Tag Archives: Art Craft and Beauty

A Very Gobliny Adventure

07 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by in Creative Process, Following Delight, Storytelling

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I apologise for being somewhat quiet on the posts here, I’ve got a backlog of talks from the South Wales Occult Con to finish writing up, and notes on the Glastonbury Occult Con last month to join that too!

Behind the scenes I’m prepping the new bardic course (Cauldron of Awen) and one for the Crimson Coven that I’ve been promising since last year, “Rope for Ritual and Magic” (are you on the mailing list for that one?) and enjoying the growing community at The Enchanted Academy.

But honestly the big thing that has tangled up my brain involves dressing up and being rather silly this Saturday, 8th March 2025. The Goblin Masquerade.

I’m brushing off my Goblin Circus top hat tonight… 10 years after this weird storytelling show was launched into the world and this has grown from just me in a cheap top hat and red blazer from the charity shop, through walkabouts at markets, attempts at writing a comic, acquiring Maurice the Gryphon, joining the steampunk scene… through to becoming this amazing community event.

Halo peeking over a hedge with top hat covered in colourful cloths and a red dragon puppet peeking too.

I remember exactly when I first dreamed of the Goblin Circus. I’d been chatting to Dr Geoff about creativity over his Steampunk Tea Museum at the Thought Bubble Comic Convention. We finished the conversation, and as I wandered away pondering what *my* tea museum would be inspiration struck.

I quickly made a note on my phone – “Not a *fairy* story… a *goblin CIRCUS*” – and thus the Goblin Circus entered the world. A tiny spark amidst worlds of creativity in word and image and silliness and seriousness, in November 2014.

The following February we warmed up for Damh the Bard and the duo, Blanche Rowen & Mike Gulston (who were all wonderfully supportive!)

10 years later we’re hosting the fourth Goblin Masquerade, a whole event of music and dance and monsters and dressing up and stalls and steampunk and tea and sandwiches and even more!

I couldn’t do this ridiculous event without my friends who pitch in as volunteers and performers, or who support us by having a stall at the market. Certainly couldn’t do it without my fella, who wrangles all the sound mixing for the day! (alongside getting the kit there, setting up, packing down, and cleaning up after… plus helping me brainstorm, flyer the town, and generally being supportive of me and the goblins…)

I don’t know where the goblins will lead me next, but I know that it’ll be fun.

See you in Borth on Saturday?

A flyer in cream and red, for "the fourth annual goblin masquerade"

Creatively blocked? Come find your inspiration in the Cauldron of Awen, and community in The Enchanted Academy

Decorative banner - Cauldron of Awen, a course and bardic initiation at TEA with Halo Quin

NEW COURSE – STARTING 1ST APRIL 2025

The Cauldron of Awen is a three month adventure in storytelling, creativity, and inspiration with the witch-goddess of initiation: Ceridwen… and Taliesin, the legendary Bard of Wales.

Dive into the Cauldron’s brew and emerge inspired, with a toolkit of magical skills to enchant your audience and never fear the blank page again!

Discover More

More Musical Adventures

15 Saturday Jun 2024

Posted by in Creative Process, Music

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Happy post-gig Halo!

Tonight I sang an hour of original songs for the Festival of the Living Rooms, an online filk festival with a lovely community which I first performed at last December. I sang about cryptids, mermaids, the lost Welsh lands, hubris, curiosity, and community.

My heart is happy.

Ten year old Halo would be so proud of us. I’m so proud of me, especially after being bullied out of singing in m teens. It’s taken me a long time to get to this point, and I’m so very grateful that I have.

The filk community have a culture of sharing music to spread the love, so for those that were there and would like to sing the songs I shared, here’s the songbook:

Find the Lyrics here

Each song I write is intended as both an exploration of a story, myth, or theme, and an enchantment for healing and inspiring. With many of the songs I share in these spaces, my aim is to delight, because we need more of that in the world. So, in the spirit of play, let me know about your favourite cryptids! Write a verse or share a story and I’ll weave a verse for you…

Now Recruiting: Cryptozoologists
Halo smiling at the camera with three golden dots of clay on their forehead and tents in the background.

Magical Classes & Talks – with Halo

BABALON CIRCLE & BOOK CLUB

Monthly Live Babalon Circle – Our monthly magical working to connect with Babalon – Monday 2nd February, 8pm (UK) – online – replay included

January Book Club Topic: The Season of the Chalice

Join the Babalon Circles & Book Club here.

Elemental Allies Ritual at the Glastonbury Occult Conference – Glastonbury, 14th February

Monthly DIY TAROT CLUB – first session Monday 9th March – make your own tarot deck and learn to read the cards through play – no art skills required! – online – replay included

Join the Grove to access the DIY Tarot Club here.

Upcoming appearances include: Star Club Mini-Con (Bristol, 28th Feb), The Fool’s World at The Witches’ Cauldron con (Online, 13th March), Story Magic at the Phoenix Club (Isle of Wight, 2nd May)…

Enchantments – Live Classes Now on Patreon
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The Faery Doctor – Magical Medicinal tales

31 Friday May 2024

Posted by in Following Delight, Magic, Storytelling

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Find my Upcoming Events & Classes here
An old-fashioned doctor's bag open on a table with jars of brightly coloured yarns inside, and a sign "The Faery Doctor is In - Tell me what ails and I'll tell you a tale" and a prescription pad waiting for medicinal tales to be shared.

The Faery Doctor first popped up a year ago in Portmeirion, at a Steampunk event. Perhaps that’s why they sport goggles on their top hat, or perhaps those are to peer into the otherworld with.

Tell me what ails and I’ll tell you a tale.

One by one the listeners are invited into the Doctor’s “office” and invited to feel into which medicine they need.

You’ll find no snake oil here but rather pure unadulterated healing tales

They choose a yarn, and the Doctor tells the tale, and the tale suggests the medicine.

It is said that the magical people, our cunning folk, often learned their magic from the Fair folk… and what’s more magical than a story?

And so the time goes, magic and healing and messages for the listeners divined from the tales that something in their hearts tell them that they need. And a prescription to take home, because the legend never truly finishes.

A storyteller in a top hat and waistcoat tells a tale to a crowd of listeners, doctor's bag open on the table and jars of yarn visible - in the cafe at the Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.

I never know which stories are going to be told when the Faery Doctor steps out, but I do know that stories offer insights and healing to everyone who hears them, if they choose to take them on. For some, the medicine they need is simply an escape, for others there’s a seed in the tale that grows into a new way of seeing a tricky situation.

And this is magic.

Meet The Faery Doctor…

Storytime with the Faery Doctor – join me on a livestream as the Faery Doctor, for a magical storytelling enchantment.

Each month we’ll choose a tale at random from my Doctor’s bags of yarns and explore the healing power of the story together. Come listen to a tale and experience the magic that arises.

Subscribe on Youtube to get notified when I go live!

Click Here for the Replays

The Faery Doctor is also available to hire for your event, with flexible pop-up storytelling for small groups or large audiences possible. Click here for my storytelling shows & reviews.

My debut single: Red Goddess, Come

27 Tuesday Jun 2023

Posted by in Crimson Craft, Following Delight, Magic, Music

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I’m so thrilled to be able to announce my debut single!!! It’s been sent out to distributors, the release date is set, the art is made… all there is to do now is tell EVERYONE so that people can listen! This song was crafted in ritual, written with love, and based on the Crimson Craft invocation to the Divine Lovers, used to hold space for our work in the Crimson Coven with embodied magic, divine love, and sacred sexuality… (Discover more about Crimson Craft here.)

OUT 1ST AUGUST 2023!

My debut single, Red Goddess, Come, is a hypnotic invocation to the occult Goddess of passion and pain, Babalon, and the Goddesses of Love who share Her lineage, inviting you into the temple of your heart with bone-deep beats and sensual chanting. Calling you home to where Love and Desire become magic.

Sign up here to get your invite to the launch party tomorrow!

Launch Party and Blessing Ritual – 1st August 2023

A blessing ritual and launch party for a magical, musical, project, on the Full Moon! Come along, celebrate the launch of my debut single, and then I’ll lead us in a Crimson Craft blessing ritual for both the Blood & Roses album/show and your own life filled with pleasure, play, and love… starting in the hour of Venus!

If you’d like to participate in the ritual bring a drink you enjoy (red is good, but anything is fine), a red (or white) candle if you can, and something to offer to the Red Goddess – rose petals or incense are great, or have somewhere to pour some of your drink to share with Her.

In this party we will celebrate love, pleasure, and the Red Goddess, asking for Her blessings on this project, and on your lives too – if you so desire.

I hope you’ll come to celebrate with me on 1st August 2023!

Have you ever turned up your favourite song and felt its pulse in your bones, your heart? Felt that vibration that tells you “you are here, you are alive, you are part of this moment, this song”?

Felt that bass line anchoring you in your body, even as the melody lifts your spirit and your mood?

Drum beats have always carried us into the otherworld by speaking to the part of us that is manifest, physical, flesh. The ritual drum calls to the bones of you to dance… To let your spirit fly into possibility.

Today, we have sounds at our fingertips beyond the skin of the drum… And still they play the beat of magic.

Red Goddess, Come is my offering to you of beats to feel in the bones of your spirit, calling you into the temple of sensual magic. Calling you home to yourself.

And calling to the Goddesses of the Crimson Craft, the ones who hold the lineage of Inanna, Aphrodite, Freya… To bless the bodies that give you the gift of sensual pleasure. This pleasure which opens the door to the magic of the red witch.

Let this music enchant you back into your body, back into your self.

Let it reintroduce you to the wisdom of being present in your flesh, the intuition of your body.

Let it open your heart to the blessings of Babalon and the lineage she carries.

Listen now, and come home to love.

Launch party tomorrow: Red Goddess, Come

In other news, you can find the replay of the Summer Solstice ritual here for a taste of the work we do in the Crimson Coven, and the next workshop is magic with water, love, and selkies on Wednesday…

Find out more about upcoming workshops

Red Goddess, Come is the first in a series of songs inspired by a Thelemic Mass of Babalon, working with the magic of the Crimson Craft – embodied witchcraft rooted in Divine Love and sacred sensuality. Find out more about the project, Blood and Roses, here.

Banner: Re-enchant your life - Magic & Witchcraft - Learn real magic, explore Red Witchcraft, and dance with the old gods... Click here.

Dancing Tribe!

27 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Dancing, Reflections

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Tribal Unity Wales having fun!

Tribal Unity Wales having fun!

I’ve written before about how much the Tribal Belly dancing means to me… and it continues to be a source of strength and joy.

At the Winter Solstice we danced for the Cellan Beer Festival, and then last weekend was a Hafla (a belly dance party) in Cardigan run by local dancers. It was so nice to see the other groups dancing and experience the atmosphere of a supportive dance party. One lady did her very first solo, to very summery music, with the happiest expression!

One of the things that has come home to me about dancing ATS(r) with Tribal Unity is how much of a group activity it is. We are all working together, all supporting each other. It is not a solo performance, we thrive when we dance in tune with each other. I’ve never really felt at home in all female groups, but there is something about this dance (and the people in our little family) that breaks down the competitiveness that I’ve seen elsewhere and encourages mutual support. We all look out for each other and are thinking of each other when we dance.

The Hafla was a couple of firsts for me, as well as for the group. It was the first time we’d performed to live drums and the first time I’d led in public. It was the first fast duet I’d done (and it was VERY fast) and our first hafla. Watching over the videos I can see how much we’ve improved since last summer, how much more in tune with each other we are, and how much we all enjoy it! You can also very definitely see how happy I am dancing.

So… our first dance:

Our second dance:

When we were invited up to dance to live drums:

The duet Wendy and I decided to have fun with:

Oracles and Completion

28 Friday Dec 2012

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

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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 Vision

09 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery

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(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

The Empowerment Button

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in Art Craft and Beauty

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Back in July I ran a jewellery making workshop. In the summer month following it one of the ladies who came began making jewellery herself. Boxes of it!

This month she returned for a new workshop, using buttons…

Not only did her presence affirm that the previous workshop had been enjoyable – for which I am relieved! – she brought pictures of her new venture.

It seems such a little thing to share a skill you love but, for her, my sharing opened a door. She has been unable to work for months now and will likely not be able to go back to her job due to a long-term illness and yet she has found something that can give her pleasure and perhaps offer her a way to work for herself.

Something as simple as a button or a bead with a little knowledge and wire can be so empowering and I am honoured to have had the chance to help her to change her life.

Thank you, Universe, for giving me that opportunity. I hope that my offerings can empower more people in the future. Even if they don’t, that one success made all I’ve done with AWE worthwhile and proved to me that creativity is healing, empowering and important.

I also remember the lady who came, doubting she would make anything, with the echoes in her ears of derisive laughter from her work colleagues at the thought… she left with a beautiful necklace which she wore with pride. We have so much in us that we don’t know about and creativity can allow that to come out in ways that heal us.

I suppose the question is, how else can I offer my talents to the world in such a way that might help people? I thought I was just making money to get by but running these classes not only supported me, it empowered another… so, what if we all chose work that supported us and empowered those around us?

Another way of putting it; how can our work become an empowerment button?