The Faerie Helper

The Bean Tighe of Ireland is the Irish form of the Faerie Godmother, 

she will attach herself to certain families for many generations. 

Looking after the children and pets, even finishing the chores around the house.

Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles

These domestic faeries piskies, hobs, boggarts perform many useful tasks 

around the home. Generally regarded as a good thing the house holder had to 

be careful not to offend  them. If vexed cream jugs were smashed, butter would not 

come, horses would be unmanagable, all manner of things would go wrong while 

the small creatures would watch in delight from some secret place!

The faeries also disliked lazy wives and servants.

If ye will with Mab find grace

Set each platter in his place

Rake the fire up and get

Water in, ere sun be set

Wash your pailes, and cleanse your dairies

Sluts are loathsome to the Faeries

Sweep your house. Who doth not so

Mab will pinch her by the toe

So with that I am off to sweep my floors before I get pinched by Mab!

The Faerie Shoemaker

The Faerie Shoemaker otherwise known as Leprechaun spends his time 

around clear pure streams, also has a liking for cool dark cellars. 

Easily recognisable from the red cap he wears, he also wears two leather

 purses on his belt. In one a silver coin and in the other a gold coin. 

The silver coin always returns to his purse even after being given away. 

He only hands out the gold if he needs to buy his freedom from a captor. 

But keep your eye on him, one blink and he will vanish and the coin will turn to dust.

When he is not drinking and smoking ( which he is very partial to!) he is busy 

making shoes for the faerie folk. The Leprechaun is well paid for his services and 

has amassed quite a store of gold which he keeps in a large crock. 

He hides it well but usually it can located buried at the end of the 

rainbow where it touches the earth.

Ivy brings good luck

The Ivy Faerie available as card from www. magic-myth-legend.co.uk

Ivy brings good luck, fun and happiness and growing some over the outside wall of your house will deter misfortune. If you have a houseplant of ivy and it dies this might signify that financial problems are looming. The ivy was sacred to Bacchus God of wine and to show that good wine could be found within innkeepers would hang garlands of ivy around their doors. Ivy is the emblem of fidelity and it used to be customary to hand a wreath of ivy to newly weds. The bridesmaids would also carry some as well as it was believed to aid fertility and bring good luck.

For a man to dream of his future bride he must pick a leaf on the 31st Oct and place it under his pillow. For a woman to dream of her future husband she must collect some leaves and recite the following:

'Ivy, ivy I love you

In my bosom I put you

The first young man  who speaks to me

My future husband he shall be'

'Faerie Flora'

All Hallows

Well Halloween is over for another year.. we had a steady stream of little elves, 

goblins and monsters coming to our door. The sizes got progressively larger 

as the night wore on! We just had a few sweets left for our last caller, 

all got soaked of course as it was such a foul night but it didn't seem to 

dampen their spirits!

Although of course I should have been handing out soul-cakes but I 

think they preferred the sweets!

The Feast of All Saints or All Hallows which is also Samhain the pagan 

Celtic New Year festival when stored fruits and crops were blessed and 

the dead remembered.

On this night  soul-cakes are made and given out usually to the poor 

who in return would pray for the souls of the departed: and the returning dead 

were supposed to share in the cakes.

A child born at this time is supposed to have second sight and all of 

November's children will fortunate and beloved.

November's child is born to bless

He's like a song of thankefulness.

On all Souls Day Tindle bonfires should be lit to guide the souls out of purgatory.

There is an old custom in Herefordshire to hire the poor to attend funerals. 

They would be paid to take upon themselves the sins of the deceased. 

The corpse would be brought out of the house and laid upon the bier then a loaf of 

bread would be handed to the sin eater over the corpse. He would eat this 

along with a bowl of beer. Once he had done this and received his payment

 he would take upon himself all the sins of the deceased and 

free him or her from walking after they were dead.

The Rollright Stones

These stones date back to the neolithic times and are made up of the King stone 

which stands slightly to one side of the seventy seven stones called the 

whispering knights. These lean together looking as though they are plotting 

against the King. He was leading his army towards the Cotswold Ridgeway 

in his campaign to become High King of England. On his way up the hill 

the King met a witch, she addressed him

'Seven long strides thou shalt take

And if Long Compton  thou can see

King of England thou shalt be'

not to be outdone the King quipped back

'Stick, stock, stone

As King of England I shall be known'

Saying that he began to walk up the hill but a hillock reared up suddenly

before him and blocked his view of the distant village.

The witch sang out

'Rise up stick and stand still stone

For King of England thou shall be none

Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be

And I myself an eldern tree'

The King and all his men instantly turned to stone and the witch turned

 into a elder tree close to the stones to guard against the spell being broken.

For many years it was the custom for people to gather at the stones on 

Midsummer Eve to cut the elder tree, if it bled it would bring fertility to the land. 

Some believed that the King stone would move its head if the tree bled. 

The stones are also believed to confirm fertility upon woman who touch

 their bare breasts to the stones at midnight. 

The King and his knights are said to be asleep in a cavern under the stones

 ready to be awoken in time of need, very much like the Arthurian legend.

Dragons

The faerie gold on Cadbury Hill in Somerset is guarded by a huge green 

dragon; every day it flies from it's lair on Castle Neroche to Cadbury 

and then back again.

Many years ago the hill fort was inhabited by faeries, here they lived in 

underground homes along the sides of the hill and in their caves they stored 

their treasures and grain from the surrounding plain. They were driven from 

the hill by the sound of the newly erected bells from a nearby church. 

The sound of the iron bells hurt their ears so much that they left without 

all their possessions, leaving the gold still in it's underground cave.

The faerie treasure can not be found by mortals, for the harder you dig for it the 

deeper it will sink the earth of Cadbury Hill. The dragon has been guarding it ever since.

It was a beautiful  day when we visited the hill, I didn't bother looking for the 

treasure as I didn't want to anger the dragon!

Wonderful mirrors by Steven Shipp

These beautiful mirrors are handmade by west country artist Steven Shipp.

He is well known around the area for his artwork and accepts 

commisions for his paintings and mirrors.