This weekend is the annual Occult Conference in Cardiff, run by Dragonoak Coven, this year titled: Earth, Sea, and Sky. I was asked to come and share some stories about fairies to finish the day and it sent me down a research rabbit hole weaving a talk with stories from history and legend on one of my favourite topics: the relationships between cunning folk and those fairy spirits that are our neighbours and allies.
(They also have a bonus online event on 8th November with some excellent speakers! Get your tickets here!)
This weekend is the annual Occult Conference in Cardiff, run by Dragonoak Coven, this year titled: Earth, Sea, and Sky. I was asked to come and share some stories about fairies to finish the day and it sent me down a research rabbit hole weaving a talk with stories from history and legend on one of my favourite topics: the relationships between cunning folk and those fairy spirits that are our neighbours and allies.
While there is no substitute for in person performance, my first draft was much longer than it should have been so I offered the long version as a work-in-progress talk for my lovely Patrons & students!
It also got me thinking that I’ve been writing, speaking and teaching on fairy magic for about half my life, because I have loved them for as long as I can remember. When I was small, I wanted to be a fairy when I grew up, and even then I didn’t mean tiny and sparkling… I meant magical.
Throughout history, the “cunning folk” – a term for those healers, wise-folk, and “service magicians” who have made magic for their communities – have worked closely with spirits in general, including the Fair Folk. There are stories of magical skills taught and granted, of lovers and parents, and of conjuring kings and queens.
This relationship between magicians and our Good Neighbours runs deep, and it has always been a blessing in my life that they encourage me to share.
So here are a few resources for those of you that want to dive in deeper.
FREE TALK
Sign up here to access the “On Fairies” Masterclass from TEA free!
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!
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.
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.
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?
Creatively blocked? Come find your inspiration in the Cauldron of Awen, and community in The Enchanted Academy
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!
A few years ago I began dabbling with the title “Enchantress/Enchanter” alongside “witch” because one of my favourite ways to weave magic is through my voice, through words, and through storytelling.
In ancient times, and in many cultures, those who told stories and recited poetry were recognised as powerful magicians, capable of turning the tide of history, bringing good fortune or misery as they chose.
This power of storytelling connects us to our ancestors as in storytelling we use the language they passed us to shape a world, whether for a moment or a lifetime.
It connects us to those that come after us, for in the stories we keep alive we choose what to offer to them, what world and magic we are passing on.
We all tell stories to connect, to entertain, to teach, to inform, to persuade, and for many other reasons besides, even if we don’t think we are storytellers.
Yes, even you.
I love storytelling, and I often do it as a devotional act. I learn stories that connect to my gods and spirits, that remember the Fair Folk, or that carry wisdom from older times, and I share them to keep them alive. I craft new stories, such as the Goblin Circus, to bring that healing which comes from playfulness, so needed in today’s world.
One of my home traditions, Reclaiming Witchcraft, works deeply with stories in ritual and as teaching tools, and this has long inspired me. RJ Stewart’s work taught me how the folk and fairy tales can carry the keys to Faeryland. OBOD begins with the “Bardic Grade”, and encourages creativity as you work through learning the foundations of modern pagan magic. In these and many other modern traditions we have felt the importance of storytelling, and it is common to invite folk to tell tales… but very often there is no guidance on how to do so.
Often people say to me: “I wish I could do that, but I couldn’t remember a whole story!”
But storytelling is a natural human activity, so you already tell stories! And to tell a tale in a way that enchants is a set of skills which you can learn. To craft ritual and magic from stories is, too, another skill you can learn.
In a culture where we receive our stories from media it is easy to forget that storytelling is a natural expression of humanity. And if you have a longing to be part of that ancient lineage, then you can remember that, and recover those skills for storytelling as enchantment, whether you’re performing, bespelling your life, or sharing the tales with the trees.
I wrote this book to show you exactly how you can take each step. Some of the questions answered within are:
How can I connect with the magic of air, words, breath, voice?
How can I find a story? And make it my own?
How can I remember a whole story?
How can I tell a story in a way that is natural for me?
How can I use the magic of myth to empower my spells?
How can I create a ritual from a story, to bring me closer to the magic within?
And, while my focus is on the voice, there are many ways to tell a tale. I’ve included suggestions for how you can use the skills and exercises in this book without sound, and how you might adapt the magic within to your own practice, both solo and for groups.
*Affiliate link for UK folk. Also available wherever you buy your books!
Storytelling for Magic
Learn the bardic art of storytelling to craft rituals, empower your magic, and enchant your life.
In this book are the keys to bringing the gifts of the ancient magic-weavers, the storytellers, into your life. The Bards of old wove magic with their words. Through myth and legend, history and inspiration, they shaped the world around them. Just like them, you can connect with the magic of storytelling to create powerful change.
Join professional performer, ritualist, bard, and witch Halo Quin, and discover how to use your voice in magic, how to unravel the secrets of stories, how to craft your own rituals to bring the power of myths and folk tales into your life, and how to find, learn, and tell stories to enchant the world inside and outside the circle.
Part of a series of posts inspired by the South Wales Occult Conference in Cardiff on 2nd November 2024 – find the first post and index here.
The South Wales Occult Conference is organised and hosted by Sian Sibley and her coven, DragonOak, and when a speaker had to drop out the day before the conference Siany stepped in and gave a really interesting talk on Plants of the Underworld…
Remember: don’t eat of the Yew tree… They’re immortal but you’re not!
As a witch I often think I should be better at herbalism. When I left college I went to study holistic therapies – massage, reflexology, aromatherapy – because it seemed important to me that I should know a healing skill.
(I then spent a year trying to set up a therapy business – named Flutterby Therapies – as I figured it was the best way to offer magical healing services in a way that fit with the culture I lived in. Unfortunately I didn’t have any real business skills and it didn’t take off, but I certainly learned in the process!)
My understanding of herbalism, however, has remained rudimentary, so I was curious to hear what Siany would share about plants
In her talk, Plants of the Underworld, Siany told us about plants that are connected to death, plants for remembering the ancestors, and plants for safe passage to (and from) the Underworld.
By doodling I keep my concentration on the talk, and it gives a visual clue to the content! I wonder what story these images make: a tree, a drop of blood, a yew aril, a pomegranate…
One thing that I really enjoyed was the reminder of how much of this I already knew, because, actually, herbalism is only one way of working with plant spirits. Some part of my spirit relaxed, finally letting go of the “should” that I’ve felt around this piece of magic which is so deeply associated with my chosen Path.
You do not need to be a herbalist to work with plants. You don’t need to get a certificate, or take a long course, or learn all the Latin names (though that can definitely be fun!). Rather, you can take a basic identification guide out and talk to the plants themselves. You can pay attention to the stories, as always, and learn from the wisdom within.
But please, if you want to practice the kind of healing involved in herbalism – consuming or applying plant material to the body – then the study is important. Our powerful plant allies can be deadly!
Identification and a basic knowledge of toxicity is particularly important for those plants associated with death and the underworld – as the easiest way to reach the Underworld is through that final gateway, from which we do not return.
Siany shared with us about the Yew tree, ancient and immortal, whose song sounds, to me, like an eternal chorus of angels, and whose presence is patient peace.
Hemlock and Belladonna, as poisonous teachers of the underworld. Blackthorn, whose scratches are so often toxic, as both guardian and guide to the liminal.
And those plants who connect us to our ancestors – Rosemary, a European plant of memory, whose chemistry stimulates remembering, and whose presence protects and reminds us of who came before.
Lavender, to enhance dreams of our ancestors and make space for grieving. So often used as an essential oil in many households it is a sedative and lowers blood pressure – which is why many people find it helps with sleep. Taking us closer to the Underworld in a gentle way.
Though be careful, still, for if you already have low blood pressure lavender can make that worse, just as rosemary raises blood pressure! Our plant allies are powerful, even the gentle ones, so a little research and a lot of getting to know them is always key.
And this makes sense, because as witches our magic is rooted in relationship, and those relationships are going to be different for each person, so it is up to you to build the relationships that work for you rather than just picking something someone has told you in a book.
Even when a plant, or deity, or other spirit, normally behaves in a particular way with most people, it doesn’t mean it will work with you that way, and vice versa of course. Relationships take time and paying attention.
One lovely piece of lore that I didn’t know was that in (some) South American cultures the Marigold is a flower for honouring the ancestors, specifically as our pathway into this world. I loved hearing about this bright, beautiful, joyful flower as part of ancestor magic. Our Underworld allies need not always be gloomy, there is beauty and joy here too.
Finally Siany shared some plants for safe passage to the underworld – Poppy, the flower of sleep and remembrance, Hawthorn, the liminal tree of edges and boundaries that feeds the travellers with berry and leaf, Pomegranates, the fruit of Persephone, of life, fertility, and death, Mandrake, with its talismanic roots shaped like our human dead, and Mugwort, the plant of opening psychic senses and brewing dreamer’s tea.
This talk wasn’t just about who to approach for what task, though, but also about the practitioner’s encounters with those plants – and for that, well, you’ll have to ask Sian Sibley herself, for those are not my stories to tell.
I love that Siany combines both a magical experience with a scientist’s background, proving that these are not only compatible approaches, but enhance each other.
Perhaps you have stories you’d like to share of when you’ve met these plants, or of things you’ve felt you “should” learn in order to be a witch, or druid, or pagan, or occultist, or whatever path you are on, and you realised that actually you don’t have to do it that way. Like me realising that I don’t need to learn herbalism, as I already have a relationship with plant spirits and there are many ways to work with them that suits me better…
Whatever they are, I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below.
One powerful way to build relationship with the spirits of your land is through the stories and folklore local to you. Folktales, Faeries,& Spirits is a guidebook to how you can find those tales and unpick the clues within.
Folktales, Faeries, and Spirits – a practical guide to working with faeries and the spirits of nature, by Halo Quin
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.
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.
Spring arrived, and with it went my focus. It’s always an inspirational time of year for me, the rush of energy bringing so many new ideas, so much potential, that I find myself led astray by beautiful new possibilities… And some things get dropped in the whirlwind romance of life. Like consistency.
Once upon a time I’d have felt guilty for that.
Coming to honour my cycles is a really important step in not beating myself up, and I don’t think I’m alone there. Each of us has cycles and seasons, and for some of us the effects are more pronounced than for others… Have you noticed that? Have you noticed your energy and attention fluctuating with the moon, or the sun?
Even e when it gets dark there’s light. Like here; there’s a boat on the horizon, dramatically lighting its own way in the dusk.
I definitely go with the seasons, the kiss of the sun on the land… Each season feeding into the other, a circle that repeats every year.
And each year I know a little more, recognise it a little sooner, so the circles become spirals, the same shape but a little further ahead, building a little higher than last time.
At least, that’s my goal.
And so far it seems to be working. I’ve noticed myself wanting to chase all the gorgeous idea-bunnies and remembered to pull myself back to centre. Those inspirations are wonderful, and if I follow them all I’ll forget the garden one been tending.
Do you find this? Do you find you cycle through patterns each day, month, year? Do you tend to overdo it in the summer, like me? Or do you let it go and take a holiday when the sun shines?
This Spring I’ve been nurturing a few writing seedlings which are strengthening day by day. The Enchanted Academy (TEA) with my courses on magic is one, the Crimson Coven is another, and if you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen today that I’ve just signed contracts for two new books!
I decided years ago that I wanted to write books and teach, and that’s the spiral staircase I’m climbing each year… Each revolution, a little further along the path of doing what I love, even when my energy waxes and wanes with the seasons.
Whatever the sun is doing, I keep my dream in mind. If you hold true to who you choose to be then, every season, every revolution, you’ll have spent a little longer doing what feeds your heart’s garden. Don’t let the down times make you forget that.
Oh and learning your cycles and patterns, recognising the flow of the world around you, and learning to work in tune with both, is part of the craft of the witch, too.
I have, however, accidentally let the purple sprouting broccoli in my actual garden blossom and go to seed (I think?) because I was writing. Oops. It’s still pretty though!
In an attempt to get better at this while “making a living writing” thing, may I just remind you that I have books for sale! You can find them in my new online bookshop, Quin’s Books, or at your local bookshop. Or, if you’d like, you can support me on Patreon and unlock bonus audio content and early access to magical writings…
As spring is here I’m thinking about the allotment I’ll be working on this summer, and that reminded me of my indoor plants and of course the thought train then got all metaphorical…
ID: Roses, back-lit in a window, next to a barely recovering mint plant.
People tell me that indoor roses are fussy and mint is impossible to kill… But roses were the first plant I managed to keep alive for more than a season, and this is the first potted mint plant that has recovered from meeting me… And trust me, I’ve tried many times!
Perhaps those of us that are “fussy”, “difficult”, “sensitive”, or “too much” are simply in the wrong environment… And the apparently hardy ones are mostly just getting more of what *they* need? I’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating…
Plants are tenacious, and so are we. But we all need different things. Look for your magic, your relationship with the world, your rhythm and home, in the places that make sense to you. Don’t treat yourself like mint if you’re a rose, or rose if you’re a mint.
But remember, either way, to breathe, rest, bathe in the growing sunlight, and drink your water!
I’m learning to do better with mint, at least. And I’ll be repotting both (separately!) soon.
(Oh, and there’s a meditation up for my Patreons for the Equinox – Spring or Autumn – use whenever you need a moment of calm before a change.)
We often live our lives disconnected from our bodies and from the land. The fae folk are deeply embedded in the land and the living landscape and developing a relationship with them involves coming into a good relationship with the land on which we live and with nature as a whole. Simultaneously we realise that we are part of the natural world and we come back into better relationship with our own bodies and untamed selves.
We also have records of people;
Looking for faeries
gaining healing powers from them
seeking treasure
honouring their places
attempting to summon Faery Queens for power, support or wish granting
warding against their ill-will
leaving offerings
Among other practices. All of this shows that the fae have power and can help us in very practical ways, or can hinder us if we do not have a good relationship with them. This is mirrored in materialistic terms when we look at how a disrespectful attitude towards nature in general has led to a great deal of pollution and ill-health, and the loss of resources… i.e. wealth!
Basically, a good relationship with the Fair Folk is a good relationship with the spirits who share the land that looks after us, and they can support us in our magical work if we look after them in return, just as the land supports us in our general lives if we treat it with respect. This, in turn, helps to heal us, them and the world around us.
Not all of them want to work with us, even of those that are generally of friendly natures. There are numerous stories where one sibling is kind and generous and is given gifts from the faeries they meet, and another is rude to the same beings and comes away much the worse for it. And there are tales of some, like the kelpies, who steal young people away to drown them. In the New Age model fairies are generally beings of light and always willing to grant wishes in return for offerings. In the folkloric traditions some of the fae are powerful allies, but that same power means that some are worth avoiding!
Approaching these beings with respect is thus the foundation of building a mutually supportive relationship and respect gives them a good sense of who and where you are.
A good first step is to reflect on your motivations, and to ask yourself; what can I offer them?
This is an extract from my online Folkloric Faery course, including both theory and plenty of practice. and there are currently spaces on the beta testing cycle available! Come join us!
Originally posted on Patreon. Thank you to my Patrons for your support! If you like what I write then please do consider supporting me as a Patron here. Your support means I can write more for you! And you get the posts early… *tempts*
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Over to you in the comments… why would you build a relationship with spirits such as the Fae?
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PS: You can also read more of my earlier thoughts on the magic of faery and how we can cultivate it in ourselves in my book Pagan Portals: Your Faery Magic published in 2015 by Moon Books.
TRUE THOMAS lay oer yond grassy bank,And he beheld a ladie gay,A ladie that was brisk and bold,Come riding oer the fernie brae.Her skirt was of the grass-green silk,Her mantel of the velvet fine,At ilka tett of her horse’s maneHung fifty silver bells and nine.
~ Extract from The Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer
The tale of True Thomas, or Thomas the Rhymer, is an old one from the wild borderlands of Scotland (in the North of the UK), though working with faeries and otherworldly spirits is certainly older. The earliest recorded version of Thomas’ story is recorded in a manuscript dating from around 1430-1440, and Thomas of Erceldoune, of whom the tale is written, lived two hundred years before that. The ballad which his story is most often told through nowadays was recorded in the early 1800s, and it keeps many of the key images from the earlier manuscript, demonstrating the strength of those images and their value as signposts to encounters with the fae.
“Thomas the Rhymer” is the story of how a bard gained the gift of prophecy from the Fair Folk, and it begins on the bank of a river, under a tree (most often hawthorn), where the Queen of Elfland comes across a sleeping Thomas. She takes him away, across vast rivers and past apple trees. He is taken into her service for seven years and warned to not speak a word whilst he is in Faeryland. At the end of his service to the Queen she gives him the gift of the tongue which cannot lie.
In these images we can find doorways to magical states and magical lands, guidance for developing a relationship with the fae folk and a structure through which we can build our own practices.
What are Faeries? Clues from the Queen
In all my time working with them I’ve come across a great many explanations for what they might be or how they may have come into being.
The description of the Queen in “Thomas Rhymer” as a beautiful lady in green silk, on a fine horse with bells in it’s mane gives us a few clues as to the nature of faeries. The green colour shows her role as part of the green world and the land, her horse shows her power and the bells ring with the music of faeryland. Beauty and music are signs of the way in which faery magic enchants us and conjures a sense of wonder – which encourages an openness to the world. It also reminds us that they are quite capable of showing us what we want to see in order to gain our trust. The specific location and Thomas historical status illustrate that the Fae are often connected to specific, real, places, even while they travel, and the river and the hawthorn tree are also notable as water is often a gateway to faeryland and the hawthorn is said to guard the entrance with it’s thorns, whilst the beauty of it’s blossoms open us to the sense of wonder required for travel between the worlds.
From both my experiences and the stories in which they feature I have come to the conclusion that the fae not simply one kind of being, but are a collection of related beings and powers, or spirits and energies, who embody (but are not limited to) the magic of the land and the natural world. They can be guardians of places, they are most often part of the green world or the water or stones, and they are very closely related to spirits of the dead. As spirits without bodies they are shapeshifters and so appear differently at different times, they are not limited as we are but they have a definite consciousness. They appear to me to have grown out of the earth and the land, much as we have. They make choices, have names and hold their own ethics and rules which differ from ours.
The categories of “spirits” are impossible to define with any absolute authority, however, as the lines between spirit beings do not seem to be as clear-cut as we like to describe them. There are tales of how the fair folk were once fallen angels, or gods, and some may be becoming deities again… The spirits of the land are often considered of a different ilk, and yet they share commonalities, and our own ancestors can sometimes be found among the elves. Some traditions describe elemental spirits as faeries, and others use the term to indicate the spirits of plants.
The common thread is that they are spirits; the magical, untamed, others who hold the magic and wisdom of the otherworld in ways which are reflected in their form. They are mutable and powerful, and, if we’re really lucky, they might just lend their power to our cause…
This is an extract from my online Folkloric Faery course, including both theory and plenty of practice. and there are currently spaces on the beta testing cycle available! Come join us!
You also can read more of my earlier thoughts on the magic of faery and how we can cultivate it in ourselves in my book Pagan Portals: Your Faery Magic published in 2015 by Moon Books.
Originally posted on Patreon. Thank you to my Patrons for your support! If you like what I write then please do consider supporting me as a Patron here. Your support means I can write more for you! And you get the posts early… *tempts*
One eye brown and one eye green, cheekiest child that you’ve ever seen, oak’s ancient knowing held deep in those dreams, strange for a small one, not quite as he seems. Do not be wary, do not take fright, if you care for him always he’ll keep safe the night, but if you would rather a meek child returned, then fair’s our exchange, so you’ll lose what you’ve learned.
From my faery poetry collection due out later this year…
Originally posted on Patreon. Thank you to my Patrons for your support! If you like what I write then please do consider supporting me as a Patron here. Your support means I can write more for you! And you get the posts early… *tempts*
Halo Quin 