Snowdrop

 One of the first flowers of spring, and

  commonly known as the flower of hope. 

   Although its beauty symbolises purity,

 it is widely regarded as a omen of death and as such

is considered to be unlucky to take into 

the house of anybody who is sick, except

in Shropshire where bunches of the flowers are 

taken into the house to purify it.

After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, Eve stood

 weeping and surveying the  snowy wilderness to which they had been sent 

when an angel appeared. 

The glowing figure caught a falling snowflake, breathed on it and then

 handed it to Eve:

‘This is an earnest wish, Eve to thee

That sun and summer soon shall be’

The angel vanished and where she had stood the snow had turned 

into a carpet of snowdrops.

From 'Faerie Flora'

Blackberry Harvest

It's the season to be think about picking blackberries for jam and also I'm 

going to make some blackberry wine this year

I made elderflower champagne in the spring and that was success, even 

though one of the bottles did explode!

The Blackberry bush is an amazing plant and has many uses apart from 

making jam and of course wine.

It's a common native shrub found throughout  Britain.

  Can climb up to 15ft- 5m,  the stems will root where they

 touch the ground.  There are  hundreds of micro species

  in the bramble family.

                     Flowers vary from white to cerise appearing from May to September. 

The fruit is a cluster of segments called dropelets and appear in the autumn months 

and may be seen at the same time as the flowers.

My Jam!
Apart from making jam and wine the plant has a few other uses as well.

Bramble leaves can be used with a healing spell for the treatment of burns: dip 

nine leaves in running water and lay them on the affected area, say to each leaf as you 

apply it ‘Three ladies came from the east, one with fire and two with frost, out with fire 

and in with frost’

Or alternatively bruise a handful of fresh leaves and apply to the burn. This can be used 

for piles, skin ulcers and eczema as well.

A decoction of the leaves can be used for sore throats and if you would like a natural

 mouth wash it can also be used for this.

The juice of the berries mixed with the juice of mulberries binds the stomach in cases 

of diarrhoea, helps sores and ulcers and is good for piles.

The leaves boiled in lye and used to wash the scalp relieves an itchy scalp and makes the

 hair black.

Bramble Leaf Tea

The shoots and young leaves are packed with vitamins and minerals and are ideal  for use in a tea, either fresh or dried can be used. Place three or four leaves in a teapot and pour on boiling water, leave to steep for about 15 minutes. Strain then drink. This can be taken as needed; if using to treat diarrhoea make the tea twice the strength and take one cup every hour.

Good for mouth ulcers and gum disease, also helpful if you have a cold.

Chewing the leaves will help headaches while crushed leaves can be used to treat 

small wounds and sores.

Fairy Fun in Burley

The New Forest Fairy Festival 2017

Burley Hampshire

A World of Magic Myth and Legend stall at the Fairy Festival. This year we were joined by 'The Ivory Dolls' showcasing the new range of unique one off dresses and shrugs plus accessories.

The queue started 7.30 in the morning for the grand opening at ten o clock.

Just some of the amazing costumes sported by our visitors!

A great weekend again!

To protect your home against faeries

And evil spirits around  midsummer which can be the most dangerous

 of the year, gather:

St John's Wort, Mugwort, Plantain, Corn Marigold, Dwarf Elder, Yarrow, 

Ivy, Vervain and Orphins. 

These must be picked at dawn with the dew still on them. Fashion them into garlands 

and hang them over over the threshold to your home or alternatively burn them on 

the fire to drive off the spirits of the air.

Midsummer is the time to keep your house clean...

As nothing annoys the faeries more than a dirty home!

So sweep your hearth and set upon it a dish which holds a 

mess of milk and bread. This will please the fae and if you leave your 

shoes by the fire they will sometimes leave a coin in one of them. 

But do not speak of it or they will leave, never to return.

"Farewell, Rewards and Faeries,

Good housewives now may say,

For now foul sluts in Dairies,

Do fare as well as they,

And though they sweep their hearths no less,

Than maids are wont to do,

Yet who of late for cleanliness,

Finds six pence in her shoe?"

The Faeryes Farewell. Richard Corbet c. 1625

Faeries are active at this time of year...

So this period around midsummer is the best time to bind them to 

your service. 

One way to get a faerie:

First obtain a broad crystal of approx 3" length and breadth

and lay it in the blood of a white hen for three Wednesdays.

Then remove and wash it with Holy Water and fumigate it.

Take three young hazel rods, peel them and write the faerie's name, 

calling out the name three times as you write, bury the 

rods under a faerie hill. Call the faerie on the following Wednesday 

in the light of the moon. Keep your face turned to the East and when 

she answers your summons bind her in the crystal.

Changelings and May

The month of May is supposed to be the ideal time for substituting 

mortal babies with changelings; why this month I wonder?

Faeries will not hesitate to steal un-baptized children, 
especially popular are fair haired babies, replacing them with changelings.
These may be either an old wrinkled elf who wants an easy life  or a replica made of wood which under a Faerie spell will appear to be alive.
The  replica will sometimes appear to sicken and die,it would then be buried.
It may continue to live, but it will not grow however much it eats,and changelings do have an inexhaustible appetite, it will also have a wizened deformed appearance.

In earlier years many babies that were born ugly or 
malformed were believed to be these changelings, as this was an easier explanation for parents of a socially unacceptable child; life would have been hard for these children.
Placing the changeling on a red hot poker or putting it on the fire, or whipping it was believed to make it reveal its true nature. It would then fly cackling up the chimney and disappear, the real baby would be found at the door having just been returned by the Faeries (see page 12).

Offerings of milk were left at the Well of the Spotted Rock, Inverness, by Mothers who believed that their child had been taken by the Faeries and replaced by a changeling. The changeling would then be left overnight near the well and when the Mother returned in the morning, she hoped the real child would be there, having been returned by the Faeries.

Men and Women were also taken to be husbands and wives of Faeries in the otherworld.
In 1894 in Clanmel, County Tipperary, Bridget Cleary fell under suspicion of being a changeling by her husband Michael.
She apparently appeared more refined than usual and had grown an extra two inches.
Although she protested her innocence he tortured and burned her to death  “to make the witch confess“. Michael Cleary buried the remains of his wife but they were later discovered and he was charged with manslaughter.

He was sentenced to 20 years hard labour.

Faerie births are becoming
rarer and the Faerie 
children are not as healthy as they once were.
So mortal babies are taken
to replenish their stock


The stealing of children has
a more sinister motive in
the Lowlands of Scotland.
Mortal babies are used by
the Faeries to pay the
Devil’s Tithe which is due
every seven years.

To protect a baby from
 being taken by the Faeries hang an open pair of 
scissors over the cot or stick an iron pin into the baby’s clothes.

Lay the Father’s trousers across the cot.

Draw a circle of fire around the cot.

Make the sign of the cross above the baby and 

sprinkle it and the cot with Holy Water.


Excerpt from Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles