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Halo Quin

~ Author, storyteller, singer-songwriter, witch

Category Archives: Faery

Book Release Date! Your Faery Magic

17 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by Haloquin in Enchanted, Faery, Following Delight, Magic, Philosophy

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book, Enchantment, Faeries, FeyHearted, Publication

It’s official! Your Faery Magic is on its way!!!*

Release date: 11th December 2015

Ready for pre-order with Amazon now!

This is a book for beginners on the Faery path, it is for those of us who loved the tales of flower fairies but felt more at home with the goblins and dryads, carving our own wands and brewing up our own potions. This is a book for finding your way towards a faery path of your very own. It is the book I wish I had found when I began in paganism, and I hope it will help guide many feet towards uncovering their own relationship to the spirits of nature.

It has been described as gentle and mature, non-prescriptive and fascinating.

This is the official blurb:

“Have you ever felt that you were ‘different’? That the Otherworld was closer for you than it is for other folk? Have you ever wondered how you can tap into the wild, untamed magic of your own faery heart? Then this book is for you. Once upon a time ‘Fey’ meant both the spirits of the natural world and the nature of those humans that were in touch with that magic in themselves; the seers, the spirit workers, the ones who walked between. This is your guide to finding that Fey magic which sings in your heart. Through this book you will meet your guide, visit faeryland, learn about the beings of the faery worlds and develop your own faery craft to work in harmony with the power and cycles of the earth by unlocking the nature of your Fey spirit. Time for you to become the Fey you truly are.”

I’m SOOOOO excited!!!

*happydance*

*I’ve been offline since moving house… and the release date, book cover and advance copies all arrived whilst we were offline! So technically this news is a little late, sorry!

Oracles and Completion

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, challenge, Completion, creativity, Faery, Faery Queen, Feyhearted path, Heart, Honesty, Imperfection, Journey, Magic, musings, oracle cards, process, project, Strangeness of Life, Tools

Not so long ago a parcel arrived in the post. It was addressed to A World Enchanted. I was so excited! I spent months putting together a deck of Oracle cards and for almost a year I’ve been using one I printed myself… now I have a professionally printed deck and three to sell!

My Oracle Deck!

The Completed Deck!

I’m really proud of my work and the printed cards are beautiful. It works perfectly for uncovering what is in your heart and the heart of the world and the simple readings I did for others were very well received.

And somehow I’ve completely avoided posting about them here. I haven’t put the 3 decks I have for sale in my shop, I haven’t told you about them properly, I haven’t done anything with them beyond using them for myself.

Why?

Despite how it may appear, I struggle with being visible. I struggle with putting my work out there and allowing it to be seen. I struggle with completing projects and releasing them into the world. Artworks contain such a part of the artist’s spirit that an entire deck of my art makes me very visible and so, sharing them, I feel very vulnerable.

This New Year I am considering ‘Wholeness’ as my word for 2013. A word that includes the concept of completion and of being whole in myself. A word that speaks of safety, strength and holiness. Sacred Completion. A guiding light to help me overcome this block and share more beauty with you.

And today I am posting my Oracle Decks in my shop. There is more to do to complete this project than put the information up, however. I need to spread the word. I need to share this beauty, be seen, be known. So here I write and contemplate where to share with others what I have done!

Oracle Deck Set for sale

The FeyHearted Oracle and Guidebook!

Here is the page on A World Enchanted for the FeyHearted Oracle Deck for your enjoyment. If you feel called I would love for you to share this page with your friends and anyone you think might enjoy the deck!

May you find it easy to complete the things you wish to do and share your gifts with the world!

Remembering – Faery light

16 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Faery, Storytelling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Heart, Philosophy, questions, Stories, Suggestions, Tools

(Originally posted May 2009)

Standing on the land as the sun rises, beneath your feet you feel a ripple, a gentle pulsing of warmth, growing stronger.

You listen, feeling the vibrations, watching the world become lighter.

You find yourself reminded of a giant heartbeat…

A distant heart in the heart of the world…

Can you feel it?

***********************************************************************

A few days ago I was with a beautiful group of people and, on the last day we were together, we walked across the land before breakfast for one last ritual. Our intention was to connect with the light of Faeryland, and to learn a way in which we could carry this light into the world. Inspired by R. J. Stewart‘s Exercise, The Rising Light Below, I led us all in a trance together as the light of the land rose within us.

Before I share the vision, first, a little theory:

I’ve come across theories on Faeryland, I’ve heard it called the place where nothing changes, the place where every rose is the essence of a rose, rather than a rose itself. R. J. Stewart describes it as though it were a blueprint for our world, and one which we have ignored in the execution of our lives. Instead of working in harmony with the world, we have separated ourselves off and isolated our selves.

I, then, propose that Faeryland and our human world were once the same, whole, together, connected. Over time, we humans learnt ways of manipulating the world around us, ways which got us great power very quickly, and before we realised the damage this would do, we had taken our toys and run off with them, leading to a separation between the land of the Fey, the magical, primal energies of the land, and the world we inhabit wherein we see each thing as an individual, as separate, to be used.

Our world became soulless, because we stopped seeing its heart.

The Faery world drifted away, because we could no longer see life as an interconnected web of beauty in the way we once did. This ‘once upon a time’ may, possibly, have been merely mythological, but given that I know from experience that we are capable of seeing the world as ensouled, and that life is so much better, for me at least, when I do, I figure it matters little whether this was a mythological once upon a time, or a literal one.

Faeryland, then, is the archetype of the world, its heart.

We are disconnected from the heart of the world, and so we see the world as merely something to be used up.

Using up the world, as we are becoming increasingly more aware, leads to pain, suffering, illness, death. Certainly we have had many short term gains, but our lifestyles are unsustainable.

Perhaps, I feel, if we are able to remember the heart of the world, to heal the separation between the human world and the Faery world, to reunite body and soul, we may see how to live our lives in a way which does not destroy our beautiful planet, or our spirits.

And yes, I am aware that I have Western privileges, including internet access, and the like. This is one reason I know I need to learn this too.

And so, to the vision…

*********************************************

Go outside.

Feel your feet upon the land.

Feel the heart of the earth, beating.

Feel your heart, beating in time with the earth’s heart.

Feel the heart beat glow, warm and bright, deep within the land.

Feel the light begin to rise, come closer, grow bright.

Feel it flow up and up, the light of Faery within the land, coming close to our world.

Closer and closer.

Until they kiss.

And in the kiss the light flows up into your body and around you, up through your feet, legs, torso, and into your head.

Hold it here, feel it fill you, feel yourself becoming more attuned to the light of Faery.

And then, let it flow gently back down into the earth, leaving a shard of light in your heart.

Just a piece of light, however much or little you can hold easily.

Now let this light grow and feel it throughout your body.

This light in your heart is connected with the light in the land.

Listen, sense, feel.

What do the Fey have to tell you?

What small job do they have for you to do to help heal the separation between the worlds?

Wait until you know, something concrete, simple, doable, practical, precise.

Wait, holding the feeling of the light within you until there is something you can agree to, commit to.

And send an answer to the Fey, the Faery Queen, tell them that you agree to the task they have set you.

Accept, and bid them farewell.

Now let the light dim down to a level you are able to hold comfortably today.

Each morning you can check this light and see if it is at the right level for you, in that day.

If it is too bright, let it dim, and if too dim, let a little light flow from the earth up into your heart to strengthen it.

If ever it feels like you should not be carrying the light at all, or if it is too much to keep it, then let it all flow back into the earth.

Remember your commitment.

Move out into the world carrying the light with you.

Bring the world of Faery and the human world back together.

And remember, you are not alone, all around the world, others are working to heal the separation between the worlds also.

Remembering – Faery Vision

09 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, Devotional, Faery, inspirations, Magic, process, Stories

(Originally posted April 2009)

On the Spring Equinox I walked up to the edge of the woods near my home town and sat on the moss there.

In this liminal space I sang to the Fey, left offerings and asked the Faery Queen to open my senses to the Faery World.

“How,” I asked her, “how can I open to the Faery World, open to beauty and joy and the heart of things, myself?”

And I had the image of the little bottle from Alice in Wonderland with a label saying ‘Drink Me.’

Words followed the image;
“Open, drink the world in, breathe deep and let yourself see.”

And so I did.

The Journey

Map Making Step 4 – An Enchantress… brings Beauty

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery

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beauty, creativity, Faery, Feyhearted path, Imperfection, inspirations, Journey, musings, process

An Enchantress is… One who enchants;
One who brings beauty, healing and delight to those around her.

One who works magic of the Fae.
One who brings beauty to the world.
One who causes change.

Last post I considered what working the magic of the Fae might mean, here we look at beauty.

Beauty is generally considered to be subjective. It is an aesthetic principle of what is pleasing to the senses. As such, when this is the goal of the Enchantress, She will strive to make the world more sensually pleasant to exist within. This doesn’t mean avoiding the unpleasant however, it means engaging with what needs to be done to create beauty in the long term.

One implication of enchantment for beauty is the use of illusion, of Glamourie. If we make the world more beautiful we could use illusion to do so. Here, then, is a question of ethics to be addressed here; how ethical is it to use illusion and can this help heal others? Aside from this, a fundamental position to take when working with the Fae is utter honesty in order to foster trust within yourself and with the spirits. We could use Glamourie to create the illusion that something is worth more than it is, as in the fairy tales of leaves enchanted to look like gold, and thus trick others into getting the rough end of the deal. This doesn’t help in the long term however as one’s relationships are what helps one through life and if you screw over your neighbour today they won’t help you tomorrow!

So how can illusion and honesty go hand in hand?

A glamour can be used to present oneself in a positive light – just as when you wear a suit for a job interview which you could fulfil, this doesn’t show who you are but it does allow you to get the position from which you can do the job well.

Illusions can be used to guide folk to realisations, to illuminate the truth and reflect back their realities. Just as when a painting inspires it’s audience to re-evaluate their world, an illusion can help someone to rethink their perceptions. A good costume, for example, can act as an illusion and can, at the very least, make folk smile.

Ultimately, however, the Fae are considered to be illusions by many in our world. In dealing with them and their stories and imageries we are creating what would be considered to be an illusion in order to illuminate the greater truth; that all is connected, the world is alive and magic is real.

Map Making Step 3 – An Enchantress is… Fae

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Enchanted, Faery

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Enchantress, Faery, Faery Queen, Feyhearted path, Honesty, inspirations, Magic, Map, musings, process

Moving through the darkness
Light a candle
Say a Prayer
Sing your wishes to smoke on the air
Music lingers
Notes unsaid
Kisses from Angels
Of deep black and red.
The Waterbound lady
Holds out a blade
Choosing wishes and dancing
Or the quietest glade.
~Halo 15/11/12

An Enchantress is… One who enchants;
One who brings beauty, healing and delight to those around her.

One who works magic of the Fae.
One who brings beauty to the world.
One who causes change.

What do these mean?

First, ‘the magic of the Fae’ asks the question, who and what are the Fae?

Being Fae, 
from my writing project ‘Faery Steps’

Words weave strange tales, a vision of what is and was and will be…

Fey; adj. Mysterious and strange, ‘fated to die’, ‘visionary’ and ‘mad’.
Fairy; from faierie (Middle English); the realm or characteristic activity of the faie; enchantment.
Fay; from Faie which evolved from fata (Latin); one of the ‘Fates’; i.e. a spirit
(Courtesy of Wikipedia!)

‘Fey’ and ‘Fay’ have different roots, words which have come to be connected through the resonance we hear and thus cousins. We, as strange mortals who see beyond the veils, become fey and thus fay. Fey is the human that is visionary, seeking magic and the world’s beyond. The Fay are those that live beyond the material, that shape the land and guide the growing things, the spirits who weave the destiny of each living thing. Untamed and wild, their ways are often different to our but strictly governed by their own code of conduct. The first rule of conduct is ‘Honesty’. Honesty with oneself allows you to know who you are, what you want and how your subconscious will effect your choices in ways that support or contradict your conscious choices. Honesty with the Fae is firstly a matter of respect – if you break your word to them you show you do not respect them – and secondly it shows that you can be trusted. Without honesty you cannot trust yourself to navigate the brambles to the Well of Vision and the Fae will not trust you to deal fairly with them.

As a word for the land, the act of enchantment and now the people who enchant, ‘faery’ reveals to us the interconnected nature of all three. As the fate of nature Faery is that which must be, the blueprint and soul of the natural world.As seekers of the land of faery we become visionaries, we become fey. In becoming fey we become fay and thus faery. This, in turn, connects us to the land that is Faery and we join the magic that moves through the realm that gives shape to the world we walk.

We are the realm of magic. Our hearts beat out the rhythm that shapes the world.

Map-Making Step 1 – Prepare the Page

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Enchanted, Faery

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Beginnings, challenge, Commitment, Devotional, Enchantress, Faery, Faery Queen, Feyhearted path, Heart, Intent, Map, Strangeness of Life

For the past few years I’ve been picking my way down a dimly lit path through the forest, following a song just barely heard but so insistent it cannot be ignored.

Long time readers here have seen me return and return again to my attempts at drawing out the map of where I’ve been, where I need to go. I share because, in part, I discover and explore this path through writing and in part I feel compelled to share what I’ve found in case others find it helpful… and the few voices that have replied to tell me that seeing my sharings reassures them that they are not alone have reassured me in turn.

I wrote The Faery Heart as a guidebook to uncovering one’s Fae self, the magic of your heart. Pixie Kisses came from a project for enchanting your own life. Both start with the self and the home.

Now it is time to move outwards.

The seeds I’ve been planting in my own life, in the soil prepared by the work of self-discovery and making space for enchantment, are growing and I know of no better way to nurture, strengthen and develop the seedlings than to write and paint through the journey.

So here I go again. Sharing pieces of my work with you all here.

***

The new moon is breaking through the darkness. The ground is laid. The next stage of training the Enchantress must begin!

I have begun where I am.
(Where are you in your life?)

I have explored who I am.
(Who are you? What roles do you play? Who do you wish to be?)

I have made space for magic, for Faery, for Enchantment in my life.
(How can you make space in your life for enchantment?)

Each of these are continual steps, a never-ending process of self-discovery, of making space and of choosing the path again and again from where I am right now and I have reached a point where the foundation is strong enough for me to explore the landscape and share some of the map I am drawing. Not everything is shareable because some magics are a mystery and no two paths are the same but I can shine a light on the page and, perhaps, it will illuminate the road-name you have been searching for too.

May the map of a world enchanted help you to find your path to Faery and Home again!

The Power of Story – WIP

03 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Faery, Stories

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Tags

Beginnings, Faery, Imperfection, Philosophy, process, story, Strangeness of Life

This is a section of the first draft of something I’m working on currently…

***

Stories have power. We tell ourselves stories that allow us to do things and stories that hold us back. We listen to the stories of others and some part of the story influences us. A story of failure encourages us not to try. A story of success pushes us towards our dreams.

Let go of the stories that say you are not enough. Let go of the stories that hold you back from pursuing your dreams. Let go of the stories that you carry from childhood which make you feel small.

 

You are bigger than your stories, greater, more.

You are the storyteller of your life and you get to choose to be the hero at every moment.

 

As I sat crying under a tree one night a Jack-in-the-Green sat beside me, pointing to constellations of streetlights in the town stretched below us:

“Look how the humans have tried to copy the stars.” He smiled.

I think I argued, as though I didn’t find it strange to be greeted by a jack, that the lights were there to see by, not to copy the stars.

“What do you think stars are for?” He replied, leaving with the sound of church-bells.

 

The lights in our hearts are there to guide us, the stars of our soul show us the path to our dreams. Seek the stars in your soul. Seek the bigger story that carries you to the moon and leave behind the ones that weight you down.

Musings on Queenship

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Faery, Following Delight, Magic, Philosophy, Queenship, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Beginnings, challenge, Commitment, creativity, Determination, Faery, Faery Queen, Feyhearted path, Heart, inspirations, Journalling, Journey, musings, Queenship, Strangeness of Life

I was challenged, given a quest, to become Queen of my life. First I want to know what that means… so I asked. What does it mean to be queen? A Queen, but not to hold power over other people… to be sovereign in one’s own life, I suppose…

My studio. My temple. My Throne? Where I make magic, where life is understood, where change begins. Art allows me to be fully myself. When I paint, I come home. If being Queen is having sovereignty over one’s life, then this must be the heart of my realm.

What would it mean to be Queen?

Queen of my life? My heart, my art?

A Queen rules her realm

My realm is my self

A self, a realm, a life.

To rule

To lead

To protect

To hold within all that belongs to one…

I rule my self.

Queen of my life, my heart, my art.

There is space for what I love

And I am responsible for making what I wish come true.

No waiting for another.

I am Queen of my life.

Whatever I wish

I must command it so.

No other may

No other can

In my realm

I am the sun, the moon, the stars

And each who I encounter is sovereign in their realm,

As I am in mine.

I rule my self.

Queen of my life, my heart, my art.

I hold the power of my realm

Only I

I choose

I cause

I create

The Story of the Rabbit

31 Thursday May 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Faery, Magic

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Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, Artwork, Faery, Feyhearted path, Goddess, Hare, Magic, musings, Painting, process, Rabbit

Painting - Spirit Rabbit Gate

A butterfly enjoys the artwork which captures the spirit of a being who travels between the worlds and brings magic and love into our lives.

When I finished writing my Faery Heart book I had a dream for the artwork on the cover – a gateway between two trees through which the magic of Faery would shine. I took up my brush and painted the first of my Faery Gates series, pouring magic into each brush-stroke as a prayer in pigment to bridge the worlds and allow enchantment to pour through for each person that gazed upon it.

My flat is now full of these gates, they flow from my brush and feel like coming home. But the second that I began… it remained formless for two years. I painted the faery-light but there was something missing. So I painted others and waited.

And then my bunny died.

She reappeared in the painting. Finally, it was complete.

Domino was a rabbit, but in the picture she also becomes a moongazing hare, carrying the magic of the ability to burrow into the dark places for healing and the sacred swiftness and stillness which is twinned in each of the long-eared Goddess-beasts across the neo-pagan world.

The hare has long been seen as a familiar, or a form, of the witch, wise-woman, magic-worker, the one who crosses the gap between the worlds beneath the full moon’s light to bring back knowledge and power into our realm. This picture is one of reflection, of becoming aware of other worlds and other possibilities deep within ourselves and within the heart of the world. It is an image of love and the peace before action. As a painting it holds all that I poured into it and all that you find within it. As a prayer, a spell, it carries the magic of the otherworlds and the blessings of the spirit-world into our lives. And it honours the hare, the rabbit, the Goddess and those that we have loved and lost who are never far away…

I am producing a limited run of 50 canvas prints, hand-made, mounted, numbered and signed by me. When they’re gone I won’t be printing any more like this!

To own a beautiful, limited edition print of a sacred piece of art, follow this link to my Etsy listing!

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(c) Halo Quin ~ author, storyteller, witch

Re-enchanting the world, one story, one song, one spell, at a time.

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