Tag Archives: Pagan

Folkloric Faery Magic – Online Course!

01 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Faery, Following Delight, Magic

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Folkloric Course Postcard

What is Folkloric Faery magic?

Faery magic is working magic in relationship with faery spirits, who are primarily (arguably) spirits with close ties to the land and the “green” world. I’ve spent my entire life working with the Fae in one way or another, from greeting them everywhere as a child, to my current practise of prayer, honouring the Land Spirits, storytelling to share their magic, and travelling to Faeryland (in a manner often described as shamanic).

In this course I will be guiding you through some folkloric elements of faery magic so you can deepen your understanding and build your own practice in relationship with these spirits.

The six main lessons are:

  1. What is Folkloric Faery Magic? Getting Started, altars, and understandings.
  2. Opening the Way: A Foundation for working safely with the Fair Folk.
  3. Beginning On the Path: Recognising Faery Magic, making contact, and offerings.
  4. Crossing the Rivers: Magical Housework, Faery gateways, and the Beloved Dead.
  5. Entering Faeryland: Faery taboos and customs, and dreamwork.
  6. Returning Home: Finding clues to continue onwards, house spirits, and your path ahead.

How does this Online Course work? Beta Testing!

This course is delivered by email, six main lessons sent out weekly for you to work on at your own pace. For this first round I will be taking questions each week and potentially adding in new material in a variety of media – for example, I intend to send out audio recordings of the stories, weekly Q&As, and to be on hand for support via email.

Special Offer for beta testers!

Alongside the six main lessons you will receive:

  • Email Q&A – ask me questions and I’ll send out a weekly round up of questions asked by everyone on the course and my responses, advice, and recommendations for resources. This has the potential to be a huge resource for everyone as every individual brings something to the table and questions inspire new connections and information sharing of what you find important in your practice.
  • Random extra materials – audio, video, art, poetry, suggestions for creative projects… who knows! I’ll be listening to the spirits and responding to the participants so this beta testing round will be growing and expanding in new and interesting ways.
  • You get to shape the course! The main lessons are all written, but there is so much more to play with and explore. Tell me what you want from it as we go along and there’s a good chance it will appear!
  • The option to connect with others working through this in real-time. In future I will be setting this up as a home-study course so folk will be engaging at different speeds, so not only do you get my feedback and support if you join this time around, you also get to make like-minded connections and support, inspire, and encourage each other!

As you’ll be helping to improve this course and I’m excited to create it with you, but I’m going to be offering a lot more support than in future cycles, I’m going to limit this course to a maximum of 12 participants and offer it at an introductory price…

£60 (GBP) for the 6 weeks through Paypal (click here!)

Deadline for Booking: Midnight (BST), Sunday 28th July, 2019.

Course starts Monday 29th July, 2019

Your place is secured on receipt of payment. Contact me for installment plans, or alternative methods of payment.

Any Questions? Email me on haloquin (at) gmail (dot) com!

About Halo:

I’ve spent my entire life pixie led, and have been explicitly devoted to the Faery Queen for about a decade, with two decades of faery relations, magical work, and training under my belt. I’ve taught classes on working with the elements, the spirits of the land, stories old and new and many others, but my favourite classes are always those working with the Fae. It is my honour to share this work with you. My book, “Pagan Portals: Your Faery Magic” has found a home with over 1000 faery lovers and my storytelling show The Goblin Circus, born of a union between faery magic and performance, has appeared at many events across Britain, enchanting as we go. For more from me, explore this site

 

A Faery at Druid Camp

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by in Enchanted, Faery, Following Delight, Reflections

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Before I pontificate, let me just say: Druid Camp itself was marvellous! A community of like-minded people, on many different paths, all made welcome. A sharing of magic, of song and dance and learning, delicious food, laughter and sunshine. Each morning we’d gather in Morning Meeting to hear about the offerings of the day. Each afternoon we’d gather for a talk by a prominent (usually academic) member of the community. And each evening we’d meet for ritual and then music in the cafe tent. Throughout the day volunteers would teach their skills or support the practical running of the event.  Community, learning, sharing, celebrating and ritual. Magic in all it’s forms. I fully recommend it to even the just-curious as a gentle, relaxed event with plenty of space to choose what you will engage with, no pressure to know anything beforehand, and a very welcoming place which gives you the chance to meet many people on different paths.

On that note…

I’m not a Druid, not really. I’m not a member of OBOD or ADF or BDO or any other religious group with a name made of alphabet soup. I don’t introduce myself at pagan gatherings as a druid. It’s not a word or an image that resonates with me (and there is probably a good reason for that, which I’ll tell you about one day). And yet I feel very at home at the Rainbow Spirit Druid Camp.

I’ve done a fair amount of studying druidry (or at least neo-druidry, the modern pagan practice inspired by tales of ancient druids), and what I’ve found most often in recent years is that the ethics and attitudes align strongly with my own, the stories often come from the land I call home and I do love a good public ritual.

I still don’t feel like a Druid – though my path is very similar – and that’s ok.

I took an active part in the opening and closing rituals. I volunteered my time and skills to the community by working in the kid’s area. I danced to Morrigan’s Path and Hawkwind’s Nick Turner’s band Space Ritual. I was made welcome.

Part of me wonders if all that makes me a Druid in denial. But we never fit into neat little boxes, do we? I’m coming to accept that my Faery path weaves through several different groves, round the cauldron and into the wildwood. I can stand with the oaks, toast the gods, gather herbs and howl at the moon.

I often catch myself thinking that I’d like a tidy label for what I do, so I knew what I was meant to be doing, and then I remember, I know what I’m meant to be doing. I’m meant to follow the magic of my heart. The guidance of the spirits and the gods and of my deepest truest self. That’s what we’re all meant to do. For some that means finding an official path early on, for me it means that I can find myself at home in many temples. It’s an understanding that I may not be a Druid, but I’m certainly Pagan.

Faeosophy; Are Faeries Real?

06 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by in Enchanted, Faery, Philosophy, Reflections

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Faeosophy – the philosophising of and about faeries and fae-ness.

Back in this post I shared some questions I’ve been pondering in my development of a Faerie philosophy. Of the questions listed I though these were a good place to start:

“Who and what are the Fae? How metaphorical are they? How metaphorical is our relationship to them?”

enchanted-grove-header-small.jpg

On the path of working with faeries, it’s useful to know what they are…

When working with faeries this is a kinda fundamental question on the one hand, and completely irrelevant on the other. My bottom line is that this work works for me, and it works best when I act as-if they are real. From a pragmatic perspective, then, I will continue to act as-if, and to believe that, faeries are literal, non-metaphorical beings.

One other thing – your mileage may well vary. Just because I encounter Faeries in this way does not mean that this is the only way of doing it, or that I’m right! Faeries are notoriously tricky to pin down. They are known for living in liminal spaces, for being betwixt and between, for leading us astray. They are perfectly capable of being kind and cruel, tangible and otherworldly, here and not both at once.

In which case – one answer to the question “what are the Fae?” is “paradoxical, illogical and variable.”

That’s not quite the kind of answer I was looking for though, so I’ll try again.

Little Lilith

They are the magical consciousness of nature.

In the stories they are a people with a different ethic and attitude to us. Or they are creatures intent on leading us away from human civilisation. They live in wilder places than we are used to. They can offer us help and unexpected wealth. They are uncompromising when their rules are broken. They are powerful, but subject to certain rules. They are beings of the natural world, but beings with magical powers.

 

In which case, they are the magical consciousness of nature.

But is this just a metaphor? Are they actual beings or are they stories we tell ourselves about the natural world but actually we don’t mean it?

When we encounter anything we have an experience, which we then understand in a certain way. We hear laughter – soundwaves are generated by someone, they enter our ears and are interpreted by our brain as laughter – just as we feel that something otherworldly is at play in the depths of the wildwood. When the laughter does not come from another human but we still hear it, echoing like bells over the waves, or when we are unsettled and certain something fae is watching us, whatever the tangible facts, we are experiencing faeries. The experience is not a metaphor, it is very real.

And, as I’ve said before, when I act as-if, when I believe that something more than what I would expect is possible, magic happens. I see or hear things that don’t make sense until I tell myself the story of faeries. They are a real something, there is a reality to them, and they make the most sense to me when I approach these experiences as faeries.

If they were just metaphors, however, they’d still be useful. If I told you a tale of dryads as a metaphor for the ways in which trees communicate through fungi and care for seedlings and stumps, and if you listened to that tale and treated trees better for it, then the metaphor would have given you a healthier way of relating to the world.

This is different to saying they have a reality independent of our stories – I and others have definitely encountered something when we’ve gone looking for faeries. When I say “I’ve seen a faery.” I don’t mean I’ve seen a flower do something I can’t explain, or that I’ve run across a natural process which I’ve needed to respect according to it’s rules. I mean I’ve had an experience, a real experience, which I understand as seeing a faerie.

Waiting for the Sun

The have a reality which is based in our personal and direct experience and so they walk alongside us, as family.

When I say “Faery”, I’m not talking metaphorically, I really mean “Faery”, because that is how I experience them. Ultimately, there is a reality here, it is my reality, and it works for me.

And perhaps that’s part of the magic of faeries; our relationship with them, our connection to them, is inherently and essentially personal and direct. We meet them, for the most part, one-to-one. They are not distant beings directing things from afar, they are walking beside us through the woods. Those that work with us are holding our hands, tripping us up, pointing out shiny things… like cousins ready for a giggle at our expense, but also, often, ready to be our family.

 

Workshop in Wales! Spirits of the Land!

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Enchanted, Faery, Magic

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Spirits of The Land Workshop! Sunday 5th June, 10am -7pm

Spirits of Place Workshop by HaloquinJoin us in the wild hills of West Wales for a day of magic!

Working with the spirits of the land and the stories of Pwyll, Arawn and Rhiannon we will delve deeply into working with the Spirits of the Land and developing our own practices for building and deepening our relationship with those spirits and powers.

This one-day event is in the tradition of Reclaiming Witchcraft in which we often honour the “Spirits of Place” or the “Spirits of the Land”, so in this workshop we will explore what this means and ways in which we can recognise and honour those spirits who graciously allow us to work our magic in their homes, and who support us as we do.

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Little Foal

Rhiannon, who once ruled over Dyfed, returns to help us learn to honour the spirits of the land…

In the first branch of The Mabinogian, Pwyll meets the Lord of the Otherworld, travels there, learns its ways and returns with a deep connection and friendship which benefits both worlds. Then, one of their ladies, the Goddess and Faery Queen Rhiannon, comes to live in our world and offer her wisdom and compassion to the people of her land. Through engaging with these stories and working directly with the spirits of the land in which those tales were born we will develop our skills for recognising and honouring the spirits in (almost) any place we find ourselves, building a foundation for future work with the spirits of the land and the faeries.

Who is this for?

This will be a practical, intensive day of magic. Some experience is helpful, but an open mind and willingness to participate is essential. If you would love to honour the spirits of the land and the Fae, deepen your relationship with them, and gain skills for continuing your own journey with them, this is for you. If you love the Welsh tales and gods, this is for you. If you enjoy hands-on, magical experiences, this is for you.

This is not a lecture. This is not therapy. This is not spellwork. This IS experiential work focussed on supporting you in developing your relationship with the spirits who have been here long before we have, in the way they present themselves to us now.

Visit my website for more details!

Questions? Want an online version of this? Fancy inviting us to put this on in your home town? Comment below or email Halo!

Some Faery Philosophy

04 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by in Faery, Philosophy, Reflections

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Pandora's Box by JW Waterhouse

In my heart of hearts, I’m a philosopher, which means that I like to have thought through logically the reasons behind my beliefs. (This is sometimes like opening Pandora’s box… so here’s a disclaimer; these are my beliefs and thoughts, so I don’t expect everyone to agree with me by any means, I’m not out to convince anyone! I do find it interesting to hear why people think and say what they do though, so let’s have a discussion!)

In my last post I talk about pondering Faery Theology (there has to be a better word for this… any ideas?) so, by way of preliminary thoughts, here is an extract from chapter 3 of my book “Pagan Portals; Your Faery Magic” wherein I ponder the nature of faeries (as I see them) and the value of working with them.

 

If we look at the stories of Faeries, all the myths and legends, we see a common theme; they are all very strongly connected to, or embodying, nature. They are not, however, merely the plants or trees or forces they embody, they are beings that are inherently magical, beyond limits. Faeries are natural magic and, as part of nature ourselves, the magic within us is fey.

Humans are lured into Faeryland by beauty. Beautiful music, beautiful visions, beautiful food. And this beauty, once we return to earth, we pine for. So Faeryland is that place within the world, and ourselves as part of nature, in which the sense of magic, wonder and beauty lies, the natural core of our being. The heart of the world we reach through connecting to our Faery Heart.

If our hearts, at their untamed core, are places of beauty and magic, then following the call to Faeryland will open our hearts again to the beauty of the world. If we learn to touch the fey parts of ourselves then we can move through our lives open to the beauty that surrounds us and so we can reconnect to the natural world, with the other beings on the Earth as our brothers and sisters and kin.

…

And, of course, we recall the other parts of the stories of the fae…the wilder parts…the dangerous parts… They are untamed and not human and so their ethics are a little less strict than ours tend to be. In our heart we are natural beings, just like them; we have learnt really wonderful human skills, such as compassion and language, but in our search for order we have tried to tame our essential Selves and instead we have locked them away. These parts of ourselves hurt, so each day we die a little inside.

Here we choose to walk down a path that will lead us back to the parts within us that hold who we truly are. We seek all our parts, those that are good at communication, at compassion, and those that are good at standing up for us and being free. We do not have to give up the gifts of humanity in order to find our Faery Hearts and heal our lives, we can free ourselves of those things that do not serve us, release those things that hold us back and fly, carrying both gifts of humanity and gifts of Faery. We can choose to be both human and wild. That is what it means to be fey.

Fey means free. Free of the locks we’ve used to keep ourselves acceptable and free to choose to move in compassion and beauty. Fey means to be free to be our real Selves, to live our lives without unhealthy compromises, to dance to Faery music so we are filled with love and joy and deep feelings of connection even in a business meeting or on a busy, grimy underground train.

Fey means so full of shiny, happy, beauty, that you cannot help but share it.

Faeries are the conscious manifestation of the wild magic of the natural world. At our untamed core we are also part of the world, so part of our heart belongs to the realm of Faery… in which case, those of us that find our hearts singing with that wild magic? We are Fey. And when we allow ourselves to express that magic in ourselves we feel happy and we can share that happiness with the world.

It is always important in the stories to be respectful and to cultivate a good relationship with our “Good Neighbours” with whom we share a kinship, and the stories are where we first learn how to approach this people. In the same way we must learn to respect the wild world around us, to take only what we need and not deplete the land and her resources.

Growing up I was taught that the trees are conscious and aware. I was taught that the plants have feelings which deserve to be respected. I was taught that non-human animals are people just as we are. I learnt that the world around me was alive and the spirits dwell within everything. I have to eat to survive, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need to say thank you.

We are given masks to wear in our lives, but I have seen that we are much happier when we learn who we are under the masks and choose which masks to use and which to discard… and when to cast them off entirely and dance under the starlight with our friendly cousins.*

Book Cover YFM

 

*And it’s good to know which cousins bite, or don’t want to dance with you! You might swim in a river you know well, or cuddle your childhood canine-friend but you wouldn’t swim in a storm-tossed sea, or pick up a wild-wolf-cub with mamma wolf about to pounce, now would you? The Fae are the spirits of the wild, with all that entails.

 

Brewing Magic

31 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by in Enchanted, Faery, Philosophy, Reflections

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This last year I’ve been dancing and storytelling and studying more than I have been writing.

I’ve been brewing thoughts, and allowing them to percolate. There have been many challenges, and a whirlwind of changes: Two house moves, marriage, turning 30, publishing my book, learning to dance.

Pen and Ink - Dances with Trees

My love and I now live in our own caravan! It is a static caravan rather than a mobile home like I dreamed of, but I think it’s better for us. Wales is our home and it is good to have a foundation here. Roots. I’ve been putting down roots, I suppose, choosing where I stand. Reflecting on who I am and where I am.

In my book (Pagan Portals; Your Faery Magic) I talk about some of the thinking behind my beliefs, I philosophise on Faeries and the Feyhearted Path. This is only scratching the surface though! And for a while I’ve been pondering questions, like;

Who and what is The Faery Queen – how does She relate to deities, archetypes, spirits? How does she tie in with the many goddesses that hold the title Faery Queen? She isn’t an archetype, though “Faery Queen” is also an archetype… so what is She? How does she manifest throughout the year? Does she change or it is constant… and what does that mean for her nature?

Who and what is the Faery King? Am I just falling back on my early neo-Wiccan reading when I want to bring Him in too? (Most of the books I got hold of when young and just finding my way were neo-Wiccan, and many of the books I see now are heavily influenced by that, whilst it can be a very useful structure, I don’t want to force energies and beings into a pattern that doesn’t serve them, or me, so what patterns belong to them?) Or is there a good reason for bringing Him in explicitly? (Aside from the fact that he turns up! But just because they come, does that mean we should work together?)

How do these powers/beings/deities(?) relate to deities that share the titles which seems to be their names?

How does this Enchantressing path relate to the Craft? To Priestessing? What are the differences? How do they overlap? Are they all words for the same thing or distinct practices?

What is the purpose of what I do?

How does this honour the land? How does this help my community?

How does my work fit within historical practices and traditions? What is my “lineage”? I’m clearly deeply rooted in neo-pagan structures, practices and attitudes, but that isn’t the only influence. And what does it all mean?

Who and what are the Fae? How metaphorical are they? How metaphorical is our relationship to them? How do they relate to other spirits? Is Faery-work just a form of spirit-work?

And so on… Alongside continuing practice I’ve been mulling theory, and I’m feeling the urge to start sharing again. I make no promises on how much or how often I’ll post, but I hope that some of these questions are interesting to you, and perhaps you can take them and apply them to your own practices and beliefs for an interesting think! (If you enjoy that kind of thing… not everyone does!)

It being Imbolc over the next few days it feels good to be seeing the seedlings sprout and these questions begin to find the light of day. My Queen wears white now, as do many goddesses at this time of year, and she beckons for us to awaken to ourselves and dance among the snowdrops and hailstones as the light grows and the land begins to stir.

Back to working on my Thesis now…

 

Elements of Magic!

20 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Magic

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Elements of Magic – Class

Join me in a 10 week adventure in the realms of the magical elements!

(And help make my dream of becoming Dr. Halo come true!)

The elements are the foundation of the magic of many Western traditions and our relationship with them guides our path, our magic and our very lives. At every stage in our magical practice we can deepen our relationship with them, uncover new understanding and discover more about ourselves and the world. This course is offered in the Reclaiming tradition and will help you to build or strengthen these foundational relationships with the elements.

If you are just beginning on a magical path, this course will give you the fertile soil to grow a beautiful garden of magical understanding.

If you have been practising magic for many years, this adventure will help you to deepen your relationship and understanding and give you the chance to explore deeply the meaning and practice of working with the elements.

Whatever level you are at, this course is for you.

I will give you the skills and understanding to be able to follow most rituals you might find yourself in, and to perform your own with confidence. We will explore together the implications of what we do and why we do it, deepening our understanding of all the aspects of ritual and magical practice. You will finish this course with a stronger foundation, more confidence and the tools to go further in magic.

Over 10 weeks Elements of Magic will include:

  • Weekly tasks and writings on each of the elements and their tools
  • Meditations and guided journeys to take you deeper into relationship with the elements
  • A group space for online discussion, support and sharing
  • Email contact with myself to guide you on this adventure
  • Explorations of the theory of the elements
  • Practical exercises to ground you in the elements and your own power
  • The option of a Skype call to connect more personally as a group

When you have finished the course you will:

  • Have a strong foundation with each of the elements on which to build a deeper relationship to magic
  • Have learnt or deepened your ritual skills, and your understanding of their implications and applications
  • Have learnt and practiced the basics of crafting your own spells
  • Have deepened your magical practice
  • Have developed a clearer understanding of yourself
  • Have gained skills to help you improve your life in tangible ways

You will also have all the materials sent out to you to use as reference in the future and you will have helped me to fund my PhD in the philosophy of enchantment in art, for which I will be incredibly grateful! (And will happily send you a copy of my thesis when it is finished if you would like to read it.)

In the tradition of Reclaiming I am offering this training on a sliding scale, where you choose what you are able to pay at this time.  If you really cannot afford the lowest end of the scale, please contact me as soon as possible and we can discuss concessions.

Before April 1st: £50 – £100

After April 1st: £75 – £125

Course Starts: May 1st!!!

Email me now at Haloquin (at) gmail (dot) com !