Hail Thalia, Grace of Flowering and Mirth! Hail to The Lord and The Lady!Hail to the King and Queen of Faery, to blessed Flora, and to Maia Majestas! ©Helena Nelson-Reed Hail to the Summer!Hail to the Summer!The season that drivesThe cold Winter away!Hail to the Summer!Hail to the Summer!Light your bonfires –Today is Beltane!— from … Read more
Blessings of May Eve! New life we see, in flower and treeAnd summer comes again.Be free and fair, like earth and air,The sunshine and the rain. Walpurgis Night, Walpurgis Night,Upon the eve of May,We’ll merry meet, and summer greet,For ever and a day.— Anonymous, quoted by Doreen Valiente in Witchcraft For Tomorrow Today is one … Read more
Fairylandby A., E., and M. Keary, 1914 A Fairy’s house stands in a wood,Midst fairy trees and flowers,Where daisies sing like little birdsBetween the sun and showers,And grasses whisper tiny thingsAbout this world of ours. Such flowers are there beside the way,Lilies and hollyhocks:Blow off their stalks to tell the timeTall dandelion clocks;While harebells ring … Read more
The Hosting of the Sidhe by William Butler Yeats The host is riding from KnocknareaAnd over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare;Caoile tossing his burning hair,And Niamh calling Away, come away:Empty your heart of its mortal dream.The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are agleam,Our … Read more
Come faeries, take me out of this dull world,for I would ride with you upon the windand dance upon the mountains like a flame…. — William Butler Yeats The Great Sabbat of Beltane is just one week away, and I invite you to join me in preparing for this joyful celebration of the life force … Read more
The more they talked, the stronger grewTheir wish to show how much they knew …— The Brownies, by Palmer Cox While I am traveling during the next week, I thought we might continue our journey with the mirthful and flowering Thalia, as well as prepare for Beltane, by visiting with some of the Fair Folk … Read more
I gather thyme upon the sunny hills,And its pure fragrance ever gladdens me,And in my mind having tranquillityI smile to see how my green basket fills.And by clear streams I gather daffodils… — from Immalee by Christina Rosette To enhance the fresh, clearing energy of Spring, I like to make a magical dry potpourri (as … Read more
The daffodil is our doorside queen;She pushes upward the sward already,To spot with sunshine the early green. No lays so joyous as these are warbledFrom wiry prison in maiden’s bower;No pampered bloom of the green-house chamberHas half the charm of the lawn’s first flower.— from An Invitation to the Country, by William Cullen Bryant We … Read more
LOST by David Waggoner Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside youAre not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,And you must not treat it as a powerful stranger,Must ask permission to know it and be known.The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,I have made the place around you.If you leave it you may … Read more
I arise todayThrough the strength of HeavenLight of SunRadiance of MoonSplendor of FireSpeed of LightningSwiftness of WindDepth of SeaStability of EarthFirmness of Rock. — commonly known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate, but also believed to be the far older Druid Deer’s Cry Invocation As I’ve been discussing, the evidence is overwhelming that time spent in Nature … Read more