New Forest Fairy Festival 2018

Well, it wasn't the weather we would have liked but it didn't dampen anybody's enthusiasm at the Fairy Festival!

Here are a few quick snaps of our Gazebo:

The Shelf Faeries seem to have taken over this year, but I do sell cards of my artwork and my books such as The Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles, Faerie Flora and The Psychic Sisters series.

Sharing the Gazebo this year was 'The Ivory Dolls of Glastonbury' with an array of beautiful clothes and accessories.

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.