same. Given the folklore and widespread belief that a veil separating the human plane and the mystical lifts in the beginning of May, one might do well to leave a little something sweet or shiny in the garden, and maybe light a small fire in the ol’ Barbeque pit out side…just to be safe.

Angelique Duncan is proprietor of Twilight Faerie Nostalgic and Capricious Objects. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and vintage inspired traditional holiday art. Visit again next month for more traditions and folklore.